Page 12 of The Sleepwalker
‘How long did she stay?’
‘Till eleven.’
‘And what time did you go to bed?’
‘I don’t really know. I listened to some music, then fell asleep. Probably around twelve.’
Hugo tugs at the neck of his sweatshirt.
‘How often do you sleepwalk?’ asks Joona.
‘About once a month, I guess .?.?. Except when I’m having a bad episode. It happens pretty much every night then.’
‘And how often do these bad episodes occur?’
‘Not very often these days. Maybe every other year,’ Hugo replies, taking a sip of water.
Joona hears Lisette jot something down.
‘How long do the episodes last?’
‘Three months, max .?.?. I don’t know, it’s always pretty tough – for everyone around me.’
‘Do you know what triggers your sleepwalking?’ Joona continues.
‘If you mean the episodes, we haven’t managed to detect any concrete patterns,’ the father replies.
‘I’ve got a kind of parasomnia called RBD, which stands for REM-sleep behaviour disorder,’ Hugo explains.
‘You dream while you’re sleepwalking, in other words,’ says Joona.
Hugo nods and pushes his long hair back from his eyes. He has a number of small piercing holes in his lower lip, nostril and down the ridge of one ear.
‘My doctor calls them catastrophic dreams,’ he says.
‘What sort of catastrophes do they involve?’ Joona asks, leaning forward.
‘I dunno, I never really remember anything .?.?. But I’m always scared, and I usually have to run or hide.’
‘Who is your doctor?’
‘Lars Grind at the Sleep Science Lab in Uppsala,’ Bernard replies.
Joona turns back to Hugo. The teenager is slim and pale, with the face of a young fairy-tale prince – albeit with tired, bloodshot eyes and chapped lips.
‘Would you say that you’re capable of doing the same thingsas someone who is awake while you’re sleepwalking?’
‘You don’t have to answer that,’ the solicitor interjects.
‘It’s OK, I can explain what it’s like. What difference does it make?’ says Hugo, turning to Joona. ‘So, for example .?.?. when I’m sleepwalking, I can unlock my phone and call people without any problem, but when they pick up apparently I don’t make any sense.’
‘When did you first start sleepwalking?’ asks Joona.
‘I’m not sure, I was little.’
‘He’s always done it, but we sought help for the first time when he was six,’ Bernard says quietly.
‘Why?’
