His face was round, with bright blue eyes and short curly blond hair. "Hey, I’m Ashley. Nice to meet you…" I whisper unusually and his hand reached for my burned hand to shake it. "Wow, I sure hope you aren’t lesbian. All the hot girls are nowadays." He tells me, his hand burning mine.

I hadn’t expected this to happen so soon. Right when he touched me, my mind played horror movies of Glen being shot to death and Spencer’s emotional outrage of his death consumed me. I pulled away, yelping in great pain as everyone in the entire living room watched.

"What the hell did you do, you jackass?!" Spencer yelled at Glen. She ran by my side to see what was wrong but I continued to cry in pain. "My skin…it burns! I have to go now, I’m sorry!" I say, trying to comfort my burning arm but it wasn’t helping. I glanced at my arm and there was a deep gash. It was burning like wildfire from the inside and Glen’s touch had ignited the pain for some reason.

Was this a warning signal that danger was coming? I don’t know but now I feel an overwhelming feeling of dread and terror. Something bad is going to happen but what?

"Ashley, hold on! My mom’s a nurse, let her look at it! Mom, Ashley’s hurting really bad, please come over here!" She called out, trying to restrain me. This gash was not a normal injury mortals would receive. It was completely black and steam was escaping my veins. If I exposed this wound to Spencer and her family, my entire being and race would be revealed and I couldn’t let that happen.

"I’m sorry, I have to go to…the hospital. I’ll take myself, I’m not your responsibility." I say, suppressing my painful screams that are itching to escape. Without waiting for a reply, I run out the door to my car. In the background I could hear Spencer’s parents’ calling out to me. "Wait, we can take you to the hospital! Wait!" Arthur yelled as he and Spencer chased after me.

I was in tears now and I immediately turned my head to look at some of the most concerned people I’ve ever seen besides my own family. "It was nice meeting you all but I have to check this out at the hospital on my own…I’m sorry, I can’t wait anymore. Forgive me!" I cry out, turning my engine on.