The Other Side of Love

“You’re getting married?!” The furious man asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?!” “Calm down, Justin. Don’t need to get all furious and cranky. Sheesh.” Ruth tries to calm her elder brother down. “Just because I left the house for 5 months, you think you can decide anything you like?! I left because of work, not for you to do anything you like!” Justin retorted. “Justin! Control yourself!”Mrs. Parker interferes when she heard the quarrel between the two siblings coming out from their bedroom. “Your dad and I already approve this marriage. You have no right to object!” “But mom, Ruth is still young. She's still haven’t prepare for this kind of things yet.” Justin tries to stand out his objection. “She’s 24 years old, Justin. Ruth is ready enough to live with the man she loves.” Mrs. Parker point’s out. “Let’s end this conversation now.” She steps out from the room and makes her way to the kitchen.

Justin can’t seem to close his eyes that night. It was wide open. He seems to be devastated somehow. He’s been thinking quite a lot of things especially about his younger sister’s marriage. On top of that, the wedding will be taking place next week. He knew he’s going to be separated from his beloved younger sister. He doesn’t have much time to be with Ruth anymore and that facts irritated him. Just by thinking that his younger sister will be handed to another man, insolent words spilled out from his mouth. He always loved his younger sister. She meant the world to him. They both often frolicked together when they’re still kids. It was something that Justin cherished so much along with Ruth. He can’t imagine what things might happen to her if she starts living with a man and moreover, what’s going to happen to him if Ruth is no more beside him to comfort, advice, convince, and encourage him during hard times? Suddenly, that night starts to get a little bit colder than usual.

The next morning when Justin woke up, the first thing he heard was Ruth’s energetic voice. “I guess Ruth is awake.” He told himself and smiled. It seems like she’s talking to someone. He steps out from his room while he’s still in his pajamas and a silhouette of a man caught his eyes. Who is that? “Oh Justin, you finally woke up.” Ruth greeted him with an innocent smile. “Who’s that?” Justin points his finger towards the anonymous guy. He doesn’t look familiar. “Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce you to Vincent Trevor. He’s your upcoming brother-in-law! Isn’t that great?” Ruth jumped in joy. “So this is the guy?” Justin crosses his arms and give Vincent an irritating glare. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Justin.” Vincent greeted nicely. “You can take out the ‘Mister’. Nice to meet you too, Vincent.” Justin replied reluctantly. Ruth realized that her elder brother seems annoyed with the presence of Vincent. “Okay, I guess we can rejoice now?” Ignoring her brother’s expression, she said it in a cheerful tone. “I guess so.” Vincent smiled at Ruth. When things about to go smooth, Justin retort. “Just because you finally can seize my younger sister from me doesn’t mean she’s yours only!” Ruth and Vincent remained themselves silent as they watch Justin leave.

It has been days since Vincent started living with them. His parent allowed him to stay in his fiance's house until the day where they finally can claim themselves as husband and wife arrives. Ruth’s and Justin’s parent are busy ordering menus for the wedding’s party. It was a tiring week. Their relatives even drop by to lend a hand. Everyone was a big help excluding Justin. He lazed around watching others work. Other than that, he starts to act oddly and discourteous towards Vincent. He also interferes whenever Vincent and Ruth had their own personal time or conversation together. He begins to insult him with vulgar and obnoxious words. But during certain times, he can be very kind and tolerable towards Vincent. Once, somehow Vincent got Justin fuming when he told him how much he cares for Ruth. Justin started scowling at him and shouted, “You can’t take Ruth away from me, bastard! She’s mine and mine only! A bastard like you doesn’t deserve her love! No one can love her more than I do!” Justin starts to throw tantrum like a spoiled child towards Vincent. From there on, Vincent tries to avoid himself from encountering with Justin any further.

Tomorrow is going to be the greatest day of Ruth’s life. It’s the day that she anticipated the most. “We’re finally going to be together eternally, Vincent. Oh, I love you so much!” Ruth was bliss just by having a single thought about tomorrow. “I love you too, Ruth.” He holds her hand and embraces her. Justin was nearby that time and seems to be pissed off of what he just saw and heard. No one is going to have Ruth. No one!

That night, Vincent asked Ruth whether she needs anything as he’s going to get some snacks since he’ll be staying up late for the whole night to watch the football match. “Are you sure you’re not going to need anything?” Vincent asked once again and then kiss Ruth’s forehead. “Yea, I’m sure. Be careful, Vincent.” Ruth reminded him as she’s feeling a little bit worry. Justin heard their conversation and thought of something. He goes into the kitchen and grabs a butcher knife then hides it inside his bag pack. Farewell, Vincent Trevor. Ruth saw her elder brother is rushing to go out of the house. “Where are you going, Justin? You seemed in a hurry too.” The curious younger sister asked. “Um…uh...the par- wait, yea! I’m going to the groceries! Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.” A drop of sweat flow down from his cheek. “Oh. But why are you bringing your bag pack along?” “Um, I thought of meeting Blake on the way and return the story book I lent from him.” Justin replied when he finally thought of an excuse. “Oh, okay then. Be careful.” Justin bid farewell and slammed the door. “Whoa, what’s with him and all this rush?” Ruth wondered.

