The Anarchy of Love

How far would you go for love?

For Nex, she would burn the whole world down to the ground if it meant he could find his one true love. Of course, that would be too inconvenient so she resorted to the next best option. In a world where one could never physically hurt their soulmate, what was she expected to do? Doesn’t everyone have a small part of them that yearns to be truly understood and loved?

The boy before her froze as she swept her hair back and smiled at him. The tiny convenience store was empty with the occasional wind whistling its high tune and the 24/7 neon sign flickering on and off. In the background, she could hear the faint sound of the television’s news channel and its breaking news’ music.

In one swift motion, she struck before he could reach for his phone. His body dropped to the ground with a heavy thud as dark red blood bubbled out his mouth. He clutched his throat with both his hands, trying to claw away the cut.

“That’s disappointing,” she sighed, gazing at the blood spilt against the dirty white tiles.

“...The police are currently on the search for a seventeen year old student who has allegedly set her high school building on fire for reasons not yet known. We are currently live at the crime scene-”

She chuckled at the reporter’s words. The girls in her school had brought this upon themselves, honestly. They can’t push her around anymore for not having a soulmate yet. All of her blood they spilt would not go to waste. An eye for an eye, as they say.

The police force was truly a piece of art to have found the true culprit after three whole weeks. At this pace, they will never catch up with her. She knew she was always one step ahead of them at any point of time. After all, she had been searching for her soulmate for three whole years.

As usual, she had to thoroughly clean up the scene but not too thoroughly to make it seem that it had been deliberately cleaned. She had to credit her brother for the most part, for helping her erase her traces. She wasn’t the only one searching for her soulmate.

She finally arrived at her apartment which she eyed with distaste. It looked like it was on the verge of falling apart, with fissures covering half the expanse of the concrete and the untended garden with its weeds slowly enveloping the building. One day, it was going to be swallowed whole. She walked through the dim hallways and ignored the wailing and arguments sounding from the other houses. As she passed, the noises abruptly stopped, as if everyone in the building were holding their breath in anticipation. Her brother, Caeles, greeted her with a wide smile, opening the door for her. She rushed in at the smell of food emanating and smiled at the feast placed on the table.

“I love you,” she exclaimed and reached for the food but Caeles stopped her with a strained smile.

“You still have blood under your fingernails.”

She had almost forgotten that he was a perfectionist at all times, whether it was eating or cleaning up a scene. She washed her hands off and ate greedily; she was too tired. Soon, they parted ways and she retreated back to her room.

She looked at the web of pictures, strings and maps hastily pasted on the wall of her room and drew a red cross over the south side of her town. She had cleared the entire town of boys her age but none of them had turned out to be her soulmate. How unfortunate. At this pace, she supposed she had to plan something more large scale and efficient.

It had been a tiring day, especially when it was her turn to clean the scene. She would worry about her next target and how to take him down tomorrow. For now, she had to get some sleep.

At about twilight, she shot up from her bed when a jarring sound exploded throughout the building. She hurried out of the room with shaky legs and looked around wildly, searching for the source of it. What she saw brought her to her knees. Scorching hot flames danced everywhere, from the floor to the ceiling. And in the middle of it all lay Caeles, lying motionlessly on the ground. She staggered back, holding a palm to her mouth. The smoke made it hard to see but the charred corpse was unmistakably her brother. She ran for the door and threw it open, stumbling outside into the narrow hallway. The walls seemed to close in around her, suffocating her.

She struggled into a standing position and in a haze, she made her way to the terrace. She desperately needed fresh air and the main entrance was blocked by a wooden beam on fire.

She clutched the warm metal railings of the stairway and swayed unsteadily, but she took one step forward and another one. When she finally made her ascension, her trembling fingers reached for the door handle but the door was thrown open and the sunlight blinded her for a temporary moment.

Wasn’t it night? How was it sunny? Was she hallucinating? Her stomach roiled uneasily and the food she ate felt like lead in her stomach, weighing her down. This was not the time for food poisoning.

When her eyes adjusted to the light, she took a step back, shaking her head. Y stood there with a solemn expression, looking down at her. Behind him, she could see figures dressed in head-to-toe black with their guns pointed at her. She looked down at her body and saw red dots dancing across her whole body. The fire was closing in her, advancing fast. It was only a few meters away and she swore she could feel the flames lick her ankles.

“Y, what are you doing? Let me out,” she spoke, her voice raspy from coughing. She moved forward, clutching his wrists. He showed no emotion but his actions betrayed him. He wrenched his hands away in disgust, wiping them on his pants. Her nails had scratched him when he did that and her head whirled with millions of thoughts. He wouldn’t be happy about that, he’d want it cleaned right away. He hates the sight of blood.

She reached for his wrists again but all she saw was the nail scratch marks closing up by themselves. She blinked once, trying to process what her eyes saw. She looked up at him to see him look down at her in an indescribable expression.

“I’m not your brother, so don’t make this weird. It was all just a play to lure you in. I’m not sure if you know, but your parents adopted me into the family because they knew I was your soulmate. They also knew you were a monster. It didn’t take much to join forces with the police. In fact, it was your parents’ plan to make you run away from the house” he said quickly, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

“Monster? I’m a monster?” She asked, laughing. This was unbelievable. “Then, are you and my parents the heroes then? Instead of getting me help, you’ll created an elaborate plan just to arrest me?” she asked, snorting at the logic.

“You don’t understand-”

“Make it quick! We don’t have all day!” a masked man yelled out from behind him, and his eyebrows twitched in annoyance. He looked back at her and sighed, pinching his nose.

“When I count to three, I need you to go back down.”

She wasn’t sure she heard it right. If she went back down, she would surely die. She opened her mouth to speak but he held a finger to his lips.

“I don’t want you to spend the rest of your life sitting in a cell. I still care about you,” he said softly, grabbing her hand in his. She pulled it back, dizzy from the smoke and her thoughts and all the words which came out of Caeles’ mouth. She did not know what was right or wrong anymore.

But she knew one thing, and it was that she did not want to die. She will not die here, and certainly not like this. She had a whole life ahead of her and it was okay if she didn’t have a soulmate to search for.

She made a dash for the door but Caeles held her place, his hands crushing her arms, pulling her back from stepping foot outside.

“Please let me out,” she whispered, her voice cracking.

“I’m sorry.” He smiled sadly, wiping her tears away. “I love you.”

And with those words, he made one final push as she tumbled down into the open jaws of the flames, making her descent to Hell.

And when she had made her descent to where she belonged, he shut the door.