On a dim autumn morning 32A felt wet grass against her knees. She was a little confused about it because it was still winter when she went to sleep. She opened her eyes and saw that she was on her knees outside. She tried to put her hands on the ground to get up, but then noticed that her hands were tied to a pole behind her.
"What? No. No. No, it can't be. Not here." She said to herself.
She looked around her and saw other poles that were all empty. She tried to rip her arms away from the pole and ripped so hard that her skin was coming off, but it wasn't enough. Her hands were not getting any freer.
"And here is our special one." A voice said from above 32A.
She looked up and it was a slaver who went by the name of Elk, who 32A was familiar with already.
"Hmm, yes. She looks healthy, but I don't think I want her. I already have one so she better have something special for me to want her as well." A second voice said.
It was the same fur hat wearing man who bought Ilona ten years ago.
"It's you! You took her from me! Where's Ilona? You have her! Let me go! Where is she?" 32A screamed at the buyer.
"Yes, I still have her. Only way you'll get to her is if I want you too. But I really don't. Sorry, girl." The buyer answered calmly.
"So no deal?" Elk asked.
"Still no deal." The buyer said and walked away.
"Come back here! Tell me where she is!" 32A screamed at the buyer who didn't even look at her as he was walking away.
"Don't take her away from me!" 32A screamed at the top of her lungs but that didn't stop the buyer from walking away.
"I'll give away my freedom just to get to her." She quietly begged even though the buyer was already too far away.
"Don't take her away from me." She quietly said as she faced the ground and hid her face away behind her long black hair and let her tears fall on the grass as she lost even more hope.
"That's another week when no one wanted you. You know what that means." Elk said and removed the antler from his head and then grabbed 32A by the chin and lifted her face up to look at her.
32A felt a short broken branch on the pole. It gave her an idea and she decided to smash her own eye against the sharp branch.
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32A woke up in the cellar in the middle of the night, screaming and waking the others up. Toivo and Sampo looked at her. Sampo was a little frustrated that his sleep was interrupted. Toivo was worried. Both then noticed that 32A was crying quietly in her spot.
"Uhh. Can you talk to Three? You can probably do that better than me." Sampo said to Toivo.
"What's wrong?" Toivo asked from across the room.
"The same dream I always got as a child." 32A answered.
"Oh. You don't have your drawing here to help you. You really seem to need them." Toivo said.
32A didn't say anything back. Toivo got up and looked inside one of the boxes to look for pens or anything. After digging for a bit, he found a black marker in the box. He took the cardboard box and sat down and started drawing on the side of it.
"You're really going to start drawing here and now?" Sampo asked.
"I have to." Toivo said back and kept drawing.
He turned on the ceiling light so he could see better. It wasn't very bright, so it didn't bother anyone too much. Drawing with a marker was harder than with what he usually drew with, but he could still make somewhat recognizable images. The drawing wasn't very detailed, but Toivo figured it was good enough. He drew two feminine hands holding each other, figuring it would give pleasant memories for 32A. He stood up and walked over to 32A and put the box on the floor next to her. 32A looked at the box and understood who the hands were supposed to represent. The idea of the picture made her feel hopeful, and she smiled warmly while looking at the box.
"Thank you." 32A just said quietly, and lied down on her side while looking at the box.
Falling asleep was easy for her and she saw pleasant dreams.
"You think she's fit to go on any runs on here or the Deadland, if that's how scared she is?" Sampo asked Toivo.
"I just started wondering that myself. Her experiences there weren't nice, but she still really wants to go back to find our old friend. I do too, even if my hopes of actually finding her aren't high. If she wants to go, then I'll go too."
"Guess I should come too because there's no way Aino will let you go there by yourselves. But we'll see about that some other day. Nights." Sampo said back, and tried to get back to sleep.
Toivo turned off the small ceiling lamp and went back to his spot to sleep as well.
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In the morning, it was impossible to tell if it even was morning because the cellar was so dark. None of the three really had a routine time for waking up. Sampo never had a job in this country being an undocumented resident, and the twins never went to school or work for that same reason.
Sampo woke up before the twins woke up and saw that they were still sleeping.
"I should wake them up and then we should run away. We fixed the door already so all is good. I don't want to spend another minute in this lady's cellar." He thought to himself and got up.
The hard floor had him sore all over and he loudly said a bad word, which woke up the twins.
"What time is it?" 32A asked quietly after slowly opening her eyes.
"You criminals better not have ran off! Time for you to get your asses up and fix that door!" Came a voice from behind the door leading to the house.
The door then opened and the same lady from before barged through with a hockey stick.
