One day we spent our time walking in the streets of Timişoara. My tolerance was spotty.
I held Indra's hand as we walked through a crowded courtyard of sorts.
A small voice shouted, "băiatul!"
Indra froze and his eyes flew open.
I put my free hand on his chest, "Indra?" He didn't do or say anything.
"Honey?"
Indra let go of my hand and turned around. I followed his lead and saw a mother and her young daughter. The mother tried to quiet the girl.
"Băiatul!" The girl said again. What does that mean?
"I'm sorry." The mother said. "She thinks you're the boy who helped my grandmother escape Romania long ago."
Escape Romania? Does she mean when everything was being bombed?
Indra stared hard.
"Let's go." The mother said. "Sorry, again."
I turned around.
"That was...weird." I said. I crossed my arms and put my hand to my chin.
"So someone you saved is still around." I said. "Is that bad?" I turned to around to Indra. Just an empty spot. This motherfucker left me.
I looked around. The crowd was tightening all around me. I felt a tingle in my throat and a sharp pain in my gums. My fangs... I'm craving their blood. I can't believe Indra left me.
I should leave. But how? Indra drove. I can go to the edge of town and run home. Good idea.
Indra:
I fiddled about with my thumbs.
"Dumnezeul meu!" The scarred old woman wrapped in a scarf exclaimed. Her scar crawled up from her chin to her hairline and stretched across her nose, her gray eye stared.
We sat across from each other in a toasty and cozy living room. The furniture was off-white and had blankets here and there.
"It's really you." Her old voice said. "I can't believe it."
"But you'd be my age. If not older."
I looked her in the eyes. "Need to know, I suppose." I only nodded.
"You were taken before we got the chance to thank you. We thought you dead." She coughed. "But here you are, decades later." She had a fit.
"I can get you water." I finally spoke.
"Please." The old woman strained and covered her mouth.
I stood up and went into the small kitchen. I found the glasses and retrieved water from the faucet.
After returning to the living room I handed her the glass. She nodded in thanks and sipped slowly.
"I want to hear your side: what happened after you were taken?" She asked after putting the water down on the small side table.
"They took me to him." I answered. "He wanted to meet the boy who rescued a small town of people."
"For information, they tortured me for three days." I told her. "When I didn't tell, they shot me and dumped my body."
"And now you're here." She said. I nodded. "With me again."
"Only for a short time." I said.
"Yes."
She reached for a photo frame on the table.
"Thanks to you, I was able to meet the boy who would become my husband." She handed me the photo. A wedding picture. A happy bride.
