My Heart Turned Red
Chapter 12: Love Beats Hate
Author's note:
I'M BACK! I HOPE I'M NOT TOO LATE. I AM UPDATING SOONER THAN LAST TIME.
We got 11 reviews! OH MY GOD THAT'S WONDERFUL! Also, for those of you that don't know, I need at least 6 reviews before starting another chapter alright? Seems fair? Good, very good.
Disclaimer: I own Gnomeo and Juliet on DVD proudly! I wish that owned more than that but... oh, well.
I heard her crying and it broke my heart so much. As a single tear ran down my face in guilt, I still couldn't believe I even considered betraying the one I love. I had promised myself to never hurt her and now I had hurt her in the worst way possible. I told myself that I wasn't going to let the feud get in the way of our love and I had broken that promise. Today had been the happiest day of my life and now it's filled with the most agonizing pain that I have felt since the day I lost my father. I never thought I would feel this amount of pain for anyone again, but she means more to me than anybody. I had to explain things to her even though I knew that she probably wouldn't listen to me, in fact, I'm probably the last person that she wants to see now. I can't lose Juliet otherwise, I think that I would not be able to go on with my life. I had already said that a life without her isn't much of a life at all. That's why I'm going to try with every ounce of strength that I have to try to tell her the truth about what happened and how I had made the worst mistake possible. The problem is that I realized how awful the mistake was when it was too late to take it back. I can't explain to you readers the amount of disgust and hate I feel towards myself. I had betrayed not only my mother but also the girl I love. I could not hate myself anymore than how I hate myself in this moment. I had no idea how I was going to try to fix this, or if it was even possible. Shroom nudged me.
"Gnomeo, you hurt her really badly. You need to try to explain things before this whole thing falls apart," Shroom said.
Shroom may not seem like it, but he could be considered to be wiser than any Gnome in either garden.
Where do I even start? Juliet, I know how bad it looks but you need to understand. I only did it to try to cover for us and I couldn't say no to them when they forced me into the situation. If I hadn't, they would've known that something was wrong and that would've caused more problems. I felt ashamed for what Tybalt and his crew took away from my garden and what my father spent most of his last years creating. And also, I didn't want them to come after you. I know it seems awful but I wanted to protect you by doing this. I realize that it was a mistake and I realize that I don't want to be the Blue Garden's revenge captain anymore. Why? Because I love you and I want to be with you.
I know that she's probably not going to even listen to me but I still have to try.
I wiped my tears away and ran after the girl that I had betrayed to try explain things to her. I ran through the entrance to the Lawrence Garden, desperate to find her. I looked everywhere that my eyes could look and still no luck. I looked desperately through the bushes and leaves and still, I couldn't find the person that I was looking for. As I was about to run to the greenhouse, I realized that that wouldn't be necessary as the hurt girl came into my line of vision. The only thing was that she didn't realize it. I felt a wave of relief and dread come over me as seeing her.
"Juliet!"
She turned around and saw me and I saw the hurt and anger in her eyes. As I looked at her, I was reminded that she had been crying only moments before.
"Stay away from me, you..you.. YOU LIAR!" she yelled at me before running away in the opposite direction.
I knew she was angry but I couldn't let that affect me too much. I had to get this out to her or this might really end. I began running after her.
"Juliet, listen to me..." I said, running after her.
She ran along one of the overgrown roots coming out of the ground and I could tell she was doing this in an attempt to get rid of me. I already knew that this conversation was not going to be easy for either one of us, but that I had to keep trying. I was becoming desperate at this point. She kept running away but she kept yelling her words of hate at me, nonetheless.
"So, everything you said, everything you told me that you felt, was that all just a lie?" Juliet demanded, walking away from me again.
No, everything I said was completely true and I meant every word I said. I would never lie to her about this. I may have betrayed her but the one thing I didn't do was lie about how I felt about her. I tried lying to myself about that and I couldn't even convince myself of changing my feelings. If I lied to her, would I be here trying to fix things? Would I be trying so hard to be with her if I had lied? I felt myself wishing that she would see these things and in turn, I felt my internal frustration kicking in, which caused me to lose focus and control of my words.
"Oh come on, Juliet!" I pleaded. "It's not as bad as all that!"
Juliet turned back to me, more angry than before and it terrified me enough for me to step back.
