Juliet Rising

Chapter 1

Fair Verona was a city of ringing bells, a city follow of winding rivers and canals. Of busy markets and bustling trade that broke the quiet mornings with their ritualistic hymns. And fair Verona was where I was born.

Every morning for the last five days, the dance of bells would reach my ears. I would lay in bed, somewhere between the dawn the the night, wondering if those haunting visions were real.

In those dreams, I was at dances I had never been to, talking with people I've never talked to.

And a youth...a beautiful youth whose face changed but always spoke the same words to me..."If I profane with my unworthiest hand..." and together we danced in a whirlwind of colors, our words even faster than the steps.

The dreams, those dreams with the youth whose face was as inconstant as the winds - never the same and yet always so beautiful. Sometimes I would catch a glimpse of us as he led me onto the floor. From the corner of my eye I could see my reflection, staring back at me from a window, a small mirror, the glint of some lady's jewel. My face...and yet not my face. Like the youth, my face always changed. Sometimes I was blond with blue eyes. Sometimes I had had red hair and green eyes. Sometimes I was tall and sometimes I was petite. 

I was never the same person and yet I knew, I knew that I was me. I was Juliet.

And then those lovely dances would change. Romance, violence, death. Again and again. Always ending in my own hand plunging a dagger into my chest, the fading warmth of the boy's lips on mine. 

And when the bells broke the spell I would open my eyes and raise my hand. Slender, elegant and not dripping in blood. 

That questions teetered like poorly stacked dishes on the edge of a table.

This morning, as I lay away, staring and thinking, Nurse knocked on my door and bade me to get up. My mother wanted to talk to me about the upcoming party Father was throwing. They had found me a match that they wanted me to marry.

"Juliet, the hour! You must not daydream the day away." Nurse said as she laid my clothes out, "You head is in the clouds again." She clucked at me, "One day a good man would pull you back to this earth and make a good wife out of you."

"If I could I would fly away." I replied as she pulled the gown over my head, still thinking of that dream "I have no desire for a husband."

Nurse stared at me, "Such words child, have you been overtaken by illness?"  

"Do you dream, Nurse?"

"Aye, as much as the next fellow." She replied as she braided my hair, "I dream of you wedded and happy. When I see it, I wake myself with laughing." 

"Do you ever feel as if...as if your life was a dream? But the same dream? And every time the dream ends you have but a moment to yourself and it starts again. Over and over "

The Nurse looked at me with genuine concern. The silence stretched between us. 

 I forced a smile, "It's nothing, I have let my imagination get the best of me."

"Take care, mistress." Nurse warned me, "Men want sensible wives. Don't let your imagination and silliness get in the way of a good prospect."

The Juliet who never had visions would have perhaps smiled and agreed. And then got ready for the day.

Instead I said, "Please tell my mother I will see her in the afternoon. Perhaps I am ill."

The Nurse gave me a strange look as she closed my doors once more. I stared out at the balcony and then at the ladder that a workman had left leaning next to the wall. 

 Suddenly, I rose and dressed in some of the simpler clothing I had in my wardrobe, fumbling with the buttons in my haste.

Carefully, I took a stool to the balcony and stepped gingerly onto it. No one was in the courtyard to stop me. Gripping the ladder, I crossed over the barrier. 

 I remembered his name the boy who was more important than my own life.  Romeo of House Montague. 

Perhaps I could find him before this tragedy was set in motion and change our fates.