FÅ - 5 years later CONTINUED

[Kolya]

First of all a big: Thank you! to Peter Svensson for his script "Fucking Åmål - Five years later" which is really great and which I'm trying to continue here.
It's still unfinished but I definitely plan on continuing it as I had a lot of fun writing this. I hope you have some fun with it too. And if there's just a few people who like this I will probably release more lateron.

Be sure to have seen the movie "Fucking Åmål" and have read Peter Svensson's script before you read on here.


Fucking Åmål - Five years later (chapter 2)


When the train had left the station Elin still leaned out of the compartement window. She saw Agnes standing at the platform with a slightly confused look. And Elin felt like her body was stretched out on a rack as the distance between them rapidly grew. Then the train took a turn and she couldn't see her anymore.
She fell back to her seat. The beautiful houses of old Stockholm rushed by her window but Elin didn't see it. She cried silently.

There was only one other passenger in the compartement who sat opposite to Elin. She noticed now that he was leaning over to her.

"What is it?" she almost screamed at him. She instantly regretted it though when she saw the shy look on his face.

"Do you mind if I closed the window?" he muttered, "It's getting a bit cold in here."

"No." Elin said and made little throw-away motion with her hand. Actually she was getting cold too.

He closed the window and then sat down again. Elin looked at him. He had brown hair that was a bit too long for a man of his age. He seemed to be in his early thirties. He also had a brown parka with what looked like a fakefur-collar and he wore a black suit under it with a bloodred tie.
He smiled at her sheepishly when he noticed her gaze.

"Hello, I'm Lukas" he said.

"Elin." she answered briefly. She thought that he had a friendly face and he even seemed vaguely familiar. There was something about him that reminded her of someone, a friend she had known a long time ago. But she wasn't in the mood for talking, even if it had been God himself talking to her. So she looked out of the window.

"What seems to be the matter Elin?" he asked. When Elin didn't make an indication of answering he added: "I noticed you waving that girl goodbye."

Now she was seriously annoyed. "Ooooooah! Can't you just leave me alone? I don't need a fucking white knight saving me you see? So mind your own business."

He looked at her quite astonished but then leaned back into his seat. He took out a rumpled paper from his jacket and started reading.

When Elin was sure he wasn't looking at her she looked up at him for a second. Again she regretted a bit that she had been so rude. But at least he wasn't intruding on her anymore.
That moment the compartement door was opened from outside and the train guard that had witnessed her kissing Agnes at the station stepped in saying: "Tickets please."

Elin suddenly realized that she had no ticket. When she and Agnes had arrived at the station they'd been in such a hurry and their minds had been filled with so many different things that they had completely forgotten to buy a ticket for Elin.
For a moment she considered explaining the situation to him but then she didn't know how. And it would have been too embarassing in front of that Lukas guy anyway. So she just sat silently, staring out of the window and hoping that he would miss her. Which was pretty stupid of course as there were only two persons in the compartement.

The train guard checked Lukas' ticket then he faced Elin:
"Hello, can I see your ticket please?"

Elin didn't answer. Instead she crawled up her legs and hid her face as much as she could. This was all too much for her and she wanted to vanish into thin air.
But then she suddenly heard Lukas say:
"I'm sorry, we ... I mean I forgot to buy her a ticket."

"Is she your daughter?" the train guard asked for whatever reason.

"Um ... yeah. I mean yes, that's my daughter Elin. Look we really were in a hurry and I just forgot to buy her a ticket. Can I pay for it now?" Lukas asked.

The train guard still seemed a bit confused but then he said:
"Well sure, if you forgot the ticket you can pay the fare plus an additional charge of 20 Crowns now. That'll be 60 crowns then."

Lukas payed the price and a few moments later the train guard left. Lukas sat back again and looked at Elin who was still crawled up between her legs.

"He's gone." he said as a matter of fact.

From somewhere between her legs he heard a meekly: "Thank you."

"Well that's what white knights are for." Lukas said, trying to laugh it off. Then he realized that it must have sounded like a rebuttal on what she had said to him before and he quickly wished he hadn't said that.
Fortunately Elin didn't seem to mind this time. Slowly she put down her feet again and even smiled at him.

"Here's your ticket." he said handing it over to her.

"I'll give you the money." she said. "I don't have that much with me right now but if you give me your adress I promise I'll send it to you."

