TH02 - The Priest of Evil (28 page)

‘Where are your glasses?’ asked Leena; it came out rather stupidly, but the priest didn’t seem to mind.

‘At the optician’s,’ he replied with a smile, then his voice turned suddenly sharper. ‘Did I invite you too, my girl?’

‘No… but… Matti called me and asked me to come along.’

‘Is that so, Matti?’

‘Yes.’

‘Do you have something to tell me?’

‘Yes, thanks a lot. The stone worked great.’

‘Why, think nothing of it. As a matter of fact, I have something to tell you too. I don’t see why I shouldn’t tell both of you, seeing as things have turned out this way.’

When the priest looked Matti in the eyes, so closely, he was overcome by a strange sense of helplessness, as though he had just been sick. He also felt that he could no longer leave, even if he’d wanted to, but that now he had to obey the priest. He glanced at Leena, and she too seemed a little confused. In an incredible way, it felt as though they were the only people in the world, as though the sea of people around them had suddenly disappeared.

‘Do you children like pizza?’

‘Yes.’

‘Yes… Especially ones with garlic.’

‘I see,’ said the priest, removing his hand from the pocket of his raincoat. In his fingers was a crumpled bank note; judging by the colour it must have been at least a hundred euros. ‘I shall buy you any pizza you want. And then I will join you later. First I must take care of another appointment.’

‘Well…’

‘I insist,’ he said and handed the note to Matti; sure enough, it was a hundred euros. ‘You know the Forum shopping centre?’

‘Yes, we know where it is.’

‘Down in the basement there are many different kinds of restaurants. Choose your pizzas, then go and sit at the table nearest to the small pool and the stone pillars.’

‘I’ve eaten there before.’

‘Well, that’s nice. But I do expect a favour in return. In fact, it is no real favour. It is more a test of your maturity.’

The priest slipped his hands beneath the straps on his shoulders and removed a large rucksack from his back. It was a perfectly normal rucksack; black, the kind almost everyone took to school. Matti could see that it was rather heavy.

‘Matti, put this on your back. And although it may be heavy, do not once take it off. It contains something very precious to me. It is also a symbol of life’s burden. If you can bear the weight of this rucksack, you shall be able to carry on fearless for the rest of your life.’

‘It is very heavy,’ said Matti, shrugging the rucksack on to his shoulders.

‘As for you, my girl, you must support Matti the way a wife supports her husband. And if you succeed in this, you will succeed in everything you do for the rest of your life. Do you understand?’

‘Yes…’

‘You must wait for me there until I arrive, then we will have ice cream for dessert. And remember: you must not open the rucksack. For if you do you will tarnish and sully that which life shall bring you.’

‘We won’t open it.’

‘No. And I won’t take it off.’

‘And when I return, each of you shall receive something else as a reward…’

‘More of those vibes?’

‘Yes. Sublime, incredible vibes.’

The priest performed a series of strange hand signals in front of them while muttering something almost inaudibly. It was as if he were blessing them, and in a terrifying way it all resembled a funeral. Matti could already
feel the straps of the rucksack chafing against his shoulder blades, but decided that he would be able to cope. Leena groped for his hand and her fingers were sweaty with excitement. He allowed her to take his hand; the moment was strangely solemn.

‘
Ea lesum cum sabateum! Mamolae sub extriensa!
’ the priest said finally, waving his hand in a circle above their heads. ‘Now – go!’

He hastened them towards the grand doors of the station and they understood that they should go immediately. As they were about to walk through the door Matti glanced over his shoulder. The priest was not following them, he trusted them. And just as the doors swung shut behind them he thought he could see the priest turning and walking down the stone steps, heading diagonally across the square towards Kaivokatu.

It was the busiest time of day: people coming and going in every direction, more and more people appearing from nowhere. It was difficult to see the crowd as made up of individual people; it was swarming and pulsating like a giant organism. For some inexplicable reason it occurred to Matti that if someone were to go mad and start running amok with a machine gun, the station would be a scene of mass slaughter.

