My Pale Buddy from Romania
I was on my way to the machine for yet another coffee refill. Not that I was an addict or even a fan, but it was a welcome escape from my cramped cubicle. Among the sounds of computers, notifications, and murmurs of casual conversations, an unnatural monotony filled the halls. I worked at a startup for a month shy of completing five years. Completing my graduate degree, getting a job, growing through the ranks — all of it felt like it was happening in the background somehow, and life moved from one blurred environment to another. It was as if I were living someone else’s life, going through the motions, doing my part.
I headed back to the cubicle to find a most unexpected guest. A pale man, appearing to be from medieval Europe, looking for me. His head moved about frantically, trying to look at all 360 degrees at once.
Talk about a prince coming to rescue a princess stuck in the palace of melancholy! This did not look like a prince, though. Far from it. Security guards were eyeing him from a distance.
“They know, they know.”
He suddenly bursts into a thick European accent, each word louder than the last. He had smooth, pale skin as if neither sunlight nor age could touch it. I swear, I could see a red rim around his iris. Maybe all these years of binge-watching fantasy movies had finally caught up with me, and I was having full-HD hallucinations now. He was wearing red cowboy boots, seemingly from a movie costume, with a long leather jacket. He was also carrying a satchel that seemed to belong to an 18th-century mailman.
“They know now!” He got closer now. I could see the recognition in his eyes. But I had never seen him — actually, nothing else like him before in my life.
“Ma’am, do you know him?” The security guards now focused their attention on me. I was relieved to know I was not the only one seeing him.
I looked over at my cubicle and then again at him. I decided to give him a shot and told the security guard that he was a distant relative, a very distant one. This guy wasted no time and quickly started again as soon as we were alone: “You are not understanding; they know it all now!”. He looked at me desperately now. “Look, I have no idea who “they” are or “you” for that matter,” I told him.
He said his name was Erké. Apparently, he belonged to the Hurbis dynasty based somewhere in Romania and was here on a mission to retrieve their royal guard, who had gone undercover long back. It was customary for them to go deep undercover until a need arose back home. While I appreciated good fiction, sadly, I knew when it was too much. I thought of dropping the guy off at a nearby hospital; he seemed a bit lost. As we got into a cab, he showed me a half-torn piece of paper with some indecipherable characters written on it, which made no sense to me.
“Look, there are two possibilities here.” My sentence got cut off as we got attacked by something that looked like bullets coming from the truck behind us. I ducked as best I could and dragged him to the floor. Natural athleticism was not one of our strengths, but somehow we dodged the bullets.
“Bhaiya, just take a left from here and go inside the alley!”. We bustled through the Bangalore traffic; at least the truck was not able to catch up with us.
Half walking, half tumbling, we got out of the car and ran. We got to a tea stall near my office, and the owner saw the guys chasing us but still let us hide in the back. I never realized before that this dude was into some shady sh*t, it seemed.
“Owch”
While sitting, I realised there was something stuck in my jeans. I took it out. It was a Bullet! A rubber bullet. It had similar symbols to those the creepy vampire guy had shown me.
“Okay, I am all ears now. What the hell is happening?” His face lit up as if I could finally understand the urgency of the situation. “I am Erké. Uh, what to say in English? I am from a faraway palace,” he continued, “and I have come to tell you that you are no longer safe here.”
“But who is this ‘they’ ?” He finally realized he might be barking up the wrong tree, and I did not know what he was talking about. He was sent here on an assignment to recover a deep undercover agent. Erke was a rookie in their guarding clan. They had recently discovered that there had been a breach in their intelligence bureau and that their location was compromised. Due to intense conditions, he was promoted and sent on an assignment to retrieve me. I mean, whoever this agent was! I sipped on some chai, and Erké had something from his flask that looked like… blood. I thought it best not to ask.
He showed me the scroll again with the crazy symbols that guided him to me. The text seemed to follow some repetitive patterns. I asked him how he was able to figure out where to go.
I could see pairs of number-like symbols. I got the translation from Erké. He was a rookie alright! While some features were similar, he was supposed to be looking for a guy and he was using the wrong coordinates. But Erké said he could swear it showed different coordinates earlier. There were a few more changes in the text. We decided to still go to this new place.
“Hey, say I do not have any memory of where I came from. How come, um, I am not like you guys?” I asked Erké on the way.
“Well, I suppose you had to adapt, and the prolonged loss of fresh blood in your system changed your appearance.” Yikes! I regretted asking immediately.
It would be a nice change of pace, though. Me, Emma, a bloodthirsty royal vampire guard or agent or whatever. My fantasy was cut short. I could hear strange, angry voices outside the shop. Damn! We had to act fast. We got out of the back door and found their car, the key still in the ignition.
Racing across the dense Bangalore traffic of vehicles, humans, cows, and dogs, we finally made it to the location indicated by the coordinates in the scroll. Erké was full of energy again. “Yes, I have to tell him, they…” he started getting out of the car. After remembering the chaos in my office, I decided to go instead. I told the guards I had come in for an interview. I was led inside, but only until the reception. I saw someone coming out. I barged in through the open door, going full Erké, and tried to look for anyone else matching the description in the scroll.
“They know, THEY KNOW” I could hear myself yell.
Okay, not much of an improvement from Erké’s version. Judging by the look on the guy’s face in front of me, there was not much change in the outcome either. He seemed to be calling the guards. I was suddenly flung over by a hooded figure. Whoosh! I was picked up like a sack and could feel muscular arms around me. He dodged the security, and we were out of the car in no time.
“Erké?! Who is she?” He asked Erké “You went to the wrong person again!?” The conversation was cut short as another truck came head-on into us and started pushing us back.
I do not remember much else after that. I woke up in a hospital. Well, all is well that ends well, I guess. At least we got to the hospital as I had planned originally. I had to admit that I was a little disappointed that I did not belong to a faraway land. But I was still glad I took a chance on Erké. I felt something in my pocket. It was the scroll that Erké had given me.
Erké was right! I saw completely different coordinates and descriptions now. But I had no way of translating it. My adventure had finally come to an end. This journey gave me a sense of excitement I had not felt in a long time. I realized the world is still full of possibilities and adventures. Yet, I still appreciated the safety of familiar surroundings. I thought of jotting it all down. It would make for a good story.
Maybe even submit this to an online Fiction journal.
