Sana stood at the edge of the sidewalk with her luggage at her side. She sighed, she pulled down her sunglasses slightly, and checked the time on her phone. Her driver was late. Resolving to wait a couple of minutes longer, she observed the scene in front of her. A mother was rushing to pick up her child with her hair in disarray. A girl was immersed in her conversation over the phone, chatting animatedly about a new bag she just bought. And just to her left, about a dozen steps away, were two high school girls conversing with occasional squeals in between.

“Did you see her wink at me? I can’t believe we were both able to attend the Twice fansign!”

“I know! I’m still shaking. I can’t believe I got their autographs!”

“Ahh~ Dahyun is so pretty, she looks like a doll in real life! Her skin is perfect…”

“I like Chaeyoung more though, she looks so nice with her hair now that she grew it out!”

The two girls were approaching Sana. Then one of them noticed her.

“Whoa, look at her. That girl with the chestnut brown hair and the pink carrier.” The shorter one pointed.

“Wow, she’s so beautiful… Is she a celebrity? A model? Her figure is so nice and she looks so stylish!”

“Pale skin, big eyes, her face is flawless...”

“She can’t be real, she doesn’t look human...”

The two girls stood next to Sana as they waited to cross the intersection.

“She’s more like… a vampire?”

The taller one slapped the shorter girl. “Geez! She can hear us you know, you idiot!” She whispered hurriedly. “But, yeah now that you mention it. She does look like one…”

“Living an eternal life, they’ll live forever by human blood and seducing humans with their beauty…”

Sana felt her left eyebrow twitching. She turned to the two high schoolers. “Excuse me… They don’t drink blood.”

The two girls looked at her blankly.

“They don’t drink blood anymore, for crying out loud, we’re in 2017, what era do you think they’re living in?”

The smaller one grasped onto the taller one’s arm. “Did you hear that?”

“She’s so weird, come on, let’s go.” The two girls scrambled away, toward the direction they came from.

“She’s really pretty, but crazy. Let’s get out of here!”

Sana took off her sunglasses, and watched the girls jog away with a wistful expression on her face. “I’m not crazy though.” She sighed.

I am… a vampire.

OOOOO

If you think of the word “vampire,” you’d probably think of a pale corpse, with fangs drinking blood from the throat of a human.

Sana picked up a magazine and smiled. “The picture came out nicely.” On the front cover, was Sana as a vampire with her fangs extended and a male model with two holes on his neck and blood dripping down his neck, soaking his shirt in crimson. The photographer managed to capture the scene in a way that made it look seductive.

But vampires, are different from those stories you hear or read. Vampire these days are more like humans. Well, we still have the genes for beauty in order to seduce humans. However, we don’t enjoy drinking blood or enjoy living forever anymore.

The world has changed a lot in the past couple of hundred years, and as a result, like all things, naturally we evolved. We now live by absorbing energy from humans instead of drinking their blood. It’s much easier, and less noticeable.

All we vampires have to do— is “touch” them.

It looks completely normal, bodily contact is harmless, and can happen accidentally, making it easier for us to get away with it. As a result, humans hardly recognize our presence and realize that we still exist

Well, not to show off, but I, Minatozaki Sana, have never failed to attract men or women. Why? Because I’m beautiful.

Sana walked up to the check out. “I’ll buy this.”

“It’s $10. Could you sign…”

“Sorry, I’m kind of busy right now.” Sana flipped her hair.

The cashier deadpanned. “No… I mean can you sign the bill?” He pointed at the dotted line on the receipt.

“Oh… Yeah, sure… Sorry.” Sana laughed and rubbed her neck out of embarrassment.

OOOOO

My dad is a pretty famous pastor who actively pursues peace and self-control.

So of course, my dad kept reinforcing those ideas on me and made me absorb the bare minimum energy to survive.

“Now let’s pray hand-in-hand. Amen.”

Sana held the hand of a young mother on her left, and the hand of a middle-age women on her right. Sana could feel the energy flowing into her body, it energized her and made her feel more awake.

BUT. He would always be breathing down my neck.

“Sana. Describe the people you touched today, including the time and duration. Right now.”

A dark aura loomed behind Sana. Mr. Minatozaki stood behind her, with a giant wooden cross in his hands.

“Dad, stop, come on!” Sana felt a sweat drop. She was frustrated.

“Fill out the journal logs right now!”

And that’s why I ran away from home. I needed freedom and space to grow without my dad always watching over me.

OOOOO

“Sorry dad, I need to live a little too. I don’t want to have to hold middle-aged people’s hands forever.” Sana dug into her pocket to look for her phone. Sana looked for the realtor’s number in her list of contacts.

“Gotta call before I move in…” She muttered under her breath. “What was the number again?” Sana was so focused on finding the number that she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings. She suddenly felt herself falling, and managed to catch her phone before it fell on the ground. Thank god for those vampire reflexes.

“Ah! I’m so sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going. I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” Sana noticed a pile of books scattered on the floor. “Let me help you pick them up!” Sana moved to grab the book in front of her.

The young woman in front of her frowned. “No, it’s okay, don’t touch them.”

“But I insist…” Sana grabbed the book at the same time as the young woman. Sana’s hand made contact with the top of the woman’s fingertips and suddenly, the world felt brighter. Sana’s eyes widened. She was speechless. W—what is this? Sana was shocked. She had never tasted this kind of flavor from a human before.

