“Someone who walks in their sleep. I knew a girl who wandered halfway across a cow pasture in her sleep. And she never remembered a step when she awoke the next day, after we returned her to her bed.”
“She’s lucky she wasn’t injured,” Edgar said.
“Sometimes it sounds like someone’s trying to kill him,” said Adele, gazing at her brother with tears in her eyes.
“It’s very frightening, isn’t it?” asked Mari.
“Yes,” Adele whispered.
“But it will end soon.”
Mari attempted to lift his legs out of the cramped seated position.
Without warning, his body twitched into motion, convulsing as if he’d been punched in the belly.“Non. Non,”he yelled.
His elbow flew out and caught Mari’s lower lip. She stumbled back, the painful sting of the blow momentarily blinding her.
“Mari!” Strong hands gripped her elbows, righting her. “Are you injured?”
Edgar’s face coalesced, first a dark brow, then a pale gray eye, finally a handsome, worried face, close to hers.
“It’s nothing,” she said, wiping her lip with her sleeve.
“Isn’t there anything we can do?” Edgar asked in an anguished voice.
Michel was breathing heavily now, twisting his hands in the bedclothes.
Mari felt his pulse. “His heart is beating very quickly.”
The moaning began again. Eerie and low, from the back of Michel’s throat. As if he were a cornered animal.
“Can you lay him down?” Mari asked.
Edgar tried to guide Michel’s legs into a supine position. “No. He won’t go.”
Michel jumped into the air, landing on his feet on the bed.
Edgar caught him in his arms and held him tight to his chest, speaking in a soothing voice. “Michel, it’s Father. You’re safe. Breathe now, just breath.”
He rocked him back and forth like a small baby.
Michel quieted, relaxing against his father’s chest, his head lolling back.
Mari found P.L. Rabbit on the windowsill. “Lay him down now,” she told Edgar.
Edgar laid Michel in the bed. Mari nestled P.L. in his arms and Michel curled his body, clutching the rabbit in his hands.
“The worst is over,” she said.
“What do you see, my son?” asked Edgar, stroking Michel’s cheek. “What terrors lie behind those eyelids?I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars did wander darkly in the eternal space.”
“Byron,” said Mari.
“You’re not the only one who memorizes poetry,” Edgar said with a faint smile.
Michel sighed, his breathing slow now.
Edgar brushed the hair back from Michel’s face and cupped his face with his large hand. “There’s nothing to fear.” He kissed his brow. “I won’t let anything hurt you.”