Note for Swedish readers: This is the English translation. You can also find the original Swedish version called Gulliga ungar 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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Sara was in her kitchen, she had a lit Advent candle in front of her. She sat at the kitchen bench dreaming, watching the three flames, she felt at peace. It would soon be Christmas, and she was busy with baking for Christmas. The kitchen smelled of gingerbread cookies and saffron buns, she was waiting for the last plate with saffron bread to get ready. She was tired, she would soon go to bed. On the cassette player she had a tape of Christmas music, they played Silent Night. And it was indeed a silent night, the song fit so well.
She was interrupted in her reverie, someone knocked on the door. She looked at the kitchen clock, it was half past nine. It was a late hour to come visiting, she thought, but she went to open the door. On the kitchen stairs stood two children, a boy and a girl. Cold air came in through the door, it was surely ten degrees below freezing outside. Sara shuddered. The boy held out a Christmas magazine catalogue.
“Hello. Would you like to buy some Christmas magazines?”
Christmas magazines, in mid December? Sara had a notion that Christmas magazine orders would be taken earlier, in November, so they could get delivered in time for Christmas. But she did not want to chase off the kids, and she shivered from the cold air that entered through the door.
“I’ll have a look. Come in and get warm, it's so cold outside.”
The children stamped off the snow from their shoes and entered.
“Come in and sit in the kitchen while I have a look in the catalogue.”
The children pulled off their mittens and caps, put their shoes at the wall and entered. Sara had sat down in the sofa again, she leafed through the catalogue. She looked up at the children, smiling.
“I've been baking, would you like a saffron bun and some ginger snaps? Please get some there, at the counter.”
The children looked at the counter, then they shook their heads. The boy looked a little sad.
“No, but thanks anyway. We can’t eat cakes, we don’t tolerate it.”
“Are you allergic, can’t you tolerate flour, or something?”
The boy nodded affirmatively. “Yes, that’s it. We are allergic, we become sick from flour.”
The children stood silent on the rag rug and looked around, they gave an impression of vigilance.
“Can I offer you something else? Raisins? Nuts? Butterscotch?”
“No, we can’t eat that either.” The boy looked sad. “Alas.”
The girl had walked a turn in the kitchen, she now stood in the doorway to the living room and looked in there. Or rather spied, Sara got a impression that the girl spied, she felt a little uneasy. She suddenly wanted to get the out kids again, so she turned to the catalogue, flipped it through. The boy had come closer, Sarah saw him in the corner of my eye.
Suddenly she felt a hand to her mouth and an arm around his neck. The boy had thrown himself against her, he now pressed his head against her neck. Sara was so surprised that she for a few seconds did not get herself to do anything. Then she felt a sharp pain in her neck, the boy was biting her! She tried to push the boy away, but he was stuck like he had been forged to her. She now was scared for real, and began to fight the iron grip, tried to get to her feet, but the only result was that the boy wrapped his legs around her body and got a firmer hold. Sara clawed and tore, she tried desperately to remove the boy from her body, but his grip got tighter. She couldn’t get air, she gasped for breath, her heart raced. In a last desperate effort she tried again to rise, but lost her balance and fell to the floor between the sofa and the table. The boy followed her down, he did not release his grip. Then Sara lost her consciousness.
Oskar was sitting in the sofa, looking at the candles while Eli fed down at the floor. He felt depressed, the woman had been kind and invited them. But he couldn’t do much about it. Kind people were easier to access, that was the way it was.
“Mum?”
Oskar looked up, there was a small child in the door, kindergarten age. Pyjamas with cartoon bears. Oskar looked towards Eli and the woman, Eli was still occupied with his doing down there.
“Mummy!” The child looked anxious, its eyes were big and shiny. It took a step into the kitchen, towards its mother. Eli let go, looked up at the child. The child winced, its face contorted into tears.
“Mummyyy!”
Eli turned towards Oskar, his eyes were wide open, he seemed irresolute. They looked at each other, no one said anything. Oskar felt paralysed, empty, he wasn’t able to think. The time had stopped.
“Mu-hu-hummy!” The child was now crying in fits, but its still stood there, clutching the teddy bear that it had been carrying.
Eli shook his head, looked at the child again. Then he got up and stepped to the child, who cringed a bit. Oskar saw that Eli picked up the child, then the crying stopped. Eli stood with his back to him, but Oskar could imagine what happened. He felt like ice inside.
After a while Eli turned his face to Oskar, Eli was crying. But Eli wanted something, he gestured with his head.
“Come.”
Then Eli disappeared into the house, with the child in his arms. Oskar remained on the couch, he was petrified. After a while he forced himself to stand up and follow Eli. There was a staircase on the other side doorway, Eli had gone up it, Oskar could see. There were bloodstains on a couple of the steps. He forced himself further up, and arrived at the first floor. Eli stood there waiting for Oskar, showed towards a room with a gesture. Inside was a cot. Oskar felt his heart sink, he guessed what Eli wanted. He looked at Eli, he wanted to escape this task. Eli's face was streaked with tears, but completely blank, without any expression. Oskar took a few steps into the room. This was a nightmare, he wanted to wake up from it, but it was relentless, it would not release him. In the cot lay a tiny child, sleeping. He just couldn’t do it.
“Make yourself inhuman, hide away your humanity, try to pull out the infection.” Eli had spoken in a low voice, barely more than a whisper. Oskar closed his eyes, tried to call out the infection, but he got no response. As in a trance he reached out towards the child and lifted it up. He would have to do it himself.
Afterwards, he put the child back in the cot, and pulled the blankets back over it. The child looked peaceful, as if still asleep.
They were sitting in the woods near the edge of the garden. They had rigged the house with candles, then they had left. Now they were waiting for the fire to remove the traces of them and to destroy the infection in their victims. Oskar sat silently, staring. He had not imagined it this way. He never had imagined this.
“We had to. We couldn’t just leave them in there. We had to take them too, when we had taken their mother from them.” Eli had spoken quietly, mumbling. After a moment he added: “I'm sorry that I forced you.”
Oskar raised his head, he looked agonised. Then he moved towards Eli, hid his face against Eli and wept wildly. Eli sat quietly, rocking Oskar.
They remained there until the house had burnt down.