Tweedledum and Tweedledee (22 page)

H
UMPTY
D
UMPTY

1

"
I
'M NOT DOING IT,"
Ella said and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Her mother sighed and rubbed her head with her eyes closed. "You have to Ella," she said. "It's not up for discussion."

Ella looked at her mother defiantly. She was biting her lip and felt her cheeks begin to redden.

Her mother looked at her, and then slapped her across her face. "Stop that," she said. "It's going to happen whether you like it or not. You're doing as I tell you, end of discussion."

Ella groaned. The old house sighed as the winds picked up outside. Ella's mother hurried to the window of the kitchen where they were standing and closed it. As she did, she saw black clouds gather in the sky above. The wind caused the house to shake. A vase fell from the top of a shelf and shattered all over the floor. Her mother sighed deeply.

"I have to clean this up. Go to your room. You're doing as I told you and I will hear no more of it."

Ella growled as she walked past her mother and stepped on pieces of the broken vase with her bare feet on her way out, crushing them further and making more of a mess.

Her mother picked up the broom and ran after her, chasing her out the door. "Get out you ... you ... Humpty Dumpty!"

That was what they called Ella. Humpty Dumpty. Everyone did, even her own parents. Why? Well first of all she was clumsy. Always tripping over her own two feet, or walking into corners of tables or hammering her feet into things. It all came down to her sight, really. Ella didn't see very well. She had been born with a defect in both her eyes forcing her to wear brick-thick glasses just to be able to see anything. But even while wearing them, she would constantly bump into things - and people. Sometimes things broke even when she didn't touch them, but simply because she was near. Light bulbs popped, shelves fell down, and windows suddenly blew open and smashed into walls.

Second of all it wasn't just her clumsiness that earned her the nickname. It was also the way she looked that made everyone - even those nice kids in school who tried really hard not to - think of the character from the silly nursery rhyme. See Ella was fat. But not like other kids were fat. She was so round she had no neck at all, it was like her body was one big oval lump, looking just like an egg, making her so similar to Humpty Dumpty himself that it almost hurt. It didn't matter how nice the kids were, they couldn't help but giggle when she passed by in the hallway of the school, and some couldn't help but hum or even sing out loud:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,

Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.

All the king's horses and all the king's men

Couldn't put Humpty together again

It's easy to imagine Humpty Dumpty, or Ella as her real name was, having a hard time accepting this as a part of her life and even if it quickly became a natural part of the other kids' daily lives - she suffered tremendously and dreaded every day she woke up in her bed.

Ella wasn't alone in life. She had a family. She had a mother, a father, an older sister named Louise and then there was Jacob. Jacob was her baby brother who Ella loved more than anything in this world. He was the first thing on her mind when she opened her eyes and the last thing she thought about before going to sleep in the old house on Enoe just outside the town of Karrebaeksminde. They lived on an island, a place where only a dozen people lived all year around since most houses were summer cabins and hotels. The island was packed at summertime but desolate and empty in the winter. Ella preferred the winters when she could take Jacob in her arms and walk to the beach and watch the big angry ocean throw its waves up on the sand and leave beautiful seashells for her to pick up. Ella liked the darkness that fell on Denmark at wintertime; she liked the heavy grey clouds and strong icy winds that kept the tourists away. She liked that no people were around to stare at her or make strange facial expressions because of her hideousness. 

"You're so ugly people are afraid of you," her mother said with disgust, not wanting to look at her own daughter because she repulsed her so much, because she couldn't understand how such a strange creature could have come out of her graceful body.

At first her parents had thought that something was very wrong with their daughter. She was a normal child at birth, but as soon as she turned a year her body had started to mutate. They did all they could to prevent it from happening. They restricted her diet till she was given nothing but vegetables, but still her body kept growing. On the doctor's orders they tried to give her more exercise. They ran with her at the beach, took long walks in the forest and they even bought her a trampoline so she could try and jump some of that extra fat off. But no matter how hard her parents tried, they couldn't stop the inevitable. Ella was getting fat. It didn't matter that both her parents were skinny, it didn't matter that her older sister was as gorgeous as any model seen in a magazine.

In her room Ella looked out at the ocean from her window. The strong winds made the waves even angrier, she loved how they foamed and splashed onto the shore. The black clouds made the day even darker much to her enjoyment. It suited her mood. She clenched her fist hard and the nails left small white half-moons in her palm. Then she felt tears behind her eyes. Just the very thought of what her mother had told her was going to happen stirred her up inside and forced her to strongly restrain her anger.

She jumped down from the window and walked to her baby brother's room next to hers. The old house moaned and sighed in the wind as she walked on the red carpet in the long hallway. A light bulb popped as she passed it. When she came closer she heard her brother’s gentle babbling and it immediately calmed her down. She opened the door and looked inside. Then she smiled. Jacob was sitting in his crib playing with a small dinosaur making noises with his mouth while gnawing on the pacifier. When he saw her he whined in joy, then stood up holding on the edge of the crib and started jumping with glee.

"What are you doing, you silly goose?" Ella asked as she approached.

Jacob reached up his arms signaling he wanted her to pick him up. "You want out of your jail, don't you?" she said and took him in her arms. Jacob hugged her tenderly with a small shriek. Then he pointed at the window. "You wanna have a look?" Ella asked. "There is a storm coming. I bet you want to look at that, huh?"

She brought him to the window and while standing behind him and holding his hands she sat him down in the windowsill to let him look out. He put the palm of his hand on the glass.

"Feels cold, right? It's because the wind is so cold outside."

Jacob looked up at her and grinned. Then he pointed at Ella. She laughed and nodded. "Ella. Can you say Ella?"

