The Bloody Wedding, End of a Seven-Year Love

At the wedding, Lyra held a jagged piece of a broken wine glass against her throat. A deep crimson liquid dripped down between her fingers, staining her white dress.

Zander, do you choose her, or do you choose me? she cried out, her voice trembling.

I reached up, ripped off my bridal veil, and tossed it onto the floor. Then, I glanced at my watch.

It was 8:17 PM. We were exactly three minutes past the scheduled time for the ring exchange.

Zander's tuxedo sleeve was already stained with her blood. His grip on my wrist tightened as he looked at her with panic. "Lyra, put it down first. Let's just talk."

"Talk about what? About how you two got married behind my back?" Lyra started to laugh hysterically. "Zander, we grew up together! You promised you would marry me!"

Gasps rippled through the ballroom. The judgmental stares of the guests felt like needles stabbing into my back.

I pried Zander's fingers off me and stepped forward. My heels clicked across the carpet, stepping right through the bloodstains until I stood in front of Lyra.

"If you're going to cut, cut deeper," I said, tugging at my skirt where her blood had splattered. "Let everyone see how you use self-harm to ruin other people's lives."

Lyra's face went pale instantly. The hand holding the glass began to shake. Zander suddenly rushed over and shoved me aside, roaring, "Scarlett, have you lost your mind? Why are you provoking her!"

"I've lost my mind?" I brushed my thumb over the red marks his grip had left on my wrist. "Zander, today was supposed to be our wedding."

The ambulance arrived shortly after. Zander ran out after the stretcher without looking back at me once.

I stood alone in the middle of the trashed ballroom. Behind me, Zander's mother started wailing. "What a tragedy... Scarlett, couldn't you just be the bigger person for Lyra? She's been dependent on Zander since they were kids."

"Dependent enough to use her life to steal someone else's fianc?" I turned to look at her. "By the way, what's the Wi-Fi password? I want to post a status update to celebrate my wedding turning into an emergency room scene."

01

The red light of the operating room stayed on for three hours.

I sat on the plastic hallway bench, taking off the diamond earrings Zander had given me. I fiddled with them, watching the light bounce off the facets. It was so bright it made my eyes ache.

When Zander's mother came over for the third time to lecture me, I was busy Googling "how to quickly dissolve a domestic partnership."

"Scarlett, I know this is hard on you," she said, trying to shove a granola bar into my hand. "But Lyra really can't live without Zander. You saw how far she went today..."

"Ma'am," I said, taking a bite of the bar. "Do you know how many times she has tried to end it all?"

Her hand froze in mid-air.

"Three times with pills, twice jumping into the lake, plus today's little neck performance," I counted on my fingers, smiling. "Every single time happened right when Zander and I were on a date. Isn't that a crazy coincidence?"

Zander's father walked over from the ER doors, his face like stone. "Scarlett, watch your tone! Lyra is still in there fighting for her life!"

"Oh? And what should I say?" I tossed the wrapper into the trash. "Should I say, 'It's fine, feel free to steal my man, if you die, it's on me'?"

Zander walked out of the room just then. His face twisted when he heard me. "Scarlett!"

"I'm right here," I looked up at him. The blood on his white shirt hadn't dried yet. "Zander, we need to talk."

He rubbed his temples, looking exhausted. "Wait until Lyra is stable."

"No, we're talking now." I grabbed his arm and pressed the earrings into his palm. "The engagement is off. I'll have my lawyer send the ring back to you tomorrow."

Zander's hand snapped shut around the jewelry. His knuckles turned white. "Scarlett, do you have to be like this?"

"You're the one who made it like this." I shook his hand off. "From college until now, every time she pulled a stunt, you ran to her. I endured it for three years. Today, she brought a knife to my wedding. How much more do you expect me to take?"

His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard. "Lyra didn't mean it. she just loves me too much."

"Loves you enough to drag us both down?" I laughed. "I can't afford that kind of love. Zander, go be with her. I hope you stay together forever."

