#galeus

“Now, what makes Romeo and Juliet not a romance but a tragedy?”

Gale leaned against her desk with her hands holding onto the ridge. Her fingers tapped the surface in sync with the raindrops against the roof. She overlooked her sea of students. Some of them just stared back at her with their eyes fluttering, trying to stay away and others stared down at the ground. One of her students raised their hand and Gale pointed at them to answer.

“Yes, Diane?”

“Because they both die in the end?”

Gale nodded. “Yes, exactly.”

She jumped off the desk and stepped forward. “They were so close to reaching their love story. If Romeo just waited a few seconds for Juliet to wake up, they would have gotten their happy ending, but they didn’t. Romance stories are more of how we want love to go. We don’t want our love stories to end with sudden death. I mean, the play ends with the quote: ‘For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo’.” A story of more woe, in ways, that means tragedy. Can you think of another prominent tragedy?”

Gale gazed at a student in the back who clearly was on their phone and had headphones in. “Daniel?”

Daniel dared not to look up. It took his friend, Marty, to smack his shoulder that made Daniel look up and stop his music.  

“Yes, ma’am?”  

“Can you name a tragedy?”

“…Romeo and Juliet?”

The class roared with laughter, but Gale silenced them with shush and a yell of “quiet!”. She smiled, not wanting to embarrass Daniel.

“Can you name one that isn’t Romeo and Juliet?”

It took Daniel a second before spitting out. “Eurydice and Orpheus?”

“Yes! That’s perfect, Daniel!” Gale shouted with excitement. “For many who don’t know, in Greek mythology, Orpheus went to the Underworld to retrieve his love, Eurydice. Hades said he could if he travels throughout the Underworld without looking behind him to check if Eurydice was behind him. Much like Romeo, Orpheus was so close to his happy ending but he looked behind to see Eurydice behind him, breaking his promise. Following that, he fell into despair.”

Diane asked. “So, ma’am, tragedies can have love in it, but love stories can’t have tragedy?”

Gale thought for a second before answering. “I mean like every story, there is going be sad parts but love stories don’t end in tragedy-“

Before Gale could continue, the bell rang, causing her students to rise from their seats and run towards the door. She yelled over the bell. “Remember your papers on Romeo and Juliet are due by Wednesday. If you need any help, let me know!”

The crowd of teenagers left the room. As Daniel was about to leave, Gale said his name. He turned with his headphones in.  Gale gestured to take them out and he followed.

“Great work today, Daniel.” She said. “Just to let you know though, if I see you on your phone and headphones in again, I will take your participation points off.”

Daniel sighed. “Got it.”

“Hey.” She reassured. “I know you’re a smart kid and I want you to show it off. I mean, when I was your age, I wouldn’t have even thought of Orpheus and Eurydice.”

He smiled back and walked out of the room, passing Troy in the doorway. Gale stared at her nephew and sighed. “Troy, what are you doing here?”

Troy stepped into the room. “What? Can’t I have lunch with my favorite aunt?”

“I’m your only aunt.”

“Exactly!”

Gale rolled her eyes. “Please, go have lunch with the other kids-“

“Excuse me, I’m sixteen-”

Gale snapped. “Exactly. Please, be social. Hell, go to a party this weekend.”

Troy gasped. “But what about our Doctor Who binge?”

“We can watch David Tennent some other time.”

 Troy wrapped his arms. “Fine, if I’m going out, you do too.”

“No, no, I’m the adult here, you listen to me.”

Troy scoffed as he waved goodbye and left. Gale waved back and smiled before folding up her papers. She stared out the window. The rain continued to pour against the window. The clouds covered the sky. It made her want to fall asleep again. She shut her eyes for a second and opened them but suddenly, the wilderness was gone.

Instead of the trees and rain, there was a library. Shelves lined each side but in the middle was a gorgeous staircase that led up to a throne. A raven sat on the top, peering over the room. Behind the throne, stain glass windows let sunlight shined through.

On the steps sat a familiar face. The pale person from Gale’s dream this morning. But instead dressed in 19th century clothing, he wore a normal black t-shirt with black slacks and a long, black cape that fell behind him like a waterfall.

