Juliet's Judgement

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet; so Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d, retain that dear perfection which…” As the words trailed off, so did the attention of all those surrounding the stage.

Silence, lasting five seconds. Five seconds of agonizing need to recall words that weren’t surfacing.

“Cut!” Mr. Wellington's voice echoed throughout the empty auditorium as all the crew flinched. “Cut, cut, cut!”

Stepping away from the set, I refused to raise my eyes to the level of his face. I had practiced, practiced, and practiced and this is the best I could do? Just forget it?

“Julia! Will you please finish the speech Lainey has so flippantly forgotten?” This demand formed as a question jabbed at my heart in ways only Juliet herself could truly relate.

A little voice cleared her throat as she emerged from behind the stage curtains. “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”  Julia, the queen-fucking-bee proceeded to recite the whole speech. Above and beyond what she was even asked. 

A slow, soft, subtle applause sounded from Mr. Wellington, encouraging a curtsey from Julia as the applause built and built.

Everyone was clapping. Everyone. I couldn’t bring myself to even put my hands together. They clenched instead.

—

“Act 5, Scene 3! Let us end this rehearsal with the performance of the night!” Mr. Wellington bellowed as he ushered the crew to set up Juliet’s tomb. “We will start after Paris’s death, and Julia will be performing as Juliet!” 

Eyes widened at me as they darted between the two of us. I was the one cast as Juliet. I had performed all day and made no more mistakes. She was just a standby. Not even the understudy for Juliet.

The smile on Julia stretched across her whole face as her eyes met mine. “It would be my honor, Mr. Wellington. Call me Julia-et.” She giggled at her own joke as she got into position.

I avoided any sort of contact with any of the cast and crew as I sulked backstage.

None of these amateur fuckers knew what it was like. Mommy and Daddy’s pressure to perform well was nothing compared to Uncle’s pressure to succeed. To live the role and be the best. He wanted it, so I needed it.

Moments with the scene fast forward within my mind, making it hard to even consider what Julia might be doing that Mr. Wellington is so enthralled with.

“O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” Matthew dies as Romeo with eloquence, never once having someone else fill his role.

“... I will kiss thy lips. Haply some poison yet doth hang on them, to make me die with a restorative.” She bent down and pressed her lips against his, lingering for a second or two longer than meant. “Thy lips are warm!”

Julia makes an exaggerated effort to look around after hearing the lines from the First Watch. “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O, happy dagger, this is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.”

Her vision found me somehow. The twitch of her lip, a twinkle in her eye. Then, the prop knife plunged into her chest and she acted her death. A perfect act.

But the prop knife didn’t just stick to Julia like it was supposed to. It went through her. It kept blood from pouring out of her but not all. Thick red seeped from her chest to her pink tank, a few drops dripping to the floor.

Screams erupted as it was realized that it wasn't a prop knife.

—

The world became a blur, even after the ambulance and police arrived on the scene. No sounds could pierce the ringing in my ears as processing took all my effort.

A tap on my shoulder turned me face to face with an officer. His lips moved with no words reaching me.

I nodded slowly, allowing the man to lead me off to Mr. Wellington’s office. I don’t know if he sat me down or if I did it on my own automatically.

The fog clouding my ears started to alleviate as if emerging from being submerged.

“Miss Edun, we need to know if you understand your rights.” A second officer was in the room, sitting at Mr. Wellington’s desk with a notepad set right in front of him, obviously thoroughly written through already.

My rights. They’re questioning me, here, about Julia’s accident. Her death. Was she even dead? She looked very dead to me, but that’s what she was supposed to look like. I could never act that dead in all my years of performing.

“I do.” My voice didn’t sound like my own, a croak of its previous self. 

Right to keep my mouth shut. Anything that comes out of it will bury me. Right to pay someone to tell me what to say and when to not.

The officer nodded, sitting up a bit as if to seem more professional. “I am Sergarent Mendes, and this is my partner, Officer Green. We were hoping to just ask you a few questions as to what happened tonight.”

