Chapter 22
The pain in her right shoulder is keeping Tiina awake, even though it is after eleven and she needs to sleep.
She turns over, tries lying on her side, glances at Ogge’s sleeping form next to her.
He is on his back; in the darkness she can see a few black hairs protruding from his wide nose.
From time to time, he lets out a snore; it starts in his throat, continues to the roof of his mouth, and emerges as a rasping sound from his open mouth.
In sleep his face is calm and peaceful; he almost looks kind. His hands are resting on top of the covers. His eyes, which can narrow with anger when he is drunk, are closed.
Tiny movements beneath his eyelids suggest that he is dreaming.
Sometimes he has terrible nightmares, when the memories from his childhood catch up with him. He is rarely willing to talk about those days, but occasionally, dreadful stories have slipped out.
At the beginning of their relationship, Tiina tried to persuade him to see a therapist, talk to a psychologist to process his experiences, but he got so angry that she dropped the idea.
Over time she has abandoned her efforts, despite the fact that he seems to be increasingly tormented by his difficult childhood.
Recently his outbursts of rage have become more frequent, and he has also started drinking more. Sometimes she finds him in the living room late at night, sitting up and brooding with a grim look on his face.
Tiina shudders and draws the covers more tightly around her. Ogge groans and inhales deeply. It sounds like the final rattle of a dying man. There is silence for several seconds, then he exhales.
To be on the safe side, she shuffles toward the edge of the mattress in order to give him space, even though he is already taking up more than half the bed.
Then she lies perfectly still. Tries to make herself relax so that the pain will go away and she can finally get to sleep.