Agnes' Diary - A Little Star Fan Fiction

[danielmann861]

So this week I got done re-reading Little Star. I love it, it's maybe my favorite of all of John's books. But after this most recent re-read, a thought occurred. What would the aftermath look like? It's a senseless blood bath that affects so many people. From Teresa's parents, to Jerry, to the nation as a whole...and then I got to thinking...how could you write something following up on it? Then it occurred to me. Agnes! Most notably how Johannes death effects her! So I decided to take a stab at writing something...tell me if it's any good. I don't usually write fan-fiction. But here is a piece I'm calling 'Agnes' Diary' - A Little Star Fan Fiction

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“Massacre at Sing Along in Skansen”

That’s what the tabloids called it. “A senseless bloodbath orchestrated by the voice of an angel!” How could this have happened? Why did it happen? The questions came thick and fast, but there were no substantial answers to be found. Around 30 people were targeted that day. Women, Men, Mothers, Fathers and the Elderly all perished that day. Strangely enough no children were hurt among them though.

The tabloids looked for answers but found none. The only thing close to an answer we received were a couple of letters that had been sent to the media rambling their reasons for what they did. The Wolves of Skansen. That’s what they called themselves. The media deemed it as the ramblings of the unhinged. The usual blame game began. “Where were the parents?” The fringe groups, of course, laid the blame at the feet of the entertainment industry. Pop songs were deemed the mark of Satan. The usual song and dance...if you will.

The police began their investigation the day after. There were 14 teenage girls involved in the massacre in question. A few of the girls were captured amidst the chaos. Most of the others escaped. I hate to be judgmental but they all looked the type. A group of plainly average and unattractive girls. Or a pack of wolves as they called themselves to anyone who would listen.

Mostly dressed in black, pierced, unpierced, overweight, underweight and so on. They came in all shapes and sizes, but they seemingly had one thing in common. They were all lost. Lost souls found and taken under the wing of their idol. The one that calls herself Tesla.

I was at home that night. Watching live on television with my mother and father in the living room. My phone firmly in my left hand as I messaged my boyfriend to no avail. He hadn’t answered a single message all day. I didn’t know if he was angry at me or not so I shrugged it off and went back to watching the TV.

It was Sing Along At Skansen. Thousands were in attendance cheering and having a great time listening to the music of various artists. Then, out came the girl known as Tora Larsson, or Tesla as she now called herself. But we all knew she was the weird girl from Idol known only as Tora Larsson. Weird in the manner she composed herself, but that voice! There was no denying that voice was heavenly!

Her long blonde hair glistened under the spotlight. Her pale complexion reflected the intense stage lighting making her look as if she was glowing. No older than 14 at best. Her piercing blue eyes stared directly into the camera as the opening notes of Abba’s Thank You For The Music swelled from the orchestra behind her. That voice. That beautiful voice. It sounded like an angel. The cameras panned along the crowd in attendance who had all fallen under her trance. How could you not with a voice like that? They were so taken you could hear a pin drop. But it wasn’t long into the song that something went awry.

“Mother says I was a dancer before I could walk…”

It was at this point that we heard what sounded like a scream coming from the audience in attendance. Blood curdling screams at that. The type of screams that pierce your ears. The type of inhuman screams that never leave you once you’ve heard them. As the camera focused on Tesla, the screams in the background only got louder.

The television cameras were doing their best not to film the audience. I suppose they knew that something was up and were trying their best not to show it. But the screams...those screams.

They still ring in my ears to this day. They were horrifying. The demented sounds of agonizing pain. My mother and father shared a confused look with me then looked back at the TV with a slow realization. We knew something wasn’t right. We just had no idea what had actually happened. But Tesla...she just kept singing the song as if nothing was happening below her. Absolutely unphased by these inhuman tortured screams. Eventually the orchestra caught wind that something wasn’t right and started to flee the stage in terror. And that’s where the television feed abruptly cut off.

“We apologize for the Inconvenience as we are currently experiencing technical issues” stated a man in a calm voice as the television network logo appeared on screen.

A mere 20 minutes later and the live news feeds flooded the screen as they delivered up to the moment updates the best they could. In a calm matter of fact voice, they informed us that there had been a tragedy in Skansen. That a group of teenage girls were killing audience members in attendance.

My parents, as shocked as I was, sat glued to the TV taking in every update as they came. We sat in stunned silence. Never would we have imagined something like this ever happening. The details of what happened were breaking rapidly. A group of teenage girls armed with knives and electric drills were drilling holes in the heads of the adults. It sounded like something straight out of a horror movie.

