Michael tapped on the desk from his side, grabbing my attention.

  I lifted one side of my headphones, still reading what was on my screen.

  “Hey Drew, do you mind taking a look at this file?”

  I looked up from my computer to see an extremely puzzled-looking Michael.

  “Whoever did it knew nothing of formatting so everything is all over the place.”

  Another day, another idiot.

  I rose from my chair.

  “I hate when that happens. Let’s have a look.” Seeing the file was like looking at a scrambled mess. “Sheesh, are you sure you didn’t just type up a page of nonsense to fool me? This is atrocious, I’m glad you said something.”

  Sometimes, all that was needed was a quick spell check and a document could go on to whoever needed it. Other times, like this, it was obvious that someone didn’t spend nearly enough time or energy on it, submitting a rough draft and calling it good enough.

  I showed Michael how to reformat the text so that it was even readable, then he could put his notes in for the drafter. Hopefully he’d include a reminder to not submit incomplete work, as it made for a longer, harder day.

  Trevor, Garrett, and the rest of the bros were playing a round of hacky sack in the nearby common area just outside the break room. Guffaws of laughter and teasing jeers made their way over to the desk and it was rather distracting.

  Even over my headphones I could hear them, and I had paid extra for noise cancelling.

  Michael had no headphones despite my recommendations, saying something about wanting to keep an open and inviting image to others. He, unlike me, did not mind chatting it up with our fellow co-workers from time to time.

  Faced with their stupidity day after day, I did not have the highest of opinions of some of them. Most were fine, I guess, but there were definitely a few slackers like Garrett and some of the other bros, who’d send in sloppily done contracts and reports that could never hold up to anything.

  If I had wanted to write the things myself, I would have kept doing that instead of switching positions.

  Trevor kicked at the small sack with his heel, spinning around to make sure he got it. His legs somehow tangled up with his neighbor’s, taking out the entire circle of bros. They laughed like it was the funniest thing ever.

  I jumped at the crash, but Michael went stock still, his eyes dilating.

  Someone complained, “Aw man, my nose is bleeding.”

  Michael’s eyes, once green, were changing, darkening until they were almost black. He kept his breathing even, attempting to keep control of himself. He kept his stare locked on his screen, his gaze intense.

  “Hey Mike, you mind tossing that box of tissues?” Garrett’s nose was trickling. Michael went even more rigid. I grabbed the box and chucked it at Garrett, who just gave Michael a puzzled look before grabbing a couple tissues and pressing them to his face.

  His breathing started becoming ragged.

  Oh shit, I need to stop him!

  I knocked on the desk to ask if there was anything I could do to help, trying not to show the fear that I felt at seeing the transformation.

  Michael’s head turned to me, his eyes still dark. He swallowed thickly like his mouth was dry.

  “Drew, I think I’d like to take my break now.” He said each word evenly, emotionlessly.

  I stared right back at him, my heart thudding, my mind racing at seeing his demeanor change. I took a breath to steady myself.

  “Would you like some company on your break?”

  As much as I liked him, he was still a vampire in a room with exposed living blood. I didn’t know how I’d stop him if he lost control, in fact I knew I couldn’t. And as much as I disliked some of my coworkers… no, if he started going nuts on them, it’d still be on my conscience since I was the only human here who knew that he was undead.

  He gave a long exhale, followed by, “Thank you Drew, I think I’d like that.” Michael slowly stood from the desk, keeping his eyes on me the whole time like I was an anchor for the tumult in his body.

  I gave him an encouraging smile.

  “Then let’s go.” It didn’t matter where we went, as long as it was far enough away for Michael’s senses to calm back down.

  We started out of the building, the sun shining brightly on the pavement for once. Michael hissed and covered his eyes, stepping back.

  I spun around, worried. “What’s wrong?”

  Michael shielded his eyes with one hand, the other rubbing at the pain.

  “The sun, it’s just really bright. Painfully bright. Shit.” He rubbed at his eyes with a fist, his other hand on the door frame. “Come back inside for a minute, would you?”

  I did as he asked, concern painting my features.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Let me clarify, what’s wrong with you, not the sun?” I asked again.

  “I can’t see. The sun was so bright to my eyes that I think I’ve been temporarily blinded?”

  He blinked a few times and rubbed at his eyes again, swearing under his breath as tears streamed down. “Damn, that hurts.”

  I recalled some “lore” that I had read that talked about sunlight being lethal to vampires. I wondered if this was what that meant instead. But that didn’t matter right then. I was more concerned with whether or not my friend…

  Anyway, I was more worried about how he’d recover.

  “How are your eyes now?” I asked after a minute or so.

  He blinked and I saw his eyes. Evergreen. Normal.

  “Hey, how are you feeling otherwise?” I emphasized the last word, wondering if the previous situation had been resolved.

  He blinked at me for a moment, then his eyes cleared in understanding.

  “Well, I guess pain is a good distraction.” He squeezed his eyes shut, tears rolling out. He sniffled and wiped at his eyes again, blinking some more.

  “Whether it's good or not I think is yet to be determined,” I chuckled.

  He breathed a laugh back, inclining his head in acquiescence. “We’ll need to ask Antun if he knows anything about this.”

  I nodded.

  Michael grabbed out his phone and began to type:

  Michael: Hey Antun, is the whole sunlight and vampires thing a myth? Just tried to go outside and nearly went blind.

  Antun: ‘Sup. As an albino the sun has never been my friend, so I’m not exactly sure. If I layer up my SPF a ton and cover up then I can be out. You’ve seen my reels, I do stuff outside all the time.

