Starcrossed

The world was barren of nearly all its resources. Centuries of humans taking had taken its toll on the planet. Now, once you turn 13, you must go farm to be able to provide for your family. Sometimes, you won’t see your loved ones for years on end, as you must travel to new places where there is no drought, or the soil is still fertile. But Romeo couldn’t care less about any of that, because Romeo was totally, utterly, and completely in love. Her name was Rosaline. Romeo could see it now for the next hundreds of years the names Romeo and Rosaline will be synonymous with boundless, eternal love. She was an incomparable beauty in a barren wasteland. They met while sending out money to the workers out farming for food and vegetables. Romeo was luckier than most, his family didn’t have to farm, in fact they had been able to hire people in order to take their place. He knew that he would spend the rest of his life with her. He would never love another woman in his life. Or so he thought until he saw…. her. Juliet. A true beauty with no equal.  

Juliet was unfortunately cursed with the ugliness of her last name…Capulet. This would simply not do as he was a Montague and Montagues, and Capulets did not get along. The Capulets were a horrid family who capitalized on the wastelands that had become of New Verona. If the Montagues were rich than the Capulets oozed money out their pores. They profited the most out of the workers in the farms. The Capulets and the Montagues were at constant war over who was the richest in New Verona, ever since he was a young boy, Romeo was told that he was a Montague and Montagues and Capulets do not get along. But he couldn’t imagine not getting along with such a beautiful girl.  

He watched her for a while longer before approaching her. “Hey, my name is Romeo. Romeo Montague.” He said with his most charming smile. Juliet stared at him with wide, curious eyes. She wore a beautiful dress with a heart shaped locket.  

“Montague?” she asked. Her voice was a sweet melody to his ears. He nodded before taking her hand to dance. They swayed to the music for a while, the entire time she fixed him with a hesitant look.

“You have a lot of boldness coming to dance with me, Montague.” She said, her voice carefully low.  

“Dancing with a beautiful lady does take a lot of courage so I guess you would have a point there.” Romeo responded.

Juliet blushed slightly but shook her head slightly. “You know that’s not what I meant; how did you get in here anyways?”

“I snuck in; you would think that a place with such precious cargo would have better security.” Romeo looked past Juliet for a moment and saw two men point not-so-discreetly at him. Those two men carefully approached him and before he knew it two arms were wrapped around him from behind.

“Stay away from my daughter!” said the man from behind him. Romeo expertly deduced that this was Juliet’s father. Pretty quickly, Romeo was on the stairs being kicked out of the party. “And stay out Montague!” Romeo could see Juliet linger in the corner of the doorway. Her immeasurable beauty erased whatever pain he was feeling from being thrown out on the cold, unforgiving, ground.

“Weren’t you just in love with some other chick? What was her name, Rosalie?” Romeo’s best friend Mercutio said after being told of this once in a lifetime experience.

“That was different, it was a childish love, I’ve matured since then. I now know what I want in a bride. I’m telling you Mer, Juliet’s my soulmate.” Mercutio rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, that’s real great and all but you’re never going to see this girl again.”

Romeo’s head shot towards his friend. “What do you mean I’m never going to see her again! What part of ‘Mer, Juliet’s my soulmate,’ do you not understand?”

“She’s a Capulet, and you’re a Montague.”

“I’ll show you; I’m going to visit her tonight at her home.” And that’s how Romeo ended up climbing up Juliet’s balcony. He saw her figure come near the balcony.

“Juliet!” Romeo whispered harshly.

“Montague! Do you know what my father would do if he found you here?”

“My love, the reward of seeing you in the moonlight was worth the risk. Venus herself would be jealous of your beauty.”  

“Why, Montague, how romantic.” Juliet said dryly.

“Please do not call me Montague, that’s my father, I’m Romeo. I’m also yours.” Juliet rolled her eyes, but the blush on her face was evident. Romeo moved before he could lose his nerve, quickly placing a kiss on her lips.

“Meet me in the woods at sundown tomorrow, beloved.” Romeo said before climbing down.

Romeo went to bed dreaming of Juliet. The next day was filled with anticipation of meeting with Juliet. He got Mercutio to cover for him with his family. He stayed out in the woods waiting carefully for Juliet’s arrival. Hours passed and he was just about to leave when he heard a tiny voice say, “Wait Romeo.”  

“Beloved!” He pulled Juliet into a tight embrace.  

“I’m sorry it took so long, I had to get away from my dad.”

“I would wait ten thousand sundown’s and ten thousand sunrises to see you.”

“Do you always talk like that?” Juliet said with a laugh.

“It’s not my fault that my love for you makes me want to sing to the world.”

“Well, you can’t exactly do that. Our families can’t stand each other.”

“You are as smart as you are beautiful, my love. What exactly should we do about this? Trust me, I would fight a thousand soldiers for us to have our freedom, but that does sound kind of painful.”

“I have an idea. Meet me in the caverns in two days and I promise that we can be together, forever.”

Two days could not seem to go by fast enough. Romeo snuck down to the caverns and what he saw he knew would haunt him for the rest of his days. His beautiful Juliet lay there dead. Romeo walked over to her body and sobbed. He raised his dagger from its sheath. “My sweet Juliet, I loved you from the moment that I first saw you. Your beauty was bar none. Your laugh, your smile, would light up my life for the short period of time that I knew you. I know now that I will never love another as I did you Juliet. So, I curse the cruel world that took you away from me. Curse you, world! And with that, I die.” And that he did.

Unfortunately, just as he did, Juliet awoke from her death-like state. As soon as she saw his lifeless body, she screamed. Juliet remembered her promise from two nights before and raised the dagger herself. Dying without uttering a single word. The Capulets and the Montagues found their bodies shortly after. And in respect of their respective grieving, they let go of their grudges against each other.