If Romeo and Juliet Lived

A test. A test was needed. Verity soaked up the rays of the sun, enjoying the company of her best friend Oriana, while allowing the breathtaking views of the valley to wash over her.

It started with a Year 9 English task to change the ending of Romeo and Juliet (Verity had always wanted Juliet to wake up before Romeo drank the contents of the fatal vial). She was astounded on opening up the play the next day to find the ending had altered, it was word for word, the way she had typed it! The funny thing was, that neither her English teacher or her fellow classmates noticed the difference. It was as if it was Shakespeare had written the ending. The play was no longer considered to be one of his greatest tragedies, but one of the well-loved romantic comedies.

Verity took the experiment into her history class, they were learning about World War Two, specifically Nazi Germany and were using The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank as a case study. Verity had changed the ending of a fictional text, she wondered if she could change history?

She knew she had to start small. She tentatively typed “Anne Frank, her family and friends were never discovered by Dutch police and SS officers, they survived World War Two.” Verity’s eyes darted around the class, hoping that no-one had seen the words on her screen. She started to delete the sentence, a nervous energy filled her and she had to stifle a giggle. She was old enough to realise that historical events cannot be changed, but the curious events from her English class urged her to continue. Verity pressed Ctrl Z, then quickly shut her laptop as the bell rang for lunch.

“Please open up your copies of The Diary of a Young Girl Who Survived”. Verity could not believe her eyes and ears, could it be possible that she had changed history! She read the blurb at the back of the book and her suspicions were confirmed:

“After surviving the war, Anne went on to marry her childhood sweetheart Peter. They were able to escape the war and eventually resettled in America. Anne and Peter had two children, named Edith and Otto”.

As before, Verity’s History teacher and classmates, seemed oblivious to the change. Perspiration started to seep through Verity’s white shirt and her arms and legs felt like jelly. Questions raced through her mind. Was this really happening? Was she going crazy? Was it all in her head?

So on this particularly warm winter’s day, Verity pondered how else she could test this newfound ability. She was jolted out of her daze by a question from Oriana, “what does snow look like?”

Oriana was born blind and one of her favourite pastimes was for Verity to describe to her all the things she could not see. She loved the way Verity’s words created intricate tapestries in her mind.

“Snow is beautiful”, Verity responded. “It is so white and when it gracefully falls from the sky, it envelopes everything like a soft blanket”.

“Sounds wonderous! I wish it would snow again”, exclaimed Oriana.

Verity and Oriana lived in an upper mountain town. For the first 4 years of their lives, it had snowed every winter. City dwellers would flock to see the snow and snowmen would adorn the lawns of every household.

Verity only had faint memories of snow and most of them were remembered from photos of Oriana and herself playing in the snow taken by her parents - two beaming faces, matching knitted pink beanies and gloves. 11 years of no snow, the scientists blamed global warming, the conspiracy theorists blamed the government and religious fanatics perceived it as sign that the end was near.

Verity longed to see snow again and she would do anything for the happiness of her friend. She opened up a note on her phone and typed “I wish for it to snow in our town, more than it has ever snowed before”.

Early the next morning, Verity was awoken by her brother Beau, “Verity, Verity, wake up! The ground has turned white!”

As Beau was 10 years old, he had never experienced the joy of snow. Verity slowly opened her curtain to see that it was true, the ground that was verdant green the day before, was now pure white! Snow was falling thickly and steadily, as it muffled all the usual sounds of the town.

Verity and Beau woke their parents, who could not believe the sight before them. The family dressed in their warmest clothes and ventured into their backyard to enjoy the snow. Snow balls were thrown and angels were made. Oriana came over to join the fun, they had a competition to see who could make the biggest and best-looking snowman (or snowperson – Oriana believed the term snowman displayed gender bias).

Oriana loved the cold, soft, but also firm texture of the snow. She could imagine what it looked like and delighted on opening her mouth to the sky and allowing snowdrops to fall on her tongue. Despite the freezing temperature, watching her friend made Verity feel warm all over.

Previously when it had snowed, it only lasted for a couple of days, however this time, days turned into weeks. The town was ill equipped to cope with this amount of snow. Roads closed. Tourists became stranded. Schools and restaurants, like the one that Verity’s parents owned, were forced to shut their doors. The continual cracks of branches were heard, as they buckled under the weight of the snow. Many fell on powerlines causing outages, emergency services crumbled – unable to keep up with the devastation.

In the usually crime free town, some residents resorted to looting shops, in desperation for food and supplies. Eventually the sound of helicopters filled the sky and specialised machinery was brought up to start clearing the roads. The snow, however, kept falling thick and fast, blanketing everything in its path.

Verity knew she had to make the snow stop. Her phone had run out of battery days before, but when she opened her laptop, she was relieved to discover that it still had a minuscule amount of power left. As the low battery message flashed, she quickly typed “I would like the snow to stop immediately”. She then thoughtfully added, “but come back in a smaller amount next year”.

The snow stopped. Cheers resounded around the town. Gradually everything returned to normal. Schools, shops and restaurants reopened. The snow remained for a few days, but as it melted, a sea of yellow daffodils emerged, a sign that spring was on its way.

While Verity was cooking breakfast for her family one morning, an egg teetered too close to the edge. Crack. The sound and the pool of gold, reminded Verity of the fragility and preciousness of life. She felt the weight of her gift and intrinsically knew that she needed to use it to help others.

Perhaps she could cure Oriana’s blindness? Or on a grander scale, eliminate disease and poverty in the world?

As the gentle sun streamed through the kitchen window, Verity smiled in the knowledge that the future was bright and the possibilities – endless.