Hexed | ✔

one

Die, Slut!

Mariam scoffed at the unimaginative insult scrawled in pink marker on the folded white paper. She was tired of reporting 'greetings' like this to the local police every day. It was funny, because the first time she'd received a note like this one, she'd cried herself to sleep and it had taken the intervention of her best friends and the tubes of ice cream they'd brought to get her out of bed after days. Now she just had a little chuckle at them before she pinned it to the board she'd recently put besides the mailbox outside.

But as she moved to give the paper the same treatment, her fingers on the other side of the paper came away sticky red.

She stared the longest time at it, until the sight blurred before her. Then she turned the back of it and read the smudged words aloud.

I'll kill you, slut.

Mariam drew in a sharp breath and glanced again at her stained fingers, the red could be a number of things, paint, lipstick or blood.

She shuddered and swallowed. Thinking better of her previous action, she held the paper by the tip as if it was suddenly disgusting, she marched back inside the small house, slamming the door behind her with a reverberating bang.

Yelena looked up from where she stood by the fridge in the living room.

"Hey, Mar, we're out of milk. . ." She said, trailing off when she caught the look on Mariam's face. Her bushy eyebrows scrunched up into a frown. Yelena and Mariam had been roommates ever since they'd arrived on the campus of Howard University, but they hadn't always gotten along, in fact, Mariam was sure that Yelena had hated her. It wasn't until the incident that Yelena had realized that Mariam was more than an airheaded cheerleader or that cheerleaders weren't even air headed.

They'd struck a tentative friendship although Mariam still bore a simmering resentment for the black girl.

"Is anything the matter?" Yelena asked, her French accent made a reappearance as it usually did when she expressed concern for something.

A hysterical laugh bubbled out of Mariam's throat, Yelena's frown deepened. Mariam raised the paper, still holding it with a pinch of her fingers.

"I got another one." Mariam said, forcing false cheer in her words as if the contents of the paper was a greeting card and not a death threat.

"Oh my, Mariam, is that blood?" Yelena echoed. The empty carton of milk she'd been holding slipped from her grip and fell to the tiled floor with a hollow thud.

"Ketchup, tomato sauce, I don't bloody know, Yelena." Mariam said. She sighed and collapsed on the sofa resting against the wall. She let the paper flutter to the floor, uncaring that she was going to get the stain everywhere.

Yelena bent to pick the carton, when she stood, there was a steely determination in her eyes that mocked the defeated look in Mariam's. It was so easy to be strong for someone else when you weren't in their shoes.

"I'm going to go get my coat, and we're going to the station to report this."

ΦΦΦ

"He said what?" Kylie shouted incredulously. The skinny barrister behind the counter that she'd winked at when she entered was now shooting daggers at them. Hell, half of the cafe was staring at them, some abashedly and others peeking out of the corners of their eyes.

Mariam didn't blame them, Howard University was a private institution tucked away in a small area of London, it was also a Christian university, which meant that there were rarely ever huge parties, every scandal was quickly hushed before it reached the media. The only source of drama was the sororities and fraternities and the only reason they were even allowed to exist was because they were dubbed 'societies for university charities' and they were founded by bored rich kids who were willing to organize events that stoked their entertainment, in turn, they donated huge amounts of money to charities of their choices.

Howard University couldn't get rid of them even if they tried. The fraternities were the bane of the universities, the cause of all their problems, but they paid for their trouble in millions of pounds so everyone let it slide. Everyone except Mariam.

"He said exactly what he said." Mariam said tiredly, she shifted and cleared her throat, imitating Officer Carter's cockney accent. "I'm sorry, Mariam, as you know, Halloween is tomorrow and this might have just been some person trying to play a fast one on you."

Fiye, who had been seething quietly couldn't help it, she burst into peals of laughter, her dainty shoulders shaking with it.

"That's a pretty good one." Kylie deadpanned. She wasn't smiling, of their little group of three, Kylie was the activist, the one who took part in marches for several causes, just last week, she had joined a march that was meant to raise awareness on the myths of abortion. Mariam was the one with the dry humour, she liked to wave away anything that bothered her and rarely ever spent time arguing with someone.

"I can't believe he said that to you." Fiye chimed, she slammed her textbook on the table and leaned forward to steal a chip off Mariam's untouched plate. Kylie beamed a smile at that, Fiye had struggled with her body image and for a while, battled an eating disorder. It was one of the darkest moments of their friendship.

"What can I do?" Mariam said, for the first time, there was a weariness in her words. "I've reported three new mails just this week alone, sooner or later, they'll get tired of me and tell it to my face."

"I just need to ignore this and hope it goes away."

"It won't, you need to -" Kylie was saying, but Mariam had already tuned her out. It was the same old talk and she was tired of listening to it. She was taking the necessary precautions, she never stayed out late on campus, she'd changed her locks and she always carried pepper spray.

This would have to be one of those instances where sticks and stones could break bones but she'd just have to keep ignoring the words.

Φ Φ Φ

There was another one waiting for her on the porch steps, this time, it wasn't even a note, it was red graffiti on the door, bright and shining under the porch lights. It read the usual insults, but it was the symbol etched under it that made her blood boil.

It was a familiar initial, one that everyone on campus could recite in their sleep, GPD -

Gamma Pi Delta.