Lukas was reluctant though.
"Maybe I have a better idea instead." he said, "Why don't you tell me what happened to you and I pay you say ... 60 crowns for it?" He grinned childishly at her.

Elin thought this was a strange offer.
"Why do you want to know?" she said.

"Well I'm a curious guy to start with," he answered. "and I think there's something to be learned from every story that someone is willing to tell."

Elin clearly showed him with a look that this still seemed pretty strange to her. But then it was still a long ride to Karlstad and this Lukas seemed to be a nice guy and she had nothing better to do anyway.
So she started:
"Five years ago I went to school in Åmål ..."

"Åmål?" Lukas interrupted her. "That's the most boring smalltown I've ever been to."

"Yes it is," Elin said. "but I met the most beautiful, lovely person there."

"You mean the girl on the platform?" asked Lukas.

"Yes, Agnes." Elin said.

"So what happened?"

Elin told him their story while the train rolled down the tracks. Soon it began getting dark outside and the two of them sat closely together in the dimly lit cabin with Elin telling more and more of what had happened and Lukas asking her a myriad of questions. They were talking like good old friends and Elin felt very comfortable for the first time in a long time.

It wasn't before half an hour until the train would arrive in Karlstad when Elin had finished telling him about the most happy year in her life that she had spent with Agnes in Åmål.

"What happened?" asked Lukas as he had done many times by now.
"It seems ... you broke up? Why was that?"
He wasn't afraid to ask her directly anymore. Elin had grown comfortable with talking about her feelings. Now she sighed though and he suddenly wasn't sure anymore if he had pushed her to much.

"You don't have to tell if you don't want to." he said quickly.

"No, no it's really okay." Elin replied. "It's just that it was such a terrible mistake and so cruel to Agnes ... I would give everything in this damn world to make it undone and ..."

"Be together with her again?" Lukas asked gently.

"Yeah. But that's impossible now. She lives with another girl. Hanna!" Elin grimaced annoyed. But as soon as she realized what she was doing she stopped it and said:
"Hanna seems to be a nice girl actually. And she's fuckin' pretty! ... And I'm the last one who should go and judge her. I should just shut up about her I guess."

"Elin, did you cheat on Agnes?"
Lukas knew this was a turning point and though he didn't want to be so intrusive, the fact that Elin had talked about everything but what led to her break up with Agnes seemed to indicate something. He was good at listening to people and he had gotten to know this 19 year old girl quite well in the short time since their departure from Stockholm central station.
It seemed to him that while Elin was eager to tell everything that either annoyed her or made her happy, she denied to accept an active part in her life. That was probably a reason why she was so drawn to Agnes who seemed much more determined on what she was doing.

Elin looked out of the window where the lights of Karlstad's outskirts came flashing by.
"Yes, I guess you could say I cheated on her." she said in a voice that seemed to come from far far way.

Lukas sat waiting patiently although he knew they only had a few minutes left.

"We were at this party. Agnes didn't even want to go. She was still shy, even when she was with me. For some reason I had become even more popular being a lesbian while she still had no friends to speak of. In the beginning that wasn't so bad because all we both wanted was to be together, but ... Well after a while I didn't want to hang at her place all the time anymore. I wanted to go out, have some fun and so I dragged her with me. But she didn't like it. And soon she wanted to go back home. I told her she could go but that I wanted to stay some more and she seemed to be perfectly fine with this. So she went and I stayed. But she came back after an hour or so. I don't know why she came back. Maybe she had forgotten something or she wanted me to come with her this time.
Somebody must have told her where I was, because she found me upstairs in a room where I was with Johan Hult. In bed."

"Why did you do this?" Lukas asked.

"Oooooah, I don't know why! I was bored and drunk and I wanted to have some fun and Johan wasn't such a bad guy after all and we had been together before ... So it just happened."

"Didn't you say he was with Jessica then?" Lukas couldn't help but asking.

"Yeah, that too." Elin still looked out of the window into the darkness.

"My god, you really fucked it up." Lukas said in a very calm and friendly way.
And then he added: "You should leave now, we've almost reached the station."

Elin suddenly looked at him in disbelief. He couldn't just send her away after she had told him all that, could he? Sure, she had to leave the train but she had hoped for a word of comfort as a final note. Not like that!
"But ... don't you want to give me your adress? I still want to give you the money. And look, I want to explain this. I'm not a bad person. I really didn't want to hurt her you see!"
Tears were beginning to show in her eyes again. She felt angry and sad at the same time.

