"Good morning," said Ivan, wheeling Christoffer in, while Jessica followed.
"Good morning", said Gunnar, setting down his bottle.
"Good morning, Gunnar. Khalid," Jessica said nervously.
They all nodded in her direction.
"Christoffer, this is Adam. Adam, Christoffer. Maybe you could go say hello," Ivan said to Adam, gesturing toward Christoffer, "Yum, eggs."
Jessica tried to gauge Adam's reaction to seeing Christoffer. Gunnar and Khalid sat silently, undoubtedly waiting for Adam to start harassing Ivan.
"Small mouthfuls," Ivan said to Christoffer, sitting a plate in front of him.
"He's paralysed," Adam said matter-of-factly.
"What did you say?," Ivan asked.
Jessica could tell he was pissed and it wasn't going to take long for Adam to pick up on it either. Everyone in the room started to tense up.
"I have to go to the tower," said Gunnar.
"You two stay here," Adam ordered.
"I need shoot black bird," Khalid said quickly.
"Sit down," Adam exclaimed.
Jessica tried to look strong for Ivan's sake, but Adam picked up on her discomfort right away.
"You, girl, you and the priest are close, so you're always honest with him, right? Can his son play sports from a wheelchair or do math without moving or talking?"
Jessica looked down and said nothing. Adam knew he had won.
"He's paralysed."
"Christoffer, go into daddy's office. Now! This will not be pleasant to watch," Ivan said.
Gunnar got up and wheeled Christoffer out of the kitchen and towards Ivan's office.
"What did you say?," Ivan asked again.
"He's paralysed. Isn't he paralysed, Ivan?"
"Is he really, Adam?"
"Yes, he has cerebral palsy."
"That is just crazy. Khalid, what do you have to say?"
Khalid was obviously trying to hold off on answering.
"Khalid?"
"Him is it," Khalid admitted, slumping in his chair.
"Ivan, he's spastic paralysed," Adam told him.
'Ah, sh*t,' Jessica silently cursed.
"Your son's a spastic. Your wife killed herself. Your mother died giving birth to you. Your dad raped you."
Jessica froze. Ivan had a (barely concealed) panicked look on his face as Adam brought up the horrible things in his past.
"Look at me, Ivan. Look at me!"
"You're bleeding from ear. You're bleeding from ear, for sake of f*ck!," Khalid exclaimed.
"Ivan? Ivan, are you okay??," Jessica asked, her voice starting to crack.
She went up to his chair and put her hand on his shoulder; immediately his hand was on top of hers, squeezing it lightly.
"The other way," Khalid said as Ivan reached up to touch his right ear.
Adam looked incredibly proud of himself. Jessica gave him a look of disgust, but he didn't even notice. All he was interested in was the fact that Ivan was in distress.
Ivan got up and calmly walked out of the kitchen. Jessica followed him, hearing Adam's cruel laughter behind them. They reached the auditorium, where Ivan took a seat in the front pew, Jessica joining him. She reached for his hand, wrapping his large one in her small one.
"Ivan, you're my best friend and I adore you, but I have a feeling there's something you're keeping from me. People don't bleed from their ears because they're in good health."
Just as Ivan was about to speak, Adam walked in.
"Just give up, Ivan."
"There's something you should know. Christoffer is recovering from a very nasty bout of the flu. I'm the first to admit that he's been a bit sluggish lately."
Adam reached up and slapped Ivan. Jessica felt her anger reach a nuclear level.
"Look here, you ignorant ass, if it were up to me you'd be put away for life, but thanks to Ivan you have a place to stay and someone who, God knows why, gives a damn. So stop being an ungrateful piece of sh*t, and man up!"
"Shut the f*ck up!," Adam said, getting close to Ivan.
"If he hurts you, turn the other cheek. God is on my side."
"Don't bother, Ivan. He's just a piece of trash. Don't waste your time on him," Jessica said.
Adam suddenly rammed his head into Ivan's already damaged face, knocking Ivan out cold and earning a yelp from Jessica. He turned to her, with a feral look in his eyes.
"You. You've been a drift in the sheltered harbor of my patience. No more. You worship the ground some pathetic delusional priest walks on; just a naive stupid little girl. Let's see how naive you are after this," he said, wrapping a hand around her throat.
