My jaw clamps and I start to sweat, it turns my skin rosy pink. What is he talking about? I lean forward, completely perplexed. I only realize this probably looks weird after the guy next to me snickers and whispers to his friend. I start to relax. It is getting close to Halloween, maybe he’s just screwing with us.

“Vampirism, in the Dracula sense, may not be completely true.” He continues, “But there is a disease that causes sensitivity to sunlight, and used to be treated by ingesting blood. It’s called porphyria, Cutaneous Porphyria, to be exact. If you’ll see here…”

It had nothing to do with me, never mind. I didn’t blister in the sun, and I had no skin necrosis. All I had was bloodlust, and the red fingernails. All of a sudden, it floods me, an uncontrollable thirst. I feel lightheaded, hungry and nauseous all at once. I try not to make noise, try even harder not to leap onto the kid in front of me and tear out his throat.

This has never happened before. I don’t know what it is.

I pack up and go.