The Aftermath

Oskar awoke violently, gasping for air. Trembling, he felt his face, which was dry except for his sweat. He brushed his fingertips along Eli's neck, and sighed with relief as he felt no blood or bite marks. He put a finger in his own mouth, feeling his teeth; they were familiar, normal human teeth. Oskar felt calmer now, and tried to make sense of what had happened. The burning sensation he had felt when the sun rose had been the lesser evil, and he had not felt like he was dying. He vividly remembered Eli's pleading eyes and his own horror when he had felt his teeth grow sharper. He had seen Eli's vampiric teeth, but his own in the dream had been even worse, for as he was about to bite they had grown so large that he could probably not have closed his mouth. But he could not refuse those pleading eyes...

Oskar checked his own neck; it was intact. Somewhat soothed by the peaceful sound of Eli's breathing, Oskar tried to go back to sleep. Yet the terror of dreaming again of his teeth deep in Eli's flesh kept him awake. He checked the time on the glow-in-the-dark alarm clock they kept near the mattress. It would be over an hour before Esteban got up, he thought; then he remembered it was Saturday, so that it would be even longer. A couple of minutes later, Oskar got out of bed and switched on the light. He was startled to see Eli's eyes open slightly. Oskar stood there, not knowing what to do, and watched as Eli slowly, after several attempts, fully opened his eyes.

At first, Eli's gaze drifted, as if unable to focus, while save for his breathing the rest of his face and body remained perfectly still. Then his eyes turned towards Oskar, gazing at him lovingly. Oskar took Eli's hand in his.

'Welcome back,' he whispered.

He felt no response from Eli's hand, but saw his lips twitch slightly. After several tries, Eli made a guttural noise, and managed a half-smile. Eli tried to speak again, but Oskar failed to make out the words. However, he now felt a twitching movement from Eli's fingers and then felt Eli very weakly squeeze his hand. Eventually Oskar was able to make out the heavily slurred words:

'Hello, Oskar.'

Something broke inside him and Oskar covered Eli's face with tears and kisses.

***

Esteban had gotten up, planning to drink a glass of milk before checking on the children. As he stepped into the dining room, at first he failed to comprehend what he was seeing.

Eli and Oskar were sitting at the table; Eli sat somewhat awkwardly, and was holding a spoon as Esteban imagined a monkey would, and was eating a bowl of cereal; the scene was lit by the sunlight coming through the windows. The children both had turned towards him; Eli put the spoon back in the bowl.

'How...? You're... cured?'

Eli nodded, smiling sheepishly. Esteban approached, lifted Eli up and hugged him tight. Eli hugged him back.

'Don't let me fall.'

'You know I won't.'

Eventually Esteban carefully put Eli down.

'But... how did it happen?'

'Oskar visited me in a dream, I don't know how he did it, and then I somehow knew that if he bit me as if he were like me, that would cure me. So I asked him to do it and... he did it. Then the dawn didn't burn.'

Esteban noticed how Oskar squirmed when Eli talked about the biting.

'So it seems you turned Oskar into an anti-vampire.'

Esteban went to Oskar and hugged him.

'Thank you, Oskar.'

Oskar seemed both mortified and relieved. He hesitated; should he say it in front of Esteban? He decided to trust him.

'Eli...'

'Yes?'

'Don't ever ask me to drink your blood again. Please?'

'Sure, there's no need anymore. I'm sorry.'

'No, it's just that... I... liked doing it. It was like... I don't know.'

Esteban looked at him intently.

Maybe being bitten would have horrified him less than biting.

Esteban turned back towards Eli, and seeing his sunlit face, hugged him again.

'We missed you so much...'

Esteban wiped the tears from his eyes and sat down.

'We need to think of a way to celebrate. Then, we need to think about what we'll do with the rest of our lives.'