Chapter Text
WILHELM
I woke up in a strange bed, and that wasn’t the weirdest thing. The weirdest thing was that I thought I might be in jail. It looked like what I imagined jail to be: an uncomfortable cot in a sterile room.
It didn’t make sense for me to be in jail. The last thing I remembered was Simon coming over. We were due to start as third years at Hillerska in a few days. The school had been shut down for a year but finally got certified again. Simon and I were sharing a room this year, and I couldn’t be happier. The last year had been hard on us both. Simon had been in Gothenburg at his new school, and his family couldn't stay in their old home because they were still receiving death threats.
I had to go to school in France, so we could only see each other on video chat. My mother had gotten better, but that only meant she ignored me most of the time again. I wasn’t even able to come home for Christmas because they were busy—or maybe they just didn’t want to see me. I almost didn’t even care which anymore. She had promised it would be different, but it was a lie. Maybe she meant it when she said it, but once she was back to her old self, it was like I wasn’t important anymore. After all, I had told her I wasn’t going to be her heir anymore. That made me pretty much useless to her. My father was his usual self, MIA.
The door opened, and someone came in. It was a man, probably around Erik’s age if he had lived. He had a man bun—definitely not something Erik would have worn.
“Hey.” The man came in further and sat down at the bottom of the cot. “I shouldn’t be here, but I feel like we should talk.” Keeping quiet seemed like the best choice until I knew what was happening. “Can you just tell me what’s going on?” I would like to know that too. “Listen, I understand that all this can’t be your idea.” What did he think I did? “There were at least four more people who robbed Eco Vera.” I couldn’t help it; I had to look at him now. They thought I robbed someone. “I’m here to help you, don’t you get it?” He then hit my leg. It wasn’t a hard hit, more like something Erik would have done to get my attention. The man then stood up and leaned against the wall. “I…thought of Grandma on the way here. She just wanted it to turn out well for you.” Why would this man’s grandmother want things to turn out well for me? The man again sat on the cot with me. “There’s another thing you and I need to talk about. Nina and Zac already know.” Who were Nina and Zac? Who was this man?
I didn’t want him there anymore. I needed time to think and figure out what was going on. “I want to be alone.”
“Linus, I need to tell you—” the man started to say.
Who was Linus? “I don’t care. Get out,” I told him.
The man wasn’t listening to me and kept trying to talk. I started yelling for him to get out. If this was a jail, I didn’t want to be harassed by some stranger. Finally, a man came in and took the other one out, leaving me alone with my thoughts. A dark place to be on the best of days. The one who kept trying to talk to me seemed upset when he left. It was strange; the way he was acting was like Erik used to.
I missed Erik, even knowing what he did, even with the chance he wouldn’t have liked me. I missed him. Having absentee parents made us closer. Trauma had bonded me with August. It wasn’t a bond anyone else would understand. I love August, but in equal parts, I hate him. The same could be said for him about me. We have an understanding; it’s made on very fragile ground and could break at any time.
After a few hours, a woman came in and said I was free to go. She didn’t call me by my name, though. She called me Linus. I wasn’t sure what was going on but was handed some things they said were mine and was able to leave.
I knew I was in Stockholm but in a part I had never been before. I really hadn’t been many places; the times I did go without authorization, I usually got into trouble, like with the fight. Why couldn’t I remember why I was in jail? Not only that, I was handed a wallet with an ID of someone with my face but not my name. This had to be the weirdest and longest dream ever.
Walking around, I noticed two men following me. Both were bald with facial hair. Every time I started walking fast, they did too. I had never had my life threatened before, not really. There were things online like that but not actual real people chasing me. But now people were chasing me, and I felt the danger radiating from them.
A car slammed on its brakes beside me.
“GET IN!” a man yelled. I shook my head. “Get in, Linus, don’t make me run you over to get you in here.” The man was wearing an eyepatch and had a dark, foreboding aura to him. I’d been spending too much time with Maddie. She was the only one at my school last year that I knew before, so we pretty much stuck together. Felice was supposed to go to that school, but at the last moment, her parents pulled her out.
While the man looked even scarier than the two chasing me, he didn’t feel threatening, even with the threat to run me over. I opened the car door and got in just as the men caught up to me. Thankfully, the man in the car took off at that moment, leaving them far behind.
“You really are causing a lot of problems, you know that?” the man asked.
“Who are you?” I asked him instead.
He looked over at me oddly. “Did you hit your head?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m Barry, you know, Barry.”
