Love and Blood - A BounPrem Vampire Story

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

You have stolen my heart
With one glance of your eyes

- Song of Songs 4:9 (NIV)

When Prem woke up the sun had already risen, and Boun was gone. For a moment he got scared that he'd dreamt it all, but then he felt the softness of the cloak surrounding him. It was real. Boun was real. It made him want to cry. He shook his head. Why would he want to cry over that? He quickly stood up, the cloak weighing heavy on his shoulders. He looked around for his backpack and when he found it he saw a pair of breakfast bars lying next to it. The gesture made him cry. Only then did he realise how hungry he was and he dug in. They were sweet, coated in white chocolate. Prem didn't usually like chocolate but the combination of the chocolate with nuts and raisins was delicious. He tasted the salt of his tears through the sweetness. He gobbled them up within half a minute. It left him wanting more but he knew he had to get going. School would start soon and he had to go home first.

He inched towards the front door, it was early so his father could not have gone to work yet. With a bit of luck he was sleeping off his hangover. Prem gently opened up the door and tip-toed inside. He immediately saw his father, loudly snoring on the only recliner they had surrounded by broken bottles and vomit. The smell was unbearable. But then, it always was. Prem went up to his room, wondering where to hide Boun's cloak. He tried to find a clean spot but he couldn't. His father had come in and done his thing too often. He sighed and decided to make it up to Boun one way or another, if he even ever saw him again. The thought of never seeing Boun again made him want to bawl his eyes out. Prem untied the cloak and immediately missed it's warmth. When he held it up in front of him to see how much dirt was on it he couldn't believe his eyes. The cloak was spotless. The purple colour glimmering in the soft morning light. Like magic. He stuffed it beneath his bed and hoped his father wouldn't find it.

When he went back downstairs he debated on whether to wake up his father or not. He walked to the kitchen to look at the clock on the oven. 07:18. His school would start at eight. His father's work in little over an hour. Prem decided that he could wake up himself. He went on a search for something edible but found only uncooked rice and spoiled fruits. His stomach gently let him know that he needed more than that. He tip-toed back to the living room where his father was. Even though he knew that very little could wake him up, Prem didn't want to take any chances. He made his way through the filth and gently pulled out his father's wallet from the left pocket of his trousers. Prem had been doing this for years, his father never noticed. He took out a 100 Baht bill, it wasn't much but it would have to do. He softly put the wallet back in his father's pocket and made his way outside. The shops weren't open yet so he would have to wait until after school. The thought made him want to cry but he didn't have a choice.

When Prem arrived at the school he saw that he, as usual, was one of the first. He sighed and sat down on one of the benches in front of the entrance. Slowly his mind wandered back to the night before. The man he met. No, not 'the man'. His name was Boun. And Prem didn't understand him. Prem had never met him before and yet Boun had taken care of him, even gave him his cloak and left a pair of breakfast bars in the morning. Why would somebody go through all that trouble for a person he didn't know? Prem was so deep in thought that he didn't hear the school bell ringing. If it hadn't been for the students running past him, desperately trying to get to their classes on time, Prem would have sat there all day. He quickly grabbed his bag and ran inside.

When lunchtime came around Prem slowly made his way to the auditorium. He longingly stared at all the children buying themselves food from the cafeteria, wishing he could do the same. But the street markets were a lot cheaper so he knew he had to wait. He tried to ignore the grumbling of his stomach and pulled out his books to start studying. When the bell rang he sighed of relief. Focussing on an as good as empty stomach was impossible.