Awakening: The World Dreamt and Imagined by Otto Mäkilä Page #3

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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.

It's the living you wanna watch out for.

Not the dead.

There she is. Now try to forget

all about it. The headmaster will.

Getting to go home. Cakes and puddings.

Lucky beggars.

Still, we'll have a nice time.

You always say that.

Lucky beggars. You always say that.

No!

There's nothing.

There's nothing.

Goodbye. See you in a week.

Check the out buildings

before you go, Mr Baxter.

There are gypsies on the Tarrow farm.

Your ma and pa overseas, Tom?

They live in India.

Takes three weeks to travel to India.

They have tigers there.

Goodbye, Matron.

Mary.

Have you been?

No.

No, but I've seen the lions in Africa.

One of them even attacked me.

How come you're not dead?

Apparently I was rescued

by one of the villagers.

Actually, a tribal chieftain.

Did he kill the lion?

I was very young. I think so.

The villagers took me in

and looked after me until help came.

They called me their "Mowa-Zee".

White doll.

I wonder what they'd think of me today,

seeing me in such a silly state.

- Tom, can you leave us now?

- Were your mother and father with you?

Were they killed?

Afraid they were.

Tom, Miss Cathcart and I

want a grown-up conversation.

I like grown-up conversations.

Now.

Goodbye, Mowa-Zee.

Maud, it was an accident.

I lost my cigarette case.

How could someone like you

want to do such a thing?

I don't want to talk about it.

Don't go. Miss,

something has happened to you.

You can't leave this house now.

Please stop calling me miss.

It's Florence.

And I can't stay here.

I'm sorry.

Thank you.

I'll be gone in an hour.

I fell.

I fell.

I know you're there, Robert.

Please don't go away.

Don't go.

You must be the ghost lady.

Come through.

Good evening.

Be quiet.

You'll be quiet or so help me!

Mr Mallory, I need your help.

You're not going?

Some of the equipment needs resetting.

- Can I...

- I don't understand.

You have your culprit.

You're doing more?

- Oh, would you...

- No, thank you.

Don't you like sherry?

I need to keep my wits about me.

I don't think

I shall ever drink alcohol.

- It makes you cross and sick.

- Mr Judd,

you're welcome to join us.

Things to do, Matron.

Mallory.

Mr Mallory.

Florence, what are you doing?

I was brought here to explain

a phenomenon in this house,

and whatever everyone else may believe,

I have yet to do that.

A collective delusion

has been experienced here,

a child moving through the house

as if there were no walls or floors.

You said that a child was murdered here.

What if that was also caused by...

You're doing this because of a feeling?

- This morning, you were...

- This is not a feeling!

This is a thesis. It's science.

- Tell me about the original murder.

- One can't even be sure there was one.

- Something is causing this.

- Two hours ago, you...

- Florence, why are you doing this?

- Florence.

- What is it?

- A differential thermometer.

It means this side of the corridor

has suddenly become

much colder than that side.

You said this was a private house.

Housemaids often had hidden cupboards

for mops and brooms and so forth.

May even be stairs to the upper levels.

I know this.

It's an old nursery rhyme.

Ladybird, ladybird,

fly away home.

Your house is on fire.

Your children are gone.

All except one.

We need to work. Lock the house.

- Florence, you don't need...

- Robert, lock the house.

This is nothing,

it's a silly nursery rhyme.

I'm frightened.

Tom.

- Tom.

- He wants to get me.

Tom, nothing is going

to happen to you. Nothing.

I promise you that.

Now I must work.

I'll be upstairs if you need me.

Can I sit with you? I won't talk.

Of course.

I get in trouble for talking.

But I don't talk much.

Did you have any friends at school?

You can talk to me.

I have make-believe friends. Sometimes.

There's nothing wrong with that.

Many children do. I know I did.

What was his name?

I'm not sure he had a name.

- Do yours have names?

- You're still lonely.

Aren't you?

I can tell.

With the boys at school, too,

I can tell.

You had a real friend once.

And you don't any more.

Did you love him or something?

Yes, I loved him.

He was a very kind man,

a very good man.

But I was...

I did something

very silly and very cruel.

I think I was frightened of losing him,

I loved him so much.

He was in the war.

What did you do?

I wrote to him and told him

I couldn't marry him

and I didn't love him any more.

What did he say?

He died.

Not long after he got the letter.

But you did love him.

That's why you want him back.

Thank you. Mowa-Zee.

I don't think there's a place on earth

people understand loneliness

better than here.

You're torturing yourself.

Is that what you're doing here?

Proving again and again

that he's really gone?

- Twisting the blade in deeper?

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