I turned to leave, but Zander grabbed my wrist. His grip was so hard I thought he might break the bone. "I don't agree! Scarlett, we've been together for seven years. You're just going to throw it all away?"

"Seven years?" I wrenched my hand back, leaving red welts on my skin. "The amount of time you spent at the hospital for her adds up to another seven years on its own. Zander, your love is too cheap. I don't want it anymore."

02

I went back to the apartment we shared and threw all his stuff into the hallway.

Suits, ties, his razor, and even that hideous hand-knitted sweater Lyra had made for him that he kept hidden in the back of the closet.

As the movers arrived to take my boxes, Zander's name flashed on my phone.

I hit decline and blocked every number associated with him.

I remembered when he was courting me three years ago. He set up a heart of candles under my dorm window and got soaked by the sprinklers, but he just kept smiling.

Thinking back, he was probably crying for Lyra that night too. She had swallowed half a bottle of cold medicine the day before.

My screen lit up again and again. It was a barrage of texts from his mother. "Scarlett, don't be stubborn." "Zander loves you." "Lyra needs someone, he can't leave right now."

I opened the chat and typed one last thing. "Ma'am, I suggest you take Lyra to a psych ward. While you're at it, get Zander checked out too. See if he has a secret kink for being abused."

The moment I sent it, she blocked me.

Good. Saved me the trouble.

While packing the nightstand, I found a locked metal box.

It belonged to Zander. I had asked him what was inside once, and he told me it was just unimportant old junk.

I used a screwdriver to pry it open. Inside was a stack of photos.

There were photos of Zander and Lyra from kindergarten all the way to high school. The box was stuffed with them.

There were a few photos of Zander and me, too, but the edges were torn and jagged.

At the very bottom lay a yellowing piece of notebook paper. It was Lyra's handwriting. "Zan, when I get better, let's get married, okay?"

The date was five years ago.

I tossed the box into the trash. Zander always told me Lyra was frail and needed care.

It turned out her only sickness was a toxic obsession with things that didn't belong to her.

The doorbell rang while I was packing the last box of books.

I looked through the peephole and saw Zander. He had dark circles under his eyes and bloodstains still on his shirt. He looked like he'd been through a war.

"Scarlett, open the door." His voice was raspy and thick with fatigue.

I ignored him and kept taping the box.

He started pounding on the door. The frame rattled. "Scarlett! Don't push me!"

I took out my phone, started recording, and walked to the door. "Zander, let's be clear. What am I pushing you to do? Am I pushing you to stop enabling a maniac? Or am I pushing you to stop treating my feelings like garbage?"

The noise outside stopped. After a moment, his muffled voice came through. "I know I messed up, Scarlett. Just let me in, please?"

"No." I leaned against the door, listening to my steady heartbeat. "Zander, you and Lyra deserve each other. I've thrown the key into the ocean."

03

Zander sat outside my door all night.

At 5:00 AM, I woke up from the cold. I checked the peephole. He was still there, slumped against the wall with his head in his knees. He looked like a stray dog.

It was pathetic.

When Lyra jumped into the river years ago, he dove in to save her without a second thought. He came back with a high fever but still insisted on making her soup.

Now that I was breaking up with him, he was acting like the victim.

At exactly 7:00 AM, I opened the door with my suitcase. Zander snapped his head up. His eyes were bloodshot, and his stubble was thick. He looked like a wreck.

"Scarlett..."

"Move." I dragged my suitcase past him. He smelled like a mix of antiseptic and old blood.

He reached out to grab me, but I dodged him. "Don't touch me, Zander. You make my skin crawl."

As the elevator doors closed, I saw him collapse onto the floor. His shoulders were shaking.

Good. Let him feel what it's like to be abandoned.

I knew that within three hours, one phone call from Lyra would turn him back into her loyal little pet.

I crashed at my best friend Maddie's place. When she saw the marks on my wrist, she almost smashed her limited-edition makeup palette. "That piece of trash! And that crazy girl Lyra! Why can't they just disappear?"