"Is that your big move on a second date?" she yelled. "You wine 'em, dine 'em, and then spray 'em with weed killer?"
She gestured to the position she had found me in when I was about to ruin her mother's tulips. I felt the guilt come back to me again and I was trying to make light of the situation, hoping that she would as well. It turned out that this was an incredibly stupid idea.
"You've got to admit, it is original," I said.
When out of nowhere, Featherstone came by the root and was the only one in the situation who was calm and happy to see us back so soon.
"Hola! My fellow funsters are back already!" he said happily.
I wished that I was of the same mindset as him and would have been a gentleman and acknowledged that he was there, but I had something more important on my hands: repairing the problem that Juliet and I had run into. I remembered that I had to try to explain to her what happened so that she could understand. Unfortunately, my panic kicked in and I let the wrong words come out and make me look worse in her eyes than I had already been.
"Juliet! Be reasonable!" I begged, walking after her again. "I didn't have a choice after incident Wisteria," I said, gesturing back to our gardens and pushing through these thick bushes to have my voice heard. "How do you think that looks? Just a toliet in the middle of the yard with nothing growing out of it?"
Smooth, Gnomeo, just like butter. You've never been good with words with this girl and now is when it gets you.
Juliet in response grabbed a branch and let it fling back intentionally to hit me in the face. She succeeded in doing so and it hurt as well as annoyed me. Wow, Gnomeo. You couldn't have screwed that up worse than you did.
I knew I was losing her and I was getting more frustrated and angry at her. The two emotions that I didn't expect to ever feel towards her and I felt them and it was clouding my resolve and my judgement. When I got mad, I couldn't think things through and I just let it completely take over. I was trying to fight it, though her words and inability to listen to me was slowly making me as mad as a hatter.
"Ugh! You blues are so infuriating!" she yelled.
And with just those words, I felt the anger and rage completely take over and I felt compelled to actually scream. How dare she insult my family. How dare she insult me after all I have done for her and everything that I have risked in order to be with her. Did she honestly think I wouldn't feel angry or insulted at this remark? She was dead wrong. After the conversation and happiness we had earlier, I thought she would've known better. I thought wrong.
"Wait a minute! US BLUES?" I demanded, feeling the heat she so kindly transferred to me.
She turned around to face me dead on. If it's a fight she wanted, she got one. But then Featherstone got in between us, and we just completely ignored him.
"So, what you guys want to do?" he asked.
Juliet held up her hand to get Featherstone to leave. "Featherstone, we're busy!"
I wish I had taken notice at Featherstone's efforts to break up our fight. As I said before, when I am angry, I don't even consider what is going on outside of the fight. I don't take notice of what is going on or how the fight might affect the people involved. This is something I would regret immensely and also be grateful for in this situation later on in my life.
"Come on, guys! Let us have some fun...!" he said happily, trying again to break up the fight and getting closer to me in the process.
But I couldn't be bothered with his attempts and I pushed him out of my way to face the lady in question. I was furious with her and her selfishness. Sure I had betrayed her, but I was unbelievably sorry and I was trying to make ammends for what I did. I walked out on the mission for her because I had chosen her over the old me that wanted to do nothing but hate and marry revenge for all he cared. Did she even understand what I just gave up for her? I gave up my life's work for a potential happiness with her: the only girl that I have loved unconditionally. I was beyond livid and so I went in for the attack.
"Well let me tell you something about YOU REDS!" I yelled back.
I knew that would make her angry. You insult my family and I insult yours.
"US REDS?" she screamed. I was ready to face her down in this and I was not going down that easily.
"Oh, can't we just laugh about this?" Featherstone said with some form of desperateness in his voice, holding up Shroom in the process. "I know your little Mushroom dude can! HEHE! HEHE!"
And just like that, my anger and frustration came flooding out of my body as if a damn had broken and let all the water out. My rage was at high levels and I could barely even take it and unfortunately, I took it out on the one person who saw reason in this situation and was trying to talk Juliet and I out of it. With both of us angry, we both just exploded at poor Featherstone.
"FEATHERSTONE!" we both yelled.
"We're in the middle of something!" I yelled. "Do you mind?"
"You wouldn't understand, alright?" Juliet corresponded. "So just leave us alone."
