9 October 2025
5:45 pm
On a Thursday
Vorsviði, Prydania
Vorsviði was like most medium towns in Fölurpunktur. Hovering just under 50,000 people, it wasn't the place where everyone knew everyone else, but it could seem that way. Certainly you knew your street.
Vali Borstad. Fourteen years old. Born in 2011. Vorsviði, his home town, was liberated from the Syndicalists before he was five. He was only six when the War ended...
For most of his young life he has known a country at peace, the War a distant childhood thing that he only has the vaguest memories of.
And right now he's not paying those memories any mind... he's doing the sort of thing fourteen year old boys do.
"GOOOOALLL!"
Yngvar Grondahl, Vali's best friend tossed his arms up triumphantly, mindless of the fact that he was still holding a hockey stick. The stick banged against the roof of the porch.
"Shit!"
"Hey! Don't mess up the roof! My parents are gonna kill us!"
"Já, já," Yngvar replied, trying to sound flippant, hoping it covered for the panic that was clearly all over his face when the stick banged the roof. He brought the stick down to the wooden floor of the porch and deftly handled another tennis ball back and forth. Vali, who was clutching a goalie's stick and wearing gloves and pads, was tending a rectangle formed by the frames of the porch railing, a makeshift net. Yngvar bit his lower lip as he focused and... Vali flashed his stick hand, protected by the blocker. The ball hit the blocker and bounced back out.
"Ha!"
Yngvar rolled his eyes.
"I'm thirsty. You want anything?"
Vali nodded. It had been just after getting back from school when they'd started porch hockey, but dusk had descended on the town, and they'd each not had a thing to eat or drink since.
"Já," Vali nodded again as he discarded the goalie pads. He tossed his mask aside and ran his hand through his short buzzed blond hair. He'd never gotten a buzz cut before but he'd finally convinced his mom to let him have one. He still wasn't used to it and was still enamoured at how fuzzy his hair was.
Yngvar, however, had thick chestnut hair in a mullet. A hockey haircut as they called it, because you could look badass with flowing, long hair in the back, but the front was short enough that it wouldn't get in your eyes as you were playing.
Yngvar and Vali entered the house. They had it to themselves for a bit, and that was hilarious. The freedom afforded them could mean anything! But it ultimately they just goofed off.
"Toki's?" Vali asked as he rooted around his family fridge.
"What flavour?"
"Regular and... um... sweet wine*?"
"Regular," Yngvar said with a sigh.
"Hey you think your sister's room is unlocked?"
"Maybe?" Vali replied with a shrug as he handed his friend the pop before opening his.
"Why?"
"Read her journal, of course."
"We're not little kids anymore," Vali sighed.
"No, no, you got me all wrong. I wanna see if she likes me."
Vali laughed, until he saw the hurt look on his friend's face.
"You serious?"
"Já! I mean! What's so crazy about that?"
"You want my sister, Bera, Queen and eternal ruler of Bitch Mountain, to like you?"
"She's cute," Yngvar said with an earnest shrug. Vali sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Let's get back to the porch. I need more fresh air after this display."
The two teenage boys went back out to the porch. The gentle rustle of the approaching fall wind in the changing leaves and the fading light of dusk really did evoke the mood of All Hallow's Eve, just weeks away. In fact the wind caused them both to shiver. They were wearing gym shorts and band t-shirts, both too baggy for their own good, but soon the weather would dictate longer and more cozy clothing. This was one of the last nights to enjoy what was left of summer, fading as the green faded to red and orange in the leaves.
"Think maybe we shoulda gone to Oktoberfest?" Vali asked. It was an idea born out of them having so very little to do. They could go inside and play video games... or more porch hockey...
"Ugh, fok no, dude. I'm gonna vomit if I have to drink another sítronukóla, I swear to God."
"I like sítronukóla," Vali said with a shrug but his friend wouldn't hear of it.
"This is important, man. I can't let you embarrass yourself like that. Thankfully it's only me here."
