Helena came up above the surface again and gasped for air. Sure, the water was cold, but still not as ice-cold as she had expected. Before she jumped, Sven had carefully checked that no large stones where hiding under the surface closest to the cliff. First, she had hesitated a few seconds, but then she had forced herself to take the leap out into the air. She loved the combination of the tingling feeling in her stomach as she fell through the air and then the almost paralyzing shock when the cold water enveloped her body.
"Again!" she shouted happily and swam towards Sven who was swimming a little further out in the lake.
"Not bad, my darling!" he shouted back. "I thought that I would freeze to death before you would dare to jump."
"Cut it out, Sven! Which one of us did just now fearlessly jump of a high cliff while the other one walked into the water from the shore like an old lady?"
"What do you mean? I had to check that it was safe for you to jump. I don’t want my cute, but at the same time fragile wife to hurt herself."
"Yeh, sure," Helena mumbled and put her arms around his neck and kissed him.
What a fantastic idea Sven had come up with a few weeks ago. She had first been reluctant to the idea that they would take a camping trip in the mountains. Even though she loved nature, she couldn’t see herself crowded in a small tent with the rest of the family for a whole week. But she was wrong. It had been a lovely trip so far, and even the kids had loved it.
Everything felt so beautiful and perfect and she gently whispered in her husband’s ear, "I think you deserve a surprise, my darling. Swim closer to the shore where you can reach the bottom."
Sven immediately took the hint and swam with her arms hanging around his neck until he could reach the bottom. Sometimes you can be so sluggish, my dear husband, but when it comes to sex, you have hardly any problems with the ability to grasp, she thought happily while putting her legs around his hip. Sven was ready, and she sank down over him in one single movement. The cold water and the heat between them created a strange feeling and made her even more aroused, and she felt that she was reaching climax fast.
But then Sven suddenly mumbled in her ear, "The children, Helena! You have to think about the children!"
Helena stopped moving, leaned back a bit and looked at her husband.
"What about them?" she said surprised. "Don’t you think they can take care of themselves for a while? They are just playing on the beach behind the cliff and Anna is old enough to keep an eye on Erik. Nothing can happen to them. Let it go, darling!"
She began to move again but Sven stopped her.
"But you have to think about the children Helena."
Helena leaned back once again and looked at Sven. He looked worried. But why? This was ridiculous! Since when did he worry about the children when they had sex? He wanted to have sex even if the kids were sleeping in the same room.
She pressed herself against him again and tried to kiss him, but he immediately pushed her away so hard that she had to let him go and then he began to swim out to the middle of the lake while he was shouting, "You have to try Helena, for the sake of the children, you have to try!"
What’s wrong with him? This is insane! But okay, I may just as well check on the kids then, she thought, and swam around the cliff towards the beach where the children were playing. But as she approached the beach it was empty and deserted. The kids were nowhere to be found and their tent had also disappeared. Did I swim the wrong way? She thought, now worried. Or perhaps the beach is further away? But that couldn’t be right. The beach looked just as she remembered it, except it was all empty. She climbed onto the small, rounded, rocky stones that decorated the shoreline and looked around for her clothes, but they were also gone.
Everything felt so unpleasant and wrong and suddenly she saw something moving behind the large hill to the right of her. She immediately turned around to call for Sven, but he had disappeared, and the lake was completely blank and silent. She decided to investigate what it was behind the hill on her own and walked cautiously towards it while mumbling silently to herself, "It’s probably the children playing hide and seek with me. And it wouldn’t surprise me if Sven also…"
She fell silent and froze in the middle of her movement, shocked by what she saw as she came around the hill. By a tree was a huge man who was busy tying a woman to the tree trunk.
"But? I don’t understand… What’s happening?" she mumbled.
She looked desperately around the landscape in the hope that Sven might show up and help her, but he was still nowhere to be seen and suddenly the man turned to her and shouted in a deep voice, "Come on, Helena! You have to help me! We have to punish her! Look what she did to me..."
He pointed at his throat which was soaked in dark red blood and Helena slowly began to move towards the tree. She tried to hold back her steps, but it was impossible, her legs seemed to live a life of their own. Soon she was standing next to the man and he immediately offered her a large knife and said in appealing tone, "Can you please help me punish her, Helena?"
Helena closed her hand over the knife handle and asked hesitantly, "But, why? What has she done to us?"
"You know why, Helena," he said firmly. "She has destroyed everything! She has taken away our home planet. It’s her fault that Earth is gone!"
Helena froze when she heard the words.
"What do you mean? Is Earth gone?" she whispered with a trembling voice.
