Page 200 of The Sleepwalker

‘I know you would rather not look inside the caravan, but you’re safe here, and you can tell—’

‘I don’t want to,’ he whispers, panting for air.

‘That’s enough now,’ says Grind, his voice low. ‘Let’s stop this before—’

‘I know what I’m doing,’ Erik cuts him off. ‘This fear is bound up in what he saw, but it isn’t as traumatic as it might seem.’

‘Agneta?’ asks Grind.

‘Keep going. Let’s keep going a bit longer,’ she says, swallowing hard.

‘Are you sure?’

She nods.

‘Hugo, you’re standing at the back of the caravan, looking in through the window,’ says Erik.

‘The man is lying on his back,’ Hugo whispers between shallow breaths. ‘One of his legs has been cut off .?.?. It’s on the floor, with a plaster on the knee and a black sock on the foot .?.?. under the kitchen table .?.?. He’s trying to shuffle back, but there’s blood pumping out of the stump .?.?. I don’t want to see this, I .?.?.’

Joona realises that Erik has finally managed to get Hugo to completely bypass the nightmare. The boy has gone from being able to see nothing but his dream, full of bones and skulls, to a confusing double exposure, to this: what he really saw that night.

‘He’s screaming, trying to stop the blood with both hands,’ Hugo goes on, close to tears.

‘Can you see the killer?’

Hugo’s back arches in a convulsion, and he slumps against the mattress, gasping for air.

‘I really do need to put my foot down now,’ says Grind.

Erik takes a stethoscope out of his pocket, puts it on and presses the diaphragm to Hugo’s chest. He listens to three different spots, then returns the instrument to his pocket.

‘He’s stressed, but he’s just fine,’ he says.

‘Maybe we should wrap up now,’ says Agneta.

Hugo is still panting, and his body tenses again.

‘I really would like to keep going a little longer,’ says Erik.

‘I’m not sure .?.?.’

Grind tries to reach Hugo, but Joona holds him back, shaking his head with a smile.

‘Hugo, you’re looking straight at the killer,’ says Erik.

‘Her blonde hair .?.?. the blood on it is glistening, and—’

‘Hugo?’ Grind cuts him off.

‘Go on,’ says Erik.

‘She grabs the man’s hair and pulls his head back, then lifts the axe .?.?. There’s blood running down the handle, over her knuckles .?.?. She twists around so she can hit him and—’

Another convulsion takes over Hugo’s body. His head jerks back, and his legs begin to shake, making the bed creak.

‘You see her face from the side,’ says Erik.

Without warning, Lars Grind rushes forward, grabs Hugo’s arm and pulls him up into a sitting position.