The weirdest part was still to come. According to some of the eye-witnesses in attendance; the girl performing on stage had let out a singular howl much like a lone wolf...which was then returned to her by the vicious blood-thirsty teenage girls in question. Which led to some of the reporters on scene quickly jumping to the assumption that perhaps this mysterious Tesla was the mastermind behind all of this.


It didn’t make sense. How could someone with such a beautiful talent be the mastermind of a senseless bloodbath? Sure, Tora had struck me as slightly odd when I saw her on Idol. But a murderer? Never in a million years would I have jumped to that conclusion. I just thought she was eccentric. It was almost admirable. The way in which she seemingly didn’t care what others thought of her appearance or her mannerisms. But never in a million years did I think she would be a murderer!

As I sat on the couch watching the news, I felt a buzzing in my hand. I had completely forgotten I was holding onto my phone. I looked at the screen to see the caller ID. It was my boyfriend’s home phone number so I quickly answered.

“Hey, I thought you were ignoring me or something. Well, never mind all of that, were you watching Sing Along at Skansen? Are you watching the news right now? Did you see what happened? This is insane!”

There was no reply, just stone cold silence on the other end.

“Johannes?”

That was when I heard the sounds of a woman sobbing.

“Agnes?”

I knew that voice instantly. It was his mothers voice. She was trembling as she spoke.

“Yeah?”

“It's Johannes...he’s dead!

I quivered and felt my stomach drop to the floor.

“What?”

“He’s dead...Johannes...my baby boy. He’s dead! I came home and found him...he was murdered!”

The phone fell out of my hand and onto the ground shattering the screen. No, no, no! This couldn’t be! Johannes? Murdered? My Johannes? No! This had to be a joke. A sick joke...it couldn’t be! It just couldn’t be. I rushed out of the living room leaving my already confused parents behind and ran for the front door. I couldn’t breathe. I needed air. I ran from the house and down the street. I didn’t know where I was going...I just ran. I ran into the darkness of night. I ran for what felt like an eternity. Eventually I found that my feet had carried me to an apartment complex.

It was Johanne’s apartment complex. The blue and red lights of police cars were flashing out front. An ambulance had arrived on the scene. It was there that I saw Johannes mother crying her eyes out as she was held in the comforting arms of a nearby police officer. I could feel the burning pain in my lungs as I watched from afar. Eventually I saw two young paramedics wheeling a gurney out of the complex and into the ambulance. Johannes' mother let out a blood curdling howl of anguish as she watched the draped lifeless body of what was once her loving teenaged son being pushed into the back of the ambulance.

It was at this point that I remember falling to my knees on the grass below as the tears finally flooded my eyes. It was true...my beloved Johannes was gone. Everything went dark after that. I don’t even remember how I got back home that night.

The funeral was promptly arranged, taking place a mere week after his death. Everyone from our class attended the funeral...all except one. His so-called best friend, Teresa Svensson. No, I take that back actually; more like the heartless wrench that killed him in cold blood! Everyone in our graduating year was at a loss for words. Johannes wasn’t the most popular guy in school, but no one ever had a bad word to say about him either. He was liked by most and seen as a pretty easy going guy. The kind of guy you couldn’t really hate.

His mother was still in tears. Almost like she had never stopped crying from the night it had happened. I looked longingly at the black casket before me. I’d never imagined myself dying before, but at that moment, I wanted nothing more than to die and be buried in his arms. I could feel the grip of my parents hands on my shoulders tightening as the casket descended into its final resting place. The priest uttered his final words of comfort. I had a single rose in my hand and let it drop on top of his casket as it was lowered to the bottom of the earth. The tears came to my eyes once again. It felt like they would never stop pouring from the endless stream inside of me. At this moment I knew exactly how his mother felt.

Tora Larsson and Teresa Svensson.


By this point, the police knew the names of the masterminds behind all of this madness. Surveillance camera footage helped put Teresa at the scene of Johannes' death. A mixture of camera phones, television cameras and surveillance footage also placed her at the massacre, being the first one to strike a blow. Those two names made the rounds on television night and day accompanied with the most recent of profile shots that the police had to offer.

The pair of them were still at large with a bounty on their heads. But it didn’t matter. No one ever found them. It was like they had disappeared off the face of the earth after the massacre occurred. I grew obsessed with the case. My heart was still hurting for Johannes but I needed to know why? Why did Teresa kill him? How could she do that to the boy that loved and adored her as only a best friend could?

