Romeo Awakens

Why I descend into this bed of death,
Is partly to behold my lady’s face.
- Romeo

 

Romeo Montague awoke, curled up in a vast cold desert with harsh gusting winds dancing around him – and all he loved was Juliet. The air was thin and cool. The ground was a caked-muddy volcanic maze stretching out into a vast mesa before him.

”I am a murderer,” he muttered in a hoarse, dry voice. He glanced at his bloody hands and remembered everything -- his short-lived, powerful love affair with Juliet Capulet – Juliet, beautiful, young and confident. Juliet, her hair marvelously smooth and long and how it glistened below the starry Mediterranean moonlight, which seemed to come down like a divine liquid, bathing them both and her parent’s garden in an other worldly light.

Romeo recalled his own tragic death and the terrible crime of murdering the good Count Paris. Yet now, mysteriously, he felt no pain from his self-inflicted knife wound. His flight into death seemed to have happened a few minutes ago, or maybe an hour at most. Yet for some reason, lying on this cold unknown plateau felt comfortable to him.

He wondered why Juliet wasn’t here with him and felt that all too familiar lover’s pain in his gut. He felt something close to betrayal also.

“I mean - isn’t that what love is all about? When two lovers die together, don't they travel to some better place?” he asked a non- existent audience, as he looked up into the cloudy cold light-blue sky, half expecting an answer. After all, he was dead -- wasn’t anything possible?

Well, not in my case, he realized; for only silence answered him. He felt the cold, indifferent winds ruffle his hair as they ran eternally across the silver blue sky; pushing clouds briskly by -- clouds, like the memories of his life in Italy -- they moved through his mind but faded fast.

Romeo lay still. There was no sign of his Juliet, and worse yet, no sense of her in his mind’s eye. A feeling told him something had gone terribly wrong. Why wasn’t she here with him in the afterlife? Yet he somehow knew their love and their deaths were the most powerful things in the universe, or at least, his universe.

Another nagging mystery within his mind was that he didn't feel dead. Apparently he had been granted a new life under these fast-moving clouds. As to why his beloved wife hadn’t joined him in death, he felt that question would be answered in time. Yet, his overwhelming love for Juliet already felt more distant now. Even the sweet feeling of making love to her, felt far away and vague, like an afternoon dream some lucky traveler might stumble upon after falling asleep in this vast, silent place.

"Shit, that wasn't a dream. I loved her so," Romeo argued aloud to the universe.

His thoughts roamed back to Italy and their beautiful wedding night. All of their plans for a new life, full of adventure, passion and love -- it had all seemed so certain. All of it cut off in death! he lamented to himself. He had been flung into a desperate land.

Young Romeo stood up and brushed-off the dark volcanic dust from his black wool suit. Drops of Paris’ blood still stained his clothing, but the blood had dried in the strong wind. He leaned forward against the blowing gusts and began to walk.

The steady wind quickly cleaned the groom's outfit. Romeo turned and saw a snow-capped peak of unimaginable height behind him. Maybe one of the Alps, he reasoned. And beyond them is fair Verona, where Juliet lies -- still in her family’s morgue. Yet a feeling radiated from that high cold summit, which told him that even if he could cross into Verona, somehow, everything would have changed. Verona was a dream now and Juliet was dead. Who knew where she was in this vast creation?

"Well," he admitted to himself. "You got what you expected, Romeo, a new life." He lifted his head and laughed heartily to the sky.

He had once been certain that Juliet's love would transform him forever; but instead, his own poison-tipped knife had been the agent of change in the dark morgue of the Capulet’s. After finding Juliet there, lifeless, how could he have chosen any other fate? He had to follow his beloved into death.

He felt watched now, as he strode forward, as if his love for Juliet, and hers for him, though distant in time and space, was respected by the angels in heaven. They now looked over him, maybe with no more than mild curiosity or amusement, but they did watch and listen.

Maybe I am not dead, Romeo speculated. Maybe, I lie in some Apothecary, with a doctor trying to stay my self-inflicted wound. If that was so, he deduced, then this current experience was a dream, and the cold plateau he walked upon, nothing more than the jumbled stuff between his ears.

“If I am lying in an Apothecary, wake me. Hurry up and heal me,” he joked to the sky, laughing, shuffling forward against the wind.