"Hey hey hey hey! We did it already! No need to threaten us!" Sampo said to the lady.
The lady looked at the door and saw that it was just the way it was before the uninvited guests came in.
"Huh. Well I guess you're free to go then. Don't get caught. And if you do, don't mention me." The lady warned.
"We can take care. Don't worry." Toivo said to the lady.
"Thank you for letting us stay and not betraying us." 32A said gratefully, and got up after stretching her limbs.
Without wasting too many words, the three of them all got up and went outside through the trapdoor. The sun was bright and the sky was clear and cloudless on this cold January morning.
"Did everybody sleep well?" Sampo asked.
"I slept wonderfully." 32A said and sounded satisfied.
"I don't remember." Toivo answered.
"I felt like I slept for five seconds the entire night." Sampo said.
They got on the main street and all the houses looked the same, making it difficult to know where they are and to remember where the hole in the fence is. 32A noticed a poster on a lamp post and read it out loud.
"ARMED CRIMINALS ON THE RUN. Three suspects accused of vandalism, stealing from the police and firing at the police were detected in the area on the night of the 13th of January. The suspects were two men, one with black hair and one with brown, and one woman with black hair. The suspects are all shorter than average."
"Shorter than average?" Sampo said and sounded insulted.
"That's the thing you're worried about? They're looking for us. We need to get out of here and quickly." Toivo said back.
"Does anyone remember where we came from?" 32A asked.
"It all looks the same everywhere. I guess our best hope is to just look for the hole." Sampo said.
"Or just make a new one." Toivo suggested.
"That would have been my second idea." Sampo said back.
"I'd say it's the better idea." 32A added.
"Well, let's go then." Toivo said and went back to the same back yard where they came from.
He focused on the bars of the fence that separates the town from the outside. Big pieces of the bars flew off when he focused on them. 32A and Sampo observed from behind and looked around. Just after Toivo blew away the last bar needed, some old man stepped outside in a bathrobe and slippers and stood on his back yard and looked at what the three of them were doing.
"Good morning!" Sampo said to the old man and then stepped through the bars following Toivo with 32A following behind.
Outside the town walking away from the border fence another question arose.
"What direction is our home?" Toivo asked.
"Oh there's the hole where we came from! Well this was easy!" Sampo said once he saw the hole from where they entered the town.
He didn't even pay attention to Toivo's question and made his way to the hole so he could go from there towards home. He was a few steps ahead of the twins who followed behind.
"I'm not sure if I want to go back to the Deadland after all." 32A said and felt down.
"Why not? We're so close to finding Ilona now." Toivo said back.
"Because I'm scared of that place. I had forgotten how awful it is. You saw how yesterday went. That man almost had me until you did your thing. I don't want to go there." 32A said.
"But this is the closest we've been to knowing where Ilona is. For ten years now you've been longing to find her. Sometimes it even seems like an obsession to you."
"I know. I don't want anything as much as bringing her here, but she's probably dead anyway. It's not worth dying just to confirm it, if I'd even get that far. I'd just end up the same way as her if I went looking for her."
"If I'm coming with you, and I am coming with you, then nothing can harm us."
"What if they get you too? I can't risk the family that I still have for family that I once had."
"You know what? If you don't want to go, then I'll go alone. You'll stay home and suffer extremely painful pulses when I bring our friend home."
"But if you go alone, then I can't help you if you get hurt."
"Oh no. I guess that's a risk that I'll just take then." Toivo said to 32A, egging her on.
"Fine. I'll go then too. It was my idea to begin with. And you're right. We'll bring our friend home where she should be." 32A said back.
"I know you want to. Now let's go home with our haul." Toivo said in high spirits and followed Sampo.
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They returned home by walking the same road that they walked the previous night. On the way they saw some trucks and vans that had logos on them, but no police. After a pleasant morning walk along the road, they turned to a familar forest road that leads to their community.
"Should we just go straight to the neighbors and hand them the fuel?" Toivo asked Sampo.
"We probably should. The big man of the house expected to get it last night. He's probably waiting with a shotgun in the living room." Sampo said back.
And so they walked to the front door of their neighbors' house and Sampo banged on the door with his fist.
"Hey! We have the thing! I'll leave it on the front door!" Sampo shouted at the door and took the fuel filled bottles from his backpack.
It was right then that the man of the Nyman household opened the door and looked disappointed.
"That's all you got? That won't be enough for even one trip." He said to Sampo and looked at the bottles.
"Well, Mister Nyman. Things got a little difficult and we had to change plans." Sampo said and rubbed the back of his head.
