Scene 6: KAB-III

Mikael offered the group a sad smile as he got off the bus and walked the rest of the way home. On his way there, he walked past the place in the field where they had found Mark's body. He wandered over to the spot where his body had lain, the flowers posed by the Shaman to give the body some measure of a respectful send-off. He puts his back to the power pole and slumps down to the ground, sitting for a long while and thinking.

Eventually he stood and made his way home, arriving to an empty house as was typical of Saturday nights. A note explaining his mother's absence was on the counter, along with enough money to keep him in take-out pizza for several days - nothing more than a bribe, really, he realized. The money seemed to speak to him: "Don't make a fuss about this and I'll buy you off." He left the money where it lie, not even bothering to read the note, went upstairs, crawled into bed and slept.

In the following days, Mikael grew more and more distant with his parents. He confronted his mother's affair directly, telling his father point-blank what was most certainly happening then leaving them to figure out what to do. Mikael found work in town, bagging groceries for a small wage while he finished school. He would never go on to have the best grades, but devoted his time to what really mattered to him - spending time with his friends, for it was their bond that he grew to truly treasure.

Kajsa's happiness with Sabine was evident, and Mikael quickly allowed himself to let go of his childhood crush. He respected Sabine - she was strong and willful, unafraid to be who she was - all traits that Mikael envied and admired. Using his connections, wit, and charm, he made it a personal goal to stamp out as much of the trash the kids at school said about Sabine and Kajsa...it wasn't easy, but more than a few kids learned their own truths could just as easily be wielded against them, and that shut them up good.

He tried out for hockey, finally, after Eric insisted for years and much to his parents' chagrin. He last through the season, he would proudly say, but what was important was that he was stepping out of his comfort zone, and away from the model his parents had set for him.

Mikael took what he could of the situation between Yumin and Peter and, if you asked him, did a pretty fine job playing match maker. It wasn't hard, the two were obviously stupid for each other, but a few pokes and prods in the right direction got them talking more openly and frequently. It was on autopilot from there. He got to know the shy Korean girl pretty well, trying to pull her more and more out of her shell, and grew to really like spending time with her. He even talked her into teaching him some basic programming stuff on his computer, which triggered a great interest in him.

Many years later, Mikael would go on to start a company developing mobile technology designed to help track and locate missing children. He would proudly say that his devices contributed to saving the lives of dozens of kids in the first couple years of production. When asked what drove him, he would explain: "My friends and I went through a traumatic event when we were kids, a kid in our school was killed. I still feel the effects of that every day in my life, still think about it all the time. I remember what it did to his family, I remember the faces of everyone when it was announced, and I never want another parent or friend to feel that pain. So really, I do what I do for one simple reason: empathy."