Places are meant to resemble parts of Eastern Europe, the setting is used to enhance the plot and set the ambiance. A lot of the places are fictional.
*****
I stood outside an old industrial building on the corner of Korva street. My eyes peeking from under the hood of a large manly jacket I had purchased at a suspiciously cheap store the day before arriving. The sign on the side of the building in big yellow letters read: "Private Tours of Spyros and Co. 100% Safe. Guaranteed!"
"Sounds legit." I muttered under my breath before opening the door and stepping inside.
...
"There is no Co." The man called Spyros told me as i signed my name on the rental forms "But i make for sound professional." He had a thick Greek accent and a large toothy smile.
"But Private Tours of Spyros and Co is 100% Safe GUARANTEED" He said slamming his fist down onto the table, spilling a half empty glass of vodka. I watched the liquid dribble down the corner of the table and disappear into the dusty shag carpet. There had been a cigarette butt in there as well. I realised.
Outside I could hear the wind howling, rattling the window frames and forcing itself into the crack underneath the door. People might think me crazy to be going on this trip in the dead of winter, i thought to myself, But what choice did I have? If I did not do this now I would never be able to...
"Your driver is Yegor. Is very good driver." Spyros said, interrupting my thoughts and handing me my insurance forms. "Is only driver for come during winter. On short notice."
I nodded apologetically. We got up and he led me outside. The weather was suspicious, it seemed to be bordering on the verge of a storm but Spyros assured me that it wouldn't.
My driver, Yegor was waiting for me by the car that I rented for the next two weeks. It was oil black, slick and already humming warmly, its windows slightly tinted, its front left door a little dented. Yegor, was holding the door open for me. He wasn't smiling. Nobody in this part of the world seemed to enjoy doing that very much, and especially in this weather. I didn't blame him. I looked up at the sky and it glared back down at me.
He looked to be in his early 40's, with black hair and piercing grey eyes, he stared intensely at me, not menacingly but intimidatingly. As if used to being challenged. I had to look away. I was caught back at how appealing he looked in the middle of the cold parking lot, my bags already out beside him.
Appealing for what exactly? I thought nervously. I hesitated and glanced behind me at Spyros. Spyros probably saw the question in my eyes, so he gave me a reassuring thumbs up. "Dont worry! Yegor is very nice man." He said, "He know all road and is strong for protect little girls."
"I dont need anyone to protect me, i just need a guide." I said defensively, clutching my Bulgarian phrasebook to my chest. "And he doesn't look like a guide."
"Yes is guide, sure" Spyros said matter of factly. "Yegor know ALL parts of Bulgaria and Eastern Europe. He walk everywhere, and is fisherman before and seller of fine shoes."
"Shoes? He looks more like a.."
"Hit man?" Spyros joked pretending to shoot me with his fingers.
"Well yes actually..." I said avoiding Yegors gaze, suddenly aware of being entirely too female despite my baggy jeans and incredibly puffy jacket. I was expecting more of, well...of an old man with a hat and gloves. Yegor wore a tan jacket and had a four o'clock stubble, his dark hair looked tussled, as if he had just gotten out of bed.
"Dont worry little girl, you are in capable hands of Yegor. He has all credentials and is checked by company. Background check, health check, STD check..."
"STD?...hey, and im not a little girl." I said narrowing my eyes at Spyros who chuckled.
"Maybe under that jacket of man you are a woman. But we will never know."
I glowered at the old man as he helped load my suitcase into the trunk of the car.
I climbed into the front seat, not wanting Yegor to think of me as a haughty tourist by riding in the back and shoved my backpack infront of me.
"If you have any problems, tell Yegor." Spyros said leaning into the window crack to speak to me, his breath steaming. "And if you have problem with Yegor, you call me. But dont worry is his first time for drive little girl around country, but he is very safe. "
"His first time?..." I started to say but Spyros was already gone, walking back up the path to his office like a small bald eagle.
Yegor opened the drivers side and slid into the seat beside me. He smelled uncomfortably like musk and faintly like old leather. He had large hands and i began to notice faint scars on his knuckles.
"Hello Yegor. My name is Ruth. " I said finally, extending my hand. If we were going to be spending a whole week together, it would be good to start as friends. Or at least civil.
"Apparently I will be your first time." I added cracking a smile before turning completely red at the realisation of how that came out.
"I-I meant im your first customer for.."
Ignoring my hand, Yegor turned on the engine, and nodded his head politely, shifting the brake into drive and looked behind his shoulder. My face felt hot and I lowered my hand sheepishly, allowing myself to sink into the dark leather seat, resting my chin on the phrasebook.
"You are wearing a jacket of man," I heard him say suddenly as we sped away into what looked very much like a blizzard.
"Pardon?" I asked peeking out from behind the collar of my jacket.
"This jacket" He repeated, his accent thick and frosty, "is for man."
I sighed. It was going to be a long two weeks.
...
The first few towns we passed were derelict and gloomy, all around us were the remnants of the iron curtain being inexorably taken down, one bullet at a time. Women in babushkas walked carrying bundles of wood and smoking pipes, smoke curling around them like clouds in the cold air. This was it. I was alone, finally, as far away as I could have possibly taken myself. Horse drawn carts and signs advertising things in letters I could not even fathom to understand rushed past us.
Yep. Here I was. In Bulgaria, on my way to Transylvannia with a chauffeur because i was too scared to take the tours and buses like a normal traveller. Like someone with the balls to backpack alone, like NORMAL people.
I glanced quickly at Yegor, who was concentrating on the road before us. Snow swirled around the car, and his large hands gripped the stirring wheel surely. He didn't look like the driving miss daisy type. His cold grey eyes focused on the road, his jaw sharp on his face, muscles working intently.
I made a mental note to message a friend about my whereabouts. That I could possibly be in the company of one of those serial killers that would take me to the woods and dismember me after having his way with me, possibly when I was dead, because psychos liked that stiff and unmoving business. I gulped, aware that I was starting to sweat.
I suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here.
"Um...Yegor-" I started to say before he pointed ahead of him.
"Divos."
I blinked. "Huh?" I said in response.
"Is first town. I take you for see the shrine of water."
"Oh..," i managed to say. Unable to articulate just how much I wanted to just go to a hotel and rebook everything before we started going deeper into the country. Before I found what I was so desperate to find..
"Shrine of water-uh...Thank you Yegor, but I think I might just-"
"Its important for Eastern Europe. The water is source of life and have many healing qualities."