"Don't worry. I didn't expect you to get much. That's why I took the fuel from your bus." Mr. Nyman said calmly and coldly.
"By the way. Why didn't we just ride the bus into the town? Would have been faster. We could have parked it somewhere before sneaking in." 32A asked Sampo.
"That would have been my second idea." Sampo answered simply.
"Well you won't be driving it anywhere now. And you won't be using my boat either since you can't even keep your cargo inside the boat." Mr. Nyman said.
"Okay. We won't." 32A said emotionlessly, knowing full well that she'd use that boat later.
The sound of fast stepping came from the stairs, coming towards the front door.
"There you are, Toivo! I expected to hear from you last night. I was worried!" Ella said when she saw her best friend at the door and continued:
"And I'm glad that you're fine too." She said to 32A much more professionally.
"We stole fuel from a police van and hid in a cold cellar." 32A said as if it wasn't even a big deal.
She said it so casually that Mr. Nyman thought that she was joking.
"Really?" Ella just asked.
"Don't worry, nobody saw us." 32A assured.
"That better be true. If you get my business in trouble... Well, I shouldn't threaten you." Mr. Nyman said ominously.
"But we're probably wanted in our house so we should get ourselves there." Toivo said.
"Yes... Your." Mr. Nyman said coldly.
"No, we're in no hurry to hear Aino yelling at us. Or her own way of yelling. You know what I mean." Sampo added.
"I'm going there either way. I'm dying of hunger again." Toivo said back.
"Why did you have to mention that? Now I'm too." 32A added.
"I'll just... Go somewhere." Sampo said and wandered off.
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The twins returned home and as soon they opened the front door, Aino came rushing in to get a look at them.
"Don't worry. We're fine." 32A said.
"And before you ask where we went, we had to go to the town as soon as we came back from the sea because we had to go get more fuel. That's where we were." Toivo added.
Aino looked like she didn't believe it for a second. She unfolded a piece of paper. It was a page from the morning paper. It mentioned the damage that happened at the town the previous night and the suspects too.
"Oh. Did you get that from one of your buddies?" Toivo asked.
Aino ignored the question. She found a blank spot in the piece of paper to write on.
"You will not go anywhere. Not over the gulf. Not to the town!" She wrote and showed the twins.
32A was once again conflicted about if she should go look for Ilona or not.
"Okay. You decide." 32A said quietly, and walked past Aino and walked up the stairs, ignoring her own hunger.
Toivo was about to go to the cellar where he kept his things at the moment, but Aino stopped him from going. She wrote on the small remaining blank space on the paper: "Elias lost another drinking game and is hung over again."
"Again? Why was he doing a drinking game this time?" Toivo asked.
Aino just wrote: "Bus fuel" on the last bit of blank space.
"So that's why they took it from us." Toivo said.
Aino nodded and looked just as disappointed as Toivo did.
He went upstairs because he had something to say to 32A anyway. He brought her a bottle of drinkable breakfast while he was at it. Upon entering he just tossed the bottle at her and she caught it while laying on her bed.
"So I guess that puts an end to our aspirations to cross the gulf again." Toivo said.
"Maybe that's a good thing. Maybe I need to move on." 32A said and sounded sad, not even believing what she said herself.
Toivo couldn't think of anything to say to make her or himself feel better about the situation.
"Can I be alone?" 32A asked in the most polite way she could at this moment.
"Yeah. Of course. I'll leave you be." Toivo said and stepped out.
Alone in her room 32A turned to her side on the bed and looked at the wall of drawings. The same drawings that she had been looking at for ten years now, always thinking of something she wants to be reality.
"I can't let go."
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Downstairs Toivo got dressed to return outside because he had nothing in the house for him. He went back to the same spot in the forest where he could use his ability in relative peace. He was frustrated and wanted to blow off some steam. He wasn't so angry that he wanted to violently destroy things, but rather peacefully. He focused on a branch that was up high and he made it snap and fall. On the ground he focused on the branch again and slowly made it crumble into pieces. It didn't really make him feel better, but he just wanted to do it.
"I had mostly let go of hope of ever finding Ilona and as soon as I got my hope back, it's taken away from me. I'll steal that boat if I have to. I'm bringing our friend home myself." He said to himself while making the fallen branch crumble.
"What are you talking about here?" Ella's voice called from behind.
Toivo instantly stopped what he was doing and turned around.
"Wondering what happened to this branch here." He answered and looked at the branch that he destroyed.
"Strange things keep happening on this spot." Ella said and chuckled.
"But what is it now? Why are you here?" Toivo asked.
"I hope I don't bother you. I just wanted to ask about your town run yesterday."
