Dying in America
Chapter 1
All characters except for Brode, Matt, and Riley (c) to Jonathon Larson
Mark pulled on
his legendary black and grey scarf,and brought out his old camcorder.
It had been found in a dump in downtown Manhattan, five years ago and
he had reworked it, and now it was like new. Documentaries were his
thing, and he was bound to find something that would make viewers see
life for what it really was, instead of what Buzzline had been
forcing him to document, but if it paid the rent, then he guessed it
was better than nothing. Even if he felt it wasn't right; scandal,
sex and and all the latest gossip. Mark cringed and grabbed his coat,
it was 8:30 am on a Monday, and he walked out of his room, to see
Roger and Mimi making out. Since Angel's death and Mimi's random
dissapearance, Roger had managed to talk Mimi out of what she was
using, and though she fought for a long while with the withdrawl
effects, she managed to stay on her feet. He smiled at them and
waved, grabbing his bicycle and heading out the door. He had been
creditally acclaimed when it came to his documentaries, and he even
won a few awards, but the stories they sent him to documentary, just
cramped his style. He sighed, and walked down the last few stairs of
the apartments. The apartment really needed some work, but since he
was the only one besides Joanne paying rent, there was nothing they
could do, and Benny had became pushier than ever, especially since
Mimi went back to Roger. So he highly doubted if anything would come
of that notion.
He pushed his red bicycle out onto the sidewalk
and hopped on, it was a crisp fall New York morning, and people were
bustling about. He weaved in and out of the crowd, shooting a few
clips of film here and there.Finally arriving at Buzzline he was
greeted by his boss Alexi, rushing toward him. He cringed slightly,
she was the type that was nice to everyone in front of them, but bad
mouthed them behind there backs. She was dressed in a red 2 piece
skirt and jacket set with a white turtleneck underneath. and her dark
black hair was pushed into a '40's sidesweep.
"Mark, darling
you're going out with Matt and Brode today, we have a rape to report
and we don't want to be the last on the bandwagon do we?" she
said handing him a few sheets of paper, and his mail,"I picked
up your mail, so you don't have to hurry about so much, and this is a
few reports and things, that we have on your salary. You're about due
for a raise".
She winked, and smiled rushing back the same
way she had come. He watched her walk away, skeptical, and looked
back down at his mail, and then sighing stuffed it in his messenger
bag. "I think that she likes you".
said a voice behind
him, it was Brode the company's assistant editor. "I wouldn't
give her the time of day, do you know how she treats everyone?"
Mark replied looking back at him. "Don't we all". came
Brode's reply.
Brode was a man in his early 20's, slender, his
dark short, but shaggy hair came over his eyes, and he wore the
latest clothing. His eyes were the deepest blue you had ever seen,
but Mark wasn't into guys. Maureen's leaving him, had come on him
hard and he had not been taking it to well. Joanne was a sweatheart,
but very well, Upfront. He couldn't help but wonder what she saw in
Joanne in the first place, except her up front and sweet nature, but
other than... what he wondered? Joanne was a good person, although
they had their differences, and didn't like each other at first they
came become good friends, everything had changed drammatically since
Angel's death and everyone was feeling the effects.
"So are
you coming or not?"Brode's question came back to him
hazy.
"Yeah, sorry" Mark said following him out of the
multi-million dollar steel structure and into the van. He shot
footage that day, of left over scences that looked like they came out
of a horror movie, the pain was all to real in the faces of those,
who had been forced into this house, but one face caught his eye in
particular, and he kept shooting back to her, it was a rapist house,
he knew this, but this girl looked defiant, almost like nothing was
happening, she was dressed in a ragged full length black dress, with
tear marks everywhere, and she was gagged, at first Mark didn't
realize this, but once he did, he quickly pushed through the mob of
police, reporters and television crews, and scrambling frantically
through the debri that was left after, the police busted in, the
notorius Rella De Buu in New York City's south end, the infamous rape
house which no one had been able to do anything about till now, 30
years later. Mark shook his head, at the thought, and bent over to
her, she looked at him suspiciously, which he didn't blame her, and
started to ungag her, pulling her binds away, and helping her stand
upright. She hugged him, and started to bawl, her hair was long and
chestnut, it was dirty, but he guessed it was beautiful, when it
wasn't dirty. Her dark green eyes, pierced into his grey ones. and
she hung on for dear life, she didn't look much older than him, but
he couldn't be sure. He wrapped his arms around her and they quietly
slipped out, no one had noticed, and no one needed to notice for the
time being. Brode noticed and smiled, Mark had found his match.
"So
what is your name, he asked, taking off his coat, and draping it over
her, I don't want to hurt you, you're just so beautiful". He
said looking her in the eyes
"Mark, I ..I missed you"
she proffesed, quietly. Her expression slowly turning from scared,
back to the defiant one he had just seen earlier, and then he
realized who it was.
"My God, Riley, I thought you went
west!" he said, realization dawning, as he grabbed her in a
strong hug.