Stigma

~*The Shield*~

"Wake up, come on Delia." Wendy was shaking her vigorously. 

"What is it?" Delia mumbled as she saw that it was six in the morning and she barely slept for two hours after struggling with an overtired mind.

It has been a week since the fire incident, but it still couldn't let her sleep.

"There is police on campus."

"And?" Delia asked in a cranky mood due since Wendy woke her up for no reason.

"And there has been a murder."

At those words, Delia shot up awake.

"In our university?"

"I don't know yet but the body was found behind the History Department building," Wendy said throwing a light shrug at Delia as she got out of her bed.

Putting on the shrug and roughly running her fingers through her hair to tame the mess she stepped out of the room. Wendy seemed a little bit too excited about this as she pulled Delia along grabbing her hand.

Delia noticed few other girls rush in the corridor and almost all the girls were awake. When they came outside she noticed a crowd of students talking in hushed whispers. The history department building was a lane away from their living area. Behind the building was a large area covered with trees and a usual campus secret dating spot.

Wendy came back from a group of girls with an important piece of information.

"They say the dead body had a clean cut made on the throat and some kind of symbol on the forehead."

"Wendy, can you calm down a little," Delia said surprised at Wendy's interest in this.

"I just love such mysteries." She gave a sheepish smile.

Delia just smiled back and nodded. A human has just died and with the description that Wendy gave, Delia could feel nothing but sadness and fear. After a while, the dormitory in charge started sending the girls in since the Police did not want to create any more chaos than there already was.

As soon as they were back in the room, Wendy jumped back into bed and Delia stared enviously she immediately fell asleep. Delia closed her eyes and for some reason, she could just imagine the dead body in her head, a faceless male with a slit on his throat and some symbol on his head.

She tossed and turned and switched off her alarm of eight five minutes before it was about to go off. Every time she would close her eyes she would see herself surrounded in fire. It took her back to the day her parents died and she didn't.

But then she remembered how Devian came to her rescue and carried her in his arms. Before losing consciousness she saw the look of concern on his face. When she woke up she was lying in hospital. Paulo was talking to the doctor. She tried to move her hand but a slight ache made her realize that a drip was attached.

Immediately the embarrassment came over when she remembered that she fainted. She hoped that Devian would not ask questions about it.

"How is he?" She asked as Paulo came over and saw a quizzical look on his face.

"I mean Devian. Is he hurt anywhere?" She asked worried that because of her he might have sustained some injuries.

"He is fine, minor burns," Paulo said with a small smile.

She sighed in relief. It was a miracle that she herself only had a burn on her ankle and her arm beside that physically she was fine but emotionally was a whole other level. The fire triggered her sad memories and it was not good for heart or mind.