Verona Beach, February 1966
"We should never have done it-" said Mr Capulet as he paced nervously across the small basement his steps jittery yet desperately trying to elude confidence.
Mr Montague sighed from his awkward perched position on the hard plastic lab stool. His elbow rested on his crossed knees as he sat there hunched over pressing his cheek into his palm, distorting the right side of his face into a mess of mushed skin.
"You know we needed the money-" he retorted to his childhood companion.
"But it wasn't worth it-" Mr Capulet interjected a hint of despair edging into his tone.
Mr Montague had now unravelled from his previous contortion and sat with his back straight as he desperately attempted to look prim and proper like a businessman of his standing should.
"It was worth it until this moment in time! Think about what we've done for our families, for their future-" Montague argued.
Mr Capulet had stopped pacing and turned to face his friend anger boiling deep within the confines of his soul.
"What about our future? Did you forget about us?" questioned Capulet.
"Stop panicking, everything is going to be okay-" Montague said gesturing wildly in an attempt to get his point across.
"EVERYTHING IS SO FAR FROM OKAY!" Capulet screamed. The desperation was real now.
"Calm down and shut up." Montague responded his tone even and threatening.
"CALM DOWN?! WE ARE GOING TO GO TO PRISON AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Capulet spat out. He was edging closer to Montague, fists clenched and white-knuckled at his sides, but he restrained himself from throwing the first punch.
Montague rose from his seat and stood toe to toe with Capulet. He was three inches taller but far skinnier, if a fight broke out; he knew he would be the one to lose. However this did nothing to console his growing anger at whom he would have formerly called a best friend.
"DON'T YOU DARE LAY THE BLAME ON ME! DO YOU THINK THAT I WANT TO GO TO JAIL? I AM GOING TO HAVE A CHILD, I WAS HAPPY UNTIL YOU DRAGGED ME BACK INTO THIS FREAK SHOW." Montague screeched in response.
"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO GOT US INVOLVED IN THE FIRST PLACE!" Capulet's voice boomed showing just how far they had come from their innocent days of their youth.
"THIS IS THE VERONA P.D! OPEN THE DOOR OR WE'LL OPEN IT FOR YOU."
Capulet and Montague both flinched, their heads snapping towards the door in fear.
"Shi-"
"Don't swear, please, you know I don't like it." Montague uttered, his pent up anger evaporating in an instant as his ego deflated and he crashed back to reality.
"What are we going to do?" Capulet said his voice weak and hysterical.
Capulet looked to Montague but he would not meet his gaze, instead he focused on a chemical stain that had lingered on the floor despite their best efforts when the incident had occurred.
"Even if we can find a way out of here, they'll never stop looking for us; it'll tear our families apart both physically and mentally." Montague said his eyes remaining on the floor unmoving.
"We could flee to Mantua?" Capulet provided weakly.
"And then what?" Montague's head snapped up as he locked eyes with Capulet. The all too familiar anger was returning.
"Spend the rest of our lives away from our families and on the run? It would kill our companies, legal teams would tear them apart; our pregnant wives would be sent into the workplace!" Montague continued his anger turning into despair.
"Wait…they don't have any actual proof that we have been mass producing speed, we stopped years ago; this…this is the only lab we have left!" Capulet announced.
Montague sat back down on his lab stool hunching over and resting his head in his hands.
"So? All it takes is one lab to prove that we've cooked methamphetamines." He mumbled from behind his palms.
"No…not if the lab isn't here anymore…not if we destroy it." Capulet exclaimed.
Montague looked up exasperated and mouth agape.
"We couldn't possibly find a way to destroy the lab with us still unharmed, plus we have the cops knocking on our door." Montague berated as if explaining something to an infant child.
"But we could…you know go down with our ship…" Capulet muttered barely above a whisper.
"Oh…" Montague said his eyebrows shooting up to his hairline.
"Yeah…"
Capulet dragged out another lab stool in order to sit across from his friend.
"How?" Montague asked suddenly intrigued at the idea of this seemingly morbid plan.
"Well we have the lab…so I was thinking…" Capulet continued seeming less and less sure of himself.
"What like make a bomb?" Montague whispered. He was on the edge of his seat now.
"Yeah…" Capulet muttered his eyes finding the same chemical stain that Montague had been staring at earlier.
"With what? We don't exactly have the engineering expertise…" Montague trailed off.
"I know, but we maybe we don't need all the fancy stuff…we know our chemistry, what if we just needed friction, or a shock?" Capulet said switching back to his usual confident self.
Montague's eyes widened remembering the prank that had ultimately gotten them expelled. See there are consequences to obliterating your school's only science laboratory.
"What like use fulminated mercury?"
"Yeah actually, that would work perfectly-" Capulet said with a mischievous grin.
"If we make enough that is." Montague cut in.
"We better get started then."
The laboratory was set up in the basement of an old abandoned house and had been the first of many that they had created in 1960. Their companies were not making enough, they needed money to make money, so Mr Montague and Mr Capulet had banded together as they used to back in school to concoct a money-making scheme to fuel their profits. They had become quite adept at money laundering.