"What?" Vali asked in a protesting tone.
"Sítronukóla is good. You used to love it."
"When we were like eight, come on. That drink's what they give babies who aren't ready for beer. And you and me, we're ready," Yngvar said with a wink as the two sat down on the wooden benches of the porch.
"Ready to get tossed in jail! We're two years..."
"Off from legal drinking age, whatever," Yngvar interrupted his friend dismissively.
"Do you just want my sister to think you're mature?" Vali teased, prompting Yngvar to toss Vali's own discarded goalie catcher glove at him. The two boys eyed each other like one would pounce the other but they just chuckled and relaxed again. Yngvar smiled and laughed a bit until his joyful tone faded. Just trailing off.
Vali didn't notice it at first until he saw Yngvar just sort of fixated ahead.
"Whatcha looking at?" Vali asked as he sipped his pop, sounding half unconcerned.
"Hey..." Yngvar asked, his voice now a bit subdued.
"Do you know that car?" he pointed.
Vali looked confused at the question but looked and cocked his head.
Everyone on the street knew each other. Not everyone even had a car, some of the younger residents had bikes, and used the Prydanian Railway station if they had to travel further. Those that had cars and trucks... well everyone knew them. And indeed, everyone's car was parked where it should. But this one car... was out of place.
It was a sleek black sedan with tinted windows at the far end of the street, parked in front of the Vetlesen family's house. The boys squinted, and could make out a the R logo of Roland, an Ultramontese company. Pricey. And new and expensive looking.
The neighbourhood was working and lower-middle class. Vali's own father was an electrician. Yngvald's worked at the town's Midland Automobile factory.
"I don't think... so..." Vali answered, studying the car.
"How long has it been there?"
"I donno," Yngvald replied.
"Was it there when we started playing hockey?" he asked, looking at Vali. Vali just shrugged.
"Do you think the Vetlesens got a new car?" Vali asked.
"They're in Alaterva visiting family. I just returned Eyvind's laptop I was burrowing before they left."
"Huh..."
They looked at the car at the of the road. Nothing about it was sinister. It was just...out of the ordinary. Vorsviði was the sort of town where you just got so used to the routine that anything different made you stop.
The two boys focused on the new car for a bit longer before Vali's parents' blue Midland SUV rolled up, snatching their attention.
"Out of my way, losers," Bera said curtly as she stormed out of the SUV and forced her way past her younger brother and his friend. Yngvar was a bit lost in watching her walk past him before he dragged his attention to his friend and his friend's parents.
"Herra and Fröken Borstad," he said respectfully.
"Hi mama, pabbi," Vali said, as his parents, each wearing traditional Prydanian folk garb in contrast to the two teenagers wearing gym shorts and t-shirts, exited the SUV.
"What's up with Bera?"
"Oh, relationship drama," Vali's mother said, rolling her eyes.
"There was a whole thing about who would dance with who at the festival, I don't know."
"I wouldn't expect to see Snorri around for a bit," Vali's dad said with a chuckle, referring to Bera's boyfriend.
"So she's available," Yngvar muttered to his friend with a smile, as Vali sighed.
"You two playing porch hockey?" Vali's mother asked.
"Já," the boys replied in unison.
"Well clean up the equipment before coming inside Vali," his mother said, before turning to Yngvar.
"I'm always happy to invite you dinner, but your pabbi should be getting home soon and I'm pretty sure he's keen to have you for company."
Yngvar nodded.
"Já that's ok! Hey Vali. See you tomorrow?"
"Right on!"
Yngvar pulled his bike up from its side on the house's front lawn and began to peddle away. As he stopped at the street corner he looked across to where the mysterious black sedan had been. It was gone. It must have just left when they weren't looking. Yngvar looked back at Vali, shrugged, and peddled off.
9 October 2025
11:34 pm
On a Thursday
Vorsviði, Prydania
Vali's bedroom was in the back of the house, with a window that overlooked the backyard.