Lukas said: "No you're not a bad person. But you are careless. You need to understand that you're not just a tourist in this life. Your actions affect others, both good and bad. And that there's no-one else to blame for your decisions but you."

The train suddenly came to a halt. Elin grabbed her jacket and wanted to go. She was still baffled by what he had just said. He didn't even want to say Goodbye to her it seemed. Instead he was staring out of the window where some people hurried from the platform into the train now.
Then she noted his eyes, reflected in the window, looking at her. She showed him the finger and left the cabin.

When she was on the platform she wanted to leave as fast as she could. Run! Run away! she thought. But then something struck her. She turned around and saw Lukas looking at her through the glass. Suddenly she smiled at him and he smiled back at her.
When the train had left the station she slowly walked down the stairs. She had a lot to think about. What she wanted to do from hereon.
When she came by a garbage bin she pulled out the ticket Lukas had bought her. She didn't notice the telephone number scribbled on the ticket, so she dropped it into the bin and left the station.


TO BE CONTINUED!

[sydney]

Great... more fanart. I liked it so far Kolya. I hope you will continue writing and hopefully you will find a good ending to this piece. The FÅ five years later script is brilliant, but it still needs the whole ending. Glad you started this difficult job...

[Narcissus]

a good start

[Kolya]

Thanks to you both. I need some time. Well, stay tuned, that's all I'm trying to say. :)


nah, nah you see
i could, i could'da been a star
i could
i co , i could'da been a VIP
i tell you something else right now, right now
Agnes, we could we could'ave been
sailing along on our ship

do you miss robbing all the old ladys
do you miss all of the crazies
oh an Agnes, do you miss me?

Elin

[kant1781]

do you miss robbing all the old ladys
do you miss all of the crazies
oh an Agnes, do you miss me?[/i]
Elin

I like that! Very good work Kolya! It is a beautiful idea to bring Lukas in. Now I'm curious to see how you'll master the challenge to say what both girls are going to do next!

I agree with sydney that it's great to have more fan fiction. I never understood why there's so few.

(Just a little suggestion though, if you don't mind - has nothing to do with your writing which I like very much, just a general thought: Somehow I have a little reservation about Elin screwing around with Johan again (this happened too in one of the other beginnings of sequels to Peter's script but I don't remember which one). It's so... well, trivial in a way. I don't quite see why she'd do this. It's so much Elin like she used to behave before she met Agnes. But if that year together with her was, as Peter wrote, "the best year of her life", you'd expect her to have changed in that year, to have been influenced by Agnes (and vice versa of course), to have grown more mature and reflected. She must have made a terrible mistake of course, but should it really be that what ends her unique true love story with Agnes, and makes Agnes run away all the way to Stockholm, turns out to be just a stupid one night stand? Just an idea.)

[Kolya]

Elin looked at her own letter. She held a white wine bottle in her right hand and downed a third of it. Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes was mourning his dead friend Johnny on her stereo again. She turned up the volume.

Michael hadn't been at home and after a while she realised he was not coming back. Instead she had found her unsent letter to Agnes on the kitchentable.

He had written something on the backside:
"Call me if you want to apologise. I'm at mother's place."

She couldn't remember where she had left the letter. It didn't matter though.
She felt drunk enough to call him now, so she got out her mobile phone and looked up the number.

"Hello Mrs. Estevan? Can I speak to Michael please?"
...
"Michael? It's me. Yeah, I'm sorry, I think I woke your mum."
...
"I said, I am sorry. I just came back from Stockholm, that's why I'm calling now."
...
"I met someone there."
Elin started walking aimlessly around the room.
...
"Well, someone. A friend."
...
She noticed her own face in the big mirror on the opened closet door and stopped.
"No, it wasn't Agnes. It was a man. Actually there were three men. And we all fucked!"
Her reflection suddenly grinned at her and she had to look away. She wanted to sound serious about this.
"Look, sorry. Really, I'm sorry. I don't know why I said that."
...
"No it's not true! Of course not! Jesus, how charming!"
...
"No wait a minute! WAIT! I don't want you to come back. No, I mean it."
...
"No, it's over, Michael. Don't come back. There's no home for you here anymore!"
She canceled the connection and turned off the phone.

