Awakening: The World Dreamt and Imagined by Otto Mäkilä Page #5

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I liked Walter. We shared grots.

- Victor.

- I didn't scare him.

- No one knows who did.

- A boy is dead.

- Wasn't me!

- All right, it wasn't just him.

There was another boy last night.

I saw him down in the stairwell.

What?

Dowden?

- There wasn't another boy.

- Ah-ah-ah. You're behind this.

- Honestly, sir.

- You will name this other boy now.

There wasn't another boy. Please!

You will name this boy or you'll be

thrashed where you stand. Mr McNair.

Honestly. No, there wasn't

another boy, sir.

Please, I tell you, sir.

There wasn't another boy!

Please, sir, I promise,

it was only me!

Wait, stop!

Honestly,

I'm telling you the truth.

For God's sakes. You've done quite

enough damage, you will not do this.

What did you say?

You use a balsam for your chest.

I just smelled it on you.

I also found it smeared on the glass of

the French doors and on the handles

and on Walter's bear.

You were... You were there

the night he died.

I protest. This is...

And did he protest

when you found him downstairs,

ripped the bear from him

and left him out in the dark?

I came here to protect children

from fear and you...

You are hell-bent

on making them live in it.

- You can't die of fear.

- No.

But you can die of an asthma attack

brought on by it.

- He was alive when I left him.

- Malcolm.

He was crying,

insisting he'd seen a ghost.

I thought...

I thought I'd toughen him up.

It's not enough

to be mollycoddled, Robert.

These boys must be strong.

Stronger than us.

Malcolm, there's not

a man on earth I'd rather protect.

But the parents arrive shortly,

and I must ask you to leave this school

at once.

# Be still, my soul

# Though dearest friends depart

There was a chap in a trench

not far from ours.

He used to sing this hymn most sunsets.

It's odd separating the past

from the present.

The boys are transformed.

You should be pleased.

Semper veritas.

- Mmm.

- Truth comes at a price.

Ruined a damaged man.

Oh, I'm not thinking about Malcolm.

Nor are you.

I saw you.

As soon as you proved the ghost was

a fraud, something happened to you.

- You were suddenly...

- Please, Robert.

I've done what was asked of me.

Proved there's nothing to fear.

Nothing.

You left church early.

Mr Judd.

You going home?

Found your ghost?

Another case to write up

while McNair's thrown to the dogs.

After all he's been through.

You know, I wonder

whether any of us really know

what he went through, Mr Judd.

- You shouldn't talk to me like that.

- Excuse me?

- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...

- You think I don't know?

Staying at home was wrong?

Come down here

and tell me that?

Let me tell you something, ghost lady.

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