While it wasn't much of a backyard by the standards of a Scalvian Millennium Mansion*, it was enough for a grill and a few lawn chairs. The back wooden fence separated their family's backyard from the forest.
Vali was in bed... not quite on the verge of sleep but not overly awake either. The moons' light cast a calm and silent aura in the room, ever so slightly illuminating the Vetrarbraut music and Ice Giants hockey posters. It almost made the mess of clothes seem peaceful.
Vali sighed and felt himself sink into his pillow and mattress. He was finally about to fall asleep when...
He heard a rustling.
The woods that butted up to their house meant that growing up Vali had gotten used to the sounds of bears and even the odd wolf sniffing around. And he knew what to do if he came across one... but this wasn't either. Wolves caused a certain type of rustle. Bears? Their own type. This was something in between.
A man.
Vali rolled out of bed, and peaked through the blinds. He felt his blood run cold. There was someone. A man. He couldn't tell much about him, in the dark. He was on the edge of the woods just outside of his family's yard, on the other side of the fence.
Vali froze. He didn't want to make any sudden movements that might alert the man that he was watching. And the man's actions furthered that plan.
Vali was sure he didn't see him because he... wasn't making sense.
A burglar. A criminal of some kind. Those people would have a plan. Something to do, but in the moments Vali watched him, he just paced. He was pacing outside of the fence and occasionally looked up at the moons and stars... but then he'd almost seem like he was looking down at his feet as he started pacing again.
Vali tried to make out some details. He was seemingly wearing a dark sports jacket and slacks and a white shirt underneath. His hair was either light brown or blond or red... it was hard to tell in the dark. He seemed to be of an average build and height, but if he was younger or older? Vali couldn't tell.
Something wasn't right. Vali should have been relieved this man didn't cross into their lawn and try to enter their house. But he was just pacing. Aimlessly. It unnerved him. Some primal instinct was making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He very slowly and quietly grabbed his phone and pulled up Yngvar, texting him.
"Yo, there's a guy walking around near my backyard by the woods."
The "Yngvar is typing" icon came up.
"Holy shit. You can see someone?"
Yngvar lived on the other end of the street.
Vali didn't answer. He just watched this man aimlessly walk to and fro and then...
...rustling. Only this was fainter. And not from the man. No. This was a sound... from the street out front. Vali gulped. He had to see what it was... and slowly backed away from his window, only feeling able to do that because the man didn't seem in a rush to head anywhere specific. He quickly and quietly left his room and walked down the hallway, looking out a window that overlooked the front street.
And he saw the black sedan from earlier. It was back. Parked just one house down from him.
"Holy shit this... this isn't a coincide? Is it a coincidence?" he thought to himself.
"The guy is still there and the car we saw earlier is right outside my house."
"Dude. Get your parents. This is freaky."
Vali nodded at his friend's message and made his way to his parents' room, and gently shook his dad awake.
"Vali? I have work tomorrow..."
"Pabbi... there's a man outside. In the back. By the fence. He's just... pacing."
Vali's father awoke his wife, sending her to go be with Bera. And he followed his son to his room and peered out the window into the backyard. There he was... the pacing man.
"See?"
Vali's dad nodded.
"Stay here. Away from the window."
"What are you gonna do?"
"Teach a creep that you don't stalk the house of a guy who cleaned out Syndie trenches with a shotgun," his dad muttered before leaving the room.
Vali stayed back in his bed for a bit... but he couldn't help it. He went back to the window and saw his father, rifle in hand, scoping out the backyard. But the pacing man was gone.
Vali watched as his father used his phone to illuminate the area, and crouched down to examine some footprints. He clutched his rifle, looked around again... and just as Vali's father went back into the house, the sound of a car starting up and peeling away in a hurry cut through the silence. Vali and his dad ran out to the porch.
The black sedan was speeding away, down the road. Into the night.