Suddenly she heard the blood rush through her head. And when she looked back she saw Solitude standing on the other side, welcoming her with a smile.



------------------------------------------------------
Fucking Åmål - Five years later (chapter 3)
------------------------------------------------------


That evening Hanna lay awake for a long time. Snuggled up against Agnes back she tried to keep calm, but there were thoughts running through her head. She thought back four years ago when she had fallen in love with this browneyed girl with the beautiful mouth. To Hanna her lips looked like they had been made for kissing.
Hanna had seen her a few times in the cafeteria and in a course about domestic violence. Her hair had been longer back then, and not dyed black as she had it now. It was often doubled in a scrunchie on the back of her head.
Most of the time this girl seemed to scuffle along the long corridors of Stockholm university alone, her eyes fixed on the ground.

And of course Lucy had seen her too...
"She looks so damn cute and wild. You'd need to leave your fucking eyes at home not to notice her." she said to Hanna. That of course was just Lucy for you. Hanna thought she looked a bit lost instead.

"Nah, she's not a little girl lost." Lucy said. "I think she's quite Corky. Really. Anyway, did you talk to her?"

"No, but close. So close!" Hanna said and held up two fingers nearly touching. "She was standing in front of the pin board where flat shares and apartements are announced. You know the one near the hall?"

"Yeah, I know it. What did she wear?" Lucy asked casually.

"A pair of dark low slung denims, blue sneakers and a red hooded FILA sweatshirt."

"Perfect tomboy!" Lucy shouted. "What did you do?"

"I was just about to tell you!" Hanna replied with a happy smile.

"Go on then. But make it short. My photography course starts in a minute."

"Well I thought she was reading the ads. So I pretended to scan for an interesting offer too. I was so shaky! And then she pinned a note herself... Apparently she's looking for someone to share an apartement! I have her number here."
Hanna took out the small chit and waved with it.

"Well, call her now!" Lucy said. "If you had an apartement you would get out of that doll's house with those pink walls in your room and your parents always listening next door when you bring someone home. Anyway, I have to go now. Will I see you here at five?"

Hanna nodded. She was still looking at the torn piece of paper she held in her hand. As soon as Lucy had gone Hanna called the number on the chit. She wanted to be the first to answer the ad.
When she and Lucy met later that day Hanna was flying high.

"So what did she say? Details?"

Hanna braced herself and said: "Okay, her names is Agnes Ahlberg. She's seventeen and she previously lived in some small town I don't remember the name of. The apartement is down in Hornstull. Aaaand ..." Hanna raised her voice at this point: "I'm going to meet her tomorrow!"


This had been four years ago. Hanna stroked her lovers short black hair. Apparently Agnes was not asleep as she had thought. She turned around and looked at her.
"What's up? Why you're still up?" she said.

"You know what I think about Elin? Why I think she came here?" Hanna said.

"What is it?" Agnes knew what she was going to say and it was probably true.

"I think she wants you back."

Agnes did not answer. She raised her hand from under the blanket and rubbed her eyes instead.

"When you drove her to the station... I wasn't sure if you were coming back for a moment."

Agnes smiled reassuringly and kissed Hanna on her slightly pale lips. Then she said: "Why would I not come back? I live here with you. I don't want to be anywhere else."

"So you still love me?" Hanna asked.

"Yes, I do."

"And will you stay with me?"

"I will. Youh."

"Will you tell me about her then?" Hanna seemed to examine every movement on her face now and Agnes felt a bit queasy with this so she closed her eyes and said: "We were in the same school in Åmål. After a year we split up."

"Did she leave you?"

"No, I left her." Agnes said. She did not like this questioning. She loved Hanna and she understood why she was interested. But she felt she was grilling her now. Maybe this was good for something she thought. Maybe she could answer a question of her own this way.

She thought about it for a while and then she said:
"I left her because she wanted to be different. But she wasn't lesbian after all. She was trying to be that, to be someone else. But it didn't work."

Hanna based her head on her hand and looked down on Agnes. She seemed sceptical about this.
"Maybe she wasn't so inclined back then, but when you got your jacket I saw her watching your ass."

Agnes burst out laughing. "You saw what?"

"Oh yeah, she was looking at you all of the time. And I should know, because I've seen a few girls look at you like that."

