{"id":473,"date":"2025-10-09T08:12:01","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T08:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidemayasmind.com\/?p=473"},"modified":"2025-10-09T08:12:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T08:12:01","slug":"betrayal-part-2-interlude-the-kjelleren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidemayasmind.com\/?p=473","title":{"rendered":"Betrayal Part 2 – Interlude, The Kjelleren"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The music reverberated off the dark brick walls of the Kjelleren beer hall. The wooden boarded floor, sticky with spilt beer, vibrated with the deep bass line. A thin mist of blue cigarette smoke drifted beneath the low, roughly plastered, nicotine-yellowed ceiling as the scent of stale beer filled the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half a dozen exposed bulbs hung down from frayed wires, providing a dim light to the small cellar bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bar was busy that night. The crowd was an odd, eclectic mixture of people, from leather-clad rock fans to university students to scruffy drunks. Hiding themselves away in the darker nook of the bar, a group of underage drinkers, who had somehow managed to get past the doormen, argued over which of them looked the oldest and should go to buy the drinks. Those who had got in early enough sat around worn, scratched tables. The others stood, jostling and bumping shoulders, muttering angrily as a stranger accidentally knocked their beer. All had their eyes fixed on the low platform in the corner of the bar, where a red spotlight illuminated the duo that performed upon it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lela\u2019s head tossed back and forth, her hair swinging with every note while her mesmerising vocals sliced through the thick, hazy atmosphere of the Kjelleren. Asmund\u2019s fingers danced nimbly on the fretboard of his guitar. His long hair hung down over his face, his body hunched over the instrument as he strummed out powerful, blistering chords, which melded perfectly with his partner\u2019s voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pair smiled warmly at each other as they brought their song, one of Lela\u2019s own compositions and one that she was especially proud of, to a final, crashing crescendo and then silence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crowd roared with applause as Lela and Asmund embraced each other briefly before, hand in hand, they turned to bow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A wide smile split Lela\u2019s face as she looked out over the crowd, their eyes fixed on her and Asmund. From a table directly in front of the stage, Ingrid beamed up at them. Other faces, some she recognised and others that she didn\u2019t, cheered and clapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had always loved the Kjelleren. Admittedly, it could be rough at times, but the atmosphere there was something special. There was nowhere else quite like it in Oslo. She had no idea how many times she\u2019d been out on that floor dancing to whatever band had been playing. Tonight, it was different. Tonight, for the first time, it had been her performing. Arctic Howl\u2019s first gig at the Kjelleren and it had been an amazing success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carefully propping her guitar up against the wall, Lela stepped down off the stage and began to make her way through the throng of bodies, towards the bar. Slaps on the shoulder and muttered words of appreciation seemed to greet her at every turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lela stepped up to the bar, slipping in beside a large, scruffy looking man. His blonde hair was tangled, and several days\u2019 worth of stubble covered his rough face. One of the local drunks that the Kjelleren\u2019s cheap beer had a habit of attracting, no doubt. As long as they caused no trouble, men like him were generally tolerated by the management. She felt a sudden shiver run through her body as his bloodshot eyes locked onto her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lela gave the barman a warm smile and a friendly nod. The barman, a balding man in his 50s, was carefully pouring a beer from one of the polished brass pumps that lined the bar. His Rolling Stones T-shirt was faded and worn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou guys were amazing out there tonight. They can be a tough crowd to please at times, but I\u2019ve already had a bunch of inquiries about buying your T-shirts and EPs. You really do need to sort something out. They would sell well.\u201d The barman said, looking up as he spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you, Gunnar! We\u2019re looking into getting some tapes recorded and hopefully a few T-shirts printed up, ready for next time. That is, if you\u2019ll have us again?\u201d Lela didn\u2019t even attempt to hide the excitement that she could feel bubbling up inside of her as the adrenaline from the night flooded through her veins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHave you again? We\u2019ve just had a cancellation, so I have an empty slot next Friday. I was going to ask you two if you would mind stepping in?\u201d Gunnar handed the beer he\u2019d been pouring to the scruffy man as he spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course, Gunnar. Count us in!\u201d They had played in a lot of the smaller pubs, but a return gig at the Kjelleren was an enormous step up, and Lela couldn\u2019t keep the grin from her face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExcellent, I\u2019ll put you on the calendar. The twelfth of October, you\u2019re booked in. Can I get you a beer?