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William was furious. Anne had only been helping him rewrite the ending of Romeo and Juliet for a few days, but somehow she had already managed to ruin his plans. Juliet had run off to Paris with her friends and had recently started a relationship with some French boy that William could tell was in love with May from the moment the two of them had met. But luckily, for his story’s sake, William had been able to take back his quill and was currently planning how to put things back on the right track.
“You may have brought Juliet and her ‘friends’ to the City of Love, but I will bring her husband back!” William dipped his quill in ink and then began to write on the paper on his desk. “And so, in order to save his Juliet from a doomed relationship with a French man with a terrible secret, Romeo Montague is . . . alive!”
As usual, nothing visibly magical happened, but William felt in his soul that something had changed, that his story’s hero had been brought back. He waited for a few moments, hoping to see Romeo crash through the door, saying something like “I’m back from the dead, it’s super dope”, but nothing happened. A horrible thought crossed William’s mind. He had written that Romeo would come back to life, but he had given no other details. What if the quill had brought Romeo back, but kept him in the same place he was when he died? William shot up from his chair, pushing the table away from him.
“I have to help Romeo!” He gasped, grabbing the quill and rushing out of his office and down the stairs of the home. William ran outside and to the stables, throwing on the jacket that he had grabbed from its hook next to the door. When he threw open the stable doors his horse started in surprise, but William paid him no mind as he started to get the tack onto Barbary, not bothering with anything unnecessary and instead only securing the saddle. “Come on Barbary, we’re going back to Verona.” The man pulled on the reins and the horse cantered out of the stables, causing the other horses to whinny and paw at the ground. “Hurry Barbary!” He nudged his heels into the horse, urging him to move faster. “The quill can only make this journey go so quickly, you must put at least some effort into it!” Barbary let out a huff but galloped a little faster than before.
Thankfully, the trip seemed to pass in mere moments, but William hardly noticed, his thoughts entirely focused on Romeo. It was the dead of night in Verona, so no one would see William breaking into the tomb to free the undead young man.
“Now I just need some help, the stone will be impossible to move by myself,” William pulled his quill, a small vial of ink, and one of the many notebooks he had stuffed into his satchel. “And then Benvolio appeared to aid Shakespeare on his quest”, he muttered as he scratched the words into the paper.
“Sir William!” The young man had shown up almost instantly, stopping in front of Barbary.
“Benvolio!”
“Yes, Sir William?”
“Come with me, we must help Romeo!”
“Uh, good sir, Romeo is dead, remember?” William grabbed Benvolio’s arm and began pulling him in the direction of the crypt’s entrance.
“He’s not, he’s alive! There was a mistake with the poison that only made him fall into a deep sleep for a few days, and now he’s awake.” Benvolio gasped.
“Then that means . . .”
“Yes, he’s trapped in the tomb right now, which is why you have to help me. Come on!” This time, when William ran toward the tomb, Benvolio followed right behind him. They hurried down the empty hallway, footsteps echoing on the stone. When they arrived at the tomb, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary, the stone unmoved and the rays of light from the window still shining light into the room.
“Help!”
“Did you hear that?” Benvolio shook his head.
“Help!” The cry was barely a whisper, but William was certain that he had heard it and felt his heart ache at the pain in the voice.
“Romeo, Romeo, it’s okay, we’re here to help you!” William yelled, hoping that his voice wasn’t too muffled through the tomb. He ran over to the tomb and started to push the tomb’s stone cover, struggling to even make it budge an inch. “Benvolio! Come on, help me!” Said man was staring at the tomb in horror, eyes wide.
“But . . . but . . .”
“Yes, Benvolio, he was dead. But now he’s not and we need to help him. We’ve been over this So get over here and start pushing!” The man ran over and took his place next to William, pushing the stone with all of his might.
Finally, the tomb’s cover began to slide. Both the men jumped back when a hand shot out, grasping at the air.
“Dear Lord,” Benvolio whispered as Shakespeare grabbed the hand and helped Romeo emerge from the tomb, still dressed in the outfit he had been wearing when he had died.
“It’s okay, you’re safe,” When William took Romeo’s hands in his, he saw that the poor boy’s fingers were dirty with dirt and blood, proof of his desperate attempts to free himself from the coffin. He also noted that his hands were trembling, even when William gave them a gentle squeeze.
“But I died,” Romeo whispered. “I remember it, the pain, it was horrible.” William took Romeo into his arms, holding him tightly as the young man sobbed into his chest.
“I am so sorry, Romeo, it wasn’t meant to be like this,” he murmured. “You and Juliet should have been together as Fate wanted it.” Suddenly Romeo pulled away and stared at William. “What is it?”
“Juliet?” He whispered with a slight wince at what William imagined was the pain in his throat. “Where is she?”
“She’s in Paris, Romeo. Now here,” William handed the young man a drink, “I got this from the apothecary, a drink to help you regain your strength.” He watched as Romeo took the vial from his hands and slowly poured it down his throat, body relaxing at the soothing liquid.
“Thank you,” Romeo rasped, handing the empty vial back to William, who pocketed it.
“Of course, anything to help you.”
“So Juliet. My wife. She’s alive?”
“Yes, Romeo, she’s alive.”
“But I saw her body here, in the tomb.”
“You drank the poison you bought from the apothecary, but Juliet had only used a draught to make herself appear dead. She woke up and saw your body and was going to join you in death but she ran away to Paris to escape her parents.”
“So I did die.”
“Yes.” Romeo frowned at his response.
“Then how am I alive? The poison I drank was true, no?”
“It was, but Fate herself decided to bring you back. She knows that Juliet is in trouble. Now, you must go find her and save her from making a terrible mistake.” Romeo looked up at him.
“Thank you, Sir William, but how will we get to Paris?”
“Don’t worry about that, Romeo. Let’s get you cleaned up and then we’ll figure out what comes next.” Romeo nodded and let William help him up off of the floor, leading him out of the crypt and into his new life.