"I wish you would watch my ass too, instead of some other girls!" Agnes said jokingly. She grabbed the pillow under Hanna's arm and pulled it away so Hanna suddenly lay on her back.

[kant1781]

I am generally supportive (at least, I hope to be) when it comes to commenting on other people's writing, since I do write myself generally, and have written stuff on FÅ in particular. I know how important it is to get some encouraging feedback. And I always meant and mean it: Of all the different attempts to find ways to continue FÅ, some are stronger and some are weaker, but every one of them had at least one charming idea or a good one-liner, none seemed to me to be completely wasted or a disgrace to the legacy of the film, and one or two really convinced me.
That said, I want to express my sincere feeling that this could be something special. I bow my hat to you Kolya . You are the first to seriously take up the „5 Years Later“ scenario and take it into new territory. Your latest chapter is much stronger than anything I had expected. Please try to take it further, that’s all I can say!

[Kolya]

Whoa, thank you!

[sydney]

I bow my hat to you Kolya . You are the first to seriously take up the „5 Years Later“ scenario and take it into new territory. Your latest chapter is much stronger than anything I had expected. Please try to take it further, that’s all I can say!

I agree with Kant. I think this could well turn into the one and only completion of the five years later script. It is very well written and the storyline feeds my curiousity. I hope to read more soon.

[Kolya]

------------------------------------------------------
Fucking Åmål - Five years later (chapter 4)
------------------------------------------------------

[...]

I deleted this chapter.
After reading this again, I wasn't quite happy with it.
Sure, I wanted to bring Oscar in but I kinda lost focus here, too much supporting cast and not enough storytelling going on.
The thing was specifically that Oscar was meant to be similar to Agnes. I wanted to show that feeling alienated wasn't exclusive to lesbian girls but that it is a universal thing going on in many of us and the posts here reflect that I think. But only later I realized that Oscar was really a kid and I ended up with something that I feel is impossible and not worth to continue.
Escrite automatique failed me here. Probably because I didn't have much of a background for these characters.
Sorry for just deleting it, but I really didn't feel it was a worth the reading.
I promise to continue.

[kant1781]

And here he is again... I was beginning to lose hope! Thanks Kolya! It's so great that you continue with this. I just found your text and haven't read it yet, but you'll get the comments and the discussion you want! It's easier than with your FABS, you know. Some of your pictures are funny ("I hit a car" and "Fanny" are very funny), others less so, but what more is there to say about it except "I like/dislike this one"... it's different with something like your story. I'm looking forward to reading it and voicing an opinion very soon!

[Kolya]

Okay... just don't be too hard on me please. *puppyeyes*

[kant1781]

Well, Kolya.... wow! Whatever else one may think, I don’t think that you failed to surprise us. I’m sure no-one ever would have expected your story to continue this way. But I’m electrified! Your writing is impeccable. It’s very hard to write about that age and the feelings it brings without being embarrassingly awkward (that’s why Moodysson himself is so unusually great) – and I know what I’m talking about. After many attempts at this in years now gone I wouldn’t try this at home any more. But you stay clear of the traps. Very good indeed!
Now, concerning the whole approach, I’m expectantly uncertain. Either the Oscar episode (bringing in more as yet unrelated characters and, with it, a third major scene and setting besides Stockholm and Karlstad) is just something atmospherical that came to your mind, and you just added it here without yet knowing how and why to connect it with the other threads. This would be hazardous kamikaze, but cool. Or (preferaby) the fact that you put the episode here without caring to connect it for now (because I for sure do not know where this is going to lead, even though I think I could do some more or less successful guessing) means that you do have a masterplan. In that case I’d be thrilled, for it’d mean that you must have quite a lot of things already set up and we can hope to see them actually being written down. I for one am eager to see this project continued!

[Kolya]

Thank you for reading it and telling me what you think, it's really important to me.
Admittedly I started with a vague desire to put Oscar on the scene... He's the youngest one, but now about the same age as Agnes and Elin were in FÅ. And he's a boy. That was something I found nearly irresistible to take on, because I wanted to bring in a boy who isn't just a moron but a person. I hope this works out.
This will be tied in with the rest of the story of course. Maybe I won't be able to pick up all loose ends in the end, but I promise I won't let you down by just throwing pieces at you.

[tiddywink]

I love how you are continuing the story Koyla. I can't wait to read what comes next. I hope to read more of the story soon. Keep it up!