“It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.”

― Billy Collins

She always wondered why she didn’t bleed like everyone else. Afraid of what they would think, she made sure to wear long sleeves and watch where she walked everywhere she went. Eventually she slipped up. On a hike on the parkway, she tripped and cut her hand deeper than she’d ever been cut. A light spilled from her hand. She thought she was alone, but a twig cracked behind her. She tried to hide the wound, but the young man was intent on helping her. When he coaxed her hand away from her chest, he gasped and looked up at her, “You’re like me,” he said.