In the original version of Pyramus and Thisbe, the two respective main characters are members of rival families. Pyramus and Thisbe’s houses are separated by a wall. Nevertheless, Pyramus and Thisbe fall in love and speak to each other everyday through a crack in the wall. My story is a continuation of Pyramus and Thisbe, except for one difference: Thisbe already has a partner and they're wedding is already planned. My Pyramus & Thisbe project is in Prose style. My adaptation follows Pyramus more closely than the original story, and follows his own personal journey, through his experiences with Thisbe and after…

Pyramus woke up tired again, slightly melancholic and worn down. He washed his face with warm water to try and wake himself up; while his senses were activated, his mind and body still felt lethargic. That is, until he started thinking about Thisbe. He thought about how wonderful she was. His care for her gave him energy. And then, he thought about how Thisbe was already going to be married, how it was a bad idea to chase after her, but the red velvet haze of love was too comforting, too good of an escape. He gathered his books and his pencils into a bag and ran off to school. On his way to class he passed a group of his classmates sitting and laughing together. Suddenly he was bombarded with negative thoughts; all he could think about was that he didn't have a friend group like that, he didn't have friends like that. But what did it matter, he had Thisbe, he would even see her later that day.  

After a couple awkward interactions with his teachers and peers he found a quiet place to sit; somewhere he could be unbothered, somewhere he was safe from his own awkwardness. It was Wednesday, and that meant he could read the next chapter in the Jason and the Argonauts story he was following. And then he realized the day was almost two quarters of the way through. This was when he’d been going to the crack in the wall, between his house and Thisbes. He fumbled through his bag looking for his journal and almost tripped down the stairs. Finally he found it: a thin brown book covered in tree embroidery he’d bought from the market next to the ancient ziggurats. Running into his house he dropped his bag in the Culina and ran toward the crack in the wall. He flipped to the poem he’d written about her, about how she was the only girl who ever actually called him by his name, but he could tell something was different. She was concerned when she saw him that day and when he looked toward her she looked away like she was afraid, like a creep was staring at her. 

The styrofoam wall of safety that his deep emotional care for her had built, was in one fell sweep, crushed. All the negative thoughts and feelings he'd ever faced in his life came rushing at him. You're a loser, you have like two close friends and they're part of their own friend groups you're not even a part of, you're awkward, and weird, and you're not funny, why would anyone want to love you anyway, of course she doesn't love you anymore. That night he collapsed onto his bed and started crying. Broken and alone. 

Eventually he realized that perhaps Thisbe moving away from him wasn't a bad reflection on him, it was probably just that Thisbe already found exactly the partner that she wanted to be with before Pyramus came into her life. Pyramus knew now that he could never use romance as a crutch again. He realized the bad habit he’d gotten into: he couldn't accept and love himself so he invested himself fully in someone else, in the idea that someone else wanted him. 

He knew that the journey he was about to embark on wouldn't be easy, but he decided that he would finally look himself in the mirror and do the necessary internal work, so that one day he could love himself. 

It was painful for a couple months, changing habits, it was like he was rewiring his brain, his thoughts. He felt lonely for a while, but in that lonely feeling, he learned to lean on himself and the people he cared about. Pyramus realized that even when he didn't have a lover to look up to, he always had himself. He was always available to listen to his own feelings, to help sort through his own pain. This is where self love began for Pyramus. Nevertheless, it still hurt every time he saw Thisbe. Despite his old habit of replacing his negative thoughts about himself with positive ones about someone else, Pyramus did actually care about her. In his pain he thought he was mean to her and he felt guilty. She told him he was probably just overthinking, that one bad day doesn't define someone's character… She was right. 

Pyramus focused on all the good qualities and characteristics that made him who he was: his caring heart, his kindness, his empathy. Eventually he had to face the parts of himself that he used to hate: his awkwardness, his nerdiness, his shyness; they deserved his love too. Why? because they're part of what makes Pyramus, Pyramus.  

One day Pyramus was walking through a nature trail with his Mom. The sun was shining through the trees and their shadows covered the earth and the dirt in front of them. It reminded Pyramus of his journal. He looked over at his Mom who was smiling and he started smiling too. She looked up and told him a story. When Pyramus was just a baby, their family lived in the middle of the city of Babylon. His Mom would walk with Pyramus, just like they were now, except She was carrying him in her arms of course. She told Pyramus that he was the sweetest little baby, that he would smile and wave at strangers who passed by. Pyramus' smile became gentle as he looked at the path in front of him. He was finally starting to feel like that little baby again.