painted white, sarajevo

IV

Elias sat on top of his bed, wires from a computer overflowing the area. A pile of notebooks had been tossed out of his suitcase, spread around him like fortress walls. He had called Sierra earlier, but had held his tongue on the notebook. They carried on without a problem, Elias explaining how the trip was and how the city was like. 

Now, he stared down at the notebook. 

The words were unreadable—while some were printed and other were not, none were in a language he recognized.

I... I still can't believe I found this... How unbelievable is that?

"If I call the front desk and read off several words, would they be able to translate it...?" Elias muttered to himself, leafing through the book.

In front of him, the screen displayed multiple browsers open, all cluttered with words like "BEFORE THE GREAT RECREATIONAL AGE," "HISTORY OF THE WORLD," and "THE WORLD HAS NO RECORDS BEFORE THE RECREATION!"

He dug his hand through his hair, releasing a sigh. One hand strayed to touch the surface of the hotel's phone laid upon the nightstand next to him, but he hesitated.

On the table, his cell phone buzzed.

"Kane, I love ya, but I can't answer you right now," he said under his breath, plucking up the hotel room phone and tapping 0.

Who knew how many "missed" calls he had gotten from Kane now? Had Kane even thought to go talk to his girlfriend?

"Hello?" The slightly peppered female voice, familiar from his check-in, broke through his thoughts.

"Um, yes, hello. I'm the person you checked in this morning?"

"Ah, yes. I remember. Is there something wrong with the room, sir?"

Sparing a glance at the window, where dark tendrils stretched across the sky, as if reaching for the sun, Elias took on a friendlier tone.

"No, no, not at all." Elias laughed awkwardly. "It's an awesome room—did you or one of your co-workers help decorate it? It's clear from this room that you guys strive to provide great comfort to your guests."

"One of my co-workers." Her voice sounded warm. "He will be delighted to hear of your compliments."

Despite her not being able to see him, he allowed a reassuring smile to touch upon his lips.

"So, uh, I wanted to ask you a favor. So this book I just bought, it's in a language I can't understand. Could I spell out some of the words to you?"

"Of course. I'll be glad to help if I can."

He flipped to a random page, running his finger down the side.

Može.

"It starts with an M, than an O. There's a Z afterwards, but it has this little arrow pointing down on it. The word ends with an E."

"Miu, if you are mocking our language by coming up with such falsities—"

"I am not, I swear. Hold on a moment, let's try another word."

An exasperated sigh. "Very well."

Elias flipped to the very first page. The first word was long and looked like a bunch of letters jumbled together.

Odlučio.

"O, D, L, U... there's a C with the same arrow from the Z earlier. Pointing down. I, and it ends in O."