I got up to get some toilet paper. Then pressed it against my hand, thinking, what the hell was wrong with my mother? Why did she freak out like that because of Ole? A part of me wanted to run upstairs again and ask, but another part just wanted to leave her alone.

Half an hour or so later there were footsteps on the stairs. At first I thought it was Mrs Crazy, wanting to carry on arguing, but it was Tobias.

‘Y’right?’ he said, standing in the doorway.

‘Hey,’ I said, without getting up. My brother held back for a few seconds. ‘I spoke to the police,’ he said. ‘They wanted to know where you were last night.’

I sat up, instantly feeling a knot tighten in my belly. ‘And what did you say?’

He hesitated, then said: ‘I said I thought you were here.’

‘You thought I was here?’

‘Well, yes … I couldn’t know for sure, could I? I was playing CoD. Had my headphones on. I was talking to Ruben at the same time.’

God, I said to myself. The police really did suspect me, and my dipshit brother hadn’t exactly helped.

‘Anyway, your friends are here,’ he said, leaning against the doorframe. ‘They want to know if you’re up for a visit. I said I’d ask.’

‘Is Mum still around?’

Tobias shook his head. ’I think she went back over to see The Moron.’

Knut went by many names in our house.

‘So, what should I tell them?’ he asked.

More than anything, I wanted to stay away from people, but then I thought that my friends might know something about what had happened and what people were really saying, so I said yes, send them down.

Oskar came in first. He opened his arms and gave me a hug. He’d grown recently and was now almost as tall as me. ‘What’s up?’ he said, his voice faltering a little.

‘Not much,’ I said.

Fredrik and I bumped fists. He was about a head and a half shorter than me, and I used to muck about and tease him, ruffle his hair like he was a child. It didn’t feel right to do that now.

‘Jeez, this is mental,’ Fredrik said.

‘Tell me about it,’ I replied.

Kaiss came in and gave me a good, hard hug as well and thumped me on the back. Kaiss always wore black and doused himself in aftershave, even though he didn’t have a hint of a stubble. ‘You alright, mate?’ he said.

‘M’alright,’ I answered, though I was anything but.

I made room for them on the bed. Kaiss sat on the chair in the corner and picked up the guitar. He couldn’t play a single chord, but I was happy for the distraction, as none of them seemed to know what to say. I didn’t, either. Oskar got out his mobile phone. Fredrik did too.