She's Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel

got hold of her arms, hauled her up on to her knees and held her in front of him in a firm grip.
    The woman climbed on to the bed behind her. She was surprisingly agile for her age and terrifyingly at ease with the violent situation. The woman kneeled in front of Ylva, who was breathing heavily, her eyes darting everywhere.
    ‘Look at me.’
    Ylva looked up with uncertainty. Her hair was hangingdown in her face and the woman gently pushed it to the side and tucked it behind her ears.
    ‘Stop panting.’
    The woman spoke in a quiet voice, almost a whisper. Ylva gasped a few times more, the woman closed her eyes, smiled, and waited.
    ‘Can we talk now?’ the woman asked, so quietly that it was almost inaudible.
    Ylva nodded weakly.
    ‘Good.’
    The woman looked at her husband, who let go of Ylva’s arms.
    ‘It’s very simple,’ she continued in a patient tone, almost like a teacher. ‘You are here, and you know why.’
    Ylva looked down.
    ‘Look at me.’
    Ylva lifted her eyes. The woman smiled at her, raised her eyebrows.
    ‘You know why you are here.’
    ‘I …’
    The woman softly put her finger on Ylva’s lips.
    ‘Shh, no more about the past. You’re going to pay back your debt. Let’s look to the future now.’
    The woman turned, sweeping out her arm.
    ‘This is your world,’ she said. ‘You can use whatever is in this room. You might not think that it’s much, that you might as well have nothing. But you’re wrong. There’s a lot that you take for granted, privileges you can’t see.
    The woman got down off the bed.
    ‘I’ll show you what we expect of you. When you hear us coming in, stand so that we can see you through the peephole. When we knock on the door, stand so that you are visible with your hands on your head, where we can see them. Do you understand?’
    Ylva stared at her.
    ‘You’ll be given easy household chores such as laundry and ironing, but first and foremost you will always be available. My husband will use you whenever he feels like it, so that you never forget the reason why you are here. You will perform your tasks willingly and with conviction. There are various hygiene products in the bathroom and we expect you to use them. Do you understand?’
    Ylva looked at the woman. The man was standing more or less behind her.
    ‘You’re crazy, both of you,’ she said. ‘Totally fucking insane. That was twenty years ago. Do you think Annikawould be proud of you now? Do you think she’d feel she’s been avenged?’
    The woman slapped her hard across the face.
    ‘I don’t want to hear Annika’s name pass your filthy lips.’
    Ylva made an attempt to throw herself over the woman and wrestle her to the ground. The man came between them and twisted Ylva’s arm up behind her back, forcing her to her knees. The woman hunkered down close to Ylva.
    ‘If you try to escape again, my husband will dislocate your feet. So, in short, your life from now will be like
One Thousand and One Nights
. Minus all the tiresome stories. You will stay alive as long as it suits us.’
    Someone called Karlsson from the police phoned just after eight on Monday morning. Mike replied that they still hadn’t heard anything from Ylva and that he hadn’t got any clues from anywhere else of where she might be.
    Mike said with some irritation that he’d already spoken to the police about ten times on the Sunday. And on his own initiative had contacted the papers, who’d put in a notice under local news. Even though they hadn’t mentioned Ylva by name or published a photograph.
    ‘It’s not necessarily as bad as you think,’ Karlsson said. ‘A couple of hundred people are reported missing every day in this country. Six to seven thousand a year. And only around a dozen or so of those disappear for ever. Generally due to drowning or something like that. My colleague, Gerda, and I were thinking about dropping by. Will you be at home for the next couple of hours?’
    Gerda was, like Karlsson, a man. His