A wide loving smile stretched across my face, while I held the earpiece up to my ear. I absentmindedly ran a finger over the intricate engravings along the side of the small wooden table that I was sitting at, then peered over towards the sunshine beaming in through the small circular window next to me. Other than my phone conversation, the only sounds in the quaint stone library were soft clicking noises from Becca typing away on an old Macintosh computer, and the little elderly librarian at the main desk occasionally clearing her throat as she engrossedly flipped through a book about gardening. 

It had rained the night before, so the fieldworkers weren't able to pick any grapes today. Which meant that we all had the day off. Bunica had mentioned that it was perfect timing since she needed to bring her special wine into town this morning anyways. And man, did that stuff sell like hotcakes! Every local townie and their toothless serial killer uncle had eagerly lined up just to grab a bottle. 

"Wow, Enzo, that's wonderful! You've always had a real talent for creating new foods." I spoke into the phone, thankful that he couldn't see me cringing as I remembered some of his other 'food inventions.' Things no mere mortal should ever consume. "May I speak to Papa again?" I would have loved to talk longer, but I knew that the library was about to close, and I also wanted to quickly say goodbye to my father.

"Ahh, drats." He drawled in disappointment. "Alright."

"I love you, Enzo" I smiled, picturing his sad but cute little face and mop of curly dark hair.

"I love you too, Izzy... Paaapa! Isabelle wants to talk to you!" I pulled the earpiece away from my ear, wincing as he very loudly called to my dad.

There was an awkward moment of shuffling sounds and murmurs, then my dad's baritone voice came over the phone. "Hello, Isabelle?"

"Hey, Papa." I twirled the phone cord with my finger. "The library will be closing soon, so I just wanted to make sure I got the chance to say goodbye."

"Oh, that's too bad. Your mother is going to be sad that she missed your call." 

"I've..." I quickly glanced over towards Becca, then hunched over a bit and spoke a little quieter. "I've been given a few paid days off, so I can call on Friday afternoon, early morning for you." Luckily I don't think Becca heard me.

"Well, that's wonderful! I'll let your mother know that she can expect your call." His voice dropped an octave and he sounded super serious. "You do promise that you'll call on Friday? Right?"

"Yes, papa, I promise. No matter what." I felt highly confident in being able to keep that promise. It was Wednesday, and it's not like anything super crazy was going to happen over the next two days that would prevent me from calling her.

"Good. We'll speak with you then. I love you, and enjoy your evening." 

"I love you too. Goodbye, Papa." 

I hung up the phone, struggling for a minute to figure out how to properly put the earpiece back onto the stick. Fucking prehistoric communication contraptions... I unintelligibly grumbled to myself like a big old grouch. My chair squeaked as I briskly stood up. Then I casually strolled over to the heavy wooden front door. I scoffed, noticing that the lever door handle was silver. These people seemed to have a strange obsession with the metal. 

The beautiful sunshine blinded my eyes and fresh air assaulted my dust acclimated lungs as I stumbled outside. The library led out onto a beautiful town green, with cobblestone paths lined by swaying wolfsbane blooms. There was also a little café called 'Mesteacan Mic Dejun' and a bar called 'Stejar Intoxicat'. All the buildings were stone and built like fortresses, lining the muddy main road. 

Bunica was standing proudly beside her trusty old wine cart, beneath a big old oak tree. There were several bumbling locals in the immediate area. Most were holding bottles of her special wine, and some were already dipping into the sweet drink. I carefully avoided stepping in some puddles from last night's heavy rainfall, as I whistled a silly little tune and strolled over to her. My red flip-flops clicked against my heels, softly pattering on the damp stonework.

"Isabelle! Were you able to contact your family?" She asked with a bright smile while happily waving with her sunspot cover hand.

I smiled and waved back, then leaned against the tree. Its damp mossy bark dug into my back where my black tank-top didn't cover, while shadows from its big bright green leaves danced across my face. "Yes, I was. Thank you. My mother wasn't available to talk though, so I'll have to come back on Friday." The gentle breeze caused a few lingering water droplets to fall from the canopy of leaves above and onto my cheeks.

Before Bunica could respond, a ratty old red pickup truck, which looked likely to be a 1970-something model, came loudly putzing along down the road, demanding our attention. The tires spun through the shallow puddles as they squished through the muddy dirt road. With a pop, a puff of black smoke abruptly shot out of the raspy-sounding exhaust pipe, and the decrepit thing came to a sputtering stop.

Yikes, driving that thing must be the equivalent of chopping down at least ten trees... 

Bogdan and his two best buds, Dumitru and Grigore, all exited the vehicle. Bogdan had a brown sack in his hand with what I assumed to be blood staining the bottom. He nudged Dumitru while nodding towards me with a grin. Dumitru's shaggy blond hair caught the sunlight like a halo, as he looked my way, then grinned as well and fist bumped Bogdan in a congratulatory manner. Grigore's head of chocolate curls bounced over to them, then the three of them all perversely snickered while leering my way like a bunch of dick-brained dodos.

Fuck. My. Life.

Bunica laughed at my expense, while I seriously wished that the oak I was leaning on would turn into a great deku and swallow me whole. Their arrival seemed to capture the curiosity of a few town folks who were wandering over to them, causing me to forget my brief Legend of Zelda fantasy and crane my neck for a better look. Bogdan proudly said something while holding up the suspicious sack, boastfully showing it off, and causing Bunica's smile to falter.

Whatever was in it appeared to greatly please the now eight or so people standing around them. Bunica stormed over, with her brown granny shoes pattering across the damp cobblestone. I quickly followed after her, curious as to what all this hullaballoo was about. The sound of the little old librarian angrily shooing Becca out of the library was more like background noise compared to Bogdan's deep booming voice. His words seemed to be dipped in arrogance and dripping with sanctimony as he made a triumphant sounding speech in Romanian. 

Becca grumbled and stomped through a few puddles, splashing my legs as she huffed over and stood beside me. I glared at her, and she snippily smirked. Then to both of our complete shock and absolute horror, Bogdan flipped the sack upside down, and two bloody severed heads fell out. They thumped onto the cobblestone below, splattering it with crimson droplets... 

Holy shit... Those are real fucking human heads!