Page 49 of The Sleepwalker
‘You also wear designer clothes, like your Tom Ford cardigan, but you don’t take care of them. There’s a thread hanging from the left cuff, by the way. You should cut it off and—’
‘Bravo,’ Hugo interjects, turning to face Joona. ‘Except I’ve never broken a bone.’
‘Sometimes I’m wrong .?.?. but not about the fact that you have bandages on three fingers and a fresh bruise on your cheek,’ Joona continues, looking up at him.
‘No,’ Hugo says as he sits down.
‘What happened?’
‘I sleepwalked again last night. Tried to open a door using a knife and ended up cutting myself.’
‘Here?’ Joona asks, though he already knows the answer.
‘No, at my girlfriend’s place,’ Hugo replies as he takes a sip of water.
‘Go on.’
‘So .?.?.’ He sighs. ‘I dreamed I was being chased and was about to jump off her balcony when she caught me.’
‘You dreamed that you had to escape from her apartment?’
‘No, I’m always at home in my nightmares. It doesn’t matter where I actually am. Someone is trying to kill my family, and sometimes I manage to get Mum and Dad out, but I usually fail.’
‘You remember trying to jump off your girlfriend’s balcony?’ says Joona.
‘No, that’s just what she told me once I’d calmed down.’
‘But before you calmed down, you remembered details from the campsite?’
‘Who told you that?’ Hugo takes his hand from the glass and presses his cool fingertips to his eyelids.
‘What did you remember?’
‘I’ve forgotten,’ the teenager mumbles.
‘Do your nightmares always take place in the same locationhere?’ asks Joona.
‘No. Sometimes they start in my room, or in my old bedroom upstairs. Sometimes I’m running down the stairs, sometimes down the hall. Sometimes I’m in the basement. I think they’re more connected to Mum and Dad than the place itself.’
‘Could you show me your old room?’
‘There’s nothing to see .?.?.’
‘It’ll be quick.’
‘Fine.’ Hugo sighs and gets up.
Joona’s real reason for wanting to see the old bedroom is that it gives him a natural excuse to ask to see the teenager’s current room.
They leave the kitchen and walk through a handsome library filled with tall bookcases, armchairs and a large fireplace.
‘I’ve been asking about your nightmares because I think they’re obscuring your real memories from the caravan,’ Joona explains as they climb the creaking staircase.
‘I don’t have any memories.’
When they reach the landing, they turn left, through a door with a window in it and into a small room. The walls are pale blue, and the navy blind is dotted with stars. There is a narrow bed and a set of shelves full of children’s books and plastic trophies. The floor is cluttered with moving boxes and games like Monopoly and Scrabble. A folded chessboard has been shoved into a bag, and there are cables, games consoles, Lego sets and a Super Mario Bros skateboard.
‘So you sometimes dream about this room?’ Joona asks as he looks around.
