The Helios Disaster by Linda Boström Knausgaard

Author:Linda Boström Knausgaard [Knausgaard, Linda Boström]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Mythology, Ancient Greece, Fiction
ISBN: 9781642860689
Publisher: World Editions
Published: 2020-04-06T23:00:00+00:00

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PART TWO

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I REMEMBER THE taxi ride. And the room we came into. Urban’s hand on my shoulder. How he squeezed it. Calmly. As calmly as only he could do, and we sat down on two vinyl chairs. Three people came into the room. They introduced themselves to me and I stared at them, trying to understand what they were saying. I hadn’t seen anyone outside the family for a long time, and they were so bright. So bright, with their coats and their hair combed back neatly.

‘My name is Bengt,’ said one. ‘I’m a senior physician here. Your brother is very worried about you.’

‘Mats, I’m an intern.’

He was blond and smiled with the teeth he had. I was afraid of him. His upper body swayed this way and that as he sat down in his chair. The room had woven curtains that fought to cover the windows, but still a beam of light came in and cut across the senior physician, seeming to cut him in two, and I thought that he had a bright and a dark side.

The last person to introduce himself was Artan. He was a nurse here, he said in a voice that vibrated in the room. It was a voice you wanted to listen to, I had time to think as they sat before us like three judges and I was the one who would be judged. How had I ended up here?

Urban had gotten me dressed and said that we were going to the hospital, that there was nothing else we could do. He begged me to trust him. He had spoken to them on the phone.

‘Like I said, your brother is very worried. Can you tell us how you feel?’

This question was directed at me; it flew through the room like a spear.

‘Can you tell us?’ Bengt asked, crossing one leg over the other. He stared at me, forcing me to close my eyes. Bengt, Mats, and Artan wandered behind my eyelids like phantoms. They floated in the room and it was Urban’s hand that brought me back. He embraced me suddenly and tightly. He held onto me as if he would never let go, and that’s probably what he was saying with the embrace. I won’t let you go. I will never let you go. I opened my eyes again. They were sitting still in their chairs, and it was as if they had doubled, as if there were at least six of them there before me.

‘My sister hasn’t spoken for a long time,’ I heard my brother saying, far off.

‘How long has it been since you’ve spoken?’

I tried to loosen something in my throat, something that was in the way. I thought that he would hit me, Bengt, if I couldn’t. I looked at Artan, who met my gaze without wanting anything from me. But then, when I closed my eyes again, Urban squeezed my hand hard.

‘We’re all here to help you,’ said Bengt, and the intern and Artan nodded in agreement.

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