Vanilla Lace

It was close to breaking dawn when Analiese’s eyes flickered open. With Bill, she could fall asleep forever but she knew they had little time to lose. She pushed him awake gently as he had his head on her lap.

“Bill, let’s go,” she said, stroking his cheeks lovingly. She admired the contours of his handsome face, letting her eyes take in all she could of him.

Bill opened his eyes almost immediately and slowly, smiling when the first thing he saw was her. Light was catching up when he saw the hues of orange and pink from behind the girl as he pushed himself up. He placed a chaste kiss upon her lips before grabbing his back and taking her hand.

The two teenagers left the bench they called home for a night and headed out of the park to the downtown area where they would locate the bank. It was late October and autumn leaves were falling everywhere, casting a vibrant orange glow on paths where there were bare-naked trees dotted all along the sidewalks.

“I swear, I’ve never really seen anything so amazing,” Bill gushed, his free hand tucked in his pocket, his face hidden behind sunglasses and a black cap.

“You never really stopped to enjoy the little things, did you?” Analiese smiled, a warm woolen scarf of a deep purple hiding her mouth as she spoke.

Bill passed her a grin, not caring if his canines were that obvious. He looked down, slightly abashed. “Well,” he said, “things have changed.”

The two made their way and found themselves across the bank. Bill took a deep breath, feeling slightly less energetic when the morning sun was coming on so strong. He saw that the bank was still unopened, and they crossed the road to find that it would open at nine.

“That’s still a while to go,” Analiese sighed, staring at Bill. “I think you should get yourself indoors.”

Bill contemplated for a while. “I’ll go find a phone,” he said. “I have to call Tom to let him know I’m fine.”

Analiese looked at him thoughtfully. She did not want to seem that she doubted Tom but she had to make her point. Nothing was to be left unsaid in between them. “Are you sure?” She asked. “It was obvious how Tom saw the both of us. Are you sure he can still be . . . trusted?”

The black-haired boy sighed softly, clenching his fists. “At least, I’ll have to say goodbye. I don’t know when again I’ll visit him, right?”

“Are you going to tell him where you are?”

“No,” Bill shook his head gently. He held Analiese’s hand to pull her along as they made their way out of the sun by the back alley. “Just saying goodbye.”

Analiese nodded, “Okay.”

Bill looked at her and gave her a soft smile. “Don’t worry,” he chuckled. “Do you know how to get to your mother’s?”

“Yes,” she said. “We’ve got to take a bus.”

“Right after my phone call, okay?” He touched her face lovingly.

Analiese smiled. They found a little hotel on the other side of the area while walking and Bill went to the phone booth in the corner, his hands trying to find the coins to call. Analiese stood by his side, watching around as Bill slotted the coins in and dialed Tom’s number. It took a few rings before someone urgently answered, and a frantic and familiar voice boomed, “Hello?”

Bill paused for a while before releasing his breath, “Tom?”

Tom’s eyes widened. Just a while before, he had received a call from someone whom he did not know and now, Bill had called again. Bill was on the run as he had recalled, and he immediately rambled, “Where the Hell are you? What’s going on, Bill? How could you run away? What happened?”

The younger twin frowned, “Tom, wait. Please listen to me. Who called you?”

“Fuck that, Bill,” Tom snapped. He was pacing around endlessly in his hotel room. “You’re supposed to be back on Friday. Are you coming back Friday? You’re still running away, aren’t you? Wait . . . are you still with that bitch?”

Bill could feel his last straw snap. “Watch your words, okay? Watch your goddamn words, Tom. I’m just here to tell you that I’ll be gone. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me but tell mama that I love her. Take care of her for me.”

“WHAT?” Tom retorted, his eyes almost popping out of his sockets. “Aren’t you with the vampires? They got you, haven’t they? What are they doing, killing you? What’s going on? They let you call me? Tell me!”

Analiese looked right into Bill’s chocolate brown eyes and she could tell how hurt he was by just saying goodbye. “I can’t talk anymore, Tom. I got to go. See you soon . . . I hope.”

“BILL!”

Without wanting to hear another word, Bill slammed the receiver down and clenched his jaw. He struggled against letting his tears fall out just as Analiese hugged him from behind. At times like these, she wondered if he was having doubts about everything else.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered into his back.