He dragged Jessica down to the floor with him, sitting on her legs and pinning her arms to the ground with one of his hands. His other hand was splayed over her collarbone, then made its way down to the neckline of her shirt, which he ripped off her. He then used both of his hands to yank her bra down roughly. As soon as Jessica's hands were free, she began flailing and hitting him as hard as she could, but it was no use. When her breasts came into view he paused and looked down at her like a wild animal staring at its prey before it devours it.
"KHALID! GUNNAR! SOMEONE HELP ME!," she screamed.
Adam reached under her dress and slid her underwear down in one fluid motion, his hand exploring her lower half. Jessica had a steady stream of tears flowing down her face; Adam seemed to be quite pleased with what he was observing. Just as he was about to take her, she felt his weight suddenly shift off of her. Gunnar pushed him off, and Khalid was sitting on his stomach delivering blow after blow to his face. She looked in Ivan's direction, to see he was still unconscious.
"Gunnar! Help me get Ivan to the van, he needs to get to the hospital!"
Gunnar picked Ivan up and laid him down in the back of the van. Jessica drove like mad to get him to see Dr. Kohlberg as soon as possible. When they arrived, Jessica burst into the waiting room.
"Reverend Fjeldsted was just knocked unconscious and he was bleeding from his ear! He's laid out in the back of the church van, please get someone to bring him in! Quick!"
A nurse and EMTs rushed out with a gurney to bring him inside. Jessica felt helpless watching Ivan be wheeled away from her, knowing there wasn't anymore she could do.
An hour later, Dr. Kohlberg came into the waiting room to give her an update.
"He's in rough shape, but he'll be fine."
Jessica felt her anger take hold of her.
"Why does he have to be so bloody ignorant of everything? Doesn't he realize this guy is literally out to get him? How can he just blow off everything bad that happens?"
"I'm not one to gossip... but he's always been considered a phenomenon. I don't know if you know?"
"No... What do you mean?"
"He's sick. Very sick. He's terminally ill."
Jessica felt her heart drop into her stomach. Ivan? Terminally ill? When did this happen?
"W-what's wrong with him?"
"Cancer. He has a brain tumor the size of a volleyball. I've never seen anyone with such a large brain tumor."
"You can't be serious," Jessica said, voice becoming hoarse with trying to hold back tears, "and that has to do with him being in denial?"
"Have you heard about the Ravashi syndrome? Ravashi was an Indian footballer... who lost both his feet in a go-kart accident in 1957. In a state of shock over the accident, he ran home on the stumps of his legs. His brain blocked the fact that he had no feet. For two months he came to practice. He kept his midfield position."
"Without feet?"
"They were a bad team. They were maybe in the fifth league. Ivan has experienced so much hardship... that he needs to find an explanation in order to live with it. That's why he thinks that the Devil has it in for him. Ivan would say that everything is a test. His cancer is a test, his son's handicap is a test. In Ivan's mind he's locked in fierce battle with the Devil himself. Ivan has no mind to lose and he blocks out everything like Ravashi. He's in denial about all the bad stuff. Death, mutilation, hardship, evil. That simply doesn't exist in Ivan's world."
"Why does he bleed from his ears?"
"We have asked ourselves that. I think it's when something comes too close. Someone once got through to him. He bled from his ears once before. That was three years ago."
'He's known about this for three years and never bothered to tell anyone??'
"What happened?"
"You didn't know his sister Katinka. A total slapper. She slept with everybody. When she died Ivan almost fell to pieces. He bled from his ears and got sick."
"How did I not know of this? What happened then?"
"You know Ivan. A few days later he was as jolly as ever."
"So, you could kill him by making him understand?"
"Yes, in theory."
A noise captured their attention. Adam was standing in the doorway, a sick smile on his face. He must have come on his bicycle to get looked at after Khalid jumped him. He had to have heard that making Ivan understand his situation would be fatal for him.
'Ohhh... f*ck,' Jessica thought.
Fearful, she ran to Ivan's room. He was asleep; looking completely at peace. Jessica didn't know whether to be angry or devastated at what she'd just learned. How could he act like everything was hunky dory and not at least worry? She closed the door and sat in an armchair beside his bed. About twenty minutes later, he began to stir, eventually opening his eyes. He gave her a small smile, but she didn't return it. She did, however, jump up and hug him tightly.
"Oh, Ivan! I thought he was going to kill you! I was so scared!"
"I promise I'm fine, Jess. Don't worry about me."