Teresa’s chubby oily face would haunt my dreams for months on end. My memory would replay the chain of events over and over again as if I were looking for a vital piece of the puzzle that I had missed. All those times we had been kind to her. All those times Johannes and I would invite her out with us. I knew she was Johannes oldest and best friend and I never wanted to stand between that. He adored her. He would tell me so many times how fond he was of Teresa and how much she meant to him. And yet, she took it all for granted and bashed his face in with a hammer before drilling his head open. I hated her for that!

I often would fantasize about finding and killing the pair of them myself. For the first few weeks after the massacre, all I could feel was anger. White hot boiling anger. I wanted to inflict as much pain on them as they had done to me and Johannes’ mother.

I wanted to take an electric drill and slowly drill holes all over their wretched bodies. I wanted them to feel every ounce of pain that they had made us feel. I wanted to watch as the blood slowly dripped from every hole in their body. I wanted to see if they felt the same pain that we felt or find out if they really were just inhuman monsters incapable of feeling pain? I wanted to know so badly.

The thought of tying them to a chair then slowly drilling holes all over their bodies as they hopefully screamed for mercy. But they would get no mercy from me. Then maybe I’d take a knife and open Tesla’s mouth. Grab her tongue and slice it right out of her mouth. Leaving her void of her most valued possession in the world: that angelic voice.

Then moving on to Teresa. I would take the hammer and bash her hands, her kneecaps, her feet. Anything that might bring her the feeling of true pain. Before delivering the coup de grace with my very own drill. Unlike what she did to Johannes, I dreamed of making it slow and as agonizing as it could be for the both of them. Oh, the things I wanted to do to them...

One of the things we came to learn from one of members of the so called ‘wolf pack’ that was apprehended by the police was that they referred to the drills as their ‘claws.’ So I took my newfound enemies' words to heart and sought to buy my own set of ‘claws.’ But these claws would be solely used in the name of vengeance. I thought of myself as a lone wolf that strayed from a wounded pack hunting down the remains of the enemy pack that had snatched one of our own.

I remember the day when I bought my very own set of ‘claws’ at my local hardware store. I remember the look of suspicion that the store clerk gave me as I handed over the money. Turns out that after the massacre at Skansen, electric drills had become as feared to Swedes as guns in the hands of the disaffected youth were to Americans. The nation feared that copycat killings would arise.

As a matter of fact, there had been a surge of Electric Drill sales after the massacre so I guess they had a brand new reason to fear the youth of Sweden. Or even worse, that Tesla was recruiting and would strike again when least expected. Of course, this led to some fringe groups trying to ban the sale of electric drills to minors in Sweden.

But just having the electric drill on charge beside my bed gave me peace of mind and helped me fall asleep at night knowing what I would do if I ever caught up with them. You could almost say it was like a dream warden; as it helped to cleanse the grubby images of Teresa from my mind. Even if it did freak out my loving parents. After all, electric drills gave the adults a new reason to fear their offspring.

Naturally, the media went straight after Teresa’s parents and hounded them daily. Overnight they had gone from normal loving parents to the bastards that gave birth to Sweden’s very own Charles Manson. The media didn’t give them an inch of sympathy as public opinion demonized them for their lack of parenting. During my obsession with the case, I would watch each and every news segment of them wishing them a horrible death for the monster they unleashed on the planet. I wanted them to hurt as badly as I did. I wanted to hurt them for giving birth to the monster that took Johannes away from me. I wanted to take everything away from them like they had done to me.

That was until I saw one interview with her parents that helped to change my mind. I looked into their eyes and saw they shared the very same look that the rest of us had. Pain. Pain and utter confusion at that. Just like the rest of us, they too couldn’t make sense of their daughters' actions. From an early age, they knew something wasn’t right with her, but they never thought in a million years it would result in a senseless bloodbath.

Her mother never once stopped crying throughout the entire interview. Her father was barely able to lift his head, unable to hide his deep shame and guilt at his perceived failure as a parent. Their words, while still offering no real comfort, at least helped to paint a greater picture though. All they could do was offer an apology over and over again. They never wished this upon anyone. They sobbed and reasoned that they had tried their very best to give Teresa all the love in the world but felt they could never truly reach her. They knew their daughter wasn’t right in the head, but hoped it would get better over time as they showed her the unconditional love that only parents can show.

