It took him a moment to realize it was actually Sonja answering and not just another beep. ‘Sonja, guess what’s happened.’

‘Uh, what?’

‘Just sit down and listen, because this is—’

‘Fabian, I’m sorry, but I’m in the middle of something here. Is it important?’

‘You might say. You see—’

‘So, are we done here or what? I actually really do have to get going,’ he heard Theodor sighing in the background.

‘The only thing you have to do is stay right here.’

‘What the fuck for? If you and Dad are just going to—’

‘Theo, you’re staying here!’

‘Sonja, what happened?’

There was a long, tired sigh. ‘Okay, so I went into his room to collect dirty laundry and change the sheets, my God, you should see the state of it. Anyway, I found two…’ She broke off. ‘Look, I think it might be better to talk about this later… Just tell me what’s so important.’

Fabian’s mind went blank, but he remembered why he had called as soon as he turned to look into Matilda’s room, where the staff were busy running tests and noting down stats. ‘She woke up. Matilda finally woke up.’

‘What, she did? But… Really? How is she?’

‘Good. I think. At least, considering the circumstances. That’s what they’re telling me. That her stats look good. But if you ask me…’ He faltered, trying to find the right words.

‘What, is she not okay? Fabian, what are you talking about?’

‘Maybe it’s just me, but—’

‘I’ll be right there.’

Before Fabian had realized that Sonja had hung up, one of the three nurses came up to him.

‘We’re going to leave the two of you alone now. If you need us, just call.’

Fabian nodded and waited until everyone had left before shoving the phone in his pocket and going back into the room to see Matilda, who was lying in her hospital bed, staring into space. He cleared his throat but got no reaction. He tried again, but it was as though she was oblivious to his presence. If not for the fact that she blinked from time to time, he would have been convinced something had gone terribly wrong.

He pulled one of the chairs up to the edge of the bed and sat down. ‘Hi Matilda,’ he said, taking her hand as cautiously as he could so as not to disturb the canula taped to the back of it. ‘How are you feeling?’

After a while she turned her head, as though it required a great effort, and looked at him exactly the way she had when she first woke up. Her eyes were as calm as they were serious and in every way completely different from the lively, inquisitive Matilda he knew. And that was what worried him.