It was so still around them that Bill could hear her words clearly. He gave a firm nod and put his hands over hers that went around his torso to the front. Giving them a little squeeze, he turned around and embraced her warmly. It was a goodbye that wasn’t well planned and that had gone down the wrong way. He could not blame Tom for it though.

“Let’s go,” Bill mumbled.

They made their way out and hardly noticed when someone from far watched their every move as they went back to the bank. They hid in the shadows as much as they can, avoiding the sunlight because it aggravated Bill’s evolution. They waited for the bus to take them to the outskirt of Vienna and soon they reached the small town.

It was small and picturesque, a familiar orange and brown façade surrounding the elopers. There were unopened shops down the road Bill was just following Analiese wherever she went. It seemed she knew her way well and it wasn’t long before they reached a burned down building past a few alleys.

“Is this it?” Bill asked, his eyes looking at what remained of the structure.

“This . . . is where it happened,” she said. She went closer to it and released Bill’s hand, one she had been holding for a long time.

“The fire,” he mumbled under his breath. He glanced to take in the newfound sorrow in her sea green eyes, feeling her sadness all of a sudden. He was sure it hurt as much as leaving Simone. It was painful but he had made his decision. He was sure to find Simone again someday but that day was still yet to come.

Analiese nodded in silence before going around to a quieter sector where there were uncut weeds and vines growing around rusty iron fencing. It appeared like an old abandoned backyard and Analiese pushed past it, making it quick so that Bill could make it to the shady part as soon as possible.

Quietly, they made their way past plots of untended plants that had long died out. Crunchy autumn leaves were crushed beneath their steps as they went to the largest and shadiest tree of all in the middle of the yard.

Analiese knelt before it where there was an almost illegible wooden board stuck in the ground that was covered partly by tall grasses.

Bill read it and it said: Sophie Rudhart

He lowered himself beside the girl and stayed silent as she stared at the makeshift headstone. Her eyes welled up but she made no sound. Somehow, she found comfort in being there and it was as if she was right beside her mother. Bill felt a similar sense of repose.

“I haven’t been here since I saw you,” she said.

Bill looked at her. “The day . . . at the café?”

She nodded, tilting her head slightly as she started to pull away at the growth overwhelming the headstone.

“Promise me we’ll come back here someday,” she looked at him.

He nodded, “I promise.”

* * *

The bus ride back to the city was fast and uninterrupted. Bill and Analiese spent most of their time in each other’s arms, talking about their future plans. They knew that tonight it was going to be an epic scene at the Central Cemetery and they were relieved to be exempted from it.

They dropped right across the bank and waited as the bus drove off. Bill looked straight at Ana. “Do you feel hungry? Do you want to get something?”

“Are you?” She asked. “I can hear your stomach growling.”

Bill passed her a sheepish smile. “I won’t be long,” he said. “You could get us something to eat and the tickets out of here. I think you can call through the hotel there.” He nodded at a hotel down the road.

“Why don’t we go together?” She asked.

“It’ll be faster this way,” Bill insisted gently. He pulled her close. “Why, afraid of leaving me for a few minutes?”

Analiese laughed, “Yes, I think so.” She rubbed his waist.

“I’ll be fine,” Bill said, kissing her temple as he tucked stray locks shining a deep auburn hair behind her ear. “I’ll meet you outside when I’m done.”

“Okay,” she said. “Be quick.”

The two of them separated for the first time in a while and Bill watched as Analiese disappeared down the sidewalk. She had her hands tucked deeply in her pocket and walked on, not looking back at him.

Bill turned away and looked at the cars driving by, waiting for the right moment to cross. He reached the opposite and at the same time, Analiese turned to look at him. He never looked back at her.

Into the bank he went and he joined the short queue. A short while later, he realized that he was carrying the wrong bag. Analiese was holding his because he had hers.

“Shit,” he mumbled, and then he sighed and exited the queue before leaving the building. Wanting to avoid the brighter sunlight, Bill headed for the alleyway to reach the hotel’s back entrance. The alleyway was shady and deserted, merely a few trashcans here and there.

