he could wipe out the human race. The problem with being born different was not having a normal life. He had grown up knowing one day he would die, it wasn’t until he was much older that he was informed he would become contagious while dying. There were tiny poisonous tumours inside his body. He had to be extra careful as knocking his body the wrong way would cause them to burst. Once they started bursting he would only have one hour to quarantine himself before he became fully contagious, during that time the contagion would only pass via fluids.

He was 21 when his parents informed him they trusted him to leave the bunker. He would be allowed out for one hour every day. He’d watched every episode of Friends growing up and was ecstatic to finally go to a real coffee shop and make some friends. It seemed so easy. Unfortunately he slowly came to the conclusion he was Joey in the episode with the encyclopaedia, he knew next to nothing about the real world and found it incredibly difficult to connect with people as the conversation would move to subjects he didn’t understand.

He’d never owned a smartphone and had no access to the internet. His parents hadn’t wanted the world to know about him and couldn’t risk him being hacked or making an online friend. If they found out about him or his condition they’d either lose him or the whole world could be put in danger. Unfortunately because he’d never had these things he didn’t know about Facebook or that gay jokes were no longer acceptable. He didn’t understand hashtags or selfies and even if he made a friend he couldn’t give them his number. Such normal things that he was painfully unable to understand.

That was until six months of rejection and insults later. He sat downhearted and depressed in his favourite cafe, trying their new addition to the menu when the sit opposite him was pulled out. She reminded him so much of Monica, with her dark hair and big eyes. She wasn’t skinny or fat, just perfectly curvy. As she noticed him staring she stuttered out an apology and asked if that chair was taken. He practically shouted no making her laugh the most musical laugh he’d ever heard. They sat for the longest time talking about things and he was almost late leaving.

When he realised the time he excused himself politely and stated he had to get home. She asked for his number and he prepared for rejection when he said he owned no phone. Thankfully she just smiled and called him “old school” whatever that meant. He told her he was there every day and made plans to meet her tomorrow before rushing off. In his haste home he didn’t notice the car until it hit him. Though it wasn’t going fast he was incredibly aware of the time bomb he’d just become. He’d never see that girl again.