"Cohen, Mark." A nurse called out. Both the songwriter and the filmmaker stood together and walked to the back.
"Sir, you're not allowed back here," the nurse said to Roger but he kept walking beside his friend.
"It's okay. I want him here with me." Mark nodded to the nurse and she just shrugged her shoulders and showed Mark where the doctor would see him.
The younger man hoisted himself onto the hospital bed, a coughing fit attacking him afterwards.
Once he was done, Mark's eyes met Roger's. "Mark, please. None of this is making any sense. Where the hell are you taking this?"
"All in due time. All in due time. Okay now where were we? What was the last story?" Mark inquired, looking around the room. White walls, white ceiling. Sterile.
"Your grandmother's death. But seriously what does this have to do with the AIDS thing?"
"Yeah. Okay. Zoom out. My life. Act 18, Scene 10. You finally succeeded in getting me to help you with your haunted house. I was against the whole thing from the beginning. Truthfully, I hated the idea because I was scared of the dark back then. But then again what do you expect with a naive little Jewish boy..."
"Roger, I'm not doing this. I mean look at it. It'll scare little kids. I don't want to scare little kids," Mark said in one breath as he looked into Roger's newly erected haunted house.
"Mark, I need your help. Come on, you can be wolfman. He's your favorite," Roger nudged his friend in the ribs. Mark whimpered at the impact.
"Can't I just film it?" Mark whined.
"What is it with you and that damn camera? Ever since you got that thing for your birthday this year, it's been attached to your damn hand," Roger groaned at the mention of Mark wanting to film.
"I need to start now if I want to be a good film maker. It's my dream Roger. Are you going to deny me future happiness?" Mark pulled out a most pitiful face. Yet going through his head was 'If I make it that far in the future.'
"Mark. You're wolfman and that's it. Come on," Roger grabbed the younger man by the upper arm and dragged him into the haunted house. Mark whined like a five-year-old and jumped at most of the traps that were set up. Clearly Roger had been working on this for a while before volunteering Mark to help him finish it.
"Roger, I am not doing this. I will film. Do not deny me happiness," Mark groaned as Roger pulled him through the haunted house.
"Get over whatever fear you have of being infront of the camera. Of living life Mark. You only have one chance to live it," Roger said, taking the camera from Mark's hand."You hide behind this thing. But in reality, it's you Mark that should be the star. You have so many things to say. You want to change the world, but hiding behind your camera prevents you from doing that."
Mark let the blush rise on his cheeks, hoping that the haunted house was dark enough to hide it. He contemplated saying thank you but he couldn't decide if that was just the right answer.So he just went with, "I'm not the only person hiding from something. Everybody does. I'm nothing special."
"But you have the drive to get out there and do it. The difference between you and them is that you can do it, not only just dream about doing it," the older man turned to look at the filmmaker. "A director should always be able to see things from an actor's point of view. And an actor should always be able to see things from the director's point of view."
"Are you trying to tell me I'm not allowed to hide? That I shouldn't?" Mark questioned his best friend's motives with this rush of compliments.
"I'm not trying to tell you to do anything. Let's thing of this as pushing advice," Roger grinned.
"I'm not the only one in this haunted house trying to hide behind something Roger. You hide behind your disease all the time. And if it's not that, it's your music. Gotta write one great song remember?" Mark launched at his friend, wrestling him to the ground. "You're always telling me what to do, when you do the same thing."
"I have a reason to hide. No one wants baggage without lifetime guarantees," Roger said, pushing his friend off of him. "No one wants something they have to watch die."
"Poor baby. There are people out there willing to love without holding back. People willing to get to know you after they know you have a death sentence on your head," Mark attacked Roger again, wrestling him, getting his aggression out physically but also verbally.
"Watch yourself, Cohen," Roger warned, rolling around, needing this just as much as the other.
"Fuck you, You're not the only one who needs to hide. You're not the only one that hides because he has to, not becuase he wants to." Mark rectified himself. He grabbed his camera and walked out of the haunted house.
Not once did he look back at the mess he left behind.
((A/N: So that's chapter six. We're looking at like 3 to 4 more chapters and then that'll be the end! I know half of you are like "HOW THE HELL DID MARK GET AIDS?" and are about to kill me because you still don't know. But I guarantee you will find out. Most of the people who reviewed (who weren't many but I thank each and everyone of you) said they didn't get the whole Act 18, Scene 10 thing. Well, the Act represents his age each time. If you watch they got down each chapter. The Scenes represent the month. Like when I did the Thanksgiving one it was Scene 11, and Valentine's Day was Scene 2, and this one was Scene 10. I have a question. I may make the next chapter rated M. Would everyone still read it or should I just leave it as it is and hint on the more explicit stuff?
Thanks for reading. Later dayz.))