The Rabbit Hunter

19

It’s late at night when the taxi rolls down Rehns Street and stops in front of an ornate wooden door. Rex has borrowed some dry clothes from DJ, and has his wet suit in a black bin-bag. He’s supposed to appear on television early the next morning, and should really have been asleep hours ago.

Rex makes his way inside, shivering as he presses the button for the lift. It doesn’t move. He steps forward and peers up into the lift shaft. The cabin is standing motionless on the fifth floor. There’s a creaking, scraping sound. The cables are swaying and he wonders idly if someone is moving out in the middle of the night.

He waits a little longer, then starts to walk up the stairs, the bag of wet clothes over his shoulder like he’s Santa Claus.

When he gets halfway up he hears the lift creak as it starts to move. It passes him on the third floor, and through the grille he can see that it’s empty.

Rex reaches the top floor, sets the bag down and catches his breath. As he puts the key in the lock he hears the lift come back up and stop at his floor.

‘Sammy?’

The doors slide open, but the lift is empty. Someone must have pressed the button for the sixth floor, then got out.

Rex walks through the flat without turning the lights on, wondering if it’s worth checking to see if Sammy has left any of the sole before he goes to bed. The floor glints silver in the gloom, and through the glass door to the deck he can see the city’s carpet of lights spread out below.

Rex opens the fridge and has time to register that Sammy hasn’t touched the fish when his phone rings.

‘Rex here,’ he answers hoarsely.

The receiver crackles. He can hear heavy music in the background, and someone whimpering.

‘Dad?’ a voice whispers.

‘Sammy? I thought you’d be home by now.’

‘I’m not feeling too good,’ his son slurs.

‘What happened?’

‘I lost my stuff, and Nico’s pissed off at me... I don’t know. For fuck’s sake, just stop it, will you?’ he says to someone at the other end.

‘Sammy, what’s going on?’

Rex can’t hear what his son says, his voice is swallowed up by the noise, then there’s the sound of dishes breaking, and a man starts shouting.

‘Sammy?’ he says. ‘Tell me where you are and I’ll come and get you.’

‘You don’t have to...’

There’s a loud noise, as if Sammy has dropped his phone on the floor.

‘Sammy?’ Rex shouts. ‘Tell me where you are!’

A lot of crackling, then Rex hears someone pick up the phone again.

‘Come and get him before I get really sick of him,’ a woman with a deep voice says.

With his heart pounding, Rex makes a note of the address, calls a taxi and runs downstairs. When he gets outside in the cool air he tries calling Sammy again, but there’s no answer. He tries at least ten more times before the taxi pulls up in front of the building.

The address the woman gave him is on Östermalm, the wealthiest part of Stockholm, but the building on Kommendörs Street turns out to be public housing from the 1980s.

Loud music is streaming from a door on the ground floor. There is a strip of tape across the letterbox that says ‘More ads, please’.

Rex rings the doorbell, then tries the handle, opens the door and stares into a small hallway full of shoes. Loud music reverberates off the walls. The flat smells like cigarette smoke and red wine. There’s a pile of coats on the worn hardwood floor in the hall. Rex goes into the dimly lit kitchen and looks around. The counter is littered with empty beer bottles. The remains of a bean stew have dried onto a pan, and the sink is overflowing with plates and improvised ashtrays.

A man dressed in black wearing heavy makeup is sitting on the kitchen floor drinking from a plastic bottle. A young woman in denim shorts and a bright pink bra stumbles over to the counter, opens one of the cabinets and takes out a glass. The cigarette between her lips wobbles as she concentrates on filling her glass from a box of wine.

She taps her ash onto the pile of dirty plates as Rex pushes past her. She slowly exhales a plume of smoke, following him with her eyes.

‘Hey, chef, could you fix up an omelette?’ she says with a smile. ‘I’d love a fucking omelette right now.’

‘Do you know where Sammy is?’ he asks.

‘I think I know pretty much everything,’ she replies, handing him the glass of wine.

‘Is he still here?’

She nods and gets another glass from the cabinet. A black cat jumps up onto the counter and starts to lick bits of food from a kitchen knife.

‘I want to sleep with a celebrity,’ she jokes, and starts giggling to herself.

He moves a chair so he can get past the kitchen table, and feels the young woman wrap her arms around his waist. The weight of her body makes Rex lurch forward.

‘Let’s go in and wake Lena up, then we can have a threesome,’ the woman mumbles, pressing her chin against his back.

Rex puts the glass down on the table, removes her hands, turns around and looks at her drunk, smiling face.