However after three years of running their successful joint business, one of their labs in west Verona was busted by the cops. They had been lucky that none of the lab assistants had ratted and there wasn't any incriminating evidence that could be traced back to them, but nevertheless they had decided to close up shop, destroying all of their labs but one out of pure sentiment.
A sensible decision had turned into their worst mistake thanks to that sentiment.
Neither Montague nor Capulet knew how the police had found out, but they had. Turns out after three years in prison that one lab assistant finally decided to let the cat out of the bag.
Perhaps running right into their incriminating evidence wasn't the brightest idea, but they had panicked and in their haste forgotten that their safe house still held a meth lab.
"Okay so now we add the nitric acid."
Montague and Capulet had set up four simmering pots of mercury over several Bunsen burners suspended by giant tripods. It almost looked as if they were cooking pasta or a stew of some sort. They were well equipped with goggles, respirators, and bright yellow rubber gloves.
Capulet added the nitric acid to the pots and Montague kept stirring two pots while Capulet continued stirring one.
They continued to slowly heat the mixture until the mercury dissolved causing the solution to turn green and boil.
"Alright time to add the ethanol." Capulet announced.
They both paused to check that their respirators were secured on tightly, one slip and they wouldn't need the bomb to kill them.
Montague turned off the gas causing the flames to wink out of existence, before Capulet added the ethanol causing the solution to emit rustic red and brown fumes. Very toxic and very flammable fumes.
They moved to sit down, everything had been added and they would have to wait over half an hour before the reaction would be complete, instead they busied themselves barricading the door; the police hadn't been joking when they had said that they would open it for them.
"Do you think we should tell them?" Montague said his voice barely audible and muffled by the respirator.
"Tell them what?" Capulet replied in a similar tone.
"Tell them to leave."
"As if they would! The whole point of this is because they wouldn'tleave!" Capulet attempted to raise his voice but it remained quiet and muffled.
"But I kind of feel bad, they could be injured in the blast…" Montague trailed off.
Capulet paused deep in thought. Montague was right and he knew it.
"They wouldn't listen, but don't worry, you know the lab is well insulated, the blast should be contained inside the room."
"I hope you're right." replied Montague.
They sat uncomfortably on the stools until the fumes changed to a clear white colour. It was almost beautiful. The white fumes signalled that the reaction was near completion and that it was time to add the distilled water, and then wait another ten more minutes.
They waited and waited, knowing that they were waiting for death.
After ten minutes, they went to filter out the crystals. They needed not dispose of the excess solution. Disposing of corrosive and toxic substances tended not to be too high on your priority list when you were effectively committing suicide.
They washed the crystals in distilled water, determined to remove as much excess acid as possible before checking that they were neutral using litmus paper.
Then it was done and they sat there with a huge amount of fulminated mercury crystals, ready to explode on a moment's notice.
Capulet removed his respirator and Montague followed suit. Their eyes locked, both filled with sorrow and regret.
"I'm sorry Capulet."
"Don't be."
They sat in silence for a few more minutes. Just a few more minutes of contemplation before they took their lives.
"There is nothing left to say now." Montague said as tears gathered in his eyes, tears that he would not let spill.
"I'm glad, because if I'm going to die with anybody…I am glad that it'll be you." Capulet replied his voice wavering.
"It's time." said Montague.
"It is time." said Capulet.
Together they each took handfuls of the fulminated mercury ensuring that every piece found its way into one of their hands.
"Goodbye…old friend." stated Capulet.
"Goodbye…." uttered Montague.
In unison they brought their hands up into the air above their heads before throwing the crystals with as much force as they could muster towards the linoleum floor.
The subsequent blast obliterated the entire house along with all of its occupants.
There were no bodies to be buried, nothing could be recovered and therefore, no evidence was found against Mr Montague nor Mr Capulet. Mrs Montague and Mrs Capulet however were quite less than pleased to learn of the death of their husbands.
Mrs Montague mourned for two months and twenty-seven days. She then went into labour and produced a baby boy. Her grief quickly turned to anger against the Capulet family, for she had convinced herself that Mr Capulet had always been the one to instigate the devious duo's pranks in high school, and therefore this must have been his fault.
Mrs Capulet mourned for three months and thirteen days. Then she also went into labour except instead of a boy, she produced a baby girl. Her grief was not as easily quelled, however she also came to a similar conclusion to Mrs Montague, however she consider Mr Montague to be the master-mind of the plot and therefore regarded the incident as being his fault.
However their hatred never exploded violently, instead they put all of their efforts into their businesses, becoming business rivals in the process. At least this gave them an excuse to tell their children when they asked why they were to never interact with the opposing family and why said family was the most evil and conniving thing to ever disgrace Verona Beach and the world.
Thus the rivalry was born.
Mrs Montague's son was named Ted Montague, and went on to father Romeo Montague.
Mrs Capulet's daughter was named Gloria Capulet, and went on to give birth to Juliet Capulet.
Little did they know of the grief and despair that their petty hatred would cause the Montagues and Capulets of the future.
THE END