Not wanting him to kick me out of the car to face those two men again, I nodded and lied. “Yeah, sorry. I guess I’m just tired.”
“I’ve been in lockup. Not much to do but sleep. Your brother is going crazy looking for you.”
“My brother?”
“Are you okay? You’re not acting like yourself.”
“I’m fine. Just tired.”
“Uh huh,” the man, Barry, said unbelievingly. Yeah, Simon never believed me when I used it as an excuse either.
SIMON!
“Can I use your phone?” I asked.
“Where’s yours?” Barry asked.
“They didn’t give me one when I left. I guess I lost it,” I said.
“You can’t go losing our only communication with you. You have no idea what’s going on,” Barry said, shaking his head.
“What’s going on?” I asked, curious about what this man was talking about.
“I think it’s best if Gustav or Nina tells you,” Barry replied.
“Who?” I asked.
“Look at me,” Barry demanded. I felt the anger building up in the man. He looked at me and then ran a finger over my scar. “It’s you. I don’t know what you’re playing at, but quit it. Your brother and sister are losing their minds worrying about you.”
“My brother is dead, and I don’t have a sister,” I told him. I wasn’t about to be accused of playing games with this man, even if he scared me.
“Gustav isn’t dead,” Barry said, sounding horrified by the idea.
“My brother’s name was Erik,” I told him insistently.
“Just sit back. I’m taking you back to a safe place until Emil or Gustav can come and get you,” Barry said sternly.
I thought about arguing, but what was the point? Right now, I was safe.
“Can I use your phone?” I asked again, since we got off topic.
The man pulled out a phone from his pocket and handed it to me. I had no idea what was going on, but Simon would know. I put in his number and waited.
“Hello?” a woman asked, it wasn’t Sara or Linda.
“Is Simon there?” I asked the woman.
“Who?” she asked.
“Simon Eriksson. Is he there?” I asked again.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know anyone by that name.” She then disconnected the call, and I was left reeling. What was going on? It had been Simon’s number yesterday.
“Who’s Simon?” Barry asked.
“No one.” I wasn’t about to put Simon’s life in danger. “Where are you taking me?”
“Somewhere safe, I told you. I wanted to say sorry about your grandmother; she was a good woman,” Barry said.
“My grandmothers both died before I was born,” I barely knew one grandparent and he died a while back.
Barry grabbed the phone out of my hand and hit a button. If he was going to talk on the phone, I was just going to look out the window and act like I wasn’t paying attention. Of course, I was going to pay attention because this man was scary and thought I was someone else. I didn’t want to be accused of lying anymore.
“I have him. He needs you; he’s talking out of his head. He doesn’t need Nina, he needs you,” Barry said into the phone.
Barry talked a little more on the phone, but I wasn’t sure what they were talking about. I needed to get away and go home. I would say my parents would be worried, but they wouldn’t. I turned eighteen a few months ago, and now that I wasn’t going to take over after her, they kind of just let me be. Which was why I was glad to be going back to Hillerska. I knew most everyone from our class was coming back. The only one I knew that wasn’t was Alexander. Not that I blamed him. Hillerska was not fun for him. I don’t know why his father wanted him there so much. I didn’t help matters by blaming the drugs on him. But if the choice was Simon or Alexander, I would pick Simon every time. Sure, there was the option to tell the truth, but at the time, I couldn’t even consider it.
A little while later, a small woman came into the room that Barry had kindly let me use. She had short brown hair and looked a little harried.
“My Linus,” the woman said, coming at me with her arms open. There was that name again, Linus.
I stepped back, out of her reach. “Look, I’m sorry. I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m not. My name is Wilhelm. My mother’s name is Kristina, and my father’s name is Ludvig. My brother died in a horrible car accident two years ago; his name was Erik.” I thought maybe saying I was a prince would get me into trouble. I didn’t know who these people were, and I’d already been chased by two scary-looking men and saved by an even scarier-looking man.
She turned around and looked at Barry, who was standing in the doorway.
“What’s wrong with him?” she asked.
“I think he’s had some sort of breakdown. Living in some sort of fantasy land. I’ve never seen him like this before,” Barry said.
“I’m right here,” I told them.
“We need to get out of here,” she said just before all hell broke loose. Men in riot gear broke down the door, grabbed her, and forced me to the ground. Barry was also being pinned down. I saw the man from the jail.
“Your own mother,” Barry said to the man before we were all carried out.