They not so much walked as dodged and wound their way through the station hall and down into the underground shopping level, and still neither of them said a word. They even avoided looking at one another, though they were still walking hand in hand. Matti’s mind was strangely numbed, as though he had been sedated. This in itself meant that he didn’t particularly want to speak. They wandered around the upper level of the underground station – they could barely make out the compass beneath the crowds of people – then they headed towards the tunnel running under Mannerheimintie, leading to the basement level of the Forum shopping centre.

‘What do you think all this means?’ Leena whispered, clearly puzzled and perhaps even slightly afraid. ‘Something about this freaks me out…’

‘I don’t get it either. Maybe this is one of his religion’s holy rituals.’

‘Yeah maybe… I don’t understand… When he looks at me it’s as if he can control me by some magic.’

‘Me too. It makes me feel… Like if he told me to jump off a cliff, I’d do it.’

‘Do you think he can hypnotise us?’

‘I don’t think it happens that quickly. Don’t you have to stare at a swinging watch or something? And I read somewhere that you have to want it to work too.’

‘What do you think is in the bag? Should I have a peek?’

‘No, I don’t want to know. Let’s just do this the way we agreed. Still, it’s really heavy though…’

They were far enough along the tunnel that the traffic and trams along Mannerheimintie must have been thundering directly above their heads, though they couldn’t hear a sound. All at once the air changed, making them hungry instantly; the smell of food wafted out of the numerous restaurants in the lower level of the Forum.

‘Let’s go over there,’ said Leena nodding to the right. ‘My Mum and I have been there a few times, they have really good toppings.’

‘I’ve been there too, but I’ve never eaten there.’

‘Have the Della Casa, it’s got black olives and loads of onion.’

‘I’m not too keen on olives. I want one with prawns.’

‘Then you should have the Cam…Camberetti - and a large Coke?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Look, those people by the fountain are just about to leave. Give me the money, I’ll order and you can save the table.’

‘OK. I’m not really used to being in a real restaurant.’

‘Garlic on the pizza?’

‘Yes please, lots.’

Barely ten minutes had passed before the waitress laid the plates in front of them. They were enormous, like the steering wheel of a bus. Matti’s pizza was piled high with prawns and the rich smell of garlic filled his nostrils, whetting his appetite. He had propped the rucksack against the back of the chair, making it almost comfortable to sit down. Dozens of people chattered around them, knives and forks clinked, and beside them water rippled softly in the pool. Two thick blue pillars rose up towards the ceiling. The pillars united several floors higher; undoubtedly a work of art of some kind, situated right at the heart of the shopping centre.

‘They’re here already?’ Matti asked.

‘Yes!’ said Leena, and Matti followed her example, spreading a napkin across his lap. Then he picked up his knife and fork and started slicing up his pizza. The crust was so crisp that he didn’t have to saw at it like pizzas from the supermarket; a gentle cut was enough. The first mouthful was a glorious experience. Matti closed his eyes and let one prawn after another melt in his mouth.

To his amazement he realised that, despite being so nervous a moment ago, for the first time in a very long while he felt happy. He had a friend, Leena; he had his own mobile phone with prepaid talk-time; and then there was the priest who, with all his strange little quirks, had saved him from his tormentors. Then there was Dad. When he thought about all this he had a strong and warm feeling, a certainty that his father would take him in - all he had to do was ask.

‘This is amazing…’

‘I know. Maybe he’s a nice guy after all,’ replied Matti.

That’s when the music started. It was the same kind of beeping as a mobile phone, but far louder. People started looking around, wondering why no one answered so that the noise would stop.

‘What’s that?’

‘Old Macdonald had a farm…’

‘I know that,’ said Matti. ‘But where is it coming from?’

‘Somebody’s got their phone turned up really loud.’

‘No,’ said Matti, bewildered. He placed his knife and fork back on his plate. ‘Leena, I think it’s coming from this rucksack…’

Leena’s mouth stopped chewing. She stared at him in disbelief.

‘You’re right,’ she whispered after a moment. All the while ‘Old Macdonald had a farm’ played on and on in the background; the sound seemed to grow louder the longer it rang. ‘It might be an alarm clock. I stayed over with a friend one night and her clock sounded just like that.’

‘Do you… Do you think we should have a look inside?’

‘But what if it really is some kind of obedience test?’

‘How about if I don’t take it off my back, so at least we don’t break that rule. Then you can have a quick look inside.’

