Rain

It rained that night.

For the first time since...

"Dearest Benvolio! Thou must join me in the celebration of this wondrous gift from the heavens!" Mercutio shouted to Benvolio from below his balcony. His friend just shook his head at the nearly soaking boy on the ground.

Benvolio leaned in the railing, getting wet himself but not anywhere close to the other boy, "Thou art a fool, and a drenched fool at that."

"Ay, but life is much more entertaining when thou lives it on a whim. I may be living the life of a fool but I am living a life of fun," Mercutio responded grandly, making a show out of it even though Benvolio was his only audience, "Come. Join me! Live life through mine own eyes! Laugh, be merry with me! Be a part of the joyous chorus of the night! I promise no harm shall come to thee, only excitement." And with that, Benvolio climbed down the vines of his balcony and spent the night in the rain with the boy he loved so dearly.

The rain washed the newly strewn blood off the streets, the blood of his friends, the blood of his lover.
The rain tried to wash away the pain, make it sting a little less and it almost worked. That is, until he remembered how fond the fallen had been of the rain. Benvolio guessed that it was supposed to be a comforting storm, he wanted to believe it was brought on by his lover from heaven. He had always been a religious man, believing in heaven and hell, unlike Mercutio. Mercutio...darling Mercutio. Daring Mercutio. Dead Mercutio.

Benvolio walked along the empty streets, his thick, wool, blood stained doublet now soaking with rain water. The blood was not his, another painful reminder of who was gone. There was not a care in his mind, his heart was broken, his limbs felt heavy, he could still feel the weight of his lover as he carried him away from the crowd. A thought crossed his mind, a simple solution to his suffering. A solution that would reunite with what he had lost. But then, a second contradicting thought appeared, what would Mercutio say? He would be disappointed in him no doubt, Benvolio hated anything but a smile on the other's face and a look of disappointment? Aimed towards him? He couldn't bear the thought.

He decided he would stay out in the rain a while longer, it's what his lover would have wanted. It's what his lover gave to him. One last present, telling him that it was okay. It was okay to cry. Benvolio's tears mixed with the heavy droplets from heaven. In the rain that night, he swore until his dying day, sixty years later, that he felt arms surrounding him, comforting him. Along with them, a three person chorus telling him that it was okay, that his loved ones were safe. And through the rest of his years, Benvolio would never forget that night. After that night, he never felt completely alone, he knew his lover, his cousin, and his aunt were all there to watch over him until it was time for him to join them.