Awake, twisting and turning under sweaty sheets. I check the time. It's been two minutes since the last time I did so. Feels like two hours. Sigh. Face down in the pillow. Trying to sleep. Forcing every cell in my body to fulfill that wish. Sleep, for fucks sake.

 

I give up.

 

Feet against the cold floor. What time is it on the other side of the Atlantic? Counting. 20.13. Or 8.13 pm as they say over there. I switch on the computer, log on to Skype. He's online.

 

I type: "can't sleep"

Press send.

 

He types.

Reply: "I'll be home soon"

 

I'm cold. I pull my legs up from the floor and hug myself. I peek out through the blinds. Snow. I thought it'd never come. December was warm, barely any snowflakes at all. Just grey, slushy weather for Christmas. But the cold got to us after all. Now, the whole world is covered in ice. Mental ice age, as Jocke Thåström sang in the beginning of the 80's. Even back then.

 

I type: "I'm freezing to death"

Press send.

 

Then I log out.