*sweet wine- a Prydanian term for cream soda
*Millennium Mansion- McMansion
5:45 pm
On a Thursday
Vorsviði, Prydania
Vorsviði was like most medium towns in Fölurpunktur. Hovering just under 50,000 people, it wasn't the place where everyone knew everyone else, but it could seem that way. Certainly you knew your street.
Vali Borstad. Fourteen years old. Born in 2011. Vorsviði, his home town, was liberated from the Syndicalists before he was five. He was only six when the War ended...
For most of his young life he has known a country at peace, the War a distant childhood thing that he only has the vaguest memories of.
And right now he's not paying those memories any mind... he's doing the sort of thing fourteen year old boys do.
"GOOOOALLL!"
Yngvar Grondahl, Vali's best friend tossed his arms up triumphantly, mindless of the fact that he was still holding a hockey stick. The stick banged against the roof of the porch.
"Shit!"
"Hey! Don't mess up the roof! My parents are gonna kill us!"
"Já, já," Yngvar replied, trying to sound flippant, hoping it covered for the panic that was clearly all over his face when the stick banged the roof. He brought the stick down to the wooden floor of the porch and deftly handled another tennis ball back and forth. Vali, who was clutching a goalie's stick and wearing gloves and pads, was tending a rectangle formed by the frames of the porch railing, a makeshift net. Yngvar bit his lower lip as he focused and... Vali flashed his stick hand, protected by the blocker. The ball hit the blocker and bounced back out.
"Ha!"
Yngvar rolled his eyes.
"I'm thirsty. You want anything?"
Vali nodded. It had been just after getting back from school when they'd started porch hockey, but dusk had descended on the town, and they'd each not had a thing to eat or drink since.
"Já," Vali nodded again as he discarded the goalie pads. He tossed his mask aside and ran his hand through his short buzzed blond hair. He'd never gotten a buzz cut before but he'd finally convinced his mom to let him have one. He still wasn't used to it and was still enamoured at how fuzzy his hair was.
Yngvar, however, had thick chestnut hair in a mullet. A hockey haircut as they called it, because you could look badass with flowing, long hair in the back, but the front was short enough that it wouldn't get in your eyes as you were playing.
Yngvar and Vali entered the house. They had it to themselves for a bit, and that was hilarious. The freedom afforded them could mean anything! But it ultimately they just goofed off.
"Toki's?" Vali asked as he rooted around his family fridge.
"What flavour?"
"Regular and... um... sweet wine*?"
"Regular," Yngvar said with a sigh.
"Hey you think your sister's room is unlocked?"
"Maybe?" Vali replied with a shrug as he handed his friend the pop before opening his.
"Why?"
"Read her journal, of course."
"We're not little kids anymore," Vali sighed.
"No, no, you got me all wrong. I wanna see if she likes me."
Vali laughed, until he saw the hurt look on his friend's face.
"You serious?"
"Já! I mean! What's so crazy about that?"
"You want my sister, Bera, Queen and eternal ruler of Bitch Mountain, to like you?"
"She's cute," Yngvar said with an earnest shrug. Vali sighed and rolled his eyes.
"Let's get back to the porch. I need more fresh air after this display."
The two teenage boys went back out to the porch. The gentle rustle of the approaching fall wind in the changing leaves and the fading light of dusk really did evoke the mood of All Hallow's Eve, just weeks away. In fact the wind caused them both to shiver. They were wearing gym shorts and band t-shirts, both too baggy for their own good, but soon the weather would dictate longer and more cozy clothing. This was one of the last nights to enjoy what was left of summer, fading as the green faded to red and orange in the leaves.
"Think maybe we shoulda gone to Oktoberfest?" Vali asked. It was an idea born out of them having so very little to do. They could go inside and play video games... or more porch hockey...
"Ugh, fok no, dude. I'm gonna vomit if I have to drink another sítronukóla, I swear to God."
"I like sítronukóla," Vali said with a shrug but his friend wouldn't hear of it.
"This is important, man. I can't let you embarrass yourself like that. Thankfully it's only me here."
