How Old Are You?” “seventeen,” He Answered

No One Had To Tell Me Anything. I Know What I Am

Everything In My World Was About Him. What A Silly Thing To Expect.

But What If It Were You? What If You Were Stuffed In A Human Body And Let Loose On This Planet Only To Find Yourself Lost Among Your Own Kind? What If You Were Such A Good Person That You Tried To Save The Life That You'd Taken That You Almost Died Trying To Get Her Back To Her Family? What If You Then Found Yourself Surrounded By Violent Aliens Who Hated You And Tried To Hurt You And Tried To Murder You Over And Over Again? What If You Just Kept Doing Whatever You Could To Save And Heal People Despite That? Wouldn't You Deserve A Life Too? Wouldn't You Have Earned That Much?

And Then, As The Room Went Black, I Was Suddenly Hyperaware That Edward Was Sitting Less Than An Inch From Me. I Was Stunned By The Unexpected Electricity That Flowed Through Me, Amazed That It Was Possible To Be More Aware Of Him Than I Already Was. A Crazy Impulse To Reach Over And Touch Him, To Stroke His Perfect Face Just Once In The Darkness, Nearly Overwhelmed Me. I Crossed My Arms Tightly Across My Chest, My Hands Balling Into Fists. I Was Losing My Mind.

Though There Was No Sound, There Was A Change. The Atmosphere, Which Had Gone Tense At My Accusation, Relaxed. I Wondered How I Knew This. I Had A Strange Sensation That I Was Somehow Receiving More Than My Five Senses Were Giving Me - Almost A Feeling That There Was Another Sense, On The Fringes, Not Quite Harnessed. Intuition? That Was Almost The Right Word. As If Any Creature Needed More Than Five Senses.