The Sandman

86

Saga starts to walk on the running machine, thinking that she’ll have to wait for him to go into his room before she positions the microphone. Bernie gets up from the sofa, takes a couple of steps towards her, and reaches out to steady himself against the wall.

‘I come from Säter,’ he whispers with a smile.

She doesn’t look at him, but is aware of him coming closer. Sweat is dripping from his face onto the floor.

‘Where were you before you got moved here?’ he asks.

He waits a moment, then punches the wall hard before looking at her again.

‘Karsudden,’ he replies in a squeaky voice. ‘I was at Karsudden, but I moved here because I wanted to be with Bernie...’

Saga turns away and just catches a shadow cross the third doorway as someone pulls back from it. She realises that Jurek Walter is standing there listening to them.

‘You must have met Yekaterina Ståhl at Karsudden,’ Bernie says in his normal voice.

She shakes her head, she can’t remember anyone with that name, she doesn’t even know if he’s talking about a patient or a guard.

‘No,’ she replies honestly.

‘Because she was at St Sigfrid,’ he grins, and spits on the floor. ‘So who did you meet?’

‘No one.’

He mutters something about skeleton slaves, then stands in front of the running machine and watches her.

‘I can feel from your cunt if you’re lying,’ he says, scratching his moustache. ‘Is that what you want?’

She stops the machine, stands there for a moment, and thinks about the fact that she has to stick to the truth. She was actually at Karsudden.

‘What about Micke Lund, then? You must have seen Micke Lund if you were there,’ he says with a flash of a smile. ‘Tall bloke, one metre ninety... scar across his forehead.’

She nods, unsure what to say, considers leaving it at that, but still replies:

‘No.’

‘Fucking weird.’

‘I sat in my room watching television.’

‘There aren’t any televisions in the rooms there, you’re fucking lying, you’re a—’

‘There are in isolation,’ she interrupts.

She can’t tell whether he knew that. He’s breathing hard and staring at her, grinning all the while. Then he licks his lips and comes closer.

‘You’re my slave,’ he says slowly. ‘Fucking hell, that’s brilliant... you lie there, sucking my toes...’

Saga gets off the running machine and returns to her cell. She lies on her bunk and hears Bernie standing by her door for a while, calling for her, before he settles back down on the sofa.

‘Shit,’ she whispers.

She’ll have to be quick out tomorrow, sit down on the edge of the running machine, adjust her shoes and attach the microphone. She’ll walk on the machine with long strides, she won’t look at anyone, and when Jurek comes out she’ll simply get off the machine and leave the dayroom.

Saga thinks about the sofa and the angle of the wall adjacent to the reinforced glass covering the television. The camera’s view must be partially obscured by the protruding section. She’ll have to watch out for that blind spot. That’s where she was standing when Bernie pinched her nipple. That was why the staff didn’t react.

She has been in the Löwenströmska unit for just over five hours, and already she’s exhausted.

The metal-walled room feels more enclosed now. She shuts her eyes and thinks about why she’s here. In her mind’s eye she can see the girl in the photograph. All of this is for her sake, for Felicia.