"What?" Vali asked in a protesting tone.
"Sítronukóla is good. You used to love it."
"When we were like eight, come on. That drink's what they give babies who aren't ready for beer. And you and me, we're ready," Yngvar said with a wink as the two sat down on the wooden benches of the porch.
"Ready to get tossed in jail! We're two years..."
"Off from legal drinking age, whatever," Yngvar interrupted his friend dismissively.
"Do you just want my sister to think you're mature?" Vali teased, prompting Yngvar to toss Vali's own discarded goalie catcher glove at him. The two boys eyed each other like one would pounce the other but they just chuckled and relaxed again. Yngvar smiled and laughed a bit until his joyful tone faded. Just trailing off.
Vali didn't notice it at first until he saw Yngvar just sort of fixated ahead.
"Whatcha looking at?" Vali asked as he sipped his pop, sounding half unconcerned.
"Hey..." Yngvar asked, his voice now a bit subdued.
"Do you know that car?" he pointed.
Vali looked confused at the question but looked and cocked his head.
Everyone on the street knew each other. Not everyone even had a car, some of the younger residents had bikes, and used the Prydanian Railway station if they had to travel further. Those that had cars and trucks... well everyone knew them. And indeed, everyone's car was parked where it should. But this one car... was out of place.
It was a sleek black sedan with tinted windows at the far end of the street, parked in front of the Vetlesen family's house. The boys squinted, and could make out a the R logo of Roland, an Ultramontese company. Pricey. And new and expensive looking.
The neighbourhood was working and lower-middle class. Vali's own father was an electrician. Yngvald's worked at the town's Midland Automobile factory.
"I don't think... so..." Vali answered, studying the car.
"How long has it been there?"
"I donno," Yngvald replied.
"Was it there when we started playing hockey?" he asked, looking at Vali. Vali just shrugged.
"Do you think the Vetlesens got a new car?" Vali asked.
"They're in Alaterva visiting family. I just returned Eyvind's laptop I was burrowing before they left."
"Huh..."
They looked at the car at the of the road. Nothing about it was sinister. It was just...out of the ordinary. Vorsviði was the sort of town where you just got so used to the routine that anything different made you stop.
The two boys focused on the new car for a bit longer before Vali's parents' blue Midland SUV rolled up, snatching their attention.
"Out of my way, losers," Bera said curtly as she stormed out of the SUV and forced her way past her younger brother and his friend. Yngvar was a bit lost in watching her walk past him before he dragged his attention to his friend and his friend's parents.
"Herra and Fröken Borstad," he said respectfully.
"Hi mama, pabbi," Vali said, as his parents, each wearing traditional Prydanian folk garb in contrast to the two teenagers wearing gym shorts and t-shirts, exited the SUV.
"What's up with Bera?"
"Oh, relationship drama," Vali's mother said, rolling her eyes.
"There was a whole thing about who would dance with who at the festival, I don't know."
"I wouldn't expect to see Snorri around for a bit," Vali's dad said with a chuckle, referring to Bera's boyfriend.
"So she's available," Yngvar muttered to his friend with a smile, as Vali sighed.
"You two playing porch hockey?" Vali's mother asked.
"Já," the boys replied in unison.
"Well clean up the equipment before coming inside Vali," his mother said, before turning to Yngvar.
"I'm always happy to invite you dinner, but your pabbi should be getting home soon and I'm pretty sure he's keen to have you for company."
Yngvar nodded.
"Já that's ok! Hey Vali. See you tomorrow?"
"Right on!"
Yngvar pulled his bike up from its side on the house's front lawn and began to peddle away. As he stopped at the street corner he looked across to where the mysterious black sedan had been. It was gone. It must have just left when they weren't looking. Yngvar looked back at Vali, shrugged, and peddled off.
9 October 2025
11:34 pm
On a Thursday
Vorsviði, Prydania
Vali's bedroom was in the back of the house, with a window that overlooked the backyard.
