Zombie Luv Flash Fic Contest: Romeo and Juliet are Dead

PRINCE

This letter doth make good the friar's words,

Their course of love, the tidings of her death:

And here he writes that he did buy a poison

Of a poor 'pothecary, and therewithal

Came to this vault to die, and lie with Juliet.

Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague!

See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate,

That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.

And I for winking at your discords too

Have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd.

CAPULET

O brother Montague, give me thy hand:

This is my daughter's jointure, for no more

Can I demand.

MONTAGUE

But I can give thee more:

For I will raise her statue in pure gold;

That while Verona by that name is known,

There shall no figure at such rate be set

As that of true and faithful Juliet.

CAPULET

As rich shall Romeo's by his lady's lie;

Poor sacrifices of our enmity!

PRINCE

A glooming peace this morning with it brings;

The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head:

Go hence, to have more talk of these sad things;

Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished:

For never was a story of more woe

Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

Exeunt

The iron door closes on the dead lovers, sealing away forever the ruined hopes of two households, both alike in dignity and now alike in misery. For fifteen generations, Capulet and Montague will live together as one wretched family, bound together by the shame of the crush'd flower of youth. Nevermore opened will be this tomb, this sepulchre, this monument to love and hate.

As within the cold walls the candle dies, so comes the darkness temporal to join the darkness eternal, that all-pervading world of sorrow and destitution that is the confounding horror of these, the unhappy lovers.

But o, fair and wise apothecary! How much dost thou know of the world, verily know of this world and of the next? In what flash of grace and wisdom did thee thy elixir concoct? With what powers imbue to ensure thy purpose, e'en though the lovers knew not thy devotion to their cause?

For that scion of Montague, the true and faithful Romeo, he that would not live without the flower of Capulet, his Juliet, has thou ensured, o wise and mysterious apothecary, hast thou ensured that he should not too die without her? Dids't thou know so well that these two, these parts of a single whole, would ne'er peace find on earth while they lived?

O, apothecary! Let it not be said that e'en thy alchemy coulds't to the vault of heaven reach! Almighty God is jealous of his realm, and protective. By a lawyer's trick dids't thou ensure the love and peace of these two, finding for them a safe harbor between this world and the next?

The slow, cold limbs of Romeo stir and, stirring, lift him to his feet. Shrouds becloud his mind, yet his love and purpose are made fix'd and sure. From his bosom he draws thy second bottle, o apothecary, alike as to the first.

With slow step to Juliet doth Romeo lean.

To her lips sweet poison he doth pour between.

That death 'pon death may thus overwhelm

Two become one in love's quiet realm.

Dagger, begone! What matters a bleeding heart when set 'gainst love eternal?

See, his heart does not beat

yet it lives for her.

In his love he waits, and

for his love, he waits.

See, her heart does not beat

yet it lives again for him.

In her love she lives, and

for her love, she lives again.

She, her eyes ope, a slow and steady lift of cold hand and pale lip. He, his eyes shutter'd, returns the cold kiss for an hour, a day, a year.

Together, dead to life and alive in love, in slow passion through the centuries do they undisturb'd reside. In her slow, stilled mind as in his, there is naught but love, for now and for eternity.

/////

This story was written for the ZombieLuv contest as well as for #FridayFlash.

Guidelines:

• Word count: maximum 1000
• The story must be a romance between two zombies. Make it as horrific as you like. ;)
• Stories containing animal cruelty, torture, graphic sex or violence, any form of exaltation of violence, racism or other forms of prejudice will be immediately disqualified.
• Post your entry on your own blog, with a title resembling this: Zombie Luv Flash Fic Contest: Story Title
• Leave your story title and a link to the story entry post as a comment at mari's randomities: http://marisrandomities.blogspot.com
• Copy and paste the contest logo and the guidelines at the end of your entry post.

Please note that the first part of this is the end of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. If he knew I were doing a zombie take on it, he'd probably want royalties.

UPDATE: This story has been anthologized as part of the Zombie Romance collection.

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