Vincent was on his way to 7-Eleven that’s located nearby. He didn’t use his Porsche since it wasn’t that far. Furthermore, walking is part of the exercise too, right? “Is it getting cold or what?” Vincent walks a bit faster as he starts to shiver. He doesn’t seem to realize there’s someone stalking him from behind. Abruptly, he begins to hear sound of someone’s footsteps. It bothers him and apprehension overwhelmed his courage. He looks around to see if anyone was there. No one is here. Might as well be my imagination. The road was quiet and there wasn’t any car passing by for these few minutes yet the sound of footsteps still can be heard and it echoes around the sidewalk. Vincent runs into a dark alley to see who’s following him all this time. When he took a glance behind, he saw a dark figure at his rear and it looks like it is holding something. Meanwhile, Ruth starts t to feel suspicious when she remembered about her brother’s behavior just now. “Wait, why does he need a bag pack if he only wants to return a single book? It’s not like its heavy or anything. By the way, who the hell would go to groceries at night? What curious me the most is, he rushed right after Vincent left. That bothers me…” out of the blue, Ruth gasped in terror. “Maybe…!” Without a second thought, she hurried outside to catch up with Justin and Vincent.

When she finally caught up with them, she screamed in fright as she saw Vincent’s body was lying down on the ground, motionless. A lot amount of blood covered him and there’s several of severe cut can be found on his body. “Who could have done this?” Tears start to brim her eyes and lastly pours out. “Justin?” A figure of a familiar person intrigued her attention. “Aww, isn’t it my sweet little Ruth? You look scared. What’s wrong? Tell your brother everything.” Justin asked Ruth kindly as if nothing horrible happened. Ruth’s eyes widen and took a few steps behind. She was sedated seeing her tender brother acting all absurd. “No one can have you now, Ruth. You’ll be mine forever. We’ll spend our times together like in the old days. Since that bastard is no more to impede our relationship, our bond will be something that can’t be broken. I love you, Ruth…” Justin starts to sway the knife furiously. “Come to your brother, Ruth. Let’s go back home. Just the two of us.” Justin smiles as he saw his younger sister tries to abscond but chances seems to envy her when Justin manage to grab her neck and strangles her. “We’ll be together forever, right?” Justin said in a soft way. “You’re a psycho, Justin! You got that? A psycho! Murderer! Freak! Who wants to be with you if this is the way you act?!” Those words slipped out from her mouth. It stunned Justin for a while after he heard his beloved Ruth affronted him. Justin remains himself still for a while. “Justin…? You okay?” Ruth tries to take a glimpse of Justin’s face since he was facing down. “Ruth, you have a pair of exquisite eyes. It’s delicate for sure since it’s too gorgeous. When I say delicate, it also represents the word pure and innocent. But now, you have seen something that has violated the purity of your eyes. There’s no use in keeping them anymore, right? Might as well eliminate them.” Justin laughed maniacally and in an instant Ruth’s head were no more in its genuine position. It was chopped off. It slowly rolls down and stops at Justin’s foot. “What a beautiful ‘sphere’.” Justin lifts the head up and then keeps it in his bag. Without dithering, both of Vincent’s and Ruth’s body were cut into small pieces and were kept in the bag too. Justin’s head off to the nearest lake and throws the pieces of the body into it along with the knife. The only thing left in his bag now is Ruth’s head. Before he reaches home, he washed and wiped the stain of blood on his hand or anything part of his body that got tainted by it. “I love you, Ruth…”

Finally, the wedding day arrives. Everything was well prepared and ready except the bride and groom was nowhere to be found. Justin unlocks his room’s door and saw his mom looking very worried. “What’s wrong, mom?” Justin smiled after he asked the matter. “Have you seen Ruth or Vincent anywhere? They’re not in their room.” “Sorry mom but no. I haven’t seen them. The last time I saw them was in the living room yesterday before I went off to bed.” Justin told his mom, acting all innocent. “Dear god, the wedding is going to start any soon! We have to get them dress! Where could they be in a time like this? I’m going to ask the neighbors if they had seen them anywhere” Mrs. Parker rushed to interrogate the neighbors. “I’ll go check around the house then.” Justin offered a help reluctantly. Everyone was busy looking for the missing couple for the whole day. Mrs. Parker starts to sob in woe when she fails to find her beloved daughter and son-in-law. Justin pretends to act all shock and comfort his mother by telling, “Be strong, mom. We can’t do anything but be strong and accept the fate as it is.” Justin forces himself to cry in dismal along with his parent.

The wedding was cancelled and everybody was in grief. Mrs. and Mr. Parker called the police earlier and they’re still searching for them without respite. As for Justin, he is in his room. He locks the room’s door and slowly opens his closet. He takes out his bag and unzips it. He pulls out his younger sister’s head and places it on his lap. Her eyes were left wide open and streams of blood flows out from it. It seems very swollen. Her skin starts to rot and you can see the flesh underneath it. Her face was pale as white. To be frank, it smells awful but that doesn’t concerns Justin at all. “You look gorgeous like usual, Ruth.” He gives a tender peck on her forehead and caresses it. Justin slowly embraces it in his arms. “Now, we can be together forever, Ruth….”

END