At the same time, Analiese found that she had Bill’s bag. She quickly left the hotel and walked on the main road in the sun to the bank. She paced herself quickly, hoping to reach the bank before Bill left it if he had realized it. Little did she know, they were going the wrong direction. She would have called him but both their phones were out.

Bill reached the back of the hotel and pushed through the swinging door that led him to some escape stairs. He was about to head for the door when he felt a strangely familiar presence looming over him. The place was not well lit but Bill could see very well that there was someone from the stairs above. He stopped to look and the next thing he knew, landed on the floor after suffering an unforeseen blow to the head.

The teenager felt a recurring throbbing in his head and wondered if he was bleeding. He looked up weakly and saw the vague image of a tall man staring down at him with a sly smirk, a familiar looking device in hand.
“That’s . . . Oliver’s phone,” Bill muttered before he blacked out from another blow.

* * *

Tom left his hotel room late that morning and went straight to the hospital where he could find Franz Bruckner.

Franz was having his early lunch when his privacy was once again invaded by Tom who stormed in without notice, and much to the staff nurse’s helplessness.

“Tom?” Franz’s eyes widened as he almost choked on his sandwich.

“I need you to call them,” the dreadlocked teenager said. “I need you to call the embassy. They’re not putting me through!”

Franz was confused. “What happened?”

Tom clenched his jaw and stared at the nurse. Franz gave her a look and she left the room. When he thought it was okay for him to speak, he said, “They called me this morning to tell me that Bill had run away from the embassy. The next thing I know, I hear all kinds of shit on the other end and someone picks up the phone and tells me that I should go to the Central Cemetery tonight. No one official told me that. That man hung up on me. I’m . . . convinced he’s one of them.”

The old doctor frowned deeply, putting down his sandwich since he had lost all interest in it. “What?” He said. “Slow down, Tom. The Central Cemetery? What for? And Bill ran away? I never knew that!”

“That man knew that I wasn’t being told everything,” Tom had a pained look on his face. “And I don’t know what about the Central Cemetery but he sounded like he wanted me to be there. I think Bill is going to be there.”

“All I know is that we would be having him back by Friday. I think the same person called me last night during dinner. What do you mean someone else picked up? Who’s the man?”

“I think he died, Franz. I think the man who called me first died and the other one took over,” Tom stared at him seriously. “I could hear blood, okay? I swear that the second man who talked to me on the phone was killing them all there. He said that he wouldn’t ensure I would see the next sunrise and he said ‘the humans’ instead of . . . God, you know what I mean!“

“How could this be possible?” Franz looked stunned. He immediately picked up the phone and dialed the embassy. Immediately, he was put through to Bill’s observation team. “There is someone who needs to speak to you urgently about the meeting tonight at the Central Cemetery.”

Franz stared at Tom as he received an answer from the embassy. The next thing, Tom was handed the phone.

“Hello?”

“Yes?”

“This is Tom Kaulitz, brother of Bill Kaulitz,” he said.

There was a long pause before the person responded, “What is it?”

“Are you going to the Central Cemetery tonight?” Tom asked, narrowing his gaze. Franz kept his eyes firmly fixed on the teenager as he tried to pick up pieces of what words were being exchanged.

Yet again, there was a pause before the person answered, “How did you know about this?”

“Is Bill going to be there? Is he going to come back?”

The person sounded stunned and it was obvious by his tone. “Who told you about this?”

Tom gritted his teeth, “I demand you take me with you.”

* * *

Analiese had been waiting for what seemed to be forever outside the bank. She tried to make her way back to the hotel but Bill was not there. She roamed the main street for a while before asking the guards if they saw him. To no avail, she sat at the steps of the hotel and stared with a frown helplessly.

She knew something was wrong because there was something unsettling in her heart. It was a bustling late morning and she could hear everything around her clearly but she still noticed that little voice in her head that repeated Bill’s name. Where was he? She did not know. Had he just disappeared into thin air just like that?

She waited until it was midday, a good two hours later, and she went back into the hotel where it wasn’t as bright as it was outside. Making her way to the lounge, she found a seat in the corner and sat down to think. She felt so weak without him and as if he had been subdued.

The girl had Bill’s bag but he wasn’t trying to find her. Where could he have gone? Did he try to find her? She could hardly make sense of anything except for that discomforting feeling in her telling her that Bill was in danger.

He was missing.