(hehe)
(Oh, Romeo. Poor, naive Romeo)
Fifteen minutes later, I was curled up in a tiny ball on my floor, my whole body wracked with pain. I pulled my knees up to my chest, the floorboards cool against my cheek, and squeezed my eyes shut. “You must learn!!” my father yelled, digging the toe of his boot into my side.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, over and over again, voice thick with emotion. “I’m sorry.”
(I’m screaming Juliet is too good for this)
I began my planning, starting off by sending a single text to Mercutio. It read: ”Doing something stupid trmw. Don’t freak if I’m not at school.” I ignored his panicked replies, trying to think my way through his situation. Breaking into my dad’s office wouldn’t be easy, but I had been in there a few times before. I kept my phone nearby in case Juliet texted me, but otherwise took out Macbeth again, trying to create a plan for the play as well.
(Oof, That was a crappily written post by me sorry, I’m currently trying to figure out how to guide my older friend through a heartbreak)
Angelo gathered fistfuls of my shirt and lifted me to my feet. “Do you fucking understand me?!” I nodded vigorously, tears streaming down my face. “Y-Yes, sir—“
I hadn’t seen my father this angry in months. He wasn’t normally this violent…. it was all my fault. “I—I’m sorry—“ A disgusted expression contorted his features, He dropped me and stepped back, his eyes darkening dangerously. “And yet you still won’t tell me where you were.”
(Skip?)
(Omg your friend comes first, don’t worry about it! And yeah we can skip, Romeo might be out of school for the next few days with no explanation so I’ll be piloting Mercutio for now lol)
(I’m not currently texting her or anything, just trying to figure shit out, I’ve got all night
Alright, as long as you don’t torture me with absolutely no Romeo content 😂)
(He’ll be around! Just… not conscious for a little while. You know, give everyone a little scare)
(You’re scaring me oml don’t hurt Romeo 😭
Also would you mind starting? Sorry)
(Np! And he’ll be fine, mostly!)
(mostly???)
I got up, ready to enact my plan. Dad said he was leaving at 5 A.M. sharp and it was nearing 7 now. I sprang out of bed and got changed as quickly as possible. I weaved my way through the many hallways of our house, eventually stopping at a nondescript wooden door. I bent down to the ground, removing a loose floor panel and revealing an alarm keypad. I typed in the four numbers. A green light flashed at me, signalling a disabled alarm as I crept inside.
(mostly???)
(Shhh, it’s okay)
(it’s not okay!!!! Hhhhhh Romeo don’t get too hurt)
Last night, I had cried myself to sleep like the weak, pathetic girl I was. This morning, I’d woken up with more tears coating my cheeks. And oh, it hurt. The bruises throbbed I like any injury from other fights I’d been in, the dried blood crusting over my upper lip seemed to burn my skin.
My father….. enraged was a mild description when it came to his reaction at my refusal to tell him the truth. I’d tried to lie, which had only earned me an extra bruise, so I’d just… given up. Let him mark me up with his fists.
This, I thought now as I pulled on a pair of leggings, miserable, Is why you and I can’t be friends, Romeo.
It took time. Rooting through desk drawers and paperwork. Tracing back files and transmissions. My father was a neat freak. Finding what I wanted still took time, but the real challenge was making sure everything was put back exactly as I had found it. A file turned the wrong way, a paper wrinkled at the edge of the corner, a pencil with the lead dulled. My father would instantly know someone was here.
(I promise he’ll be alive lmao)
(Good Lol)
That morning, I layered on the makeup, blanketing as many of the cuts and bruises beneath a mountain of foundation and concealer, my hands shaking as I applied it…. but it wasn’t enough. They were still visible. Fear coiled in my stomach, spreading poison through my veins.
The moment she laid eyes on me, Marina knew exactly what had happened. “Fuck,” she breathed, grabbing my arm and leading me inside, to the bathroom, where she wrapped me up in a huge hug that caused me to crumble and break down right then and there.
The file was as plain and nondescript as the door to my father’s office, and that’s exactly how I knew I held the right one. “So this is it…” I breathed softly, carefully opening the file. I had hardly read the first word when I heard the floor behind me creak. I whipped around to see my mother standing there, a rolling pin in her hand.
“Mom! I can explain—“ She held her hand to stop me from talking, her face contorting into the sort of fury I rarely saw from her. A quiet rage, as silent and chilling as arctic winds, filled the room. I backed up, hold the file close.
“You’re no son of mine. Not anymore.” She spat, swinging the rolling pin with viscous ferocity. I heard the crack before I felt it. Slamming into the side of my head as the shadows at the edges of the room swarmed to consume my vision.
(ROMEO)
Marina didn’t press me to give her details I wasn’t ready to give up. Like the amazing, perfect-beyond-words friend she was, she helped me fix my makeup to cover up the bruises as best as she could, never letting go of my arm, always a constant assurance that she was there, that she wasn’t going to leave.
“Thank you…” I whispered, meaning the words more than ever before. “So much.”
(He’s got a thick skull, he’ll be okay)
Despite Romeo’s message, I still waited around the hallway until the final bell, hoping he had somehow backed out of whatever idiotic plan he got himself into. First he missed football practice, which I hadn’t seen him do in years. And now this? Something told me this had everything to do with Juliet, but I promised Romeo I wouldn’t freak out. I grabbed my books and went to my first period class, chewing my lip anxiously.
(Lmao but at the same time, poor bb 😭)
Marina just shook her head, told me it was nothing, squeezed my arm, and led me carefully to my locker. She didn’t treat me as if I might break at any given second. She didn’t treat me as if I was weak, a coward. She only made sure to keep her words quiet and her motions careful and slow as I gathered my binders.
