Romeo loves Juliet

Quite the challenge

Prologue

Father Lorenzo was snoozing in his rocking chair in front of the little white church on the hill. If his eyes would have been open, he would have seen the town below. The town with her beautiful buildings, broad streets and white houses. Yes, it was a beautiful town, if it weren't for the blood that occasionally ran down the broad streets. Two families. One feud. We begin our drama. The stage is set.

Chapter one

Abraham Capulet looked over his shoulder. He was looking for a way to get away, to flee, but it seemed impossible. He felt fear paralyze his knees as he looked upon his attackers. Mercutio Montague looked at him with eyes that practically oozed hate. The terrified Abraham was still backing away, not aware that he was walking right into an alley.

'Look at that, Mercutio, our little mouse is scared…'

Abraham shivered as he heard that voice. He knew that voice. The knife Mercutio was holding scared him less than that voice. The silhouette belonging to that voice stepped into the light. He pulled up his lip as he smirked and looked down on the scared Capulet. Romeo Montague

'Well well well, it seems we haven't caught ourselves a mouse, but a rat. A filthy, Capulet rat.'

He took a step in Abraham's direction and the latter flinched, causing his attackers to laugh.

'Are you scared of me, rat? Do I scare you?' he smirked again and spit the boy in the face. The group of boys laughed again. One laugh sent a shiver down Abraham's spine. It was a high, childish laugh, followed by a remark in the same, eerie childlike voice.

'Stab him, Mercutio, come on. I am bored, I want to see blood.'

'Especially Capulet-blood,' Mercutio with his knife said. He licked his lips and walked towards the soon to be victim. He tried to crawl away, but soon hit a wall. An alley? He had walked himself into an alley? He felt the tears burn behind his eyes. Mercutio placed the knife gently on Abraham's throat and drew an invisible line on it.

'Time to say goodnight, you little rat… Why not sing him a lullaby, Benvolio' the boy that had spat said to the person with the childlike voice that was hiding in the shadows. After a chuckle, the high voice began singing the same lullaby his mother used to sing to him. The tears now ran over his cheeks, much to the other boy's delight. The boy finished the lullaby and Mercutio was still caressing his neck with the knife.

Suddenly, Abraham felt a searing pain and knew his skin was broken. The boy that scared him that much bowed over him and winked. Then everything faded to black and he floated to where no living soul has ever been.

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Her cheeks had turned red of sheer delight. She danced in the arms of her father, across the entire dance floor. All the guests applauded and laughed. When the song was over and the band started playing another one, she let go of her father. He looked at her with a gleam of pride in his eyes. His daughter had turned into a beautiful young woman. She curtsied. He bowed and she ran away to dance with one of her cousins, Tybalt.

'Hello, Tybalt,' Juliet said to her cousin, as he accepted her invitation to dance. 'How is your mother doing.' Tybalt shook his head and let Juliet spin around before he caught her again. 'I want you to meet someone,' he whispered in her ear as he dipped her. Juliet frowned and replied as soon as she came back up again. 'I don't want to be set up with any of your friends from university, Tybalt. I told you the last three times.' Tybalt protested. 'He is different, Juliet, you'll love him, believe me. We can go see him if you want to.' Juliet looked up and stopped the dancing. 'Tybalt Capulet, you are not going to tell me that you brought this boy along. This is my birthday!' Tybalt grabbed her by her arm and pulled her off the dance floor, towards one of the tables that were set up in the garden.

'Look, see that one, over there.' Juliet followed his finger and saw the back of what appeared to be a slender boy. 'The one in blue?' she whispered and Tybalt nodded. Then he pushed her of the chair and said that she should go over and introduce herself. She sighed and figured that talking to him wouldn't hurt. She walked up to the table with the food where the boy was standing. She pulled her dress straight and coughed. The boy turned around. Nothing in his face seemed to match. His eyes were too close to his nose, his mouth was crooked and he had freckles. She smiled her fake smile and stuck out her hand. 'My name is Juliet Capulet, I'm Tybalt's cousin and the birthday girl.'

He took her hand. His hand was sweaty and he wasn't very good at shaking hands. She pulled her hand back. 'My name is Paris. I'm Tybalt's guest.' Juliet kept the fake smile up when she heard his voice. It was shaky. Actually, Paris was shaky all over. His sweaty hand, his voice and his knees. Suddenly, he took her hand again. Juliet was shocked, a emotion that only got greater as he pulled her towards the rosebushes. He picked a rose and gave it to her. She took it.

'Th-thank you, Paris…' she said, hoping her voice wasn't letting through what she was really feeling. 'You…like it?' he asked, hopefully. Juliet looked at her shoes, trying not to look him in the face. 'It's a nice rose, yes, thank you.' Something in that little sentence gave Paris the impression that Juliet was interested in him, because he leaned in to give her a kiss. Juliet screamed and hit the boy on the head with the rose.

'How dare you! You…you…swine! Go kiss a pig or a frog, or at least something that looks more like yourself!' She stormed off, leaving Paris dumbfounded. She grabbed Tybalt by the ear, dragged him inside and threw him on the sofa. Tybalt noticed that she looked like she was swelling up.

'I HATE YOU TYBALT CAPULET! WHATEVER MADE YOU THINK I COULD BE INTERESSTED IN SOMETHING LIKE THAT? HE ACTUALLY TRIED TO KISS ME, TYBALT!' she had to stop screaming because her voice was starting to get sore, but she believed it sufficed and she had gotten her message home. Tybalt tried to reason with her, but Juliet was beside herself with rage. Then the music stopped. Surprise took over the anger and Juliet walked back outside. She saw two of her cousins, Eric and Samson, carrying the body of another one of her cousins. Tybalt came standing behind her. A woman ran up to the body, screaming and crying.

'Auguste!' her husband said, and tried to pull her back but Juliet's father stopped him. The whole garden watched as the mother cried over her son. The two boys that had carried the body came in with gloomy faces. They placed a bronze coin on the table, looked at Tybalt who drew the conclusion. He picked up the coin and it seemed as if he was trying to pulverize it. Juliet got it now too. It had been the Montagues