A few days had passed since Mark had his run in with the murderer, but he was still scared. Out of his mind.

He hardly left the house, pulling a 'Roger Davis' as he liked to call it, and he couldn't go near windows, thinking that the murder was there, watching him. Waiting for him.

"Do you need anything?" Roger would always ask him at random moments of the day.

"I'm fine."

"You sure."

"Roger…"

"Okay, okay, sorry."

Mark felt a little guilty for being so cold to his best friend, but he couldn't help it. Mark was scared.

He contemplated about telling Roger. He wanted to; he really did. But everything was going so fast, too much for Mark to handle. He hated change.

So, finally, one night, when the bruises didn't hurt too much, he arranged with Maureen, Joanne, Angel, Collins and Mimi for himself and Roger to meet them at The Life.

"Mark you look so great!" Maureen screamed at Mark from across the street while Roger and Mark were crossing it. She was outside with a slightly annoyed Joanne, who was telling her to shut up and that she was causing a scene.

Mark had a bandage above his right eye and he couldn't really move his arm too well, so he was sure he looked less then great.

"Thanks, Mo." Mark blushed as they walked up to the couple. Maureen greeted Mark again by giving him a tight hug and a quick kiss on the cheek so Joanne wouldn't see it.

Roger rolled his eyes through all of this, and the four entered the Bohemian hangout, spotting Mimi, Collins and Angel who had picked out their usual tables at the back of the restaurant.

"Oh my God, Mark, how are you?"

"You look amazing!"

"Ya got a little dried blood on ya, Mark. You look pretty bad."

"Collins!" Angel smacked her lover upside the head and hugged Mark.

"Don't listen to him, baby, you look great."

"Thanks." Mark blushed even more and looked down as he sat in his chair. Mark hated attention.

The night passed and for once that whole entire week, Mark forgot about the whole incident.

He did notice, however, that a certain lesbian lawyer was giving him looks and glances the whole night. He couldn't look her in the eye. He promised to tell everybody, and he could if he wanted to, right then and there, but he would ruin the mood.

Finally, Mark called attention to himself.

This was it, he was gonna tell his friends the whole story.

He took a deep breath.

"Everybody, I have to tell you guys something."

The group stopped chatting and looked at Mark, who was now standing up and looking at the floor.

He quickly glanced at Joanne who was at his right. She smiled and sat up straight, nodding her head at him.

"Well, uh," Mark started, not feeling as outgoing as he seemed before, "well, I meant to tell you guys this a while ago."

He could feel his face getting even redder now, and he was starting to twitch.

"And, uh, see, like….I…." Mark was loosing his words.

"Just tell them." Joanne hissed so only Mark could hear it. Or so she thought.

"Tell us what?" Mimi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Uh well…see...okay…I got a new shirt." Mark finally sputtered.

Everybody stared at him.

"And like, it was on sale…and I just wanted to say…I got it." Mark sat down silently looking at the table.

Joanne put her head in her hands in frustration.

Angel and Mimi just stared at him. Angel was tempted to ask Mark where he had gotten his shirt, but noted it in her head to ask her at a more appropriate time. Like tomorrow.

Collins and Maureen both had confused looks on their faces, but continued to drink their beer.

Roger however, knew something was up. Sure, he liked Mark's shirt, but that wasn't the point. Something was up with his friend.


The night had finished, quite awkwardly, with hardly any talking from Mark. Mark, Roger, Joanne and Maureen were the last people to leave. Mimi had left with Collins and Angel a few hours earlier.

"Nice going Mark." Joanne whispered to Mark as she hugged him outside The Life.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't."

"Well, you better do something."

"I'll tell Roger."

"That's a start."

"Just don't tell Loud Mouth Maureen."

Joanne sighed. "I won't."

After the four said goodbye, Mark and Roger started walking back to their loft.

"A new shirt??" Roger suddenly burst out laughing.

"Shut up, okay?" Mark rubbed his head agitatedly.

"A new shirt…God, that's fresh. What has been your problem lately, man? All secretive."

Mark sighed. Some days he wished Roger could just keep to himself and not ask so many questions.

"It's nothing. You wouldn't understand."

"I wouldn't understand nothing?"

Mark shook his head and started to speed up his walk.

"Hey, hey!" Roger quickly caught up to his friend.

"Leave me alone." Mark pouted. The last thing he wanted to do was cry.

"Mark, you can tell me." Roger was beginning to soften up.

"Okay well….you know…okay you know that murder that happened a while ago?" Mark started, trying not to get all flustered like he did before.

"Yes…?" Roger raised an eyebrow.

"Well I was there…and I…I captured it on film….I had my camera with me…and the guy…the murderer, he saw me, and he was the one who beat me up and I…I don't know."

Roger stared his friend in the eye in slight shock. "Mark..."

"What?"

"…dude."

"Roger, what? Finish sentences."

"I didn't think…like, I didn't know." Roger was half stunned and have scared.

"It's okay, Joanne knows."

"Good...That's...That's good, Mark."

They walked back to their loft in silence. Mark was sure Roger wasn't going to say anything to Collins, but he didn't feel like addressing that tonight. It'd half to wait for another day.

They entered their loft, and right away Mark could feel something wasn't right.

Roger flicked on a light and there before them, their recently cleaned loft was a mess. Papers strewn, glasses broken, chairs and lamps tossed around.

Mark and Roger could only stare in awe at their messy loft.

And on a wall, in huge letters "DIE, MARK COHEN." were written.