Authors: Karin Tidbeck

Listen (3 page)

“Are you awake now,” she said.

Mika nodded mutely.

“Oort?” he asked.

Aino shrugged. “Somewhere on Kiruna. They all went there.”

“I saw something there,” Mika said. “On the shelf.”

“What did you see?”

“I don't remember,” Mika replied. “But I understood everything.”

“They said you had a psychotic break.”

“No, that's not what I mean.”

“Maybe so,” Aino said. “But you were crazy nonetheless.”

“Petr?”

“He's on his way to Gliese now,” Aino said. “Where he belongs.”

*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *

The treatment supposedly healed the damage the repeated episodes had made. Still, Mika was left a little more stupid, a little slower, a little duller. Aino let him help out in the workshop every now and then. Working with his hands was calming.

They never spoke about what had happened or not happened. They cut, basted, and hemmed in silence. Sometimes someone came in, and Mika caught himself listening tensely, but the customer always spoke in a normal voice.

Neither the music nor being Gunnhild with BÃ¥rd did anything for him. A different longing clawed at him, one that couldn't be satisfied. A longing to be back on the rock shelf, to see what Ambassador Oort was showing him, to remember what it was. To see the world swept aside.

About the Author

Karin Tidbeck
lives in MalmÃ¶, Sweden, and writes in Swedish and English. Her stories have appeared in
Weird Tales
,
Shimmer
,
Unstuck Annual
and the anthologies
Odd?
And
Steampunk Revolution
. Her short story collection
Jagannath
was published in English in November 2012. She recently received the Crawford award for 2013. You can sign up for email updates
here
.