‘OK.’

Leena stood up, the legs of her stool scraping across the floor. Some of the people sitting around them realised that they were the ones causing all the noise and looked at them angrily, as if to say ‘
Give it a rest!
’ Leena was already standing behind him and Matti could hear the bag rustling and feel it moving on his back. ‘Old Macdonald had a farm’ played on and on – until there came a click and the music stopped all at once. Now there was only the sound of Leena rummaging in the rucksack. Then she closed the zip, walked back round the table and sat down.

‘I was right,’ she said. ‘It’s the same little white clock my friend has.’

‘What else was in there?’

‘Well,’ she said, lowering her eyes. ‘Nothing valuable, just boxes full of rusty bolts and stuff.’

‘No wonder it’s so heavy.’

‘The box in the middle had some kind of blocks in it, like sausages. Then there were a load of cables going from the clock into the blocks.’

‘I don’t get it,’ said Matti. He gave a shrug and picked up his soda, but the glass hadn’t even reached his lips before his expression changed into one of bewilderment.

‘Hang on.’

‘What?’ asked Leena, her mouth full of pizza.

‘Have you read in the papers…’ he stammered, his hands shaking so much that Coke spilled over the rim and he had to place his glass back on the table. ‘Could it be a bomb?’

‘A bomb? What on earth makes you think that?’

‘It was in the papers. The kind they blow up in England and Israel…’

‘What?’

‘Oh God,’ said Matti breathlessly, as his face and lips began to tremble.

‘Matti,’ Leena whispered and placed her hand on his. ‘I’m scared… Let’s leave the bag and get out of here, just to be on the safe side.’

For a long moment Matti was silent.

‘We can’t,’ he stuttered finally.

‘Well what then? Should we call the fire brigade?’

‘What time is it?’

‘The clock wasn’t right. It was ten to twelve.’

‘What if it goes off at twelve?’

‘I know…’

They stared at one another with fear in their eyes, and only after many long seconds of silence Matti finally said: ‘But what if we’re wrong? Things like that don’t happen in Finland…’

‘Really?’ said Leena, as though she too wanted to believe it, then added stiffly: ‘But what about… Don’t you remember what happened in Myyrmanni? And the car bomb downtown?’

‘Yes,’ said Matti, carefully standing up. ‘Let’s go. We’ll leave it on the street. It can’t do as much damage if it’s outside.’

‘I’m not so sure it was a bomb after all.’

‘We can throw it down a sewer…’

‘OK,’ Leena finally agreed, and they began to make their way towards the escalators leading up to the ground floor. Matti was suddenly filled with an urge to ditch the rucksack there and then and run away, but it was as though Leena had sensed this and she grabbed his hand, holding him tightly.

There were still crowds of people and the escalators were so packed that it was impossible to walk up past the queue. All they could do was stand and wait, wait and suffer as the escalators edged slowly upwards. Matti wondered what would happen if it really was a bomb and if it exploded right now. At least a hundred people would have been blown into oblivion; Leena amongst them, and him too. Would he have time to register anything? Pain? Or would it be as though someone had simply switched off the lights?

They arrived at the main door and wove their way outside among the thick throng of people. Matti could no longer control his fear; he had already slipped his hands beneath the straps on his shoulders and broke into a run, but he only managed to take a few steps before Leena grabbed him by the sleeve.

‘Don’t leave me!’

‘I won’t,’ he panted. His upper lip was moist with sweat and a few drops started to trickle down his neck.

Then he saw the priest, and Leena clearly saw him too – as impossible as it seemed in such a crowd. He was standing on the other side of the street
staring up at the shopping centre. Then he noticed them, there was no mistaking it. For a moment he didn’t move, then he turned sharply and took a few quick steps towards the corner. He stopped still and raised his hand as if he were looking at his watch. Immediately he started waving at them, gesturing as if to say ‘Come quickly!’ And although the distance between them was great, Matti could feel his electric gaze sizzling and boring into him.

The traffic lights would not change. Matti didn’t dare cross. Cars sped past like sharks or piranhas, their tyres thundering along the road, and the lights continued to shine red at the waiting pedestrians; they shone so insistently that he began to feel as if the little man were never going to change, but had been painted permanently red.