Growing Pains

[Eagle]

Not a very good story, but I needed to write it down. The romantic in me loved Fucking Amal, but the cynic in me (usually the overbearing part) doesn't think they'll stay together for long, fearing that Elin's mercurial character won't fit with Agnes moody, brooding character.


Growing Pains

With a big SLAM, the front door of the Ahlberg residence was thrown closed, and footsteps on the stairs could be heard.

In the kitchen, Olof and Karin exchanged a quick glance. There was a bit of an "I-told-you-so" sentiment in Karin's eyes, and Olof rose from his seat.

* * *

She had been on her bed stifling her weeping into her cushion for only a scarce handful of moments when she heard a familiar knock on her chamber door.

"Agnes. Agnes, what is it?" Olof asked. Some scraps of music were his only answer.

Do you remember the cherry blossom in the market square
Do you remember I thought it was confetti in our hair
By the way didn't I break your heart?
Please excuse me, I never meant to break your heart

Olof knocked another time, and this time he heard a barely audible "enter". Praying this was one of those times his presence helped his moody daughter rather than further upset her, his hand went for the doorknob.

* * *

Why do I always have to screw things up? Why am I never content where I am? Why do I always expect things to go my way?

Hanging over the bridge to Stockholm, Elin spat at one of the passing cars.

"Be happy, at least you get out of Fucking Amal!" she shouted at the back of the driver's head.

It had only been three weeks since that one night they had spent at this very bridge, but her life before then seemed, well, a lifetime ago.

And now I might have thrown all that away.

She spat again.

It has nothing to do with Amal after all, she decided. Three weeks ago, I could still believe that. Now I know that we all have a bit of Amal in ourselves, and a bit of Stockholm.

"Hey," she heard somebody address her. She turned around, and saw a lithe, non-descript man standing there - a stranger clearly, judging by his swarthy skin.

"What are you looking at!" she shouted, venting her frustration on this welcome target. To her surprise, the man didn't leave after her outburst but actually extended his hand to her.

"I am Daniel," he said. "And you look like you could use some help."

* * *

"I expected you to come up here," Agnes said. "I don't want to talk about it."

Olof took a chair "Darling, we don't have to talk about it. I'm here just to show I care about you and that, whatever happens, I'll always love you and be there for you. You're not alone."

Kayleigh I just wanna say I'm sorry
But Kayleigh I'm too scared to pick up the phone
To hear you've found another lover to patch up our broken home

Father and daughter sat like that for some time, Olof clasping Agnes' hand between his two hands, until Agnes regained enough composure to talk.

"Elin - she drives me mad. I love her, but she is so superficial sometimes. I mean, she is great and wonderful, and far more intelligent than the people she spent her time with, but it feels like she had been taught from her earliest years to hide anything that would separate her from her friends, to suspect anything that might make her different." She shrugs. "I've tried to show her that being different is not a bad thing. Clearly, she decided otherwise."

"Oh darling," said Olof, embracing his weeping daughter. "I'm so sorry."

* * *

"So," said Daniel, after placing a coffee for himself and a glass of chocolate milk for Elin on their table, "tell me what happened."

They were in a small pub in the Drottninggatan, usually frequented only by truck drivers and the like - Elin was actually astonished they had chocolate milk there.

"Look, haven't you got anything better to do?" she asked, still wondering why she had accepted his offer of a drink and a talk. "I doubt this was how you had planned your day this morning."

The man grinned. "The boss was ill today, and so I didn't have any work to do. The wife doesn't expect me at home until five, so I've got a sea of time to play confessor."

She told him, in as much detail as she cared for, the events of the past few weeks.

"But today, I did something stupid. I know I often do stupid stuff without thinking, but this was unforgiveable." She sipped her o'boy. "I said I missed my old friends, and my life before meeting Agnes." We never do anything fun she had shouted. I work my ass off to get good grades, while all my old friends party.. "I told her I wished I'd never met her, because my life was more fabulous then." Somewhere in the explanation, she had started weeping, and now she took a kerchief to wipe away the salt tears. When she noticed the look of pity on Daniel's face, she instantly hardened again. "Why am I exactly telling you all of this again?" she asked harsher than she meant.

"Because you needed somebody to rant to, and a complete stranger like me was safe to address, I guess." They both smiled a little at this. "What are you going to do about all this now?"

Elin shrugged, pretending to be more carefree than she felt. "Some of my friends would let me back in their group - Jessica will, for sure. I've done similar stupid things all my life, and they've always let me back." Although she had believed this when she made the row with Agnes, she started wondering whether things would ever become that easy again - she had been ostracized at school since associating herself with Agnes. When with Agnes, that hadn't bothered her; she had never felt lonely.

"But is that really what you want, Elin?"

Elin startled; she hadn't been listening to Daniel.

"You cannot stay a little child forever, Elin. You can't live in two worlds. In everybody's life there comes a moment they have to choose."

* * *

"Sweety, don't try to be adult too soon. It is good that you are so mature - I am proud of your maturity, but childhood is already short enough, without you forgetting to enjoy it."

Kayleigh, oh I never thought I'd miss you
And kayleigh I thought that wed always be friends
We said our love would last forever
So how did it come to this bitter end?

* * *

"You were brave enough to tell me all this - I'm sure I'm the first person besides your Agnes to whom you've been this frank. Now show some more of this courage and go to her. Apologise. Save what can be saved!"

* * *

Rain poured down and Agnes sighed. Dad had taken mom and Oskar on a trip; to give her some privacy she was sure, but with this downpour, they'd be back soon.

The doorbell rang. And rang again. It kept ringing until Agnes finally got up from her stupor to open her window and see who was so insistent to see her.

Standing there, ringing the bell once more, dripping wet from the rain that kept pouring down, was Elin. She had never looked more beautiful than in this soaked, bedraggled state, Agnes realised.

Kayleigh is it too late to say I'm sorry?
And kayleigh could we get together again?

"Can I come in? I forgot to bring a coat".

Agnes couldn't help but laugh through her tears. That was again the Elin she had fallen in love with - full of energy but never thinking things fully through.

"One moment, I'll be down right away," she shouted, hurrying outside her room already while behind her, unheeded, the record stopped playing.

[edu]

Well, the romantic in you was who finished your story, wasn't it?

[kant1781]

Well, the romantic in you was who finished your story, wasn't it?

Obviously! And I happen to like that bit the most... not bad for a start, Eagle, go ahead with that thing. (But please, to all the great - I mean it! - contributors to the Fucking Åmål legacy out there: No more mysterious strangers as plot devices! )

[Eagle]

Edu : Indeed. This story was written to make my cynical self shut up

Kant: I hate the mysterious stranger route myself, but needed somebody for Elin to talk to.

Not sure this particular line of thought has potential for more than this short story (which was intended as finished, btw).