These words completely destroyed the fun loving and cheerful friend of ours. His smile vanished and he looked like the saddest and most miserable creature I have ever seen in my life. He slumped down and I saw that he gave up.
"Right. I'm sorry."
He turned away to leave and I felt the anger leaving my body. The anger was replaced with guilt. I hadn't meant for this to get so out of control or to take this out of him. He prepared to leave and then turned back to us.
"You know, sometimes, I get a little...overexcited...Especially having such great new friends...like you!" he said hopefully but then quickly returned to being sad and dropped his head down. "But I know I can be a bit..uh...much..."
And with these words, he slowly walked away in sadness.
I looked back and Juliet and I saw the guilt in her eyes and she regretted our actions towards Featherstone as much as I did. We both decided, without any words, that the best thing to do was to repair things with Featherstone. I turned and yelled after him.
"Wait, Featherstone! Hey!"
"Come back, Featherstone!" Juliet said, sadly. "I'm sorry."
Juliet ran forward and Shroom and I followed after her until we found the shack that we had found Featherstone in only this morning. I couldn't believe my actions towards our friend and I wanted to apologize profusely. I opened the door to the shed fully and saw what Featherstone had been doing the last twenty years in this shed. I felt an emptiness and overwhelming sadness within this shed. I then saw the wall, full of pictures, stamps, play and movie tickets among other things. But what stood out to me the most was the picture in the center. It was of a beautiful house and garden with a couple in the picture. To the normal eye, you would've noticed the people as the most important. But if you looked closer, you saw two pink flamingos and you recognized one of them as your friend, Featherstone.
I looked back at her and I wanted to apologize again for how I had acted. I regretted getting so angry over nothing and I hated fighting with her because it just hurt so much. A shadow then appeared before us and Featherstone slowly entered the shack with Shroom behind him. I looked back at the picture and I was curious as to whether or not it was him in the picture. My thoughts were then comfirmed when Featherstone looked at the photo and smiled the saddest smile that you could ever see.
"I may not be a smart bird," he said. "But I know what love is."
At long last, Juliet and I learned the tragic love story of the Lawrences that tore Featherstone away from his love.
It all began twenty years ago when the Lawrences lived here. There was once a beautiful house and an even more splendid garden that existed here twenty years ago. This house and garden were owned by the Lawrences, who were very happy together and at one point, loved and cherished each other very much. Unbeknownst to them, there was another happy couple living there that was madly in love as well. That was Featherstone and his wife that he loved more than anything in the world. They had been together before the Lawrences had even decided to buy them. For many years, the Lawrences were very happy and to Featherstone and his wife, this meant that the couples would stay together forever.
But sadly, they were completely wrong.
Soon afterwards, the Lawrences started to have problems which caused their marriage and their love to fall apart. The problems were so great that they couldn't try to look past them and try to remember the great and beautiful love that they shared. The day came when it was just too much for both of them and with Mr. Lawrence's "I've had it" Featherstone and his wife knew that their great happiness was about to come to an end. And it did when moving day came and Mrs. Lawrence took all of her belongings with her, including Featherstone's wife. As soon as the moving van drove away, Featherstone knew he would never see her again. After she was gone, Mr. Lawrence took all of the remaining lawn knick-knacks and placed them into a shed, Featherstone included. As the years went by, weeds grew, the house a wreck and ruined and Featherstone remained there for twenty years.
He looked at the house everyday, being constantly reminded of the great love he had and had lost.
After the story was finished, Featherstone brought us to the site where the Lawrences used to live. It amazed me to think that such happiness existed there at one point. The house was dark and ruined, and looked as if sadness had completely infected it. I felt horrible about how he had been suffering for all of these years by himself. I knew what he was trying to tell us as well.
"You know...other people's hate destroyed my love and...I couldn't do nothing about it.." he said sadly and then turned to us. "But you...you can."
I placed my hand on Featherstone's back to show I cared and he smiled back sadly.
