Sterile white walls and the smell of antiseptic. Those two things were the most memorable part of his time in middle school. Not a day had gone by back then without a trip to the hospital for another check up. There could never be enough testing or experimental treatments, but it had made no difference in the end. What was wrong with him nobody knew, and that was unlikely to change any time soon.

  "Hey! Are you zoning out again, Ken?" his mother said to him as he looked up from the plate in front of him.

  "Sorry my head was somewhere else, could you repeat what you were saying?"

  "I was telling you to remember to take your medications so that you don't pass out in the middle of a lecture again," she muttered.

  He reached for the pill organizer next to him and quickly gulped down everything under the tab labelled Monday with a large swig of water. Half the time he didn't even know what he was taking, but it made the symptoms more manageable and maybe that was enough in the end.

  "Which course were you taking again?" his father asked him while peering over the newspaper in front of him.

  "Biology, since I failed to get into medical school..."

  "Might be for the best, Ken, you might have ended up hospitalized again by diving headfirst into something as arduous as medical school."

  In the end his father wasn't wrong. Even if he had dreamed of getting into medical school it may have been for the best that he didn't. He would most likely end up in the hospital again and be forced to drop out, but it still stung a little knowing that his dream was never meant to be.

  There were a lot of parts of life that he had ended up missing out on because of his ailment. No sleepovers, no birthday parties, and no socializing or playing with the other kids. It had all been too strenuous for someone as frail as him.

  Not everything had been miserable of course. His condition had gotten somewhat better by the time he entered high school, and that had ended up being where he met most of his friends. By then they were all mature enough to partake in less physically demanding activities, which had made building friendships far easier. In the end high school had been some of the best years of his life.

  His father ended up driving him to school as usual. Getting a drivers license wasn't in the cards for him and he couldn't even really move about without accompaniment since there was always a risk of him passing out if his condition acted up. But it really didn't bother him all that much even if he was stuck living with his parents and had to be driven to school every day. He no longer cared enough to be ashamed of something so minor.

  "Hey, Ken! What's up?" Brian called out before running over to him.

  "Just hoping I won't pass out mid lecture today."

  Brian was his oldest friend and a mountain of a man. Like most of his friends he had met Brian back during high school. They had bonded over a mutual interest in chess, which had at first forged a rivalry between the two before they eventually got to know each other and quickly became the best of friends.

  "Uh, Ken, are you alright?" Brian asked him with a concerned expression.

  "Sorry, I've been zoning out all day."

  Something warm dripped down his face just as he finished his sentence. He quickly pulled a tissue out of his bag and wiped it away. When he looked down at the tissue he could see it was stained a deep crimson.

  "Oh, it's just a nosebleed," he chuckled.

  Rarely had he been so lucky as to just get a nosebleed when the disease acted up. Some bleeding from the tissues in his nose was nothing compared to what had happened those times his body had really failed him. The fact something inside his system could fail at any time would have terrified him if not for the fact he usually fell unconscious long before he went into critical condition.

  "You're smiling, Ken, I don't know if I should congratulate you on your nosebleed or be concerned."

  "Congratulations are in order I would say because this is a great sign."

  He wasn't nauseous or light headed. His balance was unaffected and his vision was still twenty twenty. It had been a minor flare up, which gave him hope that the symptoms would be minor today. Maybe he would even have some energy to socialize after the lectures were over for the day.

  "Shit..."

  "What's wrong?" Brian asked him.

  "My lecture is starting in five minutes and I don't think I'll get there in time," he muttered.

  "Don't worry about that my guy," Brian said before hoisting him up on his back.

  It was an almost comical sight. Brian ran with all his might as he tried his best to hang on for dear life. They got some confused glances as his friend barreled down the corridors with him hanging from his back, but his spirits were far too high to be bothered by what others thought. Brian was a true friend that always had his back if having his back meant carrying him on his back whenever the disease made him too weak to run on his own.

  "Right on time," Brian panted heavily before dropping into a crouch so he could hop off his back.

  "Looks like you've saved me again, Brian."

  "No worries man, but I gotta run if I'm gonna make it to my class so see you later!"

  The lectures that day were fulfilling as always. The professors at his university were some of the best in the country so he always made sure to diligently take notes on the days he didn't end up passing out in the middle of class. It was a good day because for once that didn't happen. By the time the last lecture of the day was over he even had enough energy to walk on his own. An unusual but very welcome change of pace.

  When he finally left the building he saw Brian and a few of Brian's friends waiting for him in the yard. Normally he would've been somewhat ashamed of the fact he couldn't quite recall their names, but today had been such a good day and he wouldn't let something as minor as a lapse in his recall bring him down.

  "Looks like we didn't even need to track you down, Ken," an attractive girl sitting next to Brian said as he approached them.

  "Right speaking of which, Ken, are you up for the party tonight?" Brian asked him.

  He sat himself down on the bench next to them and steadied his breathing before giving an answer. There was no use in trying to talk when he was practically out of breath after all.

