1.

The Exploding Glass

The shards of the glass exploded from her hand, sending small biting pieces of the wine glass in all directions. The blood red liquid within the glass splashed across the front of the patron.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he accused, spluttering wine from his face while he hastily mopped up his front with his napkin.

The girl, Jackie hadn't seemed yet to register what had happened. She stood, hand clenched around what had previously been a drinking glass in awe.

Where was this coming from? Had she really grasped it that hard, hard enough to break it?

Jackie realised how silent the restaurant had gone, as if they'd been turned to mute, except all their eyes were fixed upon her.

The most unusual fact about the scene that stood before Jackie wasn't the broken glass and it wasn't that she was about to die from embarrassment.

This had happened before, not the breaking of glasses, but this sort of abnormal strength, coming from nowhere.

The metal spoon at the breakfast table, simply snapping under her grip, the ink covering her hands after her pen crumbled in her clasp and when she'd nearly sent the soccer coach to hospital with concussion after she'd misjudged her power when kicking the ball.

Jackie felt a hand on her shoulder. Gavin, her Hospitality teacher quickly steered her from the table whilst apologising profusely to the wine soaked customer whose face had turned deep red, and not from the staining of his drink.

Gavin pulled her into the back room, pushing Jackie into a chair before turning to go back into the dinning room and clear up the mess.

Jackie hadn't moved, nor even uttered a word yet. Too many coincidences today had led her to believe that something weird was going on.

Jackie finally unclenched her fist, a trickle of blood sliding down her palm dropped onto her chest, quickly making a deep red mark that matched the rest of the wine stain.

She could hear the patron's voice, strong and angry yelling about the incident to Gavin. In the moment Jackie silently thanked him for taking care of the situation himself and not leaving her to die from embarrassment.

Gavin hustled back into the back room, a tea towel in his hand and a concern look on his face.

He noticed the blood seeping from Jackie's hand and hastily pressed the tea towel to the cut.

"Don't worry," Gavin started, running his hands through his greying hair as he applied pressure to Jackie's cut.

He wasn't perhaps as old as he looked yet the pressure from running a training restaurant had taken its toll on him.

He had a kind face and a thin and lanky frame of body; his hands were surprisingly cold as they gripped the tea towel to Jackie's hand, perhaps from him being in the fridge previously.

"He's not really that angry, it's just that red wine doesn't come out is all," Gavin trailed off. Jackie knew he was just trying to make her feel better, however it wasn't working, she wasn't really concerned in what state the customer was in, but her surprise glass shatter.

Gavin looked into Jackie's eyes and knelt before her.

"The glass must have been brittle, that's all, it happens sometimes," he soothed, patting Jackie's arm gently.

"Yeah," Jackie started, speaking for the first time "that must have been it," she wasn't sure who she was re-assuring though, herself or Gavin.

Gavin smiled and gave her arm a squeeze. Jackie pulled away, Gavin was kind but she just didn't need to be coddled by her teacher right now and not when he felt so cold.

Gavin seemed to get the message and stood, attempting another smile.

"Stay here for a while, we don't want you to faint, and then come back when you're ready."

Jackie was glad when Gavin left the room, but with the promise of bringing back a cold glass of water.

She needed to have some time to think. It could have been the brittle glass; she'd seen it happen before, although not shatter all over the room but simply break when put on the table heavily.

Jackie shook her head; there was nothing wrong with her. There must have just been some weird series of coincidences what happened today and nothing more.

Jackie sighed with tiredness; this on top of all the homework she had yet to complete was starting to take its toll on her. It seemed that everyone was stressed lately.

She was beginning to think that her life was way too stressful, especially since taking up a high school hospitality night course.

She lifted the tea towel and studied the cut that had sliced through her palm. She was surprised to see that the blood had clotted already. She'd been sure that the cut had been pretty deep; she had had a glass slice its way through her palm. Yet the cut looked shallow and if in fact it could be possible, smaller than before. She was sure it would have needed stitches.

Gavin returned, banging loudly through the door and bringing Jackie from her thoughts, brandishing a glass of water in front of her.

Jackie took the glass with thanks and gave Gavin the tea towel back.

"I think I'll be alright to go back out there again," Jackie said, hoping to get away from Gavin who was starting to get on her nerves, standing and staring at her as if he was looking straight through her.

"Right, right," he said offhandedly, perhaps realising that he'd been staring. "Don't forget to get a bandaid on the way."

Jackie nodded and pushed open the door again hastily needing to get away. Anywhere was better than near Gavin, even back out into the restaurant with the angry patron.

Gavin stood still in the now empty room, full of stacked dishes and cutlery.

He smiled after Jackie, with the tea towel still clenched in his fist. He breathed out, then in again deeply as if having just been soothed. He looked down at the tea towel Jackie had pushed into his hands in her rush to leave the room. He brought it to his face and studied it. He found what he was looking for: a small bloodstain from Jackie's cut.

He pressed it to his face, his nostrils filling with the sent of her blood. His eyes rolled back into his head, the ecstasy of the smell sending him into a frenzy of pleasure. He opened his mouth and pressed the blood stain onto his tongue, enraptured in the taste.