"They're getting there," I said, icing my wrist while scrolling through the news. The local headline read: "BLOOD AT HIGH-SOCIETY WEDDING: OBSESSED WOMAN HURTS HERSELF FOR LOVE." There was a blurred photo of Lyra being loaded into an ambulance.

Maddie snatched my phone away. "Stop looking! They aren't worth it!"

"You're right." I popped a grape into my mouth. "That's why I'm quitting my job and moving to San Diego."

Maddie froze. "Are you serious? What about that big project you've been working on?"

"I'll leave it to Zander," I said with a shrug. "I want to see if his failing company can survive a single month without me running things."

I had actually already secured a job offer at a tech firm in San Diego. The position and pay were much better.

I had planned to tell Zander after the wedding. Now, I didn't have to.

While updating my resume, a text from an unknown number popped up. "Lyra is awake. She wants to see you."

I replied with "Go to hell" and blocked it.

A few minutes later, Lyra called me. Zander probably gave her my number.

I hesitated, then picked up. I wanted to hear what kind of game she was playing now.

"Scarlett," she whispered, her voice sounding weak and fake. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to... please don't be mad at Zander."

"Oh? So you did it on purpose then?" I asked, bored.

She caught her breath. "I just love him so much... I can't live without him."

"Then just die," I said, looking at a new job listing. "Just pick a place where no one has to watch. Don't ruin the view for the rest of us."

I heard sharp breathing on the other end, followed by Zander's roar. "Scarlett, what is wrong with you! She just woke up and you're attacking her!"

"What's wrong with me?" I laughed. "Zander, you're the one who had the woman who crashed my wedding call me to apologize. You're the sick one. Or maybe you both just enjoy making me miserable."

He went silent for a few seconds. When he spoke again, his voice was soft. "Scarlett, I know you're hurt. Just come back. Let's talk this out, okay?"

"Not okay." I hung up and put my phone on airplane mode.

Some people won't realize they're wrong until you grind their pride into the dirt.

04

The moving truck had just left when Zander's calls started hitting my spam filter.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated. It was a video call from Maddie.

When I answered, Lyra's pale face filled the screen. Her wrist was wrapped in bloody bandages. Zander was visible in the background, looking frantic.

"Scarlett," she gasped, her eyes darting to Zander to make sure he was watching. "It's my fault... don't be mad at Zan. Tell him to come back. I'm so scared in the hospital alone..."

Zander's voice cut in, full of rage. "Scarlett, are you really going to keep going until she's dead?"

I turned the phone toward a nearby trash can. "Zander, listen to this." I played a recording of him from last night. His voice crackled through the speaker: "I won't let her bother us again."

I smiled at the camera. "You said this outside my door last night. It turns out your words are worth less than the rotten food in this bin."

There was a sound of something shattering on their end. Lyra's crying got louder. "Zan! My head is spinning..."

"Scarlett!" Zander screamed. "I'm coming to find you right now! Tell me where you are!"

"Don't bother." I smiled until tears pricked my eyes. "Zander, do you know what I find most disgusting about you? You say she can't live without you, but the truth is you can't live without her drama. She uses her life to hook you, and you use guilt to hook me. The three of us are just one big, pathetic joke."

I hung up and ripped the SIM card out of my phone.

Blocking him wasn't enough. I wanted to vanish.

Maddie's messages flooded in on my social media, showing screenshots of Zander's frantic texts to her.

"She pulled out her IV! Are you happy now, Scarlett?!"

"I'm at your apartment. If you don't come out, I'm breaking the door down!"

"Seven years! Is your heart made of stone?!"

I texted back, "Let him try," then called my mover to tell him I was waiting at the gate.

Some debts need to be settled in person.

When I walked into the apartment, Zander was holding Lyra on the sofa. Her hospital gown was soaked in red.

The moment she saw me, Lyra began to shake. Her nails dug into Zander's arm. "Zan... am I dying? I'm so cold..."

