I hear the bell ring on the door. I walk up to the counter. This is not the most popular coffee shop so, no staring as I walk in. The man at the counter is looking at a binder, hoping that magically the words on the page will become imprinted on his brain. He barely looks up as I walk in.

"May I help you?"

"Yeah, one black coffee"

He pours the black liquid into a green mug and hands it to me. I can smell it. Wonderful.

"Anything else for you?"

"No thanks."

" That's 93 cents"

I dug around in my wallet and found three quarters, and a whole load of other coins. I knew it was more than enough to pay for the coffee. So I handed them to him and said "Keep it"

I sat at the small coffee bar. Then I remembered that I had blood all over my shirt. I took a gulp of my coffee, damn this is good. I snuck off to the bathroom. Once I was in a stall I took off the shirt. The wound was still bleeding slightly. Just about 3 scars, not bad. I stood up off the toilet and stretched and the scars un scabbed themselves and started to bleed. Not long after the skin grew closer and the scar dissipated. Yep. Vampire healing powers. That still didn't help my bloody shirt. I put it back on and pulled my jacket over it. I opened the door and got back to my coffee.

It was so good (not that the coffee itself was any better than the next, it was just so cold and I was really wanting it.) I was not even done romancing with my cup of coffee when there was a ding at the door ad a girl walked in.

She has hair down to her neck, it was brown. It smelled of coconut. She was wearing a black fleece and brown dress pants.

She started rattling off a montage of things for her coffee to the guy at the counter. I was sore because my romance with the coffee was ended.

Then it occurred to me that I was dressed funny and I hoped she wasn't a chatty know-it-all person.

After she gave her money to the man she sat down two chairs down from me. I silently sipped my coffee. I was done. I looked at the dark street from the windows I could see that the tiny trees outside were swaying. The wind wasn't bad, I could walk back. It was 1:30 but I didn't care. I had nowhere to go until 11:00 the next morning. While debating that the guy, the "coffee tender" asked if I wanted a refill, "Sure" I said. He took the cup and refilled it. He slid it back to me. I reached for it and as I did my knife fell out of my pocket. It landed with a "Chink".

"Uh God" I said.

The girl stared at me. I picked up the knife and stuck it in my pocket. I took a sip of my coffee. She was still staring at me, not like an I'm-going-to-stare-a-hole-in-you-if-it kills-me stare more like the kind of stare that you give a math book. A puzzled look.

"Crap! is there blood on me," I thought to myself.

No blood. Then I saw that she was not looking at me necessarily but, my shoes.

Another "O crap" from my brain. I am not that kind of guy I swear, I wanted to shout.

I shifted my feet. They always face inward, like 1st graders. I forced them out. She moved her gaze from my shoes to her coffee again. I went back to my coffee. My thoughts were not in order. I had a chemistry class tomorrow at 11:00 and a history of American Literature class that evening. I had the day off from my vampire hunt. I had a graphic design project that was almost finished that had to be finished by the end of the week.

Something jolted me form my worries. The light music coming from the stereo started playing a familiar beat.

The song was popular during the time I was in the hospital. They used to play it in the hospital over the intercom. Most of the time I had noting to do but sit in my straitjacket and enjoy the music. Of course the people at the hospital called my parents.

I remember when they first saw me there. They had not yet let me out of the jacket. When they walked in my mother burst into tears. I was so happy to see them, I smiled. This a obviously a bad choice because the beginning signs of my disease were starting and my teeth were growing abnormally large my gums were sore and red, which means they looked like I had been drinking red kool-aid for the past 3 days. They scared my mom. My parents always wanted the best for me and the best from me. I was the oldest child and had to set an example.

My mom sat in one of the chairs on the other side of the wall. My father stared disapprovingly at me.

"What have you done" my mom yelled in between sobs.

I started to have tears in my eyes. What would they tell everyone? And my younger brother and sister.

"Answer your mother!" my dad screamed at me.

"I unno" My teeth made it hard for me to speak clearly.

"What do you mean you don't know?!"

"I idin't do anything. I was walking."

