Hate Is The Product Of Too Much Love

• Rachel Ho, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2016

She stared at me, her mouth ajar. What she saw was no human, it was a monster.
"You still love me, right?"
Her eyes were a blank canvas, the man she loved had turned into something she could barely look at. She averted her gaze, the horror wearing off. Fear was now written all over her face, she did not know what to make of me.
"You still love me?"
My voice was raised, my shadow loomed over her fragile structure. Her hands quivered violently. What had happened to all those promises we made? What happened to love? Rain started to fall like broken shards of glass, smashing into millions of water droplets when it hit the ground. Our love had hit the ground, there was nothing left for me except a bleeding heart.
"I will make things right, I always have," I whispered gently in that caressing voice she used to love, slowly walking towards her, "We will do whatever we used to do, going to the ice cream parlour, walking in the..."
"Stop!" She screamed, her entire frame trembling like a frightened child. "Ju...just...don't come any closer!"
Her hand was stretched out, creating a barrier between us, a barrier that had been erected in a matter of moments. She took slow, deliberate steps back, distancing herself from me. Tears streamed down her face like blood trickling from a broken heart. The rain grew heavier.
I felt myself shaking with an uncontrollable amount of anger. I had been betrayed, I had been fooled. She didn't love me. What she loved was the human form I took, she never loved me.
"My life..." I whimpered, "was spent loving a person who never loved me. My life was nothing but a facade..." Black liquid ran from my eyes, creating ugly streaks down my disfigured cheeks, ruining whatever was already ruined.
"And you," I continued, slowly gathering my broken carcass, "You were what made me believe in this facade. You showed me love, then stripped me away of my identity."
My blaring red eyes were now burning through her soul, whatever compassion that once existed within me had died a flickering flame. Then I laughed, a scratchy, deranged laugh, like metal scraping on glass.
She turned, trepidation engulfing her soulless eyes. Her silky, black hair that I used to love stroking was flying wildly around her head. She was so beautiful, amidst all the chaos. Then she ran. All I heard was her heels pounding the pavements, and her disappearing silhouette. She left. She had left running away from me, the one she loved.
I broke into a gallop, chasing after the one thing that had ever mattered to me. I didn't care if she didn't love me, I didn't care if I was a monster. Because when I catch up to her, I will make sure that she pays. I will make sure she pays for what she has turned me into.