Romeo imagined waking up in Verona, and suddenly, the most unbearable emptiness hit him. The thought of being alive, with Juliet dead, was hell itself to Romeo. To survive his knife wound, knowing his angel had died for him, would be a pain too great to endure.

“Oh God no, I can’t go back! That would be hell,” Romeo now plead to the wind.

A cold gust buffeted his body, as if in agreement with his thoughts. The wind soothed him, for there was no pain in it, no judgment, only the constant blowing sounds of eternity, roaring in the vast spaces that he now tread upon.

“Oh, dear God in heaven, keep me here,” he prayed. “I couldn’t go back without her!”

He scanned the horizon with his eyes; he blinked, as if to somehow make his current world more real. He was on a high-plateau. Breathing was hard. If Romeo had not been to Mantua as a child, and then into the Alps, he wouldn’t have known how high he was. He noticed the edge of a misty pine forest in the distance and began to walk toward it.

As he hiked forward, he turned again and noticed the fiery sun was now setting against the snowcapped peak behind him. He walked faster now, atop his lengthening shadow, realizing he would soon need shelter; for if this wasn’t a dream, his body would require warmth and nourishment.

As he approached the forest’s perimeter, a mist crawled toward him low on the ground and soon surrounded him. He noticed more than pine trees in front of him. He beheld luscious green tropical ferns and flowers of unimaginable beauty, glades leading into a dense jungle. How could these things grow in such a high place? Romeo marveled. He was surely in another world.

Suddenly, he heard a roaring sound in the sky and ducked instinctively. He looked up and saw a shiny object flying very high. It seemed more machine than bird to him. He thought of Juliet again. What if she is trapped inside one of those things? he wondered irrationally, ducking into the relative protection of the forest’s dense canopy.

The rain forest was thick and and hard to maneuver through. Darkness had now crept in between the ferns, as the sun set behind Romeo. The sky became a dark blue as he wandered deeper into the cool glades. Song birds filled the air with a beautiful sunset symphony. Some of their songs he recognized, birds that flew the world’s trade winds, yet other sounds where foreign to his ears. He was surely not in the Alps. Maybe I am in Africa, he pondered. Soon a gentle mist began to fall.

His wool suit held up well against the light rain, yet he knew it would soon be drenched. The noise of crickets filled the jungle as darkness surrounded him. Romeo could tell he was moving downward in elevation. The tall forest had effectively cut off the harsh winds of the windy plain, yet the temperature was falling fast. As darkness gathered, a cold rain began to fall.

Romeo struggled forward, now frightened - not knowing where he was or even if there was a civilization to find. He realized, with irony, he had never expected to be fighting for his life after dying. But somehow, he knew he was. The thought made him feel more alive.

He stumbled into a huge fern. The wet plant seemed to grab him. He struggled to his feet and breathed harder now, trying to remain calm in the darkness; for there was no moon to guide him, no beautiful full moon, like the one he and Juliet had enjoyed less than a fortnight ago, when he had climbed her family’s walls.

Not light, but darkness, Romeo thought. He knew he would injure himself soon if he continued much further. He stopped to rest and huddled against a large tree trunk to keep himself dry. It grew deathly cold and he grew very tired…

~

Eha I ka ‘eha lima ‘ole a ke aloha, a female voice echoed, far above the tall Ohia trees. Romeo awoke startled to the sound; he had passed out and now began to shiver uncontrollably in the cold rain.

E hea I ke kanaka e komo maloko e hanai ai a hewa ka waha, another voice spoke in a deep, almost angry tone. The voice, impossibly, came from the tall branches of the tree that he had crouched under.

Haole Ki Kolea, the first voice echoed loudly, but from a different angle.

Ho’ona ke ola I ka hale o ke akua! the second voice shot back, now closer to Romeo.

He could tell that whoever was out there, they were arguing -- maybe over him. I am surely in hell, he realized. After all, I murdered Juliet’s cousin Tybalt and Count Paris. These demons will probably rip me from limb to limb. He shivered in the cold, accepting his fate.

Suddenly the rain tapered off and everything became silent. Romeo convinced himself the voices had only been a hallucination. He knew he had to stay awake. He pulled himself closer in his drenched wedding suit. He had dozed off; fortunately thought, imagining nonsensical sounds in the trees had saved his life. Yet he was still cold, and now hungry. He knew morning was nowhere in sight.