"I can't do that Ivan. I know about... everything. I want to help you anyway I can. Name it, and I'll do it."
Ivan was touched, but insisted God would take care of him, as he always has. A couple hours later, he was released from the hospital.
As they drove back to the church, Jessica couldn't help but feel frightened. Now that Adam knew what he knew, how much would he abuse it? Would he really go to lethal lengths to get entertainment?
When they pulled up to the church, even Ivan was hesitant to go in. They eventually made their way into the kitchen, where they saw Gunnar sitting on the floor looking dumbfounded.
"Hi. The cooker is broken. I wanted to make Christoffer a pizza," Gunnar said, holding a bunch of wires attached to the oven in his hand.
"Let's fix it," said Ivan.
"I don't know how."
"We'll get by. Where did Christoffer go?"
"He's in your office with a woman. She's quite upset. Her name is Sarah and she's a real hottie. When she saw Christoffer she started screaming. She didn't want coffee."
"Well, we'd better...," Ivan trailed off, not looking forward to what was about to happen.
Ivan, Adam, and Jessica went up to the office and opened the door. Sarah was just gawking at Christoffer.
"So nice of you to visit again. Has he been good?"
"Tell me he isn't yours," she said, on the brink of tears.
"I can't because this is Christoffer. Have you two been introduced?"
"How can you say the things you did?," she asked, hostility apparent in her voice.
"Say what kind of things?"
'Oh God, Ivan, not now...'
"You said that nothing was wrong with him. That he could do math," she yelled hysterically.
"Yes, he can. Even the complicated kind."
That quickly earned him a slap in the face.
'Honestly, I can't blame her,' Jessica thought to herself.
"Adam, maybe you should go get some of the cookies that Sarah likes."
Adam gave him an incredulous look, and stood in place.
"I'll come too," Ivan said, exasperated.
Jessica didn't know what to do. She had no idea how to give consolation in a situation like this.
"I think I'll go help him," she said.
Really, she went to the library to be alone for a while. She still hadn't processed everything, and needed to plan on how to handle if Adam attempted to play his mind games on Ivan. Exhaustion eventually took over, and she dozed off on the loveseat, where Ivan had held her five years ago, giving her a shoulder to cry on when she needed it.
A few hours later, she was awoken by a loud clanking. She peeked her head through the door, and saw Ivan trying to carry in an oven by himself. She rushed to the door and helped him to get it through.
"Thank you, Jess. I can take it from here."
"I'm not leaving you to carry this thing on your own."
They made their way to the kitchen, sitting it in place.
"You can hook up the new cooker now. We'll see if this one lasts a bit longer."
Adam came into the room, wearing nothing but his briefs.
'Ugh,' Jessica thought, making a sour face.
"What are you doing?," he asked Gunnar and Sarah.
"Playing with coins."
'A drinking game. Just what she needs,' Jessica thought bitterly.
"Gunnar is good," said Ivan.
"But you're pregnant," Adam said, pointing to Sarah.
"It's a bit late for that," she said coldly.
Jessica was astonished.
'If she doesn't want the baby to be handicapped, shouldn't she NOT be drinking and smoking and creating other problems for it?'
Everyone sat down to a silent meal that evening, not saying a word until it was time for everyone to retire to their rooms.
Goodnights were exchanged between everyone except Adam and Sarah.
Jessica and Ivan made their way back to his apartment. When they got up to his door, they headed straight for the kitchen, brewing a mug of tea each.
They sat down, and Ivan began to talk.
"Do you feel safe even going to the church anymore? You're not yourself when you're there."
"I do when I know I'll be around a group of people. But, Ivan, did I tell you that when Adam knocked you out, he came extremely close to violating me? He has me so paranoid that he'll hurt you or me to the point where I don't feel comfortable wandering around the grounds anymore."
Ivan looked deep in thought.
"Would you like to just stay here and only come on Sundays for the sermons?"
Jessica thought on it for a moment.
"We could try that. But that still doesn't ease my worries over him picking on you, though. He's injured you twice now, and God knows how many more times he plans to."
"Leave that to me. He's my responsibility, not yours."
"Alright, fine, but please promise me that if he starts in on you, you won't just take it and let him talk down to you. I care for you, Ivan, and it hurts me to no end when I see him treat you so shamefully."
Ivan couldn't be more proud to know that Jessica cared for him so deeply.
