Note for Swedish readers: This is the English translation. You can also find the original Swedish version called Kanotsemester on this site.
This piece of fan fiction is based on John Ajvide Lindqvist’s novel Låt den rätte komma in. Features that have been fetched from the novel are his work, however, he is in no way responsible for the work below.
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“It’s beautiful here, shouldn’t we stay here tonight?”
“Yes, drive off here.”
Jeroen drove into the rest stop beside the road. It was indeed a beautiful place, the river that was quietly flowing down in the valley, the slopes down there, the view. They stepped out of their motor home to stretch their legs, the night was calm, the noise from the traffic on the road just over the hill could be heard but still it felt distant. Jeroen stretched and pulled in a deep breath. It had rained here earlier in the day, just a brief thunderstorm, so now the air was fresh and cleansed, it smelled of damp earth. They went a little round to see the place, there were a couple of other motor homes parked further away, the people riding in them sitting at the tables eating.
Marijke had made dinner, they had eaten and now were sitting and talking. The summer nighs were so bright here in Sweden, although the time was late, it was not dark. They liked the bright, Swedish summer, they often spent their vacations in Sweden with a motor home.
“Are you hungry, should we get food tonight?”
Oskar checked, he probably needed food. “Yes, then it's done.” He looked around. “Is there anything around here, then?”
Eli pointed at the bridge across the stream. “There’s a rest stop up there, there will be people.”
Oskar looked up along the riverbank, he could see people up there, they were watching the view. “Yes, this might be fine, we may not need to leave traces.”
“No, that's what I was thinking.”
“Okay, let’s go up and have a look.”
Oskar and Eli was standing on a hill, looking down at the parked motor homes. One of them was parked a bit off, a couple was sitting at the table next to it.
“Those over there, what do you think?”
“Will probably be fine, if they let us in.”
They went down to the couple at the table.
“Hi!”
The couple turned to Oskar and Eli. “Hello.”
“We've run out of water, do you have some to spare?”
A couple of children, a boy and a girl, had arrived at their roadside table. They wanted something, they had asked something in Swedish.
Marijke replied in English: “Sorry, we don’t speak Swedish.”
The boy repeated the question, in English. “We would like to ask for some water.” He held up an empty plastic bottle.
“Of course you can have some, just give me the bottle and I'll fill it.”
Marijke got up, took the bottle and went into the mobile home. The children watched her go, they were silent. They looked shy, Jeroen wanted to help them.
“Are you on vacation?”
“Yes. We paddle a canoe.” The girl pointed down toward the river.
“With your parents, I guess?”
“No, it's just us.”
“Quite to yourself? How do you manage it, you don’t seem to be very old?”
“We are used to it, we have paddled a lot.”
Marijke had come out again, she handed the bottle to the boy. He took it, thanked politely.
Jeroen turned to Marijke “These kids are on vacation canoeing on the river.”
Marijke looked at the children. “How exciting, I would like to try that.”
“Yes, it's fun.”
“Wouldn’t you please sit down, I would like to hear more about what canoeing is like.”
The children looked at each other, then they sat down across the table to Jeroen and Marijke.
“Tell me. Have you been out long? “
“A week.”
They talked about the children's canoe vacation, the children spoke fluent English. They had lived there for several years, they said. And they were easy to talk to; Marijke thought it was a bit strange, the children were so worldly, they seemed somehow to be older than they looked. And yet they were children, they were thinking in a childish way, this sometimes was obvious in their answers.
After a while the conversation drifted to their own motor home holiday, the children were interested: “We have never lived in a motor home.”
Jeroen made an offer: “Do you want to see what it looks like? You are welcome into our’s.”
Jeroen and the children stepped into the motor home. Marijke had seen the children gazing at each other, they seemed happy about something. It was a bit worrying, she got up and followed Jeroen and the children. They were standing inside, Jeroen was demonstrating how to create a bed out of the sofa.
Oskar and Eli had been invited, they looked triumphantly at each other. This probably would go well. The man was talking about how to arrange the beds, Oskar was curiously asking questions. Eli stayed at the door, waiting. The woman entered, she seemed a little worried. Eli smiled at her, then she relaxed and smiled back. Eli looked over at Oscar, he nodded imperceptibly, he was ready. Eli turned to the woman, smiled a bit with his mouth closed, looked comfortingly into her eyes. Then he jumped onto her, she was taken by surprise and didn’t manage say anything before Eli had put his hand over her mouth. In the corner of his eye Eli saw that Oscar had attacked the man. Perfect, their teamwork was so good. Then the infection took over, the ecstasy about the blood rose within him and he had to withdraw, he had to block out the impressions.
There had been some noise and the motor home had been rocking when the man and the woman had been fighting for their lives. Now Oskar and Eli sat silent and listened.
“Do you think anyone saw anything?”
“No, they would have been here now, then.”
“We were invited without asking for it, that was good.”
“Yes, we are good at this now.”
They stayed in the motor home until after midnight, speaking about a mobile home vacation, how fun it would be. But they couldn’t drive. Then they had put the couple in their bed. Now they were sitting outside in the shadows a short distance away, waiting. Soon the motor home was burning, the infection would be destroyed. They went down to the river again and pushed their canoe into the water.
“Canoe vacation is pretty fun, too.”
“Yes.”
Eli pushed the canoe away from the riverbank, and sat down in the stern.
“Full speed ahead!”
“Aye, aye, Sir!”