Page 56 of Downfall

And I will be.

I’m going to win this round. Iamgoing to win.

And in the meantime I just need to bide my time and play pretend.

Roman

Istare at the skyscrapers. They’re distant. Taunting. This is the closest I’m allowed, the closest I dare to come.

Verona glints like the entire damn city is in the midst of some sort of party, like everyone is celebrating something.

I let out a snarl. How can it feel like this? How can it be like this? I’ve left, gone, and yet the place looks unchanged as if none of it even happened.

I glance at my phone. I’ve been here hours. The same as yesterday and no doubt the same as tomorrow. I’ll wait here for as long as it takes. Waiting for her. Just like always.

The dirt track is bare. Though I can tell myself that a car is coming, though I can will myself to pretend, I know it’s not the case. It’s just me here. Alone. With nothing but the relentless heat of the summer sun beating down onto me.

Why hasn’t she come? Where the fuck is she?

My instructions were clear in the message. I got the read receipt so I know she’s seen it. She hasn’t even replied though. She hasn’t even responded. It’s as if she’s a ghost. As if this is all a game to her.

My phone buzzes and I jump, but it’s not her. It’s not Rose.

I read the message quickly. My father made sure we had medical assistance as soon as we were beyond the city limits. He made sure we had allies out here too because let’s face it, an exiled Montague is still a Montague, and what’s more there’s a price on my head. I doubt Ignatio Capulet is willing to just wash his hands of me now. No, he’ll be planning, just like always. That old bastard always has something up his sleeve. No doubt he’ll send an assassin, a shadow to gut me in the night but unfortunately for him, I’m more than ready for it. Hell, I’m ready to face even him if that’s who shows up.

But Rose, where the fuck is Rose?

My phone buzzes again. Another message. Ben’s eye can’t be saved. The medics have done their best but there’s nothing else to do. I should go back, I should be with him, and yet I can’t. I can’t leave. I refuse to go because any minute she’s going to appear. I know it. I know she will. This is what we agreed. This is the plan we came to. She’s going to come. She’s going to show and we’ll be together, in exile, but we’ll build a life for ourselves. We’ll actually be able to live.

“Come on Rose.” I mutter, willing her to hear it, willing my voice to carry the hundreds of miles that separate us.

I need her to be here. I need her to come.

And yet still there’s nothing but the dirt in front of me.

* * *

It’shard to stay hiding. Especially now. Especially when everything is so close.

Sofia is still playing her part. Playing the virginal girl Otto seems to lust over. Ben seems to grow more bitter as each day passes but he doesn’t say anything. He just sits, brooding, while I seem to haunt Rose’s every step though she seems to be blissfully unaware.

She’s holed up most days in that monstrosity of a house. It feels like she seems to retreat, as if she’s afraid the walls themselves might collapse in on her.

For a while I watch, wondering if she’s actually mourning him but how could she be? How could she be mourning the man after the way he treated her? Perhaps it’s just the shock. Perhaps it’s just the realisation that all her plans have unravelled, but I’ll admit I expected to see her happier.

I expected her to be more pleased.

I didn’t just kill Paris for me. I killed him for her too. For the Rose I thought I knew. The Rose I thought I loved.

The last homage to a woman who never existed.

But today she can no longer hide. Today she has to face the world, face everyone, tell them what she remembers of the crash.

And I’ll admit I’m nervous. Curious too. Does she remember me? Does she know I was there? Will she spill the beans on what they were doing onthatroad?

I’m stood in the crowd. I queued all morning like most of the people around me, the general population, vying for a piece of the action, vying to witness a chapter in Verona’s great history books.

Rose walks in chaperoned by Darius no less which both surprises me and makes me pause.

---