At the end of the afternoon the door opened again. “Did you sleep well?” she asked with a smile. “Not really,” he said while he sat at the table. The last days had been difficult. He touched freedom with the extremity of his fingers, he made his friend mad and he talked too much to that woman. And his ribs were hurting. She prepared some breakfast and coffee for him. “I thought of what you said and I saw how sad you were. I think that you should come with me. Our house is not big but I will be happy to help an old friend of my husband.” “Thanks but I can’t leave this place. Nina will never let me go and Havu neither,” he said looking at the cup. “Why?” “It’s a long story,” he simply answered. “Where are the marks you have in your back coming from?” she asked seriously. She saw it even if the light was bad when she was checking his ribs. “Don’t ask.” “Is it Havu or Nina who is beating you? And what are the other scars?” she saw that he was angry but also sad. He was pressing his lips together and his eyes were wet. “Let’s find a way to leave this island. I can call my husband.” “Don’t do it. They will kill me. I’m not like you. I’m a shadow. I’ve to be invisible. Nobody must know that I’m here,” he said, looking around. “But what did they do to you? You are a person. You are Lauri. You have a heart. You are alive,” she said in a low voice and she touched his arm. “I’m not Lauri.” “I’m lost. Help me to understand and I’ll help you,” she proposed. “I can’t. They will kill you if I tell you the truth. I can’t let them deprive your kids of their wonderful mother.” “How do you want me to call you? Lauri seems to make you sad. What is your name?” “Matti.” “Matti, listen. I can feel that at the moment you are really bad. You are mentally really down. You have too much on your heart. You need to talk. If you want to do it with me you can. I will not repeat it. You can trust me. I’ve been a nurse and I kept many secrets. If you don’t do it soon you will be broken forever. And honestly I doubt that Nina can help. She is maybe the greatest scientist but she has no social skills. Matti, you are a wonderful person. Let me help you,” she said while she took his hands.
But she didn’t expect that reaction. His eyes were closed and he took firmly her hands. He was making some strange little movements. His eyes were moving under his eyelids. “I can see her.” “Who?” she asked, perplexed. Suddenly he dropped her hands and opened his eyes, out of breathe. “Are you okay?” she asked a bit worried. “Yes, yes I am.” “What did you see?” she asked, curious but also frightened. “Someone close to you. She is older. Maybe sixty or seventy. She is blond. She loves you. Maybe an aunt or your mother,” he said, panting. “Is someone deceased recently in your family?” he asked. “My mother died four months ago. Did you see her?” she asked surprised. “I think so. Don’t be scared but I think that I’m able to see the other side...” he admitted, a bit scared of his skill. “I don’t know what to say. Did it happen with other people?” she asked. “I don’t know. I never did it before. I never took the hands of Nina or Havu. Which kind of monster am I?” “You’re not. I read that some other people can interact with ghosts and they are as normal as you and me,” she reassured. He wanted to tell more. But he was scared that she laughed or that Nina punished him. He was not supposed to talk about it. “Do you think that you can do it again? Can you talk to her?” she asked in a sweet voice. “I don’t know. It’s so weird. There was a strange light and some kind of steam or clouds. She wasn’t alone. I saw other people. But they were blurry,” he explained.
“Can you tell her that I miss her much?” she insisted. He took her right hand and slowly approached the left hand. When he got it he closed immediately his eyes. He was on the other side. She knew it. “She... she is proud of you... you... you are an excellent mother... but you have to have a closer look on Oliver. He.. he is not on the right track... because of his friends. And don’t forget to... do I have to repeat it?” Matti asked probably to the ghost. “Yes, tell me,” Katrina insisted. “Don’t forget to be sexy and seduce your husband,” Matti repeated and swallowed. Then he opened his eyes and looked at Katrina. “She is gone. She is sure that you will take the right decisions. She will always have an eye on you. I’m sorry,” he said when he saw that a tear was running on her right cheek. “What did she mean? That my son is behaving badly? And that my husband doesn’t love me anymore?” “I don’t know and I can’t ask more. She is gone,” he confessed before to hug.