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat would be great, thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lela jumped as she felt a rough hand land on her shoulder. Turning to politely ask the drunkard next to her to take his hand off her, stale beer and the stench of an unwashed body stung her nostrils. Her words died in her throat, and a shocked gasp escaped her mouth as her eyes met his. The face that looked at her was a face that she instantly recognised. She didn\u2019t just recognise it, it was a face that she had known since she had been a small girl.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLars?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She gazed up, looking her best friend\u2019s brother in the eyes, hardly able to believe what she was seeing. The Lars that she had always known had never been a drinker. She couldn\u2019t remember a time when she had ever seen him drink more than a couple of beers. Even on his and Heidi\u2019s joint eighteenth birthday party, he had remained perfectly sober while his twin sister stumbled around the bar draping herself over every man that she could find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lela struggled to believe that the glazed-eyed drunk in front of her could be the same man. But of course, things must have been incredibly hard for him lately, first with Heidi running off and then the shocking news about his parents. A wave of deep sympathy washed over Lela as she looked up at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHello, Lela.\u201d Lars\u2019 voice came out as a slow slur, his eyes struggling to focus on her. They would lock on for a moment, drift away before snapping back into focus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow are you holding up? I\u2019m so sorry to hear about your parents.\u201d Lela\u2019s voice was soft, laced with sympathy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lela had been in shock when she first saw the headlines in the paper. The initial report was bad enough. Heidi and Lars\u2019 parents\u2019 car had been found abandoned and burnt out in the forest, with the police investigating the case as a possible abduction or murder. The really crushing blow had come a few weeks ago when a news report confirmed the discovery of their father\u2019s body, a victim of murder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been hard, Lela. I\u2019m not going to pretend otherwise. Having to deal with this all on my own. The police, the fact that someone wanted to kill my mum and dad… But I\u2019m doing okay. I\u2019m holding up alright.\u201d Lars swayed as he spoke, his sunken eyes and unwashed clothes giving away the fact that he was most certainly not holding up well at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lela placed a comforting hand on his arm. It had been a long time since she had really spent any time with Lars. They had all been good friends as children, Heidi, Lars and herself. But even though the friendship between them had cooled since his relationship with her best friend soured, Lela still felt a certain amount of responsibility towards him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHave the police got any idea of what happened?\u201d As she spoke, Lars wiped his eyes with the back of his hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey seem to think that someone ambushed them on the way home from the airport, but how or why is a mystery. They say that they\u2019re following a few leads, but I don\u2019t think they know anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat about your sister? Has she not been in touch? I assume that she knows?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lela felt a warm bubble of anger stir inside her slightly as Lars slowly shook his head. How could Heidi be so selfish? How could she abandon her own twin brother, leaving him to deal with all of this on his own while she was gallivanting off, who knows where, with some boyfriend? She did have to admit to herself, however, that a significant part of the anger that she felt stemmed from the hurt that her best friend had caused her. It had been four and a half months since Heidi had run off to Copenhagen with a man Lela didn\u2019t even know, and there had not been a single word from her, not a letter, not a postcard, not a telephone call, nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, this wasn\u2019t the first time that Heidi had run off with a man. In fact, she had earned herself a bit of a reputation. Lela tried not to judge her friend too harshly on that. She understood why Heidi acted the way that she did, even if her logic for doing so was twisted. Heidi had her secrets, her demons. The pair had never spoken about it directly, but there are some things that you just can\u2019t keep from your best friend. Besides, it wasn\u2019t as if Lela herself had been totally honest, she had been keeping her own secret from Heidi for the last five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHave you heard anything from her at all?\u201d Lela\u2019s voice was soft as she spoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI received a letter from her a month or so ago saying that she was thinking of Mum and Dad but that she didn\u2019t have any plans to come home anytime soon. Has she been in touch with you at all?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lela shook her head. \u201cNo, I haven\u2019t heard anything from her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The music reverberated off the dark brick walls of the Kjelleren beer hall. The wooden boarded floor, sticky with spilt<\/p>\n

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