"So check this out, the guy I'm assigned to—he killed two babysitters in Atlanta last year."

The other girls that sat surrounding Tara Hayworth, all except a blonde, sucked in very audible gasps of air at her words.

The blonde shook her head, "My subject murdered his girlfriend because he thought she was cheating on him with his brother. Turns out she wasn't, and was actually planning a surprise for his birthday with the brother."

One of them merely rolled her eyes, "I'm thinking about changing my major. They didn't tell us we'd have to actually talk to these sickos. My subject has these scary face tats and starts prison fights, like every day. I didn't sign up for this."

On a seat somewhere close nearby, Natalia Faith Meyers tried her absolute best to not roll her eyes at what she was being impelled to hear.

Her visit to the library had been in hopes of finally finding some peace of mind to be able to focus on Biology, a subject she hadn't been paying too much attention to this semester. But of course, the librarian couldn't be bothered with petty gossip during her nap.

Tahlia forcibly drilled her eyes into the thesis that was laid out in front of her, in hopes of blocking out nasally voices.

And, well, a certain man that seemed to have discovered a way to drift into her mind unaided.

It was exhausting, the number of times that she had rubbed her temples and grunted exasperatedly in an attempt to keep him out of her brain.

Tahlia had never presumed that a simple college assignment would bring her to the biggest crossroads of her existence. She felt like child being warned about sharp objects; it only made her want to get closer.

At first sight, Logan Hunt was indisputably striking. Hell, he was gorgeous.

But the fact that he looked so divine made no sense; make no mistake that man was the the Devil.

Sooner or later, you look past the pretty boy facade and see his bloodstained hands. And when you do, you're bound to have all your equations screwed up, one by one.

Focus Tahlia, focus.

For what was the seventh time in the same hour, Tahlia begged her brain to stop parading a beast in her head and pay attention to studying for the exam that was to take place a mere few weeks later.

'Severing of the femoral artery can lead to the person bleeding out to death in the matter of a few—

"Whaddup Tal?" Came a loud, familiar voice, followed by a more-than-subtle nudge to her back.

She turned to the side groaning, "The hell Jace!?"

"You two, keep it down!" The librarian, who had then conveniently woken up from her precious slumber, hissed in a groggy voice.

Jace threw his hands up in surrender, sliding down the seat next to Tahlia, while she eyed the librarian in disbelief.

"What are you, studying?" He crinkled up his nose.

She shot him a knowing look, "Yes Jace, not every one comes to the library for the sole purpose of picking up girls."

"What do you know about that, little miss waiting-for-the-right-guy?" He huffed as Tahlia rolled her eyes at his immature tone.

"Besides, nerds are beasts in bed. That math chick Naomi, let me tell you she gave the best head-"

"Stop that sentence before I projectile vomit all over you." She visibly cringed, making Jace chuckle.

His gaze landed on her book, "By the way, how's the assignment coming along?" He asked in a very casual tone, all while trying to get a good look at the blonde girl at the next table.

Oh right. The assignment.

"Um, Good. Yeah, great- It's..uh..coming together pretty well. Great actually."

She faced palmed herself mentally.

Thankfully, Jace only nodded, his full attention still towards the other table full of girls, "Good, good. So I mean, if you're done with yours, would y-"

"No, absolutely not." Tahlia interjected briskly, crossing her arms. Of course.

She should have known where the conversation was going. Why he'd come to the library.

"Jace, I made it clear last time, I'm not doing any of your projects. Ever."

"Aw, come on Tal, you know I can't do it."

Jace's decibel increased, earning him another warning glare from the librarian.

Tahlia only sighed, "Of course you can, but you need to try. You don't even show up to the sanatorium half the time."

"Yeah, the last time I went there, I almost died of throwing up."

"The stomach infection has nothing to do with this. Come on, be serious." She tilted her head to the side, "Why are you even majoring in a subject you have no interest in?"

Tahlia paused. A sharp feeling of hypocrisy flickered in the bottom of her stomach for a second.

Fortunately enough, Jace had been too distracted with the sight of Tara Hayworth bending over to grab a book, to pick up on the shifting of colors on her face.

"Chicks dig a man who understands."

She cleared her throat, "It's criminal psychology Jace..."

The grin on his face enlarged.

"I like bad girls."

Tahlia could only stare at her outlandish friend's face, who seemed more like a cartoon character than he did a college boy.

"What's this—" He cleared his throat in an overdramatic manner, "Logan Hunt."

Just like that her attention was jolted, her eyes moving from his face to his hands in a jiffy, a leaf of paper clutched in them.

"In popular culture, he's known as the Westfied Ripper, since all his known killings took place in the town of Westfield, New Jersey, but it's unknown if he was born there. He's been convicted for 7 known homicides and—"

He didn't have the time to feel the paper being snatched away from his hands.

"You can't read it, I'm not done yet!" She whisper-yelled with wild eyes as she tucked away the sheet in her file restlessly, her lips set in an anxious frown. Tahlia then realized she was getting unusually hot, sweating like it was summer.

"Okay, chill. " He raised his brows, "Spending time in the loony bin isn't making you go all psycho, right?"

An awfully familiar thing clawed at her chest, all of a sudden.

It was as if any voice was being barred from reaching her ears.

Tahlia, ill-fatedly, knew what this was the beginning of.