The woman snatched the book out of Sana’s hands wordlessly with an annoyed expression on her face, and collected the other books and walked away.

That human… that human was different. What was that?

“Hey! Wait! Wait a minute!” Sana chased after the girl with the navy-blue trench coat. I want to… I want to touch just one more time. Again…

Suddenly the sun peeked over the buildings, blinding Sana. “Ah… the sun… I forgot to wear my sunglasses… Ah I’m okay with the cross and garlic…” Sana tried to cover her eyes with her arm. “But direct sunlight makes me…” ACHOO!

“Sneeze…” ACHOO! ACHOO! ACHOO!

Sana finally caught up to the woman, but stumbled while sneezing and fell behind the woman. The woman turned around.

Sana was down on all fours. She had scrapped the palm of her hand slightly. “I’m sorry…” She peered up. Did I touch her? Sana got up, and brushed herself off. She put on her best smile, “I’m so sorry… I tripped,” she laughed, “I’m so clumsy. Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Tch. Are you satisfied?” The woman scowled. “It’s you, isn’t it?”

Sana looked at her confused. “Huh?”

“That ert stalker, who kept following me around and touching me,” she snarled. “Stop pretending to fall or bump into me! You really didn’t think I didn’t know you were doing that to me on purpose?!”

Eh?? What?! Me? A stalker?! No way…

“Wait just a second! You’re mistaken. I think you’ve got the wrong person! My intention wasn’t to touch you… It was my first time!”

The woman clenched her teeth. “Never show your face to me ever again. If I see you again, I’ll tell the whole world that you’re a stalker. I’ll make it so that you’ll never be able to step a foot outside without people whispering about you.” She pointed the book at Sana threateningly. “This is the last time I’ll put up with this. I warned you. This is your last warning.” She turned around and walked away.

What? Me? A stalker? This is so unfair! We just met today and now you’re calling me a stalker?

OOOOO

“It’s a new building, it’s fully furnished, so it’s very popular. On top of it, the neighborhood is quiet, but there are many restaurants in this area, and it’s a short distance to the metro and bus stops.”

“Ah… is that right?”

“Take a look around, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to call me.”

“Thank you so much! I’ll hand the registration form back to you later.”

Sana closed the door and walked to the couch and collapsed. “Ugh, what an exhausting day. It was hard enough pulling along this huge carrier with high heels, but that woman was the worst! She’s so rude!” Sana rubbed her temples. “Nothing good has happened to me today.”

Sana rolled around the couch. “Me? A stalker? No way!” Sana grumbled, it hurt her pride, with her looks, she got called a stalker?! She sighed, she kept thinking back to that moment to when their hands made contact. Her energy was different. It was pure and fresh, which was something she had never felt before. She held up her hand. “She was delicious… I really wanted to taste it again…” Sana closed her eyes, trying to remember the feeling.

Sana sat up suddenly. “But it still makes me so mad! Me? A stalker?! You never knew how popular I was in high school. Why would I even be satisfied with someone like you?! I’ll curse you to hell.”

Sana texted Dahyun.

Sana: I just got accused of being a stalker ㅠㅠ

Dahyun: What stalker? Did you just get to your new apartment?

“How did she know I moved out? Must be mom or Momo… This is why I can’t have any secrets, she’ll tell everything to my mom.” Sana groaned. She put down her phone and started unpacking.

Ding-dong!

“Delivery!”

“Huh? That was fast.” Sana opened the door and signed for the parcel, before carrying it to the living room. She sat down and began opening the box, while calling her mom.

“Hey mom, yeah I got here already. My stuff’s all here. Yeah, it’s really nice and quiet here. Less sunlight.” Sana tore the tape off. “How’s dad?”

“Aha… about that sweetie, I think it’s best if you don’t come home for a while. At least until your dad’s calmed down. He said he’ll get you when you come home.”

Sana felt sweat dripping down her forehead. “I understand… because I didn’t let him know beforehand haha… Mom please tell him I’m sorry.”

“I will sweetheart. Are you going to be okay? Be careful okay? Don’t touch anyone you don’t know.”

“Yeah, I know mom. I’m grown up now. I’ll invite you once I set everything up and settle in. Okay, bye mom. I love you.” Sana flung the phone on the couch.

“They’re so overprotective. They’re never like this with Momo.” Ah, well I did cause a lot of problems…

“Better get to unpacking. There are so many boxes.” Sana rolled up her sleeves. She opened the first box. “Eh? What’s this?” She took out a children’s book. And another one. And another one. “I don’t remember ordering children’s books.”

Sana flipped the box over. The shipment label read: Room 9101. Chou Tzuyu.

“Chou… Tzuyu…?”

OOOOO

Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!

Sana stood outside the door. “Ah… it must have been mixed up with my boxes. Well it’s a good chance to say hi to my neighbor.” 

The intercom buzzed to life. “What is it?”

Oh, thank god, they’re home! “Ah yes, I just moved in next door, and I think my boxes and yours got mixed up. I have a parcel that belongs to you... so, there was a mis-delivery…”

“Oy! Ms. Stalker! Didn’t I warn you?”

What? Is she…? No way… That can’t be! It can’t be!

“You followed me all the way home?” Sana could hear the anger in her voice. “Do you still insist that you’re not a stalker?”

“What?”

“If you keep doing this, I’ll report you to the police.”

Wrote this instead of studying for my psychology final, haha.

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