While it wasn't much of a backyard by the standards of a Scalvian Millennium Mansion*, it was enough for a grill and a few lawn chairs. The back wooden fence separated their family's backyard from the forest.
Vali was in bed... not quite on the verge of sleep but not overly awake either. The moons' light cast a calm and silent aura in the room, ever so slightly illuminating the Vetrarbraut music and Ice Giants hockey posters. It almost made the mess of clothes seem peaceful.
Vali sighed and felt himself sink into his pillow and mattress. He was finally about to fall asleep when...
He heard a rustling.
The woods that butted up to their house meant that growing up Vali had gotten used to the sounds of bears and even the odd wolf sniffing around. And he knew what to do if he came across one... but this wasn't either. Wolves caused a certain type of rustle. Bears? Their own type. This was something in between.
A man.
Vali rolled out of bed, and peaked through the blinds. He felt his blood run cold. There was someone. A man. He couldn't tell much about him, in the dark. He was on the edge of the woods just outside of his family's yard, on the other side of the fence.
Vali froze. He didn't want to make any sudden movements that might alert the man that he was watching. And the man's actions furthered that plan.
Vali was sure he didn't see him because he... wasn't making sense.
A burglar. A criminal of some kind. Those people would have a plan. Something to do, but in the moments Vali watched him, he just paced. He was pacing outside of the fence and occasionally looked up at the moons and stars... but then he'd almost seem like he was looking down at his feet as he started pacing again.
Vali tried to make out some details. He was seemingly wearing a dark sports jacket and slacks and a white shirt underneath. His hair was either light brown or blond or red... it was hard to tell in the dark. He seemed to be of an average build and height, but if he was younger or older? Vali couldn't tell.
Something wasn't right. Vali should have been relieved this man didn't cross into their lawn and try to enter their house. But he was just pacing. Aimlessly. It unnerved him. Some primal instinct was making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. He very slowly and quietly grabbed his phone and pulled up Yngvar, texting him.
"Yo, there's a guy walking around near my backyard by the woods."
The "Yngvar is typing" icon came up.
"Holy shit. You can see someone?"
Yngvar lived on the other end of the street.
Vali didn't answer. He just watched this man aimlessly walk to and fro and then...
...rustling. Only this was fainter. And not from the man. No. This was a sound... from the street out front. Vali gulped. He had to see what it was... and slowly backed away from his window, only feeling able to do that because the man didn't seem in a rush to head anywhere specific. He quickly and quietly left his room and walked down the hallway, looking out a window that overlooked the front street.
And he saw the black sedan from earlier. It was back. Parked just one house down from him.
"Holy shit this... this isn't a coincide? Is it a coincidence?" he thought to himself.
"The guy is still there and the car we saw earlier is right outside my house."
"Dude. Get your parents. This is freaky."
Vali nodded at his friend's message and made his way to his parents' room, and gently shook his dad awake.
"Vali? I have work tomorrow..."
"Pabbi... there's a man outside. In the back. By the fence. He's just... pacing."
Vali's father awoke his wife, sending her to go be with Bera. And he followed his son to his room and peered out the window into the backyard. There he was... the pacing man.
"See?"
Vali's dad nodded.
"Stay here. Away from the window."
"What are you gonna do?"
"Teach a creep that you don't stalk the house of a guy who cleaned out Syndie trenches with a shotgun," his dad muttered before leaving the room.
Vali stayed back in his bed for a bit... but he couldn't help it. He went back to the window and saw his father, rifle in hand, scoping out the backyard. But the pacing man was gone.
Vali watched as his father used his phone to illuminate the area, and crouched down to examine some footprints. He clutched his rifle, looked around again... and just as Vali's father went back into the house, the sound of a car starting up and peeling away in a hurry cut through the silence. Vali and his dad ran out to the porch.
The black sedan was speeding away, down the road. Into the night.
*sweet wine- a Prydanian term for cream soda
*Millennium Mansion- McMansion
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