Gale stood up in amazement, walking towards the window. She breathed in and out. This had to be a dream too right. This had to be real right? She put her hand to the glass of the window. Suddenly, she heard a voice yell, “Morpheus, look!” Then, the raven flew to the person’s side. Who Gale believed to be Morpheus looked up from the ground and stared right back at Gale. The two locked eyes.

“Who are you and what are you doing in my library?”

Gale’s dreams had always felt real, even if she didn’t remember them.  She could always feel the happiness of a true dream or the fear of a nightmare. However, the dream she was having now was different. This one felt real, but it felt like she had it before even though she never had. 

She sat in a meadow with the sunlight bathing her. A book sat in her hand but made of leather. She looked at the cover to see the golden letters of A Midsummer’s Night Dream etched into it. Of course, it was Shakespeare. It made sense to Gale that it would be in this dream. She was teaching Romeo and Juliet this week. However, she has never read A Midsummer’s Night Dream even in all her years of schooling. But somehow, she felt a connection to it, and it wasn’t the first time she glazed her eyes on the pages. 

She looked up as she heard not just the wind blowing but voices in the woods. Her head turned to see two people walking through the trees. One of them was a masculine-looking person with pale skin and short black hair. The other was a feminine-looking person with curly, black hair and dark skin.  Unlike his stern expression, hers was cheerful. It looked like she was the one carrying on the conversation as she bit into a peach. 

Gale didn’t recognize either of them. She got the feeling that she knew everyone in the town. It was intriguing to her to see new faces. She stood up swiftly and started running through the meadow, following behind them. Her dress flew behind. As she came closer, the more she overheard the conversation. 

“Please, at least try it.” The curly-haired person shoved the peach in the pale one’s face. 

Even though his eyebrows were arched, he reluctantly took it and ate it. His face didn’t change. 

“Good, right?” She smiled. 

He doesn’t say anything back to her, not disagreeing or even agreeing.  Gale could notice that he tried to hide a smile. The curly-haired person elbowed him and laughed. “Oh, brother, I did miss our time together.” 

“And I did too, my dear sister.” He spoke back. 

Gale hid behind a tree watching them and was about to follow them until she took a step onto a stick. It snapped loudly, causing the two siblings to turn in Gale’s direction. She quickly hid behind the tree. 

“Seems like we have a secret admirer.” The sister smirked and walked closer to the tree. 

Her brother responded. “Humans are an invasive species.” 

Gale breathed as quietly as she could. She was confused by what he said but she focused more on hiding her identity. She looked down at her feet to find black shoes in front of her. Gale breathed out as she moved her head up. There, standing there was one of the people she was watching. His eyes looked longingly at her. No wonder he didn’t talk much, his eyes said so many words. Her lips quivered as she was about to say something- 

                                                          ~

Gale jumped up from her bed to the fire alarm going off. It took her a second to realize where she was. She wasn’t in a meadow, dressed in a 19th-century dress but instead in her baggy University of Cambridge t-shirt and plain underwear. The fire alarm continued to go off and Gale groaned, knowing what was causing it. 

Smoke filled the kitchen as a teenage boy, whipped a towel around the smoke alarm. Gale watched him jumping up and down, trying to move the smoke away. 

“Troy. Not again.” Gale sighed before grabbing another towel to help him. 

He yelled back as the alarm stopped. “I wanted to make you breakfast for the first day.” 

After the alarm stopped, Gale ruffled her nephew’s short, curly hair and kissed him on the forehead. “I appreciate it.” 

Then, she opened the cabinet above the oven and pulled out a bowl. Next to that cabinet, she opened a few boxes of cereal, taking out the Special K’s box. 

“This is why you should stick to making cereal.” 

Troy laughed while he grabbed the milk from the fridge and poured it into the bowl. Gale rolled her eyes as she grabbed an apple from the basket on the counter. Troy, then, poured cereal into the bowl. 

“I thought I raised you better.” Gale laughed before she took a bite of her apple 

Troy responded with a chuckle. “Nope.” 

Gale said before taking another large bite. “Please tell me you studied for that science exam. Mr. Gilmore has been bragging every day in the teacher’s lounge that all his students are going to fail.” 

Troy took a bite of his cereal and almost choked on it as he laughed. “Don’t worry, I did. His exams aren’t as hard as he thinks they are.” 

Gale laughed before she said.  “Well, eat quickly while I go change.” 

“What do you mean?” Troy joked. “You’re not going to go to work dressed like that?”