Page 238 of The Sleepwalker

It is hard to see in the darkness.

Bernard sets off after them, practically growling with each breath.

Agneta breaks into a run in her heavy boots.

Hugo pulls her into his room, tosses the poker onto the bed, locks the door and runs over the window to try to open it.

‘He screwed it shut after the break-in,’ she whispers.

The storm rumbles through the house.

Hugo takes out his phone and uses the weak torch to illuminate his room. The window is completely covered in snow.

Agneta gasps in fear as Bernard turns the handle and starts pounding on the door.

Hugo runs over to the armchair blocking the disused doorway into the lounge and pulls it away from the wall.

The rice-paper lampshade sways in the draught.

The hallway outside is now quiet.

Hugo grabs his phone and turns on the front camera, then gets onto his knees and pushes it beneath the door to the lounge.

On the display, they can see the underside of the china cabinet.

An icy draught blows through the gap.

Holding his long hair back, Hugo tilts his phone as far as he can, enabling him to see a little more of the room on the other side.

There doesn’t seem to be anyone there.

Agneta exchanges a look with him, presses her ear to the door to the corridor and listens carefully.

She can’t hear a sound.

She gives Hugo a shake of the head.

He tiptoes over to her, gets down onto his knees and repeats the same process with his phone.

On the screen, the bare wood on the bottom of the door becomes visible, followed by the ceiling in the hallway. Right then, Bernard comes into view. He is standing in the gloom by one side of the door with the axe in his hand and a blonde wig on his head.

Hugo has just had time to process what he is seeing when Bernard swings the axe into the door, and he reels back and drops his phone.

Agneta grabs a chair and attempts to wedge it between the handle and the floor.

Hugo runs over to the other door and opens it, but the china cabinet is blocking the passageway.

Bernard has started kicking the bedroom door, and the wood groans with each blow.

Agneta holds the chair steady with one hand and presses the other to the door.

Hugo picks up the poker from the bed and gets down onto the floor.

Bernard kicks the door again, and Agneta feels the power of it shudder through her palm and shoulder.

Lying flat on his back, Hugo has begun to crawl out from under the china cabinet.

Without warning, the head of the axe breaks through the door, and Agneta screams. The blade has left a deep gash on her palm, and she backs away. Blood immediately begins spurting from the wound, and she grabs a T-shirt from the bed and wraps it around her hand.