He sat up and crouched up against the tree trunk so he would stay awake. To his shock, he suddenly saw the beautiful glowing silk hem of a gown, barely above the wet ground. It was dry and impeccably clean. He looked up at the impossible visage and saw a tan woman with white shimming hair that seemed to glow.

Yes, Romeo now realized, this is the afterlife. And she is an angel taking me to my judgment. Maybe I can be with Juliet after all, even if it is in eternal hell. I wish…

“GET UP, HAOLE BOY!” the woman commanded impatiently, looking down at Romeo with disdain. She appeared translucent, super- natural. Her alluring bronze skin and white hair seemed to exude a powerful glow.

“Get up,” she uttered again, with a distant gaze. “Do not stare at me! I should be staring at you. You are not from this land, and I am!”

Romeo struggled to his feet. And even though it had been growing colder, as he stood before this woman, he could feel a warmth radiate from her.

“Don’t look at me, haole! You’re lucky my sister Pele’ wants to keep you alive.”

Romeo didn’t know what to say. Yet, aside from her strange accent, he noted, this female apparition did speak his language.

“I am lost,” he began. “I woke up in this world and am looking for a young woman named Juliet.”

The apparition tilted her head back and laughed, a deep cackle that echoed throughout the dark jungle. Romeo noticed the clouds parting above him. Beautiful, yet cold stars twinkled in the sky. The temperature was dropping fast and he shivered again.

“I think, haole boy, you are looking for my cabin, my fireplace,” the woman said finally, smiling at him, cold and distant.

“Please help me,” Romeo pleaded. “I don’t know why I am here.”

Again, as if he was a comedian playing for a captive audience, the tall woman in white laughed loudly to the sky. A gentle wind lifted her long white hair, and suddenly, she was silent again, looking piercingly at Romeo.

“Oh Romeo, Oh Romeo, wherefore art thou? Do any of us know why we are here on this world -- I don’t.” The mysterious woman paused and looked up at the streaming Milky Way, longingly, as if her home was in the stars.

“How do you know my name?” Romeo asked, politely as he could.

“Everyone knows your name, Romeo -- and the name of your Juliet,” the woman replied with a playful laugh.

Romeo moved toward her, almost threateningly, at the sound of his beloveds name. “Do you know where my wife is?” he desperately asked.

Again, the mysterious woman laughed to the sky. She then turned away from Romeo and began to walk downward through the thick jungle. “I don’t care about you or your Juliet. But I do know of a warm fire I’d like to lead you to, haole boy, so you won’t die.”

Romeo sensed she was luring him somewhere -- for something. He shivered and watched her bare feet as she walked. They seemed to glide above the uneven ground of the forest. He realized he had no choice but to follow this magical woman. He wanted to live. He wanted to find his wife, Juliet Montague.

After a few miles, stumbling forward to the rising moon, he arrived at a small wooden cottage set in a clearing of tall grass. He was breathing hard and had fallen a few times. Romeo had barely been able to keep up with this mysterious woman who walked effortlessly, gliding above the jungle floor.

Suddenly to his amazement, the woman in white walked through the door of the cottage door without opening it. “Oh my God, she is a ghost!” Romeo exclaimed aloud. He wanted to run. But before he could, the woman opened the door from the inside.

“Come inside. Don’t mind me,” she said in a surly voice. ”It’s winter in Hawai’i. You will not survive the night.”

Romeo coughed and shivered again. The shock of meeting this magical woman had made him forget he had been dying out here. She was right. Romeo walked to the door bravely and entered her warm abode.

“You may call me Leheau, Romeo,” she remarked, stepping aside as he entered. She motioned for him to sit on a small chair by her fireplace. He noticed an old wooden counter across from him with carefully arranged feathers, rocks, and fresh fruit.

“Let me take off your wet clothing,” she reassured him, as he stood dripping. She was as tall as him and very beautiful, but in a distant, cold way. She approached him slowly and began to unbutton his drenched wool suit.

Romeo began to stutter, but could not speak. A warm fire had sprung up in the small fireplace. When was that lit? he dreamily wondered.

“I…I…I don’t know what you are doing,” he stuttered, as Leheau’s hands began to caress his shoulders and muscular chest. She was obviously aroused.

“You don’t have to know anything, Romeo,” the woman whispered, as she ran her soft hands against his face. “I am seducing you. Normally I would kill you.” The beautiful woman laughed and then kissed him hard and deep. She moved back again, sensing Romeo’s confusion, and poured him some hot tea that had been hanging by the fireplace.