It was midnight and Katrina was still awake. “You are not going to sleep?” “No, I want to be with you. You need company. I went to sleep this afternoon. I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay awake till eight but I’ll do my best. Tell me more about you. What do you like? What are you favourite books? Or movies?” she asked with a cup of tea in her hand. The fire was on and the wood was crackling in the chimney. They talked about everything that night. Matti loved it. It was the first time since a very long time that someone was really interested in who he was and not what he was. She treated him like any other person. They didn’t talk about Nina, Janne, his death, his reborn or his past. “You are amazing. You deserve to leave this prison and to live your own life. I’m sure that you’ll find someone who will love you. You are a good person,” she said. “I don’t know. I also did some horrible things and I’m not proud of it. I will never get rid of all my secrets and I’ll never be able to have a normal life. I belong to this island.” “No, I will talk to Havu. I will be happy to help you.” “Katrina you can’t help me. And now you will live with a heavy secret. You will never be allowed to talk about me. If you talk Nina will...” “What will she do?” “She will force me to do something bad and I will have no choice. Someone will die.” “What are you talking about?” she asked scared. “You really want to know? Do you remember the accident of Harri? It wasn’t an accident. Nina destroyed his life. Why? Because he wanted to know what she was doing. And maybe also because she couldn’t accept that he was gay. Do you remember the accident of Tami? I was supposed to kill him because he discovered what she was doing. I guess that the other reason was because he was the boyfriend of her husband. But I was unable to kill him. How can I kill one of my friends? If you talk about me she will ask me to kill you. But I won’t do it. I will have to kill myself.” “Don’t do it. We can always talk. Nina is not that bad.” “Are you sure? She is manipulating people, lying and organizing murders. She is so selfish too. Now she is billionaire. I asked her to give some money to people who needed it. Especially people infected by the AIDS virus. Even if now there are some efficient treatments, not everybody has access to them and some people are too badly sick to be saved. She refused. I also proposed to help the single mothers or the sterile couples that wanted to adopt a child. She refused too.” “You did your best. You can’t turn her to a good person. She doesn’t have a heart. She is a stone.”
At two in the morning they were in the kitchen, cooking together some mushrooms with bread. “I picked them during the autumn. There are plenty on the island. Also berries. And all the fishes in the freezer come from the lake,” he explained. “I’m really impressed. Good job.” “Thanks. And now we have moose meat. You can bring some home. I don’t need to have so much just for myself,” he said with a wide smile. “How do you follow what’s going on outside? Do you have a radio or a computer somewhere? Or maybe Internet on your phone?” she asked and he laughed. “No, my world is as small as this island. I’ve no clue of what is going on further if Havu doesn’t bring me the newspapers of the week. My phone can just send SMS and call. But it’s very limited. I can only contact Nina or Havu,” he explained. “I will give you my number. You can call me whenever you want. If I don’t answer it’s because I’m baking. But I always call back right after.” “If Nina sees that I’m calling someone else she will kill me.” She went to the living room and took the book he was reading. She opened it to the page hundred and wrote her number. “Erase immediately the historic of your calls and nobody will hear about it.” “How can I thank you?” “You don’t have to.”
Suddenly the door opened and they jumped. It was Havu and they were relieved. “It’s good that you are awake. I drive you back to Helsinki,” Janne announced. “Diner is ready. You can join us,” she replied. He protested but he had no choice. The others sat around the table. “I hope that the two days there were not too difficult,” Havu said to Katrina. “No, not at all. He is a really nice person. Very funny, cultivated and clever. He almost read all the books that are on the shelf!” she exclaimed proud of him. “He has nothing else to do,” Janne answered, pedestrian. “Can’t you accept his abilities? I’m sure that you have never been to an opera or to the theatre.” “What else did you talk about? Tell your secrets to everybody. I’m proud of you. The situation is complex at the moment. You have to be discreet,” Havu told to Matti who looked down. Again he felt the words like slaps. “Havu, it’s not because your life is a mess that you have to talk to him like if he was a dog. You hurt him! He suffers,” she explained. “And me? Who cares of me? I suffer since years. I’ve to lie to everybody because of Nina and him. I’ve to cover all the mess he and she are doing. Why do you think that my marriage is over? Yes, because of these two. My heart is broken but nobody listen to me. I’m close to be burnt out or to kill myself. Why didn’t I shot you in the woods,” he said, looking at his friend who felt worse and worse. Everything was his fault. “Give me your pistol. I’m going to shoot myself outside and your problems will be solved.” “No Matti! Don’t do it,” Katrina begged. “Don’t worry. I don’t have my pistol with me tonight and I will never give it to him. Finish your meal. We have a long trip,” Havu said more gently to his neighbour. “Clean the house. Nina should not figure out that Katrina was there,” Janne told to his friend.
“Nina is back from New York. She is at home, sleeping. I’ve no clue when she will come to the island. It’s why I’m here tonight,” Janne told when they were in the car. “I understand. What will happen to him? I mean in one year? Two years? Ten years?” “Nobody knows. I think that Nina will decide it. At the moment she needs him alive. I won’t be surprise if she kills him someday,” he told. “We have to save him! We can hide him to the little flat of your house. Or I’ve some money I got after the death of my mother. I can rent a flat for him.” “Katrina, it’s really sweet. But you can’t help him. He is not like you and me.” “What do you mean?” she asked. “Do you remember when Nina told her discovery at TV?” “Yes, I remember.” “Lauri is him.” “Are you serious? He is a living dead?” she asked surprised, almost out of breathe. She thought that he was another Lauri. Not this one. Even if she thought to that eventuality. “Let’s say that he is reborn. The problem is that for many people he is a monster. He can’t be in town. He has no ID. He can’t work, he can't have friends, he... well, he is just the guinea pig of Nina. It’s hard but we have to accept it.” “It’s cruel. He is a lovely person. And she is so bad with him. Have you seen his back?” “Yes... and you don’t know all what she did to him before he woke up.” She didn’t answer. She had a lump in her throat. “Never talk about him to Vellu or anyone else. If you need to talk, just knock at my door,” Havu said when they arrived in Käpylä.
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