The Power of a Smile

'Why Him, why in the world HIM?!' Juliet shouted in her mind, going home late. She tried gamely to forget her hot blush and the touch of His body just from ten minutes ago. She always hated herself for these stupid thoughts which always haunted her on her lonely evening walks and because of which she always got lost in the clouds of deliberations. But that night she hated herself a hundred times more, because that thought-wandering was exactly what made her bump onto the familiar, tall, raven-haired young man. The fear caused her heart to flutter, nearly fleeing from her chest... Or maybe it wasn't fear?
'Damn, again!' she scolded herself, had she realized that she had absolutely no idea where she was going--and for a while now. But before she managed to figure out her situation, some strong, undoubtedly male arm pulled her into the alley. It took her only a second to understand, with pure terror, that she wouldn't make it away...

She couldn't quite determine where she was, what happened and how long she'd been lying like so, completely still, in impenetrable darkness. Her senses were befuddled by excruciating pain of abdomen and thighs, and she barely saw her own blood flowing down from them.
She got up with difficulty, moaning. The world swayed and whirled before her eyes, so she leaned against the wet, brick wall, hobbling towards the bright streetlamp light, which dazzled her pupils that had already gotten accustomed to darkness. The next vertigo came exactly when the brick wall ended. She lost her balance, heard a muffled scream and landed in some arms, warmth of which brought relief to her numb body. The blush once again covered her cheeks, when, through the blood-red mist, she saw His face.
Her hand jumped up without her will involved and rested on her chest. It wasn't before then that Juliet noticed a black hilt and a crossguard stuck there, as if hooked to her shirt, once snow white, now dipped in scarlet.
She didn't want to die. She wanted to stay in this evil and blood-bathed world she was born in. She wanted to learn to love it and to learn to love Him. But the warmth of His arms was already embracing all of her, and the previously black inside of her eyelids flared up with engaging light which slowly pulled her in and broke her touch with reality. She opened her lips in soundless laugh as she looked at her long-dead mother, once again young and full of absurd life.
The woman took her hand and lead her on the neverending journey through the time and space. She saw some old ma'am on her death bed, gripping hard her son's fingers just before she slipped into silence. She saw a suicidal who, with tears up her eyes, swallowed the whole bottle of pills; a soldier in a trench who died without even knowing it as the bullet pierced his forehead; a dog beaten up to death by a bunch of hooligans, its blood flowing down the asphalt... Countless pictures, countless agonies, countless victims of this merciless, refined killer--Death.
Some man was slaughtered in a dark alley, just like her. 'Does he feel the same?' she wondered. 'Does he see my face or any of the faces I saw? Or maybe he just falls into the darkness, letting himself be wrapped in a comforting, relieving coolness?'
For just a split second Juliet saw through his eyes, smelled his blood and felt his pain... and she found the sensation strangely heavenly. But then, there were no more faces and last moments. Then she stood again in the endless white, gazing into her mother's smooth features, still shaking with the last, terrifying feeling.
"You helped them all," she heard her voice, although the lips in front of her didn't break their slight, calming smile. "Thanks to you they died in no pain, thanks to you they could feel warmth covering their frozen hearts just before their minds tuned out."
With each of her words Juliet felt more and more lost, full of unanswered questions.
"But... how?"
"With just one simple gesture you awoke the power of absorbing their feelings, sowing the bliss of ignorance in their minds that had already forgotten it. You helped them--that should be enough. Let's go, sweetie. I'll bake your favorite cookies."

A smile froze on Juliet's lips, when she whispered His name in the last breath.

Author's Note

For the school assignment where we where supposed to write a spin-off story for Romeo and Juliet. (Well, it was either that or writing an essay, the choice was easy.)