Page 72 of The Sleepwalker

The platoon has left the house.

With their rattling automatic rifles and barked commands, they stomped down the stairs and headed back out to their black SUVs.

Only the leader is still here, and Hugo knows that they need to escape.

Mum and Dad have emptied their bank accounts and transferred all of their savings.

Hugo quietly gets out of bed, tiptoes over to the doorway on trembling legs and peers out into the hall. He sees his father on his knees, tearfully trying to explain that he has given them everything he has, but the skeleton man isn’t listening; he wants more.

‘There’s some money and a bit of gold in the cupboard in the attic,’ says Mum. ‘Not much, but—’

The skeleton man hits his father in the head with a spade. His mother screams and her voice breaks. The blows continue, gradually becoming sluggish, the sound wetter.

‘He’s hitting him over and over,’ says Hugo, his voice barely audible. ‘There’s so much blood.’

‘Who is?’ asks Erik.

‘The ske-le-ton .?.?.’

Hugo pulls back when the skeleton man leaves his parents’ room, dragging the spade behind him as he starts climbing the stairs to the attic.

The blade clanks dully against each step.

Hugo hurries out of his room and down the hallway, meeting his mother’s eye through the window in the middle door.

There is a loud crack as the skeleton man uses the spade to force open the old wooden cabinet in the attic.

His mother waves for him to come towards her.

‘Where are you?’ Erik asks softly.

‘I .?.?. I don’t want to,’ Hugo replies, licking his lips.

His mother is confused, with flecks of blood all over her face. He grips her hand and pulls her towards the stairs down to the library.

‘Are you still at home?’ asks Erik.

‘Mum can’t get the front door open,’ Hugo whispers. ‘I don’t want to die, we need to get out .?.?. We need to run, to hide and—’

‘Hugo, listen to me now. Listen to my voice,’ says Erik. ‘This is just a dream – a dream you can control .?.?. You are standing in the hallway and you want to run outside, but instead you stay where you are. Find your way back to that steady breathing again. In through your nose, out through your mouth .?.?. None of this is really dangerous. You’re perfectly safe, and you can turn around without needing to be scared.’

‘I can hear the spade hitting the tiles behind me.’

‘Turn around.’

‘Mum opens the door and runs .?.?.’

26

Joona can hear the fear in Hugo’s voice, and he follows the movements of his eyes beneath his closed lids, sees his slack mouth and the cold sweat running down his cheeks.

It is as though the teenager doesn’t realise that he is taking them through the nightmare that drove him out of the house on the night of the murder.

The rings in his lip and nose reflect the soft glow of the floor lamp, shimmering like droplets of water.

Erik has a focused look on his face, breathing in and out in time with the boy, and he gives him a few seconds before he tries again.

‘You’re breathing calmly, and you’re concentrating on my voice,’ he says. ‘None of this is dangerous. You are perfectly relaxed .?.?.’