Human (14/22)

"Hold on. You're not human?" Something about how I say it causes her to pull back. She lowers her head, allowing her long hair to fall forward, hiding her face from me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." I reach out for her, and she draws back even more.

She starts shaking her head, muttering, "No. No. No." Louder and louder. Finally, with an ear shattering, "NO!", she slams her fist on the table. In doing so, she strikes an empty glass on the table, breaking it.

I jump up, running to grab... well, anything to stop the bleeding. I get a towel out of the bathroom, and when I come back, she sitting perfectly still. She stares at her hand, blood dripping onto the plate in front of her.

I check if there's any glass shards in the wound. Thankfully, there aren't. I gently wrap the towel around her hand. She looks at me, slightly stunned. Tears stream from her eyes.

I hold up her hand. "This tells me your human." I wipe a tear from her face. "And this."

"And, most of all, this." And I kiss her, as she did me.