The few times my eyes caught theirs, I saw the same look that we all had. No, they weren’t to be blamed. Instead, they were just like the rest of us...in absolute turmoil on the inside. If not more, seeing it was their own flesh and blood in question. I wonder to this day if they can possibly still love their daughter in spite of everything she did?

It was at this point my anger towards them vanished, but I could not do the same for their daughter. I heard through the grapevine that they ended up getting a divorce. I guess they couldn’t take the pain and guilt and felt like they had failed as parents. Looking back on it, it’s quite a sad story, really.

Meanwhile, the media was still putting the puzzle pieces together regarding Tora Larsson. As presumed, the girl known as Tora Larsson on Idol had entered under a fake identity. Well, a stolen identity, more like it. One Tora Larsson was not who she said she was as the media and the police discovered that she in fact had no real identity at all.

They tracked her history as far as they could go. No one knows who her birth parents actually were. There were some assumptions running but nothing concrete was ever found. Turns out, she had been under the care of two one hit wonder pop singers up until the age of 12. She wasn’t their real daughter. In fact, she had actually been found abandoned in the woods as an infant. There she was found by Lennart - one of the one hit wonders in question - where he brought her back home and raised her in secret with his wife Leila. That was until Lennart and his wife Leila were brutally murdered by their surrogate daughter after she turned 12. It was at this point she was taken in by her so-called brother named Jerry.

The media constantly tried to track him down but he had already fled to America with his new wife and surrogate son and denied all media contact. He was out of the police's jurisdiction. Let’s hope he doesn’t bring another monster onto the world with his son like he did with his so-called surrogate sister, Tesla. As to how Teresa and Tesla met? They met over the internet, became friends and the rest was history. Johannes would sometimes mention this mysterious new friend of Teresa’s that no one had ever met. I guess we finally got our answer as to who she was.

Amongst Tesla’s victims was a sleazy record producer named Max Hensen. They eventually found his body buried in a shallow grave. When the police searched his apartment, they found enough child porn to convict him of a lifetime. Not that it mattered since the bastard was already six foot under. No great loss there, really. I guess maybe Tesla did one good deed for the world. If you can call it that.

Time eventually moved on, weeks turned into months, months turned into years. Teresa Svensson and the former Tora Larsson - or Tesla as she is now referred to - faded from the public spotlight but remain at large. Their story became an infamous legend nonetheless. They say time heals all wounds. As time went on, I began to heal. Though I can’t say if the nation ever really healed.

Predictably, there were a slew of electric drill killings that would pop up from time to time. Much the same as kids in America would shoot up classrooms, so too would the Wolves of Skansen return to make their presence known. Wayward teenage girls following in the footsteps of their idols with the same grizzly methods. Some of these copycats were caught. Others fled into the darkness and were never found. Of course this all led to speculation. Perhaps it was some of the original girls of the so-called wolf pack reminding us all that they were still out there. Or perhaps it was Teressa and Tesla themselves. Still out there, still recruiting and still on the hunt.

I still think about Johannes to this very day. But now I’m in my 30’s and have a husband and children of my own. Two to be exact. One boy and one girl. Ages 6 and 4 respectively. We named our little boy Johannes in honor. My husband was very gracious in allowing me that. He’s a good man at heart. I sometimes look at my daughter and wonder though. What thoughts lurk in her seemingly innocent head? Now that I’m a parent, I think back to that interview with Teressa’s parents and wonder the same things they probably wondered. Could my own daughter be just as capable of being a monster? Or worse, as monstrous as the infamous Teresa Svensson? No, of course not...but then again, they probably said the same thing too.

As I write this diary entry, I look at today's news. Some of the girls involved with the Skansen massacre have been let free on good behaviour and psychiatric care. Others remain locked away for life. Meanwhile Tesla and Teresa remain unseen and unheard from. To this day, no one knows what became of them.

But their one song ‘Fly’ remains a sort of cult underground hit. A morbid fascination amongst the youth of today as some still identify with its lyrics. After the massacre, the mainstream media completely blacklisted it. Mind you they had no problem glorifying a serial killer but the one song by said serial killer was never to be heard on mainstream radio ever again out of “respect to the victims.” But as the Streisand Effect has taught us time and time again, the more you try to suppress something, the further it will spread. And so too did ‘Fly’ spread its wings as people sat on the internet deconstructing the lyrics trying to find the reason behind the massacre. Others continued to find solace and comfort in her voice separating the art from the artist. In other corners of the internet remain fan sites dedicated to their idols pleading for a “glorious return” from the Wolves of Skansen. The human mind never ceases to amaze me.

