The Mermaid by Anki Edvinsson

Author:Anki Edvinsson [Edvinsson, Anki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

42

Ibrahim took a bite of the sandwich that Klara’s sister brought to her room. His favourite: egg with salt. The floor lamp in one corner was the only light in the room. The darkness outside the window was hidden by the blind. Klara sat next to him with her back against the wall. Her light hair was loose and hung down over her shoulders.

When Klara’s parents came and picked her up after the initial news about the bombing, he didn’t want to stay at home, but instead be with Klara. So he’d gone to her house, but overheard the argument they were having about him. The shouting. So he didn’t ring the doorbell but instead knocked on Svea’s window and was let in that way.

Klara looked at him. ‘How are you doing?’

He did not meet her gaze. ‘Bad. I don’t know what I should do,’ said Ibrahim, sounding more desperate than he wanted to.

‘You should do what’s right,’ she replied.

He snorted. Easy for you to say, he thought, but didn’t want to be mean to her. Ibrahim was afraid of losing Klara; without her he was nothing. She was perfect, like a dream. He had followed his father’s advice and got a smart girlfriend.

‘If you’re innocent and don’t know anything about Samir’s explosion, you have to tell the police that,’ she continued.

Suddenly a knock on the door was heard.

‘Hello, what are you doing in there?’ the girls’ mother asked.

Ibrahim stopped in mid-motion and stared at the door. The parents couldn’t know that he was there – they would call the police. He wasn’t ready for questions.

‘We’re just talking. She’s sad,’ said Svea.

Their mother didn’t say anything. The door was locked. If she discovered that she would be suspicious. ‘Okay,’ she said at last. ‘We’re going to bed. Wake me if you want to talk, Klara.’

‘I’ll take care of her,’ said Svea. ‘She’s eating her sandwich now.’

Ibrahim breathed out and finished the rest, wondered how he would go to the toilet without being discovered.

Svea sat down on the bed, right in front of him. Klara moved and joined her, took his hand, her skin soft around his fingers. The whole situation was strange, and not just everything with Samir and Omar. Svea’s room was full of colours: pink, blue, green, white. And Klara looked like an angel in the midst of it all. Innocent. After living most of his life in slums, among drugs, criminals, violence and evil, he was now sitting in a room in pastel shades that smelled of violet. With him were two girls who knew nothing about life. Ibrahim thought about the girls he’d met on his journey here. Sex slaves, ISIS women, oppressed and oppressors. Victims and perpetrators. All packed together in refugee camps that were like one big bin with people no one wanted to know about.

Ibrahim had managed better because he was male and had protection from Samir and Omar. They had always been together. When they came to Sweden, Ibrahim chose a different direction in life to honour his parents.

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