‘I’m just here to pick up my son,’ he explains, and turns to look at the living room.

‘I was only joking anyway. I don’t really want sex, I just want lurve,’ she says, and lets go of him.

‘You should go home.’

Rex squeezes between a highchair and a folded cot. Two glasses clink against each other in time to the music.

‘I want a daddy,’ he hears her mutter as he goes into the living room.

On a checked sofa a man with long grey hair is helping a younger man snort cocaine. Someone’s brought out a box of Christmas decorations. There are mattresses on the floor around the walls. A heavyset man with his trousers unzipped is sitting with his back to the wall, picking at an acoustic guitar.

Rex walks through a narrow hallway with deep scratches in the floor. He glances into a bedroom where a woman is sleeping in just her underwear, her tattooed arm across her face.

Back in the kitchen a man laughs, and calls out in a loud voice.

Rex stops and listens. He can hear thuds and sighing from nearby. He looks into the bedroom again and finds himself staring between the woman’s legs. He turns away.

The door to the bathroom is ajar, its weak light spilling out into the hallway.

Moving sideways, Rex catches sight of a mop and bucket in front of a washing machine.

He hears the sighing again as he approaches the bathroom. He reaches out his hand and gently pushes the door open, and sees his son kneeling in front of a man with a large nose and deep lines around his half-open mouth. Sammy’s face is sweaty and his mascara has run. He’s holding the man’s erect penis with one hand as he guides it into his mouth. A black pearl earring is bouncing against his cheek.

Rex steps back as he sees the man run his fingers through Sammy’s bleached hair and grab hold of it.

He hears crying from the hall.

Rex turns away and goes back into the living room, trying to catch his breath as waves of conflicting emotions crash through him.

‘Oh, God,’ he sighs, and tries to smile at his own reaction.

Sammy is an adult, and Rex knows he doesn’t want to be defined by his sexuality. Still, he’s extremely embarrassed that he stumbled upon such an intimate situation.

On the checked sofa the man with long grey hair has tucked his hand under the younger man’s T-shirt.

Rex needs to go home and get some sleep. He waits a few seconds, wipes his mouth, then heads towards the bathroom again.

‘Sammy?’ Rex calls out before he gets there. ‘Are you in there?’

Something topples over in the bathroom, clattering against the sink. He waits a few seconds before calling his son’s name again.

Shortly after that the door opens and Sammy comes out, dressed in a pair of tight jeans and an unbuttoned floral shirt. He’s leaning against the wall with one hand. His eyelids are drooping, and his gaze is unfocused.

‘What are you doing here?’ he slurs.

‘You called me.’

Sammy looks up but doesn’t seem to understand what Rex is saying. His eyes are lined in kohl, and his pupils are dilated.

‘What the hell’s going on?’ the man in the bathroom calls out.

‘I’m coming, I just... just...’

Sammy loses his footing and almost falls.

‘We’re going home,’ Rex says.

‘I have to get back to Nico. He’ll get angry if—’

‘Talk to him tomorrow,’ Rex interrupts.

‘What? What did you say?’

‘I know you have your own life, I’m not trying to play at being your dad. I can give you money for a taxi if you want to stay,’ Rex says, trying to make his voice gentler.

‘I... I should probably get some sleep.’

Rex takes his jacket off and wraps it around his son’s shoulders. He starts to lead him out of the block of flats.

When they reach the street the sky is starting to brighten and the birds are singing loudly. Sammy is moving slowly. He’s alarmingly weak.

‘Can you stay on your feet while I call a taxi?’ Rex asks.

His son nods and leans heavily against the wall. His face is extremely pale. He sticks his finger in his mouth and leans his head forward.

‘I... I’m...’

‘Can’t we just try to get through these three weeks together?’ Rex suggests.

‘What?’

Sammy swallows, sticks his finger in his mouth again and looks like he’s about to throw up.

‘What’s going on, Sammy?’

His son looks up, breathing in laboriously. His eyes roll back and he collapses on the pavement, hitting his head against an electricity box.

‘Sammy!’ Rex yells, and tries to help him up.

The boy’s head is bleeding and his eyes are swimming behind half-closed eyelids.

‘Look at me!’ Rex shouts, but his son is unresponsive. His body is completely limp.

Rex puts him down again and listens to his chest. His heart is beating fast, but his breathing is far too slow.

‘Fuck,’ Rex mutters as he fumbles for his phone.

His hands are shaking as he tries to call an ambulance.

‘Don’t die, you can’t die,’ he whispers as the call goes through.