Little Wagtail

The seven-year-old Mari is playing on the beach outside of the house where she lives. It’s a rainy day in October and mum’s new boyfriend, Petter, is visiting. Mari doesn’t like him. She dreams that her real daddy – she only remembers him from a black and white picture on her nightstand – will one day come to visit.


—Daddy? Is that you?
Her voice quivered. The last word was barely audible, nothing more than a small, hopeful breath.


He nodded, bent down and opened his arms.
—Yes, Little Wagtail. Come to daddy.


***


There are many examples from real life of young girls held captive by disgusting men. Some of them for years and often in dark cellars in quite ordinary residential areas where no one knows what’s going on inside their neighbours’ four walls. Could the same thing happen in Kodal, the peaceful, small village right outside of Sandefjord in Norway?