"Yes, everything is gone. There is nothing left… Now do what you have to do," the man said with a low convincing voice and pointed at the woman.
Helena felt dizzy. She loved Earth! Earth was her home! What did he really mean when he said that Earth was gone? And wasn’t she on Earth right now?
She turned to the man again, but he just pointed at the woman without saying anything more. The woman seemed to be drugged and her head was hanging down. Her hair hid her face and Helena instinctively wanted to explain to her that she didn’t have to worry. That she wasn’t going to listen to this man's confused chatter.
But suddenly she felt a burning feeling in her chest, and she realized she hated this woman. She hated her over everything else. Earth was gone and it was this woman's fault! She had to pay the price for what she did! She must die!
Helena took two quick steps towards the woman and began to furiously stab her in her chest. After each stab, the woman whined weakly and emitted strange gurgling sounds while the man slid up by her side and whispered excitedly in her ear, "Well done, Helena! You are doing great! Well done! Stab deeper, stab harder, she deserves to die!"
She felt a pleasant tingeing feeling in her body, and every time she drilled the knife into the woman’s chest, the feeling grew stronger. The woman only got what she deserved, she thought pleased. Take away Earth from us! How did she dare to do such a thing? There was only one punishment for such a horrible act, and it was death!
It felt like time stood still. The only thing that existed was herself, the man beside her and the dying woman. The woman's chest was now soaked in thick dark blood, and Helena thought that it wouldn’t take long now before she was dead.
But suddenly it was something that annoyed her. The pleasant tingling feeling was gone. She tried not to think about it and just continued to focus on her task, but she couldn’t ignore it anymore. She heard someone shouting at her from somewhere far, far away. At first, she didn’t recognize the voice, but then she realized that it was Sven who was shouting. His voice grew stronger and stronger and finally his voice echoed over the landscape.
"Helena! Stop! Don’t hurt yourself Helena! Stop!"
She froze with the knife still deep in the woman's chest. Then she slowly turned around and there on the hill behind them was Sven. He looked so sad and small, and he shouted over and over again, "Please Helena, you have to stop! Come back to us now. Come back for the sake of our kids!"
"Don’t listen to him," the man said calmly as he closed his hand around hers and began to slowly thrust the knife into the woman's chest again.
"Don’t you understand that he’s with them? It’s just as much his fault. We’ll take care of him after we’re done with her."
Helena nodded slightly and then they continued to stab the woman together. But her anger was gone, and she only followed the man's movements without any energy of her own. She felt like she just wanted to get away from the situation, just run away from there, but no matter how much she tried, she couldn’t move an inch.
She turned her head to see if Sven was standing on the hill. Maybe he could help her? But he had disappeared, and then she immediately understood why he was gone. He had left her as a punishment because she had lost their children. He could of course not be with such an irresponsible woman. Tears ran down her cheeks as she realized that she had lost her dear family forever. She felt totally abandoned. No family, no friends, no people, no Earth. Everything was gone!
But then suddenly she heard something familiar. A warm feeling spread through her chest as she heard weak laughter and cheerful shouts from the beach behind the hill.
My children!
It must be the Anna and Erik, she thought. Sven has finally found them! What joy! The heavy weights immediately disappeared from her feet and she could move again. She pulled away from the man's grip and threw away the knife while she backed away from the tree.
The man stared at her with an uncomprehending look on his face as he asked quietly, "Don’t you want to help me more, Helena? I thought we had an agreement? I thought we were going to do this together?"
Helena just shook her head, backed away a few steps, then turned around and started running towards the beach. She ran for her life, and her heart was beating so hard in her chest that it almost felt like it would burst. I have to hurry! she thought desperately. I have to immediately explain to Anna and Erik that I love them! That I would never leave them!
When she came around the hill, she saw two small children playing by the shoreline. There they are, she thought relieved. She slowed down her steps and approached them cautiously. The children sat crouching over something and seemed very busy. It almost looked like they were building something, but she couldn’t really see what it was. She moved as carefully as she could, as if not to scare them off, and when she finally reached them, both children turned around and said simultaneously, "Hi Mommy! Look what a nice raft we have built!"
"Yes, it is a really nice raft," she replied cautiously. "Very skillful of you!"
The children turned around again and continued to build on the raft while they were singing quietly. Helena looked worriedly around the rocky landscape. Where’s Sven? Why isn’t he here with our children?
She was just about to open her mouth and ask the children where their father was, when Anna took her hand and said, "Don’t worry Mommy. Dad will be here soon. He had to do something first…"
She looked at Helena with a cunning look on her face and continued, "Why don’t you try out our raft to see if it floats as it should? Please Mommy!"
