The Day Before

The day before all of this mess started, Norin went to visit Benja as always on Saturdays. Mr Wilson opened the door. His usually beaming smile looked somehow gloomy. “Come in, Norin. Benja is in her room,” he said. Everything in the house seemed kind of muted. As if someone had taken the colour out and turned down the volume. As Norin climbed the stairs, he could feel Mr Wilson’s gaze follow him.

“Your dad is acting strangely,” he said as he entered Benja’s room. She was laying on her bed. Her blanket pulled so high, she almost entirely vanished underneath it. “And you’re acting strangely,” Norin remarked, eyeing Benja. “Are you not well?” He peered at her pale face.

“Sometimes life is not behaving the way I would like it to.” Benja’s voice sounded weak.

“What do you mean?” Norin was worried.

“Nothing. Forget it. Life is nothing we can haggle with. So what do you want to do today?” She quickly changed the subject. “I don’t feel like getting up.”

“Do you want to play Seven Dead Kittens?”

After several rounds Benja suddenly stopped and stared at one of the Dead-Kitten cards. “What do you think happens?” she asked.

“Happens?” Norin looked up from his own cards. “To the kitten?”

“No. You know: after death.” She twirled the card in her hand.

“I don’t know. According to Mr Kellter, good people go to heaven. He always talks about an afterlife or something.”

“But what do you believe?”

“Don’t know. Maybe we will live on to haunt the people around us. Like, I would live in your closet and keep you up all night. You know, to spend even more time together.”

Benja laughed. “I like that idea!”

In the evening when Norin was leaving, Benja had a strange look in her eyes.

“Norin,” she said. “the best thing I did in my life, was hiding in that freezer. I would do it all again, if that meant, I would meet you again.”