But Jacob hadn't started speaking yet. More than two years old and still not a word only babbling sounds. It annoyed their mother, but Ella enjoyed it. She wanted Jacob to stay the way he was. She enjoyed being the only one who understood everything he told her with his gestures and noises.

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving you here alone with
them
," Ella said and kissed Jacob's small nose. "They don't even understand anything you say. I'm the only one who knows that when you touch your throat it means you're thirsty or when you point into the air it's because you've heard an airplane. Mom and Dad are way too busy to notice those little things. If they send me away you'll have to learn how to speak." Jacob looked at her, and then tilted his head. Ella laughed again, and then she became serious. "Just promise me one thing; never ever become like everybody else. Promise me that?"

Jacob grinned and Ella took that as a yes.  The wind had gotten a strong hold on the big birch tree outside the window. Its long, bare branches scraped against the house. The sky above the ocean looked pitch-black and threatening.

Ella lifted Jacob up in her arms again. "Better get you back to bed," she said. "This storm looks like it could be a bad one."

2

T
HEY WERE MESSING
around. None of them really believed in this shit, well maybe except for Peter. He was the one who had brought the Ouija board to their secret meeting place above the gym. Now all four of them were putting their fingers on the planchette and Peter was asking it a question:

"Is there a spirit in the room?"

The planchette didn't move. Michael giggled. Peter looked at Ivan and the rest of the group. "Come on guys, it only works if you're serious about it."

Michael giggled again. Peter gave him a look.

"Come one, man," Michael said. "It's hard not to laugh."

Ivan stared at both of them and fought his own desire to giggle. But Peter would be furious and Ivan feared his anger more than anything. Peter had invited Ivan to be a part of the group, something Ivan had wanted for so long. To be accepted, to be a part of the secret order he had only heard rumors about. It was widely known among the students at Herlufsholm boarding school as the most exclusive group, one you had to be specially chosen to become a part of. Ivan had accepted Peter's invitation and gone through all the initiation rituals that cost him a trip to the hospital and several broken ribs, but that was well worth it now that he had the honor of becoming a full-blown member tonight.

"Let's try again," Peter said and they all put their fingers on the planchette. Peter closed his eyes and focused. "Is there a spirit in the room?"

They all stared at the board. Nothing happened. "We're not doing it right," Peter growled. "My brother used to use this and always received an answer."

Mads was Peter's older brother, the one who had introduced the secret order to his baby brother and passed down the keys to the secret place, thereby making him the leader. He had taught him all he knew, Peter always said. He had even helped him make his first kill. Tonight it was Ivan's first time and Peter had promised to help him follow through, to take his virginity, as they called it.

Peter closed his eyes again. "Is there a spirit in the room?" he asked.

"I don't know about this ..." Michael said.

He barely finished the sentence before Peter leaned over and slammed his fist into his face. Dazed Michael felt his nose and got blood on his hand. Then he grinned and bumped fists with Peter.

"Thanks man."

When they grabbed the planchette again it suddenly moved. Ivan gasped and watched as it moved towards "yes". Peter jumped excitedly from his chair. "We've got one!"

Ivan felt his heart rate go up. He had never seen anything like this before. His background was very academic and he had always been taught that anything not proven by science was bogus and for feeble women who were so bored in their lives that they had to believe that there was more to it than just this forsaken world. To him it was all fairy tales that stupid people (or stupid children) believed in. And if there was one thing Ivan wasn't, then it was just that. Stupid. He was smart. Top of his class. He opened his eyes widely as Peter spoke again:

"Tell us, spirit. Are you good or evil?"

A pause followed where they stared at the board. Then the planchette moved again and they all gasped simultaneously. It moved across the letters spelling out words that Peter put together.

"I ... am ... the ... spirit ... that ... was ... within ... Cain."

Peter smiled and nodded. "Cain killed Abel. That'll do," he said.

Ivan felt a chill crawl down his back. The wind was picking up outside the room and throwing leaves on the windows in the roof above them.

"Dear spirit that was within Cain, we worship you on this evening when we go and do our kill, but tell us evil spirit, where should we go. Who should we kill tonight?"

They all stared at the planchette in excitement as it spelled out a name.

"Lucas," Peter said out loud with a grin. "Who the hell is Lucas?"

"Maybe it means the Lucas family," Michael said. "They live on the island, by the beach. They have that girl; you know that fat little one who looks like an egg."

They all nodded and laughed. Ivan had only seen her once when he and his friends had spend their weekend in a summer cabin on the island of Enoe and he saw her bouncing on a trampoline in her yard as they passed it on their way to the beach. He shivered in disgust.

"Guess it's time to crack the egg," Peter said.

3

"
W
HAT WERE YOU
doing in your brother's room?"

Ella's father looked at her menacingly. He had seen her come out of Jacob's room after she had put the baby back in his bed. "You know we don't want you to go in there after he is put to bed."

Ella didn't even feel the pain on her behind when her father hit her once again with his belt on her bare skin. Her mother came upstairs and stood in front of Ella looking at her while she was lying across her father's lap with her pants pulled down to her knees.

"She is doing something to him, Frederik, I just know she is. He’s going to turn out just like her. We have to get her way from him. I'm afraid she has already cursed him somehow and that’s why he's not speaking. Oh, the horror, what if he never speaks? What if she has somehow taken away his ability to talk?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Marie," her father replied, then swung the belt again feeling a wave of pleasure course through his body.

 It left a bleeding mark, but Ella hardly moved. She stared defiantly at her mother while biting her lip.

Her mother turned her head away. "I don't like the way she looks at me," she said to her husband. "She does that all the time. I mean if looks could kill ..."

Ella's father sighed. "I agree that she has been defying us a lot lately, but she is still ..."