Without my arts scholarship I wouldn't be standing where I was today, the tuition and housing fees alone were more money than I'd seen my entire life. I was an outsider of this world, I moved from a little fisher village in the Island of Senja direct to Oslo, the capital and most populous city of Norway. I wasn't very lucky in the looks department either, always felt self conscious about my ginger hair and dark hazel eyes. I was smaller and curvier than all the girls around me; they were all usually very tall, lean and blonde.
Thankfully, Eva, my roommate who looked just like the other girls on the outside, while still being the complete opposite of my personality was caring and understandable of my introvert self. I was on my second year of art school and she was on her third and final year of nursing.
First of February, 1990.
It was another boring day, first with seminars in the morning and then going to grab lunch with Eva before leaving to the fabric store I worked from 3 until 9pm.
"How was yesterday's shift?" I asked sipping from my glass of juice.
"All I have to say is that I know I'm truly becoming a nurse now that I can drink a full pot of coffee, then go home and still go to bed" We laughed. "Also, Astrid, before you say no..." She began, while pulling something from inside her purse.
"Oh here we go..." I said rolling my eyes. I knew she was about to come up with some stupid idea and would use her magic to convince me to join her.
"For real! Listen!" She put two pieces of paper in front of me "So I met this very mysterious guy at the hospital yesterday, he was there because one of his friends was having a really bad alcohol poisoning-"
"Woah! That sure sounds like a lovely guy" I interrupted.
"Shut up and let me talk! Anyways, we started talking on my break and he ended up giving me these tickets to go see this weird underground band this saturday so of course you're coming with me." She gave me her most innocent smile.
"No way..." I said taking a look at the tickets, it was a cheap piece of paper with some evil looking font that read Mayhem.
"C'mon and don't even start! This is one of the only Saturdays I have free and next year I'll work like a dog..." She grabbed my hands "Astrid, pretty please... I'll do anything you ask for a week!"
"A week? Is that supposed to convince me?" I faked indignation, "a month and I come!" I laughed.
"I knew you'd come!" She cheered in excitement.
After our lunch I headed to work where I'd spend my time cutting meters of fabric to old ladies the whole day. My life was quite monotonous, with the only excitement being the breaks I had from school and work in which I used to go into the woods and draw nature and of course, the crazy schemes Eva would come up with to try and drag me out of the house.
Second of February, 1990.
I had my Fridays off from work so after my morning classes I headed home, packed three cucumber sandwiches and took the bus to Nordmarka, a great forested region in northern Oslo. One of my favorite spots to spend the afternoon working on my final projects for the semester. I always loved the woods, some bigger force attracted me to them. The colours, smells and even the atmosphere of the forests called for me. It was one cold and snowy day but nothing could stop me from taking a big hike through the big pine trees to get to the frozen lake where I could connect to nature.
It was extremely cold when I got home, it snowed so much I almost missed the bus. I knew Eva would have an overnight shift, therefore I used my alone time to take a long warm bubble bath and cook some fish soup to warm me up. I wasn't sure about the concert we had the next day, by the look of the writing on the ticket it did not look like something I would go watch if I had an option. I was a very quiet person with a peculiar taste in music and art in general.
I'd spend my time listening to a more dark and macabre classical repertoire that would include a lot of Camille Saint-Saëns and Tartini. Thus, my art was also not only influenced by nature but also by darkness where I'd feel my spirit come alive. I'd paint mostly dark woods, shadows, fantasy and occult creatures and even old Nordic folklore.
As much as I would like to spend my whole day walking around the woods or inside the house listening to 1700s music I had to prove people around me that I'm not actually a medieval witch by going out and doing "normal people" activities, which now included going to some teen angst punk concert.
