No Day But Today
DISCLAIMER: I do not own RENT or anything affiliated with it.
A/n: I'm in such a mood today… I'm listening to The Mamas & the Papas… talk about a sober acid trip.
Liz woke up to the sound of Mark crying. She sat up. "No…" he muttered. She looked over at him. He was still asleep. "Noo… not him."
"Mark, wake up," she said, gently shaking him. He began to thrash around as though he was trying to get away from her.
"Please stop!" Mark called, still asleep.
"Mark, baby, please wake up," she said, louder. She began to shake him a little harder, praying that he would wake up. She moved away as he began to hit at her, trying to get away from her. "Mark, stop!" She got out of the bed and moved away, watching as he hit at something that wasn't there. "Mark…"
"Let go! Leave me alone!" he screamed. Collins ran into the room and attempted to restrain the smaller man. Liz watched as the black man held Mark still, trying to protect both of them. "Let me go!"
"Mark, calm down, it's Collins," the man said, attempting to calm the man before he could hurt anyone. "Wake up, man." After a few moments, Mark finally calmed down and opened his eyes.
"Wha..?"
"You okay man?" Collins asked, letting go of Mark and standing back up. Liz kept her distance. Mark just looked up at the two of them, trying to catch his breath before answering.
"What happened?"
"You freaked out… you were dreaming," Liz said. Mark turned to her.
"Oh God… Liz, I'm so sorry," he said, walking over to her. He pulled her into a gentle embrace. "I didn't mean to hurt you."
"What was all of that?" she asked, whispering. Mark sighed.
"It was just a bad dream."
"That was a hell of a lot more than a bad dream, man," Collins said quietly. Mark turned to him. "If you don't tell the girl, I will, cause I'm pretty sure I know exactly what that was."
"You're going to want to sit down," Mark said, motioning toward the bed. Liz sat down, and he sat next to her. "I lost both of my parents a few months ago," Mark began. Liz nodded.
"I know."
"My dad… he died of alcohol poisoning. At my bar mitzvah, I caught him in the bathroom with his secretary…"
Mark stared out the window of the news van, watching the scenery fly past. For once they were actually going the speed limit, albeit on Long Island.
"Mark, maybe you should talk to someone," Liz whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear.
"It was a long time ago. I'm fine," Mark replied, also in a whisper.
"In case you forgot, I was one of the witnesses to your little dream last night. And that sure the hell wasn't fine," Liz said.
"Can we talk about this some other time?" Mark asked, rubbing his temples. He had a killer headache. Liz just sighed and pulled a bottle of Tylenol out of her purse. She handed it to him.
"You aren't going to get out of it, Mark. I know all of your little tricks," she replied.
"You've been spending too much time with Roger."
"Actually, it was Collins," she replied. "I'm being serious here."
"I'm just really stressed right now, what with Jeff and the girls and everything," Mark said. "I'll be fine just as soon as all of this blows over."
"I seriously doubt that this is going to go away, Mark," Liz told him. She glanced down at her watch. "You should take those," she said, motioning towards the Tylenol.
"I'll be okay," he said, handing the bottle back to her. She put it away silently.
"Just think about it, okay?"
"If it'll make you stop asking, I will," Mark replied, rubbing his temples again.
Roger and Mimi opened the loft door quietly, trying not to wake anyone up. Roger kissed Mimi and then made his way towards the open bathroom door. "I'll be there in a minute, I'm just going to cut off the light," he said, motioning toward the door Mimi just nodded and went into their room. Roger turned and pushed the door open a little more, to find Mark sitting on the floor.
"Shit, Mark sorry," Roger said, turning away. "I thought someone left the light on."
"Rog," Mark replied. He sounded so weak, Roger turned around and looked at his friend. He was shocked to see the blood flowing out of Mark's nose.
"What the fuck happened?" Roger asked, kneeling down next to his friend. He grabbed a towel off of the sink and tried to stop the bleeding.
"I don't know," Mark replied. "It just started bleeding." He took the towel from Roger and tried to get the blood off of his hands.
"How long has it been bleeding?" Roger asked.
"A couple of minutes? Maybe more?" Mark said. "I don't know." He leaned back and tried to stop the bleeding again.
"I'm getting Collins," Roger said. He started to get up.
"No," Mark said, grabbing his wrist. "It'll stop soon. Don't wake him up… you should just go to bed."
"No way, not until it stops," Roger replied. "Maybe I should call a doctor or something."
"No, I'll be okay," Mark said, even though he was beginning to feel dizzy. He closed his eyes in exhaustion. "It'll stop soon."
"What if it doesn't? How long do you want me to wait? Until you pass out? Maybe until you bleed to death?" Roger asked. "Mark, you've lost a lot of blood already. I'm calling." He walked out of the bathroom and over to the phone. Mark just sighed and tried to get up to follow him. It wasn't until his legs gave way and he fell that he realized Roger was probably right.
Roger rushed back into the bathroom and the sound of Mark falling against the wall. "Shit," he muttered. "Meems!" Mimi ran into the room. "Meems, call an ambulance."