“I am a guardian being,” she explained, as she handed him a smooth clay cup. “We guard the inter-dimensional doorways of Hawai’i. You are on an island, Romeo -- in your future. Sometimes humans try to leave this world through the high plateau you were on.” She tilted her head and gestured in the direction from where he had awoken. “But they have to get past me first,” she added, with a cold smile.

“But you, Romeo, have confounded us. You came from the freedom of the void into this darkening world. You are like a man climbing the prison walls to get into prison. We have never seen this before,” she reflected.

“You must love this Juliet,” she said softly, in a low, almost envious tone. She pressed her body against Romeo's. He felt her breasts swell; they were large and firm.

“I…I…can’t,” Romeo stammered, yet was aroused himself now. A maddening warmth had enveloped him. With Juliet, sex had been a sweet intoxication, but what overwhelmed him now was primitive lust, as if his body required it to survive, as if he needed this woman to become more real in the new world he had been flung into.

“You like what you see, don’t you Romeo?” Leheau said with a cunning smile. She suddenly ripped his shirt off and pushed him down on a fur-skin rug, by the now-raging fire. Soon both were wrestling naked and Romeo was inside of her, feeling that warmth he needed so, feeling alive again. Sparks flew out in every direction from the fireplace. Romeo felt one singe his black Italian hair as he moaned with wild satisfaction.

~

He awoke the next morning curled up on a white fur rug as he had the day before on the cold lonely plateau now above him. He looked forward; the fireplace was cold and dead, no ashes, no sign a fire had been lit at all. Maybe it was a dream, he wondered.

It wasn’t a dream, though, Romeo had to admit. He suddenly felt a deep pain arise within his heart, for he had betrayed Juliet once again -- he had been with another woman on the very day they had died together for their love!

The gods are toying with me, he realized. So this is what a murderer faces after death.

Romeo stood up naked and his stomach growled. He looked around and grabbed an apple. There was no sign of the woman Leheau. Romeo bit into the apple, and then paused, noticing the melodious sounds of songbirds outside the cottage.

He peered out a small window and beheld a perfect blue sky. Ferns and tall trees were swaying happily in the morning wind. The same dark treacherous forest that had almost killed him last night was now a beautiful green paradise. Better yet, the morning sun gave him hope. He was reminded of Eden, and for some reason, the smell of the clear air and the wet grass, told him he was still on Earth.

But where on Earth? he asked himself. And in what time?

He looked around and noticed Leheau had left his clothes hanging neatly by the fireplace. He touched the perfectly dry wool. The warm civilized feel of the fabric reminded him of Juliet. A tear came to his eye. He had killed himself to escape this pain -- the pain of separation from his beloved angel. Now he realized how foolish suicide was, the pain was all to real.

He struggled to gain his composure as he put on his wedding outfit. God, how I miss her already! he lamented.

Romeo finished dressing and wiped the tears from his eyes. He knew he had only so many hours of daylight and was still lost. He looked up at the wooden rafters of the cottage and saw a leather water bag hanging from a strap. It dripped cold beads of liquid on the old wooden floor of the cottage. Maybe Leheau had left it for him. He then noticed a large green leaf attached to the strap of the flask. On it, he saw a beautiful white script that seemed to be burnt into the leaf:

Romeo, beware of Cousin Tybalt. He will strike when you least expect it…

He was shocked. How did this angel from heaven or hell know so much about him? The ominous warning made sense though, he sadly realized, for he had killed Juliet’s cousin. Maybe Tybalt had awoken a few days before on the same cold plateau where Romeo had. Yet something told him that Tybalt, Juliet, and all the components of his old life were now very far away.

He walked outside in his wool suit and strapped the leather pouch of water to his belt. God it is beautiful, he marveled, as he stepped into the tall green grass of Hawai'i. The forest loomed high in every direction around him and seemed to beckon him into its beautiful glades.

He looked around for a trail and found what looked like one. It was hardly a trail at all, and seemed to disappear downwards into the dense jungle quickly. Romeo began to follow it. He had to walk fast and cover many miles. For even Leheau was right and he was on an island, his lungs told him he was still very high. Civilization must be far below, he reasoned, as he slung his coat over his shoulder and worked his way through the thick bushes, hoping the barely discernible path would lead him somewhere and not peter out -- like everything else had in his short life.