"At night" my dad gave me a more disapproving look at me

"From my job" I said a bit too loudly. I was working in a drug store at the time.

My dad groaned my mom's sobs grew louder. She was muttering "my baby" that obviously wasn't me. I knew my dad was thinking that his son was a failure and a freak and that his son would chew up his face when he wasn't looking.

Then the song came on the radio. I stared at the ceiling, and I got tangled up in the words.

"I'm sorry" I said, trying to stay calm and collected.

"Too late" my dad hissed.

And that was the last time I talked to them. The only time I heard from them was when they sent Christmas cards. I read them faithfully every year and I always tacked the family picture on my wall. It always made me sad to see that when the letter was talking about the kids in my family. There was something written about Molly (16) and her soccer and then me, who every year "was doing well in college". I always wrote back. I wrote about classes and I always wrote P.S. I'm sorry. No reply.

Once I saw where Molly's team was playing a tournament on my campus. I stopped by. She scored a goal. I cheered and she noticed me. Mom and Dad fawned all over her. She pointed to my general direction. My dad stared at me.

"I'm sorry" I mouthed and then I slunk off.

Needless to say all my friends left me after that. So did my girlfriend. The only friend I have now is my roommate, George. He is also a vampire we get along even though, we are polar opposites.

Back at the coffee shop I was still listening to the closing cord of the song, the song that had so many times popped up in my life. I had tapped out the whole beat on the coffee counter. The girl stared at me.

After it was over she asked "you like this song?"

"Yeah" I said bit too eagerly.

"I've never met a guy who liked it"

I shrugged. It was 1:45 and I was tired but, I decided that I really wanted a new friend so, what the hey.

"Hey I'm Mikey by the way"

"My name is Abby"

"That's a pretty name, short for Abigail?"

"Yes. Do you go to school here?"

"Yep. My major is chemistry, what's yours?"

"Food science, I hear chemistry is a tough major"

"It's okay. I've changed my major four times so, whatever works"

"Your parents let you do that?"

"Yep. They were the ones that suggested it, they wanted me to be learned"

"My parents just wanted me out of the house" She laughed. I liked it. I hadn't heard laughter in a long time.

We talked for awhile about classes and other university related things. I looked at the clock on my phone. It was 2:30.

"I'm sorry to cut short but it's 2:30"

"Really? No kidding, Time flies"

I started towards the door but, I stopped when I heard her voice, "Do you have a ride?"

"No" I said

"I'll take you home"

I was at the door I held it open for her. I noticed how tall she was. I was always the tallest one in my classes as a kid. She was almost as tall as I was. We walked to an old parking lot and got into a car. My eyes were extremely bad and I could not tell what model it was.

She unlocked the door and I got in. I gave directions to my building. We rode for about 10 minutes we talked about classes.

When we got to my building she gave me a piece of paper. It had her number on it.

"Call me if you need a ride or something. I only live two buildings down."

"Sure" As she drove off I waved I walked up the stairs. C109, finally I was home. I walked in. I was a mess, no surprise. George was home, his uniform was draped over the couch. His uniform was not anything like mine, except it was black. His was a black hoodie, a black shirt, wide leg black "Goth pants" and black running shoes. His uniform did not differ at all from his every day clothes. I smelled garlic. I walked to my room, on the way I spied George leaning over a sink of garlic. I had learned to back away during these periods of relapse.

I went to my room grabbed my glasses and took a shower. All the blood dripped off me and I was finally satisfied.

I slipped back into the living room. George was on a couch. George was a big bulky guy. He had a huge red brown beard. His features do not remind you at all of a vampire, more like a mountain man.

He said "what kept you?"

"I got one, and then I celebrated with coffee"

"Since when has coffee kept you out this late?"

"I met someone there"

"Girl or guy"

"You sure are nosy tonight. And it was a girl if you must know."

"Was she hot?"

I threw a pillow at him then I went back to my room. I took off my glasses. How I had lived without them tonight was a mystery to me.

I laid down without puling down the covers and went to sleep.