  Michael: Ok. guess I’ll just need to do more testing.

  Antun: Let me know how it goes.

  Michael: *liked “Let me know how it goes” *

  “I wanna try again,” Michael said as he put away his phone, his eyes still red rimmed.

  I stared at him, my mouth agape. “You just went through all that and now you wanna try again?”

  “Before, I was… agitated. Now that my body has calmed down, maybe it won’t be that bad?”

  Are all men this stupid?

  “It’s your eyes, not mine. Ever heard of sunglasses?”

  Michael shrugged, “Don’t have any, never really needed them before now.”

  “Then let’s make a convenience store our first stop.”

  Michael looked at me in question.

  “I don’t know about you, but I’m still interested in taking a break now, maybe an early lunch. Care to join since you’re about to attempt self-harm anyway?”

  ? ?? ?

  “Mmm, there’s just something about hotdogs when it’s sunny out. Just feels right.”

  Tell me he’s an American boy without telling me he’s an American boy.

  We had hit up a hotdog stand after stopping by a pharmacy to grab Michael a pair of shades. My hotdog was rather boring by most standards, just ketchup on top. If you guessed that Michael’s hotdog had everything but the kitchen sink, you’d be right.

  The air was reasonably warm and all kinds of people were at the park: moms with babies and little kids, skaters, joggers, others out for lunch.

  “Okay, guy in the red shirt: he’s thinking…” Michael had been practicing reading minds without staring and was showing me his best. “He’s thinking about how to make it up to his wife for forgetting their anniversary, ouch,” he finished with a wince. “Good luck to you, man. I would not want to be him right now.”

  I nodded back toward the lady who had just passed us.

  “How about her? Let me guess… She’s thinking she should have gone to a different bagel shop this morning. How close am I?”

  Michael kept his eyes forward, his face contemplative.

  “Mm, not quite. Thinking she should have chosen a different lunch,” he chomped out through his last bite of hotdog. “She should’ve gone with the hotdogs, that was delicious.”

  My agreement was me nodding through a mouthful of hotdog.

  Michael kept silent for a few minutes, then his body went perfectly still again. What happened? Was he smelling blood again?

  “You okay, man?” My voice seemed to snap him out of wherever he was and into himself again.

  He shook his head, his face slightly confused. “I swear, I just heard someone with a voice like that voice.”

  That voice? Did that mean whoever turned him was close by?

  “Quick, look around you. Do you see anybody famous or well-known? We’re in a central park of the city, there’s bound to be someone!”

  We both frantically spun around, trying to pinpoint where Michael’s voice person was.

  “Was the voice male or female?”

  I had only just realized now that I had never asked, and it would help in narrowing down whose voice Michael heard.

  “Male, definitely male.”

  I saw no one I recognized. If Michael really heard the voice of whoever turned him, that meant he wasn’t the only vampire at this park.

  “Do you see anybody on your side?” he asked.

  “No one famous. Maybe turn around and see if you recognize anyone on my side.”

  He whipped around unnaturally fast, quickly scanning all the faces around us.

  We probably looked like a couple of fools but any lead was a lead and we wanted to track it down.

  “Anybody?”

  He gave a dejected sigh before, “No.” He looked down at me, our arms nearly touching. He either didn’t notice or didn’t care because he continued, “Thank you, Drew.”

  “What for? We didn’t find anybody who matched your voice, if that voice was indeed someone you know. For all we know, we could have just looked him right in the face as he walked on by unrecognized.”

  “You know what, I have thought of that. Who knows, maybe he was one of those men walking past. Maybe he’s still here. Maybe…” Michael paused, thinking. Then he focused his attention in the middle distance.

  I knew better than to interrupt by this point; that was the face he made when “listening.”

  He let out a breath and shook his head two minutes later, the tension releasing from his shoulders.

  “I thought maybe if I tried listening for that specific voice, maybe I could hear it again, but no. Maybe that’s something I’ll be able to do later on, or maybe never. It doesn’t matter.”

  He rolled his shoulders as if to loosen them, a smile broadening his lips.

  At my questioning brow, he said, “I still got a ton of practice in, I ate a delicious hotdog, and I got some pretty sweet looking shades.” He waggled the sunglasses up and down from one earpiece.

  I laughed, then snorted on the inhale. My face and ears instantly blushed as my hands flew to my face, but I could not contain my laughter after that.

  Neither could Michael.

  When we finally caught our breath and wiped the tears from our eyes, Michael coughed, “Want to text Antun? Let him know I’m not dead?”

  “Sure,” I laughed again. “Let’s take a selfie.”

  He put his arm around my shoulder then immediately backed off.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

  “It’s just… I’ve noticed that you don’t like it when people touch you, I’m sorry. How would you like to take the selfie?”

  I was taken aback. No one ever noticed without me expressly telling them to not touch me, usually after they’ve gone and done it. But not only did he back off, he apologized? My heart thudded in my chest at that alone. Okay, whoever ended up with him would be a very lucky person.

  “How else would you take a selfie?” I asked him.

  He thought for a moment, then kneeled down.

  “Stand a little behind me so we’re both in the frame.”

  I did as directed, then gave him bunny ears with my first two fingers.

  He huffed in appreciation before snapping the photo: him in his sunglasses in the foreground with me goofing off behind him. He sent it with the caption, “The sun hasn’t killed me yet!”

  Antun sent a dancing Snoopy GIF by the time we arrived back at the office.

  Michael went still as he entered the building.

  I looked at him, wondering what to do.

  He rolled his shoulders, unclenched his hands, and continued on.

  Sunlight, hotdogs, and a voice. A totally normal day.

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