Zander looked at me like I was a monster. "Scarlett, do you have to see her dead to be satisfied?"

"I'm here for my things." I walked straight to the bedroom, ignoring the medical supplies and Lyra's hair ties scattered on the floor.

This home I had built was now tainted by their toxic soap opera.

"I'll mail your stuff to you!" Zander grabbed my collar, nearly knocking me over. "You need to apologize to Lyra!"

I spun around, staring into his bloodshot eyes. There was no guilt in themDonly the fury of a man whose "hero moment" had been interrupted.

"Apologize?" I grabbed a framed photo of us from the dresser and smashed it on the floor.

The glass shattered into a million pieces. "You are the one who should apologize! You brought a lunatic into our home! You let her lie on the sofa where we used to cuddle! You're screaming at me about her life? Who do you think you are?!"

Lyra suddenly rolled off the sofa, her knees hitting the coffee table hard.

She crawled toward me as if she couldn't feel the pain. Her bandages came loose, and blood dripped onto the hardwood floor like red rose petals. "Scarlett, it's my fault... don't blame Zan... please..."

"Get away from me." I stepped back.

Those hands could cut her own veins, and they could tear a person's life apart.

"Scarlett!" Zander scooped Lyra up and headed for the door. As he passed me, his voice was ice cold. "Don't you dare regret this!"

The door slammed shut. I knelt down to pick up the pieces of the photo. I didn't even feel it when the glass cut my finger.

Regret?

Not a chance.

My phone buzzed with a message from an unknown number. It was a photo.

In the picture, Zander was tenderly feeding Lyra water. Her head was tucked into his neck, a smirk of victory on her lips.

The caption from Lyra read: "Zan said he never loved you. He only married you to make me jealous."

I laughed out loud until my whole body shook.

The most brutal weapon wasn't self-harm. It was the truth.

I finished packing. In the hallway mirror, I saw how pale I had become.

I used to think I couldn't live without Zander. Now I realized that without the chains of this "love," the air was finally sweet.

I ran into Zander again at the bottom of the stairs.

He was alone, his eyes full of broken blood vessels.

"Scarlett," he said, grabbing my suitcase. "Don't go. Let's start over, okay?"

"Too late." I pulled my bag away. "Didn't you just tell me not to regret this?"

"I was just angry!" He pinned me against the wall, his hot breath hitting my face. "Lyra agreed to let go. She's going abroad for treatment. We can..."

"Zander," I poked his chest with my finger. "Do you think I care if she stays or goes? I care that every time she threw a tantrum, you stabbed me. You did it at the wedding, and you did it just now. Your love is too expensive. I can't afford it."

His hands dropped. He looked like the life had been sucked out of him. "I... I didn't know it would turn out like this..."

"You knew." I looked him in the eye. "From the first time you let her threaten me with her life, you knew this day would come."

A taxi pulled up. As I opened the door, Zander hugged me from behind, sobbing. "Scarlett, give me one more chance. Please..."

I pried his fingers off one by one, as if I were peeling a rotten orange. "Zander, you don't love me. You love how much I tolerated you. Now that I'm done, you'll just find someone else to suffer for you. Oh, wait," I looked back and smirked. "Lyra is already waiting."

Through the back window of the cab, I watched Zander stand there like an abandoned statue.

As he got smaller in the distance, I felt a weight lift off my chest.

My phone lit up one last time before I blocked the new number. "Scarlett, if you don't come back to me, I'm jumping!"

He sent a photo of himself standing on the roof of a shopping mall.

The height was terrifying.

I stared at the text, my fingers cold.

Maddie called me immediately, sounding panicked. "Scarlett, he posted it on social media! He said if you don't reply, he's jumping for real! Everyone is tagging you!"

I checked the app. Zander's post was at the top, geo-tagged at the mall.

The comments were exploding. Some told him to be calm; others called me heartless.

Lyra's burner account was in the comments with crying emojis. "Zan, don't do anything stupid..."

I gripped my phone and finally dialed the number.

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