I can't believe I was about to throw away the single greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Juliet was the sun and moon and the stars to me. Without her, I was incomplete and a soul lost in darkness and despair. Without her, I would've continued living in hate and anger willingly without ever having a life of love and happiness. Without her with me, I am nothing. She was my love and my greatest happiness. I loved her more than anything and I didn't give a damn if she was a Red. I don't care anymore and honestly, I don't why I thought it mattered. We love each other more than anything else and that's why we shouldn't let hate get in the way of how we feel towards one another. I don't want us to end up like the Lawrences: full of hate, bitterness, and living a life completely devoid of love. Yesterday I wanted revenge. Today, I wanted to live a life with Juliet in a place where no one would judge us on what color our hats were or what garden we came from. I'm so sick of lying to myself and to everyone. I loved her and I no longer wanted to hide how I felt by feelings that weren't real. I am fed up with this feud and hate keeping us from being together. I want to build a life with her by my side and I wanted to spend every single day with her and tell her how much I love her. We can't do that back home and I don't know about her, but I don't want to hide how I feel anymore.
I had a crazy idea. I don't know how she's going to take it but it's the only shot we have.
I pulled her aside to tell her of my crazy plan.
"You know, I think that pink crazy plastic bird might be right!" I said. "What if we never went back?"
I heard Featherstone gasp happily at the idea, but I saw very clearly that she was aprehensive of the idea.
"Never go back?" she said worriedly. "But what about my dad? And Nanette? And the Red Garden?"
I knew how she felt and I knew that I was asking a lot of her. By making this decision, I was giving up a lot as well. My friends, my family, Benny and Shroom, my loving and beautiful mother, and the only life I had ever known for her. I was ready to give all of that up for her because I wanted a place where no one would judge us and where our love would be respected and accepted. I wanted her and her alone. Sure, I'd miss everyone and I'd miss Benny and Shroom and my mother, but if I had Juliet with me, then I could face anything. I smiled to show her that I was very serious.
"You see the truth is, over there we're enemies. But here, here we're a matching pair!"
I grabbed her hands in my own and smiled at her and she in turn, smiled at me. I was then ready to ask her the question that I had wanted to ask her since the day I met her. I got down on one knee, still holding her hands and asked:
"Juliet, will you stay here and build a garden with me?"
And without even a second thought, she replied:
"I'd love to."
Shroom then nudged up against Juliet, holding the very Cupid's Arrow Orchid that had brought us together. It was almost as if Shroom was giving us his blessing with this. Shroom, my best and loyal friend, now fully understood us and was willing to give me up to Juliet and keep our secret. She took her hands out of mine and took the Orchid from Shroom. This flower had brought us together and made us fall in love and now would be the start of our new life together, away from hate and destruction. We then found some soil and planted the orchid back in the ground. She grabbed my hands and we stood up together, hands touching, palm to palm. This was our vow to each other: to love each other through the good and the bad and never give up on our love, no matter how bad things get. This was our life now and I had no regrets. I finally had the person I loved and now that I had her, I would never let her go.
I smiled at her, getting lost in those glowing emerald eyes that I had fallen in love with. I lost track of time and reality. She smiled back at me and clutched my hands tightly and leaned forward to kiss me. I leaned forward to return it and then I heard the one voice that I didn't want to hear.
"GNOMEO!"
I flashed back to reality because I knew that voice all too well. It was Benny and I turned to see his face of shock and disgust and confusion.
The secret was out now.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" he screamed and even though I know it wouldn't do any good, I needed to try and explain things to him. I held onto her hand as I made my attempt.
"Benny. Listen mate, I can explain..." But Benny wasn't having any of it and he ran away. "Benny! BENNY! WAIT!"
My hand fell out of hers and I looked back at her sad expression. I grabbed her hands again, knowing that I had to stop Benny before things get more out of hand.
"What will we do now?" Juliet said sadly.
"I'm going to stop Benny before anything gets out of hand," I said, seeing the horror and fear on her face as I said these words.
"No! You can't!"
"Don't worry! I'll be back!" I said, and then I kissed her cheek and ran off after Benny.
"Benny! Wait! I can explain!" I yelled.
I chased after him in a hurry and in a last attempt to save the life I so desperately wanted to share with Juliet.
That's it! Hope you enjoyed it! I'm trying to get back into writing again so I hope that this chapter was ok!
Next Chapter: The dreaded smashing scene and the lovers are discovered!
I spent five hours writing this for you guys! I've gotten out of my writer's block and now that I have more time on my hands, I think I'll be updating a lot quicker than I have been.
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Until Next time!
Signed
kagomehater4ever
