“She is convinced that today is Wednesday and when I showed her the date on my phone and she checked her laptop, she started crying and shaking, insisting that she was attacked in the woods and kidnapped for the past two days,” the guard summarized the events.
I shuddered as he spoke, and Isak positioned himself closer to me on the sofa, then took the hot mug from my trembling hands and set it on the table. With a calm and understanding tone, he asked what happened.
“I don’t know,” I felt my voice break as I forced the words out. “I was jogging on a new path and suddenly a voice came from the tree, an old tree, a willow, I think. The man said he was playing a game, and I needed to scream. He started hurting me and then he took me to his house and attacked me,” I continued as tears dripped into my tea.
“Can you describe him?”
“Maybe…” I frowned, forcing images back in front of me. “Tall, young, well built, longer hair, shoulder length I think, he was…” I stopped to think and remembered the man holding me tight in his arms and asking me to calm down. “He had soft features,” I finally answered.
“Where was he? Where did you see him last?” Isak asked.
“It was dark when I came out, I didn’t really see, I just started running,” I shook my head.
“When you came out from where?”
“The house... There was a bedroom and a kitchen. That is all I saw.” I shook my head, forcing the memory to stay, but it faded into thin air right before my eyes.
“In the woods?” Isak insisted.
“Yes!”
“Anwen, there is no other house in these woods except the one you are occupying. There isn’t even a cottage for maintenance or anything like that.”
“That is what he said, but I know what I saw,” I insisted and nodded towards Erik.
The two men looked at one another in confusion, until Isak replied, “Very well, we will search the perimeter and find out more.”
He stood from the sofa and headed towards the kitchen where he took the phone and started talking to the other guards in Swedish. When he finished the conversation and hung up the phone, he announced: “We will patrol the woods and let you know if we find anything. Twenty men have divided territory and will report by nightfall. Erik will stay with you until I return,” the commander announced before vanishing in a hurry through the door.
At nightfall, Isak and two guards returned to find Erik watching Netflix on the sofa while I made pasta. We both stopped our activity as soon as the three men made their way into the sitting room. Erik raised and greeted his colleagues. Throughout the day, the remaining guard calmed me down, and we started talking about different subjects. He told me more about the household’s history and maybe it was his name that made me feel safe, because I settled and started looking at him with a kinder eye. Something about pronouncing the name ‘Erik’ several times in a day without feeling guilty put me at ease.
“Nothing to report, commander, it’s been a quiet day,” Erik reported without being asked.
Isak noted the tension in the room and started speaking. “We searched the entire perimeter, along the river bank, into the caves, checked all the willows we could find…” he shook his head and gave me a defeated look.
“And?” I questioned, although I already knew the answer.
“Nothing. Not even a footstep, no blood anywhere, no muddy dents and no sign of another human being.”
I lowered my head and sighed. “I know what I saw…” I insisted, though my voice barred the mark of defeat.
“It can happen,” Isak said, stepping near me into the kitchen. “People who are not used to so much solitude, especially this suddenly, can experience vivid dreams and…”
“I know what I saw!” I interrupted.
“I am sorry, Anwen, there is no one out there,” he insisted.
“But…” I tried to contradict him, only this time, Isak did the interrupting.
“Think of it this way, isn’t it better to be safe and know there is no one out there to attack you?”
“I suppose…” I nodded.
“Just take it slower, get to know the forest bit by bit, don’t venture so much all of a sudden. You’ve barely been here a few days. And always stay hydrated, it’s easy to have hallucinations when one’s having a heat stroke.”
“Okay…” I replied.
“Do you need one of us to stay with you tonight?” he asked.