"Yes, what a great idea. Mommy, can’t you do that. Please!" Erik said as he jumped to his feet and grabbed her other hand and before she could say anything, the children had led her up on the raft.
"Sit in the middle of the raft," Anna said kindly but firmly. "I think it’s safest there."
But Helena didn’t want to sit down. She wanted to be with her kids here on the beach. But she couldn’t control her body, and soon she was sitting down with her legs crossed while facing the children. They didn’t look happy anymore and she immediately wanted to jump off the raft and comfort them. But then suddenly the raft slid away from the shoreline by itself and she saw that both Anna and Erik were crying. In panic she put her arms in the water and tried desperately to paddle back to the shore, but the raft inexorably slid further and further out. Soon she was in the middle of the lake and Anna and Erik yelled with sad and upset voices, "Mommy! Mommy! Come back! We love you Mommy! We love you!"
She wanted to yell back to them that she wasn’t going anywhere and that she also loved them, but no matter how much she tried, she could only produce an inaudible mumble.
Suddenly, the raft slowly began to sink. It was as if it had suddenly lost its buoyancy and Helena prepared to start swimming. But then she saw that a rope from the raft was stuck around her foot and in panic she tried to untie it. But it was too late. The raft sank and the weight of it slowly pulled her under the surface. She made one last desperate effort to keep her head over the surface, and just before she disappeared into the depth again, she saw Sven walking away from the beach holding Anna and Erik’s hands.
Then the cold water enveloped her, and slowly sank through the darkness. After a while, she landed softly on what she assumed was the bottom of the lake and it felt like she got wrapped in warm soft cotton.
No thoughts.
No feelings.
She was just a point of consciousness surrounded by endless darkness.
An eternity passed before she noticed any change. Suddenly she saw a small streak of light far, far away. At first, she didn’t know if she imagined it, but yes, something was breaking through the thick darkness. And didn’t she hear a faint mumble? She listened intently. Yes, someone was talking. It sounded like the person was far away and close to her at the same time. Then she felt something soft on her head, as if someone was stroking her hair. The voice that was talking was quite close now, as if the person was sitting just next to her.
She opened her eyes.
It was dark, but not pitch-black. She saw a faint streak of light from a door that was slightly open. And when she turned her head, she saw Sven sitting just beside her. He was slowly stroking her hair and he had a worried look on his face.
"Hi, my darling," he whispered gently. "Finally, you are awake! You have been sleeping for over a day now, and me and the children have been worried sick."
Helena tried to say something, but her throat felt so dry that she couldn’t make a sound. Where was she? She looked around, but it was too dark for her to see anything but faint silhouettes.
Suddenly she was blinded by a strong unbearable light and she instinctively closed her eyes.
"Take it easy kids! Close the door! She just woke up!"
The bright light disappeared, and she gently opened her eyes again. In the dim light she saw that Anna and Erik were sitting on the bedside. They stared at her with worried faces, and it looked like Erik was going to cry at any moment. Anna took her hand in hers and said gently, "Hi mommy. I’m so glad that you’re finally awake."
Anna's eyes were filled with tears and Helena couldn’t quite understand why they all looked so worried and sad, and she felt she had to say something to calm them down.
"Hi, my sweet darlings," she whispered cautiously. "I feel fine. Don’t worry. I'm just a bit tired."
As soon as she spoke, both children immediately threw themselves onto her and hugged her as hard as they could. She couldn’t possibly understand why they reacted like this and turned her head and saw that Sven was crying too. What is this? Have they all gone completely insane? she thought confused. They’re acting like I've just come back from the dead.
The dead?
Who is dead?
She felt the anxiety spread through her body and saw inner pictures of how she was stabbing someone with a large knife.
But who was she stabbing?
And why?
Because she deserved it!
But why did she deserve it?
Because Earth…
It felt as if there was no oxygen left in the room and she was gasping for air.
Because Earth was gone!!!
Suddenly, it felt like electricity was passing through her body. Every muscle cramped, and the children flew off her and fell to the floor. Somewhere deep inside of her, something terrible and unspeakable was building up, and it had to come out. It had to come out right now, otherwise she would die!
It meandered its way through her throat. It squeezed its way through her mouth and then she roared furiously in torments that never seemed to end.
She wanted to die! She had to die!
But death didn’t come to her rescue her and after a while, her body relaxed a bit, and she sank exhausted down to the bed and she closed her eyes and the saving darkness embraced her and the last thing she heard was Sven shouting:
"Anna, get the doctor! Hurry! Get the doctor!"