  "If you're okay with a repeat of this morning, then I'm all for it," he said the moment he powered through the exhaustion brought on by his short walk.

  "Hell yeah man! I'll carry you to the ends of the world if that's what it takes for you to be able to hang out with us."

  "I really appreciate that, Brian," he said as a big smile creeped its way onto his face.

  "I just realized I never asked, but how come you're sick all the time?" the girl next to Brian asked him.

  That was a good question. His disease was somewhat of a mystery even to the doctors that had been treating him. The main symptoms were anemia and chronic fatigue, but during its worst flare ups he usually experienced mild to severe internal hemorrhaging as the disease tore his tissues apart from the inside.

  "They don't really know what's wrong with me, but the leading theory is that it has something to do with my blood."

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  "Is that why you keep passing out in the middle of class?"

  "Pretty much," he shrugged.

  He noticed himself zoning out as he felt an itching sensation spreading through his gums. It was annoying, but some minor inflammation around his teeth was the least concerning symptom to date even if it was a recent development.

  "Guess this means you will all get to see Ken's superpower tonight!" Brian declared.

  "Please don't, Brian..."

  "What superpower?" one of the girls asked.

  Brian raised his fist in the air while he felt himself shrinking as Brian raised his voice, "Ken could drink any one of us under the table with that weird body of his!"

  "Wait, really?" the girl next to Brian asked him.

  "I'm incredibly resistant to most forms of sedatives so I have to drink four times as much as the next guy to even get drunk," he said with a deep sigh.

  It was one of the most annoying parts of his condition. He was often in some degree of pain, but his near immunity to most forms of sedatives and pain killers meant that there was little that helped when it became unbearable. It was more of a super curse than a superpower. A short jog would leave him at the verge of collapse, but he could down an entire bottle of hard liquor and go back for more without so much as blinking.

  Many hours passed in the blink of an eye, yet he still had plenty of energy when they got to the party late in the evening. It all started out with the normal mingling and such before Brian had him show off his tolerance when it came to drinking. They kept throwing sobriety tests his way as one bottle became two and then became three.

  Eventually all the attention became too much so he slipped away and sank into a nearby couch. It hadn't been an awful experience by any means, but talking to so many people had ended up being too much for him to handle in the end. He wasn't used to dealing with people and taking part in so many conversations at once had made his head spin.

  "Wanted a bit of quiet too huh?" someone sitting next to him said.

  The girl sitting next to him had mousy features, auburn hair, and piercing green eyes. His heart had paused when he first laid eyes on her. She was cute, real cute. While he was bad at talking to people in general he was even worse at talking to people found attractive.

  "Queen's gambit?" he stammered as he struggled to find the words.

  "As in the chess opening? Didn't peg you as a chess player."

  She recognized the opening he had all but blurted out when he couldn't find the words. Maybe they even had something in common that he could use to strike up a proper conversation. His thoughts were racing and his heart was beating so violently it hurt, but he just grit his teeth and forced himself to keep talking.

  "I was rated at around nineteen hundred when I stopped playing regularly, what about you?"

  "Fifteen hundred," she said as her face slowly turned red.

  Was she just as awkward as him? There was really no reason to be embarrassed about anything around him. His very presence was embarrassing enough if anything.

  "That's good seeing as it means you're definitely way better than everyone else here," he chuckled awkwardly.

  "I doubt most of them have ever even touched a chess board."

  "No take Brian for example, he's only a twelve hundred player so you'd beat him the majority of the time," he said as he pointed over at Brian who was in the midst of mingling with the other party goers.

  "That guy plays chess?" she asked him with an expression of disbelief.

  "Yeah, him and I actually first met and became friends at our high school chess club."

  He paused as he realized he had forgotten to even introduce himself, "Right I almost forgot to tell you my name, I'm Ken and you are?"

  "Mary..."

  His teeth felt itchy, his hands were sweaty, and his heart was beating furiously inside his chest. He wanted to make a good impression since this was the first time he had ever had a chance to talk to someone he could see himself fancying. Even if the stress would end up tearing him apart from the inside he still wanted nothing more than to get to know her.

  They talked for what felt like hours, but it could have been days for all he cared. He had never met someone as easy to talk to as her. Their shared interest in chess, literature, and their shared awkwardness made their connection feel truly genuine. Every time she spoke up he could feel his heart pause as an almost unbearable warmth filled his chest.

  "Do you maybe," she stammered weakly.

  "Do I what?"

  She swallowed heavily and then spoke up, "Do you maybe want to come back to my place?"

  It dawned on him just how strange his complete lack of physical exhaustion was when they finally reached her apartment. Normally even a short walk would leave him somewhat out of breath, but they had talked constantly during the twenty minute walk. His condition hadn't acted up in hours and there was no way in hell that he wouldn't take advantage of that brief reprieve.

  "I'll be back in just one second," she said nervously as she closed the door behind him and then ran off to what he could only assume was her room.

