NOTE: Not today’s prompt but one from a while back.

I know I wasn’t supposed to see the unsent text. I know I was only supposed to text her mom for her while she was making dinner. I had accidentally tapped on my contact instead. The text I saw…it shattered my heart.

Hey. I know what you are. You don’t have to hide from me anymore. I…don’t know how to say this, but I don’t know if I’m comfortable dating a . The power of immense pain at one touch? That’s a lot for me to shoulder too. I’m sorry. I don’t want to break up but I don’t want to fear you either.

My hands shook. She knew. How could she know? I looked up at her, her body angled away from mine. Maybe that’s why she had been flinching at every move I made to touch her.

“A what?” I mumbled, noticing the unfinished sentence.

She turned, and I showed the text to her. She dropped the spoon she was holding and took a step back. Her face was pure white.

“I—I had thought I deleted that! It—“

“A what, Amara?” My voice raised.

Her eyes widened as she noticed I was walking towards her. She grabbed a leftover paper and held it in front of her.

“Please d-don’t come closer! I’m not going to hurt you. It wasn’t…wasn’t the word you are thinking. I didn’t want to insult you by saying the wrong one!”

I paused in front of her.

“You didn’t research anything. You do realize,” I grabbed her arm, continuing, “I can’t hurt someone I don’t hate.”

Her brown eyes were staring at my hand on her wrist, her entire body stone.

“But what if one day you do?” Her voice was quiet, so quiet I could barely hear.

“I would never,” I pulled her into a hug, my heart still racing. “Thank you for at least telling me your fears in a healthy manner, rather than just leaving.”

I felt her nod, and I kissed the top of her head.

“Let’s continue the pasta, okay?” She asked, breaking out of my embrace but still standing very, very near.

I smiled, and went back over to the stove.

Ever since that day, she would always make sure that she was within arms reach whenever we had arguments. She wanted to make it known that she wasn’t scared, and I made sure to make it clear I wasn’t going to hurt her.

Healthy relationships can even be made from a person who has the power to kill at one tiny touch. How come even some regular people can’t seem to grasp the lack of toxicity?