These days I live far away from the city out in a rural area. After everything that happened, it became my goal to get as far away from the suburbs where I once lived. Here, it’s not uncommon to hear the howls of wolves at night in the neighboring forests. I sometimes wonder; are they still out there? Howling with the rest of their pack? And could it be that they are waiting for the day the rest of their pack returns to them?

Needless to say, I still sleep comfortably with that same electric drill beside my bed. Yes, I still have my own set of ‘claws.’ And they continue to wait for that day...should it ever come.

[metoo]

Well done!

[danielmann861]

Well done!

Thanks...was kind of fun to write. Didn't really have a plan with it...kind of just poured out of me and kind of just went where it went as I wrote. I kind of want to go back to it in diary format and do a longer version now...perhaps a day by day account as the investigation is ongoing as opposed to the 20 years later type thing I did above.

I initially had another idea for Jerry. I almost wrote that he got caught by the police and lost his new chance at happiness as his new wife left him. But I changed it out...I liked Jerry's story in the book and I kind of like that he got a fresh start at a new life and thought it was cheap to have it destroyed. Perhaps more realistic, but I kind of liked the idea of him fleeing to America with his new wife.

But yeah, was kind of fun to write and I thought it came out well enough considering I've never written fan fiction before.

I love the way Little Star ends with Theres accepting Teresa's hand, but I always wanted to see the aftermath of the massacre. I hope one day John officially follows up Little Star with another short story. If he hasn't done so already. I don't even necessarily want closure on Teresa and Theres, I just think it'd be interesting to see him write a follow up on that world in general. Maybe a copy cat following in their footsteps? Or from the perspective of another obsessed fan trying to hunt them down to join them? Or something like above. But oh well, I took a stab at writing something of my own to follow up on this world. I thought it was a fun idea to have Agnes' perspective since it's a perspective we never really get in the book. To see how she deals with the pain of losing Johannes and the idea of her using the 'claws' in her own way. At first I thought it might have been too on the nose to suggest she becomes a "wolf hunter" hunting them down looking for vengeance, but I kind of liked where it was going and just went there...like she sort of healed but still has scars and is still subconsciously waiting for that day.

[gkmoberg1]

It has been a long time since I read Little Star and as I read your story, parts came back one after another.

This is a terrific viewpoint upon which to write a fan-fiction. Really well done!

Interesting follow-up comments too. I had once contemplated creating a story from Jerry's viewpoint, one that followed the story. But as you point out he's fled, and I didn't see what could be done more on that. My other thoughts had been to create background stories for the girls who came be part of the wolf pack. But on this, I heard JAL had notes on how these characters were to have been developed, so I left that alone.

[Jameron]

Nicely done

As gkmoberg1 said, it's been a while since I read Little Star and I couldn't remember who Agnes was until the connection with Johannes and Teresa's shared childhood was mentioned, lol. I have a memory like a sieve. You should be happy with this, your first fanfiction, it was well written.

[danielmann861]

Thanks Jameron and Gkmoberg...I'm glad you both liked it

Never felt an urge to write LTROI fan fiction, but LS was the one that got me...go figure

Interesting follow-up comments too. I had once contemplated creating a story from Jerry's viewpoint, one that followed the story. But as you point out he's fled, and I didn't see what could be done more on that. My other thoughts had been to create background stories for the girls who came be part of the wolf pack. But on this, I heard JAL had notes on how these characters were to have been developed, so I left that alone.

Come to think of it, Ronja would be an interesting pack member to focus in on. Considering she supposedly ate glass to try and commit suicide at one point. I almost want to know her backstory and how she got to that point. That could be very interesting if JAL ever wanted to make a short story out of her

[Siggdalos]

I hope one day John officially follows up Little Star with another short story. If he hasn't done so already. I don't even necessarily want closure on Teresa and Theres, I just think it'd be interesting to see him write a follow up on that world in general.

Out of all his post-LS stories, the only one that sort of takes place in the same world is The Kindness. However, the only connection is that Bröderna Djup appear in both novels, and The Kindness makes no mention of the Skansen massacre, so it's more akin to how Roland and Tropicos appear in The Final Handling, LS, and The Pigs even though those three universes are otherwise unconnected. (To the best of anyone's knowledge, anyway. Since The Pigs is still unpublished, it might contain elements that do tie it to other JAL stories.)