Just questions. “Shouldn’t this be done at the police station?” I couldn’t even look at either officer.

“Technically, yes.” I saw a small smile from Officer Green in the corner of my eye. Why smile at a time like this? “But we thought if we do it now, we can get it out of the way while everything is still fresh.”

That kind of makes sense. Is that what they’re trying to do? Make me feel comfortable and help me understand so that I relax? So that I slip up?

“Everything’s kind of a blur.” 

I could feel their eyes burning through me.

“Julia was performing Juliet’s death scene… The knife was supposed to retract and stick to her…” I cleared my throat as I felt my saliva thicken.

Sergeant Mendes looked at previous notes taken. “We were told by Mr. Wellington that you are the one who was cast as Juliet, and Miss Vera was covering for the last performance.”

I nodded a little.

“Do you have any idea why Mr. Wellington would switch the two of you so late?”

What was that exactly supposed to mean?

I had to think for a few seconds to pick the right words in the right order. “I was having some issues with my memory, and Mr. Wellington always wants the final performance of the night to be absolutely perfect.”

“And Miss Vera could perform better than you?”

How was that any of their business?

“Not exactly. She’s just been able to focus on certain scenes, while I have to memorize all of the scenes.” That was good. That would work.

The officer wrote something down. “So you performed all day as Juliet, right?”

I nodded. 

“Did Mr. Wellington make any comments about your performances, or about Miss Vera?” Back to him. Good, good.

“Mr. Wellington is truthful and blunt. He speaks out in front of everyone, no matter what it is about. He showed restraint today.” He didn’t yell at me for every blunder I made, or make me sit out to rehearse my lines.

“Restraint how?”

How could I explain it to them? And make it seem good?

“He usually is very vocal about mistakes, and has other people fix them.” 

The sergeant sat back against the seat. “And what does that have to do with you and Miss Vera?”

“He’s harder on the women in the cast. Especially Julia.” Hard in more ways than one. “Julia always tried to suck up to his every word, so him not having much to say had left her without much to do.”

The officers seemed to be trying to process this new information. Or what I would hope is new information. “So what is the kind of relationship they have?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “I don’t want to spread rumors, but it is hard to deny that they have had an affair going on since the beginning of production.”

That perked them up. “An affair?”

I nodded, sitting up a little straighter. “Yeah, they sneak off in here between scenes sometimes. Recently, they’ve barely looked at each other.”

“Why do you think that is?”

“Well, Mr. Wellington has made it known that his wife is currently expecting their third child. When that news came out, some joked that maybe he’d knock up Julia too.” All of that might not have been true, but we need to stretch some things out once in a while.

“Is there any possibility that Mr. Wellington would be capable of staging the death of Miss Vera?” 

That gave me pause. Not because I didn’t know the answer, but to let them think I needed time to think. “He’s an intense man. Scary, sometimes. If he had the means and the need, I fear he could.”

Sergeant Mendes quickly scribbled a few things down, just as I realized something.

“I know you can’t just search his desk, but his top left drawer is always locked.” I point over the desk to that specific drawer. “I’ve seen him shove papers and objects in it, a few being receipts.”

Were they taking the hint? Did they truly understand what I was getting at?

The officers glanced at each other before looking back towards me. “Thank you for all your help, Miss Edun.” Sergeant Mendes stands up and takes something out of his pocket. “This is my card, feel free to call if you remember any new information.”

Nodding, I take his card and slip it into my pocket. “I hope you find out what happened to Julia. She didn’t deserve this.”

“We are going to do everything we can. You just worry about getting home safe right now.” Officer Green gave me a soft smile before escorting me out of the office.

I went to collect my bag, lingering for a moment to watch the officers take Mr. Wellington back into his office for more questioning.

As I left the studio, a wave of cool, sweet relief washed over me. It wasn’t until I got into my car that I felt the safest. Safe enough to reach down into my boot and pull out the stunt knife that was pressing into my ankle. Throwing it into the backseat, I put the car in drive and took my time driving home.

Mr. Wellington should’ve known better than to try and replace me with Julia.

I am Juliet.