The cool night air was amazing on my skin, I could have savored it, taken it all in, but I was too angry to even let that calm me down. I could only think about my parents and how inconsiderate they were acting. As long as I was in this small town, stuck here, I would never be happy.

‘You should try texting me, you know.’

Kyle’s voice startles me. I hadn’t even heard his breathing, or his heartbeat, I should have known that someone was there, sensed it, but strangely I hadn’t. He was sitting on one of the rock escarpments just near the water that we’d used over the years, balancing precariously like some object.

‘I really wish I'd done that,’ I said as I sat down in the sand, deflating from exasperation.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

I was too angry, too tired to even hide how this day had turned from good to bad in a single instant. It was bound to happen again soon, didn’t it always?

‘Don’t want to bother you with with my problems,’ I said.

I didn’t even know how I could talk about this to him without making it sound like it was somehow his fault, which was really terrible since I was being punished for something I’d done to him.

‘I have a degree in Psychology, so hit me,’ he said.

I couldn’t help but just loosen up from what he said.

‘Its just some family stuff, its nothing,’ I replied.

In an instant he was sitting right next to me and his woody scent was nothing less than intoxicating.

‘You’re really upset, it can’t be nothing.’

He was right, even I didn’t believe what I’d just said. But now, him sitting right next to me and searching me with his eyes, it just made it all the harder to talk about but impossible to hide from him. He'd keep asking if I didn't tell.

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‘I can’t really do anything without being put under a microscope, you know. Leave the house, just have a normal day out,’ I said.

He just sat there for a moment, not saying anything. He was frighteningly chill. I couldn’t gauge his emotions and that really annoyed the hell out of me.

‘I didn’t know it was that bad,’ he said.

‘It’s always been like that and I just learned to live with it. But today I thought they’d just allow me to go out. I was having a good day, then it just got ruined.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

His eyes were genuinely sad. It was the first time I could tell right away.

‘Its okay. I’m used to the disappointment but today it just somehow felt more like a betrayal than usual. Today i really wanted to go out of the house without having to sneak out at night.’

‘Did you maybe wanna come see your best friend? Am I still allowed to say that or its weird after a ten year separation?’ he said, cringing a little.

I hadn’t really expected him to say that, to call me his best friend. It was the most heart-warming thing I’d heard all day.

‘Yes, of course I did. And yes you can.’ I tried to stop myself from blushing.

He sighed really deeply then stared out into the night.

‘I just wish this would be over and we’d go back to normal,’ he said.

I wished that it was that easy, but right now, it just seemed like it would never happen.

‘I know,’ I said.

He put his arm around me and it really took me by surprise. This warm feeling washed over me. I felt safe and for the first time I calmed all the way down.

‘It’ll be fine. I know it will.’

He stared me right in the eyes and I couldn’t handle it.

‘Can I show you something?’

He kept his gaze on me. His face was perfect, I could see it all now, every freckle, every blemish it just made it all the more memorable, special. That mole just above his left eye, it was beautiful.

‘What?’ I asked, genuinely terrified about what was going to come next.

‘Come with me to my house, to my room. I have something for you,’ he said.

My stomach knotted.

‘Your parents, they’ll know. They’ll have my scent, they’ll hear me and and—’

‘They won’t, I promise,’ he replied.

‘How?’

He chuckled.

‘Did you hear me when you came here? I have my ways,’ he said.

He was right, that was very strange to me. He made no noise and I could only smell or hear him when he saw me.

‘But how?’

‘I’ll teach you, for now, just come with me. Last one there is a faceless zombie,’ he said.

I used to be a welcome guest at his house when we were kids and we played there all the time. His mom would bring out the toys and let us play while she made lunch. We’d go outside when our stomachs were full and race each other, just like we were about to do now.

Vampire speed was like learning to drive a car. Frightening and unpredictable at first, but once you got the hang of it, it was just a second nature, and for me it had gotten better and better with time, now it just felt like melting into thin air. Sometimes I could feel myself letting go and surrendering my body to this wild force that pushed me from one place to another in almost no time at all. I knew where everything was, every bump, every tree before my mind could even comprehend it all.

‘How are you that fast?’ he asked.

I was there way before him and I stood far enough away for his parents to not sense me but still I’d been terrified the whole time that either of them would just come find me there and it would become a whole other story.

‘I just am, I don’t know.’

‘Come on in,’ he said, pointing at his upstairs window.

‘Are you sure about this? I don’t want any trouble,’ I said.

‘We’re already here aren’t we?’