I didn’t have class with her all morning. My first class, Pre-Calc, should have been with Romeo and Mercutio, plus Joe and two of the guys, but when I arrived, Romeo was missing. I recalled his words from the following day and sat down in the only available seat, next to Mercutio, avoiding Joe’s eyes.
I checked by texts for the hundredth time in the past ten minutes. Nothing. No response. Silence from Romeo was never a good thing. How the hell was I supposed to focus now? To make things worse, I was stuck sitting next to Juliet, the girl who probably put Romeo up to this nonsense. I shot her a glare, writing a message in the corner of my worksheet. ”What the fuck did you do to Romeo?”
My hands were visibly shaking by the time I finished writing out my response. “Nothing. I saw him yesterday, he said that he was probably going to be away. That’s it.”
It was clear that I wasn’t my usual self; the fire was gone completely from my eyes, leaving me an empty shell.
I discreetly grabbed my phone, scrolling up to the last message Romeo sent me, showing it to her, ”Bullshit. He missed practice yesterday too. Now this? Where did you see him? I wrote back, trying not to freak out. Romeo vanishes and now Juliet is acting weird? Something bad is happening. But how to stop it? That was a whole other struggle.
“At the library,” I wrote, having to stsrt the sentence over several times because of how badly my hands were quivering. “I know he missed practice. We were put together for a project, he told me to meet me at the library to work on it.” I could feel Joe’s eyes burning holes into my back, but ignored him.
I watched her shaking hands. Romeo would’ve been freaking out right now, but unfortunately, I didn’t have the same sympathy for the Capulets that he did. I look at the note in distain, seeing that it was no help to me. It made sense though. If anyone would pull off some ridiculous stunt to impress a girl, it would be Romeo. I had no idea where he even was.
I couldn’t bring myself to look anyone in the eyes, couldn’t trust myself to keep it together, so I just glued my eyes to my worksheet, my pencil hovering over the paper but not moving to actually write. After a few minutes, I felt a hand in my shoulder, and instinctively flinched away. I framed my head to catch a glimpse of who t was, and upon seeing Joe, I let my whole body relax with relief. He crouched down beside the desk, shooting Mercutio a quick glare before focusing worried eyes on me.
“Juliet? Did he…. did he…”
My silence was enough of an answer.
I woke up, feeling a whole new different kind of terrible. All the strength had been drained from my limbs, making it feel next to impossible to move. My entire body ached, head to toe. A bandage was wrapped around my head, I could feel it, but I hadn’t gotten the strength to open my eyes just yet. My arm felt weird. My right wrist was tied to the back of a chair, but my left was propped up by some kind of sling. My head was by far the worst out of everything. “Where the hell am I?” I groaned, starting to squirm before letting out a gasp of pain and wheezing.
“He’s awake. Let’s get started.” I had no idea who was talking, but as the blindfold was taken off, I saw two Montagues sitting in front of me. One held a hammer in his hand, while the other had a pen and paper. “How about you tell us what you were doing in Raffael’s room, Romeo?” One growled.
(Sweet Jesus no not Romeo)
The rest of the morning dragged on, a prolonged hell. When lunch finally came, I found myself sitting, silent and staring down at my untouched meal, at a table full of guys trying and failing to make me smile. “I’m sorry…” I would murmur to Joe, and he would shake his head. “Don’t be.”
The room was completely dark except for the single bright light hanging directly over my head. Half blinded, and in excruciating pain, I glared at my father’s henchmen. “I’m his son and the future leader of this family.” I hissed, wincing as how dry my throat was. Neither of the men seemed impressed.
“We’re not here to play games. Now tell us the truth.” The one with the pen growled at me. I groaned quietly in pain, but forced myself to respond.
“You don’t have to like it, but I have a right to be in there.” I spat back, biting back a whimper, and then a scream as my left arm was yanked out of the sling. I paled as I saw the other man bring down the hammer repetitively, officially exposing part of my bone to the open air. I wailed and screamed until I couldn’t breathe, tears pouring down my cheeks.
(He’ll be fine this won’t last long)
(British oh my god)
It was so strange, having them all be this… gentle. We were part of the mafia, for God’s sake…… When I voiced this to Jamie, he simply shrugged and said that the mafia could wait. I didn’t know how to feel about it all—-any of it.
(I think I’m going to sleep…. but I will be waiting anxiously for news on Romeo!! Gnight :)
(Goodnight Topaz! Romeo is “safe” now!)
I didn’t give anything away. Or anything important at least. All I know was that at some point I passed out from blood loss, fear, or dehydration. When I woke up there was a heartrate monitor steadily beeping next to me, my arm was in a cast, and I felt numb. My whole body did. Numbness. My brain was sluggish to catch onto what was going on, and it took me several minutes to correlate everything with a hospital. I was in a hospital. Alone.
Well, not completely alone. A nurse came in a few minutes later, asking me a few questions that my brain was not ready for. She ended up leaving pretty soon after, giving me a sweet smile and a gentle pat on the head. God I wish someone else was here, except maybe my parents. Even the thought of going back home sent my heartrate monitor into a frenzy. Maybe I could just live here for awhile? It honestly seemed better than school and home after today.
My phone was nearby. I could see it. I reached over carefully and fumbled to open up the camera. The sight was rough. All my previous cuts were there, except now joined by a black eye and a swollen lip to match my bruised jaw. Bandages wrapped firmly around my head like a crown. I took a picture of myself, laughing even though it hurt. “Mercutio’s gonna fine’ this so funny.” I mumbled, hitting send and burying my head in the mountain of pillows, enjoying the blissful relaxation that came with being sedated on a shit-ton of painkillers.