She ran a hand through her hair, choosing to settle it on the back her neck, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. I- I gotta go."

She stood up abruptly, almost knocking her stuff off the table as she grabbed at all of it carelessly.

A few sheets of paper toppled on the floor, as Tahlia stumbled with stuffing the rest in her bag with quivering fingers.

She was losing feelings in her hands, they were starting to go numb.

Jace looked at her with a baffled expression, "Whoah, you alright Tal?"

His words could however, only ring in her ears in the form of a heightened glitch noise.

Nevertheless, she managed to give him a short nod of the head, as she turned around.

She could feel her breath starting to flutter.

She had to get back to her dorm.

She heard a faint voice calling from behind her, as she picked up her pace callously.

She spotted a big pot of plant that brought in a hazy feeling of familiarity, but her brain couldn't put two and two together at the moment. She didn't know where she was, or where she was headed towards.

The only thing that sounded in her ears was the pounding of blood.

As she kept walking, she could feel the room starting to become a blur, her vision growing more distorted by the second.

With every single breath she took, her lungs threatened to burst in her chest; she couldn't help but clutch it.

But her legs just wouldn't stop.

A shoulder brushed past her, almost knocking her off her feet, but she barely even noticed. Her heart was hammering away at her rib cage too wildly.

Her mind was losing it's store of consciousness increasingly.

A weight in her chest appeared, forcing her to finally pause.

Whatever surface was behind Tahlia, she felt herself crashing against it and sliding down, her breath turning into burning heavy pants for oxygen.

She was growing light headed and her mouth was running dry.

She heard a myriad of voices and chatter, all raining down in her direction.

"Tahlia..?" A familiar voice stood out.

And just like that, she closed her eyes.

✴✴✴

Tahlia woke up rather peacefully.

As soon as her eyes were opened, she came to face with the very familiar surroundings of her room.

Had I fallen asleep?

As she sat up in her bed, she couldn't help but immediately plant her head in her palms, a faint ache bubbling in the very back.

"You're up."

She let out a gasp, almost flying out of her skin at the voice, as her eyes adjusted to the sight in front of her.

"Dean." She breathed.

And just like that, it all came back to her. The feeling of dread, the breathlessness.

"What..what happened?" She spoke drowsily, her fingers having moved to the temples, massaging the area rhythmically.

Her vision was little hazy, but she could make out his figure sitting on the little chair at the foot of her roommate's empty bed.

"You passed out." He looked around the room, "Someone said you were having a stroke. A few people and I got you to your room and called the nurse. She should be here any minute now."

By then, she could fully recall every vestige of the sick feeling that had taken over her body.

She knew what it was. And it wasn't a damn stroke.

But why? It had been out of nowhere.

It had been her first one in 11 months.

"Uhm, can you.." She began, but then stopped, hesitating. She didn't know him well, she couldn't determine if this was okay.

"Can I what?"

"Nevermind, I just wanted some water, I'll just do it–"

"Tahlia, I helped carry you to this room and waited for you to wake up. I'm sure I can manage to get you some water."

Carried me?

Waited for me to wake up?

Her body tensed on it's own accord.

She had no clue what to say, so instead, she just peered at him with stark wide eyes.

He in turn, smiled and got up, making his way to the bathroom.

As soon as he was gone, Tahlia let her jaw hang open, her brain conjuring up various embarrassing scenarios that could have taken place while she was passing out, or being carried.

As soon as she heard the tap being run, she cleared her throat.

"Can you also, uh, get me some medicine from the cabinet?"

"Sure." She heard the distinctive creak of the glass cabinet being opened.

"Is it the green ones...Prozac?"

"No." Her reply came quickly, and she almost regretted her decision to get him see inside the cabinet.

"Just beside that. It-it's the one labeled benzodiazepine."

Soon, he came out with a glass of water in one hand, and a little bottle in the other.

"Here you go."

She thanked him as she swallowed the blue hued pill with the water at once.

"So what's this for? Headaches?" He questioned, his gaze set on her bookshelf beside her little closet.

"Um, no." Tahlia gulped, "It's for, well, panic attacks."

His eyes met hers at once. There was a little second of absolute silence.

"Well shit."

Tahlia could only offer him a small smile. As she took the last sip of water from the glass, she couldn't help but notice a dark stain on his shirt.

As Dean saw her gaze settle on his shirt, he looked down towards it too, chuckling.

"You knocked over my coffee cup on my shirt. And my shoes."

"I did?! Oh my god, I'm so sorry." Her tone was tinged with mortification, but as something else occurred to her, it changed to concern, "Wait were you burnt?"

"Nah. Good thing I like my coffee iced." He smiled, making Tahlia more nervous, "Besides it gave me an interesting reason to skip lecture."

He pointed at his ruined clothes, trying to lighten up the situation.

But the only thing that it did succeed in doing, was to make Tahlia wish for the floor to swallow her up whole then and there.

Not knowing what to say or do, she chose to only smile nervously.

"Well, now that you're alright, I think I'm gonna go and inform my friends about my third degree burns."

Dean joked as he walked away, still facing her.

"See you around."

She almost didn't hear Dean's next sentence, as his voice dimmed down as he walked out of her room.

But it sounded an awful lot like,

"Oh and, you owe me a coffee date Tahlia Meyers."

✴✴✴