"It didn't really go as planned. But we made it out fine."
"I'm still a little worried. If the authorities find their way here and find dad's little business, he's going to jail. I really don't want to attract any attention."
"We didn't attract too much attention. Don't worry about it." Toivo assured.
"Did you not? Three fugitives on the run, accused of theft, vandalism and shooting at officers." Ella said seriously.
"That wasn't us. We're not the only people who have a reason to steal fuel. And we didn't even bring a gun with us."
"The details of the suspect sound exactly like you, Three and Sampo! And one part of the story really is quite curious. It mentioned how on one street all the lights broke while the fugitives were running away. And that made me think of you." Ella said.
"In what way?" Toivo asked nervously.
"Strange things happen around you. Like in this spot." Ella said.
"That's pretty far fetched."
"Is it? Are you lying to me?" Ella asked, appealing to Toivo's character in an attempt to get an answer out of him.
Toivo went silent, thinking about how to answer.
"Well?" Ella said, expecting an answer.
"Okay. That was us. Are they investigating it?" Toivo admitted and asked.
"So you did lie to me. If you get my family in trouble, then..."
"Then what?"
"Then... I don't even know." Ella Answered.
"Then go figure it out and stay out of our problems." Toivo said irritatedly.
"It's my problem too if it gets my family in trouble!" Ella said and turned her back on Toivo and walked away.
Toivo sat on the fallen tree and grabbed his head, disappointed in himself.
"Sampo and his strong ideas. This peaceful life doesn't seem too stable anymore. We may have gotten us all in trouble. And outsiders know about my ability now. That's not good." He said to himself.
"But if somebody comes, I'm not worried. I'll just do this." He said and blew an entire tree into pieces.
"Nothing or no one will harm my family or Ella's family or anyone's family here." He said to himself and tried to act tough, unable to admit that Ella being mad at him was the thing that really worried him.
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Hours passed and 32A still hadn't gotten up from her bed, Toivo still hadn't returned inside, Elias was still in the basement and Sampo was still hiding. Toivo decided to get up and return inside. 32A decided to feel the outside air and went out the font door. Sampo decided he had been hiding for long enough and went back to the house. Just outside the front door, the three of them coincidentally met.
"Well. Just who I wanted to talk to. I admit. Things went badly there. My plan didn't work, and now the cops are looking for us." Sampo said when they met.
"Yeah. I figured that out." 32A said.
"So what I'm trying to say is that we need to keep an even lower profile than we have so far. No more town runs. We need to be awake." Sampo explained.
"Understood. If anyone threatens us, I'll do what I can to protect this place." Toivo said.
"That's great but we can't all bank on that. Even then, you two should not do any trips to the Deadland anymore. We need both of you here in case we get found." Sampo said to both of the twins.
"Aino already told us that we shouldn't go anywhere." Toivo said back.
"Probably for different reasons. I know that her orders and mandates have never stopped you. But I hope you understand my reasons for why we should lay low." Sampo explained.
"I understand. And I agree." 32A said.
"Me too." Toivo added.
"Good. We'll survive this if we're smart." Sampo said and went inside, and so did Toivo.
32A in turn went outside. She walked over to the neighbors' dock where the boat was docked. About halfway there she started feeling the painful pulses coming from her house.
"Like I'm staying here. I'm going to find Ilona even if I have to go alone. I can deal with the pain. The pain of separation has been hurting me much more and for much longer." She said to herself and there she stayed standing and looking into the sea under the gray January sky, unbothered by the wind and the snowfall as only one thing was on her mind.
"Your crew has no business on this side of the property. You have no reason to be looking at my boat. Get out of here and go to your own side, which I own too!" Mr. Nyman yelled from his own front door after he saw 32A standing there.
Without saying anything back, 32A just turned away and went home.
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In the house it was customary for the entire crew to spend one hour together every day for the purpose of unity, though on most days that did not happen. Today was no different and 32A just went straight to her room to contemplate. She spent the rest of the day thinking about what she would do once night falls. Finally when nobody was awake, she went into the kitchen where she packed a knife in her backpack as well as a bottle of water. That's all that she thought she needed. She then stared at the writing in the dead man's jacket in her room and obsessed about her plans for the rest of the evening.
"I'll come back for you like I've been promising for years. I'll fight anybody who tries to stop me. I'll suffer the pain and I'll die just to get a chance to talk to you again. But nobody from my family will have to die with me. I'm coming alone. Sorry that I was scared for so long. Sorry that I was so hesitant. Even today I kept changing my mind, but not anymore. I'm certain and I promise that you're coming home and we'll be the happy family that we always should have been."
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