  He felt like he was floating as he stood there in her hallway. Where there should have been exhaustion there was instead overpowering excitement and a nervous energy. It was like he was burning up from the inside but in a good way. The itching in his gums was still present and he felt like he hadn't eaten in days.

  "You can come in now!" she called out from the bedroom.

  The moment he stepped over the threshold his mouth dropped. Her naked form lay on the bed in front of him and her face went beet red as their eyes met. Every inch of her was beautiful in a natural way. Not the fake super model kind of pretty, but a sort of beauty that the most expensive plastic surgeons had deemed beneath them despite its inherent superiority to anything they could dream of creating.

  His clothes came off in an instant as he approached the bed. She pulled him into a drawn out kiss the moment their bodies met. The itching in his gums had grown almost unbearable right up until the moment their lips met as the sensation was replaced with relief and a slight pressure in his upper jaw.

  "Ow," she yelped and pulled back from the kiss.

  Right at the end the kiss had started tasting sweet and warm like cinnamon. A faint rivulet of blood dripped from a small cut on her lip and formed a thin red line that went all the way down to her chin.

  "I think I got a bit too excited or something," she said as he gently caressed her thigh.

  "Do you maybe want to move on the main event?" she stuttered as he wrapped his fingers around hers.

  His every sense focused in on nothing but her as their flesh became one. He could hear her fluttering heartbeat and smell the faint beads of sweat forming on her skin, but the pleasure and the hunger within him cried out for something more than just being inside of her. It wanted much more.

  Slowly his lips approached her neck. It started as a kiss, but having had a taste of her wasn't enough. Something inside of him was taking over and he was powerless against the overpowering desire within.

  "Ah!" she screamed out in shock as his teeth sank into her flesh.

  The warm and sweet taste filling his mouth practically doubled the pleasure of the act. Slowly he swallowed the warm liquid filling his mouth one precious gulp at a time so as to not waste a drop.

  "Don't stop," she moaned as he sank his teeth deeper into her flesh.

  The hunger had become unbearable and he needed much more. His jaw tensed as he pulled his head back and tore out a warm piece of her. It tasted so unimaginably sweet that restraining himself had become all but impossible.

  His reason faded as the hunger drove him to devour every morsel he could sink his teeth into. She tried to struggle, but her weak attempts to stop him wouldn't deter him as he devoured more and more of her warm twitching flesh and drank down the sweet liquid in her veins until the source ran dry.

  At some point his mind started to clear as the fluttering heartbeat within her faded and the skin pressing against his grew colder and colder. Panic set in the moment he looked down at her body and the memory of what he had done came back to him.

  Her torso had been all torn open and pieces of her flesh still clung to his nails. There was no skin left on her throat and really all that remained was her spine and her trachea to keep her head attached to her body. Her lifeless and empty eyes revealed that whatever mind had dwelled within had long since faded.

  "Fuck!" he screamed as he tried to move away from her body.

  With a loud thud he slammed into the floor as he reached the end of the bed and gravity took over. The lights were off, but the room looked so bright when it should have been pitch black. Not a single detail of the carnage was obscured from his sight by the gloom.

  The panic had completely overtaken him as he reached for the phone in the back of his pants laying on the floor. His fingers dialed the first number that came to mind as he huddled up in the corner of the room.

  "Please respond please!" he pleaded as one dial tone passed after the other.

  "Ken, is that you?" his father said as the call connected.

  "Dad I need help!"

  Tears ran down his face like rivers as panic, shame, and guilt flooded his mind. The first person he had truly fancied was dead by his hand and something was changing within him. His body felt strong and was filled with near limitless energy, but that only made the experience so much more sickening.

  "Ken, calm down because I need you to explain what happened as clearly as possible," his father said slowly and gently.

  "Okay," he said weakly as he struggled to contain the overwhelming waves of panic.

  "Now tell me what happened..."

  "I was at a party with Brian because I was feeling better than usual and I met this girl."

  "It was going great and I had never felt better in my life so I went back to her place," he continued as another wave of panic washed over him.

  "Something happened while we were," he paused, "Doesn't matter, but I think I killed her and I might have even been eating her!"

  His father didn't respond. The call was still ongoing, but no words came from the other side. Just as his mind started to wonder if his father had left without saying a word there came a response.

  "Ken, this is your mother speaking."

  "Mom, there's something wrong with me and I don't know what to do!" he cried out as he heard her voice over the phone.

  "We're on our way sweetie, but it won't just be us..."

  "No please not the police, anything but that!" he screamed out as a wave of fear washed over him.

  "There won't be any police with us, but we'll bring some people that can explain everything to you so just sit tight sweetie."

  "Okay," he stammered as the call ended.

  His phone hit the floor as all the strength left him. There was something wrong with him, but he couldn't even put into words what it was. It was like something was changing both his body and mind from within. The flesh had become unfamiliar and even his thoughts felt foreign.

  He looked into the standing mirror at the edge of the room as he waited for his parents to come and save him from the hell that he found himself in. But all that stared back at him from within his reflection were two glowing red eyes.