Mark's POV
That night I slept through the whole thing. It gave me some hope when I woke up in the morning knowing that Roger also slept through the night, it was a steep maybe he was getting better. I got changed brushed my teeth and walked out of the room leavening Maureen to sleep in. When I walked out and saw that Benny wasn't there, figures. Collins had a tired look on his face as he was sitting at the table reading the morning paper.
"Morning" I said to him poring my self a cup and sitting next to him.
"Hey" He said tiredly. I looked at him confused.
"What's wrong? Aren't you happy Rog slept through the night?" I asked. I looked at me.
"He didn't, he was up with a fever all last night." He told me, my eyes widened. And I stood up.
"What? Why didn't you come get me?" I was frustrated with this, not really with Collins, more that the little hope I had woken up with was gone.
"Mark you where out man; I thought I would let you sleep. You deserved a break"
"But still I could have helped!" I argued I wasn't as weak as he thought I didn't need a break.
"Yes you would have been a big help being half asleep." I sighed, I guess he was right. The African American went back to his reading as Maureen came out.
"What's with all the yelling?" she yawned. Me and Collins just shrugged. She huffed dramatically "Fine don't tell me" She went over to the couch and sat down. I stood up putting my cup in the sink; I went into my room and came out wearing my coat and scarf.
"Mark it's almost summer." Collins said, looking at me like I had three heads.
"I happen to like my scarf and coat!" I defended. He rolled his eyes.
"Pookie where are you even going?" Maureen asked me as I grabbed my bike.
"I'm going to the pharmacy; pick up some AZT for Roger. Like Collins said- he should take it; it will help him live longer… even if it's only a day." I sighed and whipped my eye, not wanting to have them see me cry. I have cried enough, I was done with it; it was time to face the facts and live through them. Collins stood up and pulled me into a tight hug.
"He will be fine mark." He then pulled away from me and took my bike out of my hand placing it against the wall where it previously was. "I'll go to the pharmacy, stay here with Maureen and Roger." I just nodded and walked over to the couch and sat next to Maureen and watched Collins walk out the door. Maureen laid her head on my shoulder.
"AIDS doesn't mean you will die very soon. Look at Collins; he's had it for what, four years now?" She attempted to comfort me.
"I know… but it does mean he will die sooner." I said without a hint of emotion in my voice, after all I was just telling her the facts. Maureen put her hands on either side of my face and made me look at her.
"You have to stop thinking like that; think about how Roger and Collins are still healthy and how Rog is going to kick Heroin and soon we will get back to the rest of our lives." Suddenly Roger's door busted open and out came Roger. He had that look in his piercing green eyes, he wanted it, and he was ready to do anything for it. I stood up slowly and walked over to him, placing my hands on his shoulders.
"You don't need it Rog." I told him in a soft tone, hoping not to set him off. He shrugged my hands off of his shoulders. I looked at his eyes and they where darting everywhere trying to find a way to escape, everywhere but me. "Roger look at me." His eyes then went to mine shooting me a hateful glare. "You don't need it, look how far you have gotten without it." He backed up from me shaking his head.
"Shut the fuck up mark you don't know anything!" He fought.
"Oh I don't? Rog I have been here for you this whole time, do you think it's easy for me to see you like this?" He had tears in his eyes.
"If you really care about me you would let me go."
"I'm not because I do care, remember what Collins said?" I kept the same tone of voice, trying not to show him how much his words where hurting me.
"You don't care mark! You don't give a shit! You say you know what I'm going through but you don't! So why don't you just shut the hell up and let me go! Because you don't care, you never did and you never will! All you will ever care about is your camera!" That one hurt… I just stared at him speechless. Tears where streaming down his cheeks but he pretended they weren't there.
"That's not true!" That was best I could come up with. He then just shoved my aside and headed for the door. I ran over to the door and stood in front if it.
"Get of my way Mark." He said his voice quiet but violent.
"No, I'm not letting you leave this loft." I shot a look to Maureen that said 'get out of here' her eyes looked like she wanted to protest but she nodded. She went into our room and shut the door.
"Get out of the fucking way now! Or I'll make you!" He yelled his volume rising with every word.
"NO!" I screamed. At that moment he grabbed me by the neck and shoved me up against the door lifting me slightly so I couldn't reach the floor. "Roger let me down!" I said in-between gasps for air.
"Not until you let me leave!" He yelled as he practically threw me on the ground. He kicked me in the stomach hard and I doubled over in pain. He bent down next to me and punched me across my jaw. "I hate you." He said then he stood up and walked out the door. I heard him open the door and steep down the stairs.
"Roger…" I said weekly. All I wanted to do was stand up and go after him but I knew he would win. I then heard another pair of feet on the stairs and then heard Collins strong voice yelling.
"Where the hell is mark?" He yelled. I didn't understand Rogers reply. Clear voices where turning into muffled sounds. My vision turned blurry and I just barley saw Collins literally drag Roger by the arm and put him in his room, locking the door behind him. The Anarchist then came over to me and by this time my vision it was saying. Everything went black and I felt my body being lifted up from the ground and put on a soft surface.
The day that April died kept running through my head, the images of her body in the bathroom wouldn't leave my sight. I tired to open my eyes but I couldn't. Just make it stop, make the horrible image go away. Then all of a sudden I saw her and Roger in an alley someplace. It was raining; April was sitting on some door steep. Roger was on his knees in front of her. The needle was in April's hand, and she was ready to shoot up. I wished I could just run over to them and take the needle away. But I knew I couldn't… there is nothing I could or ever will be able to do.
All of a sudden that picture went away and I was left with only black. I felt someone's cold hand on my forehead then it moved to my hair running through it. I groaned and opened my eyes slowly to see Maureen sitting on the ground next to me; her hand was the one that was in my hair. She gently put it on my cheek.
"Oh Marky, I knew I shouldn't have left you." She said sadly, obviously trying not to cry.
"R-Roger? Where is he?" I got out. Collins the came over.
"He's in his room, he's sleeping right now."
"How long have I been-" Collins then cut me off, knowing what I was going to say.
"About an hour." I sat up slowly and put my hand on my stomach where roger kicked me. Maureen stood up and supported me as I stood up.
"I'm fine Mo, its okay; he didn't hurt me too bad." I heard Collins try to stop a laugh but failed.
"Tell that to your bruised jaw and stomach, face it mark, you got wrecked." He joked with me, trying to lighten the mood. I smiled back at him, and looked at roger's door.
"That god you came back when you did, I don't know what would have happened if he got out." I said with a sigh. I went over to the kitchen and got out one of our only clean glass and pored my self some water from the sink. "Did you get the AZT?" I asked. Collins nodded and threw me the orange pill bottle. I just caught it and smirked at Collins confused expression, since when do I catch things? I took out of the small white pills and went to Roger's room. I unlocked his door and saw the musician under his (and my) blankets. I walked over to the bed slowly and shook him gently. "Rog?" I whispered to him softly trying to wake him up easily. He opened his eyes and sat up slowly rubbing them.
"Mark?" he asked still groggy from sleep. I smiled to see that he didn't look angry. He then caught look at my bruised jaw line and looked down. "I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean it. I just, I really needed it." I sat down next to him on the bed.
"I know, it wasn't you who did this, it was the drugs." I said to him, and I knew it was true; my best friend Roger would never do something like that to me. I opened up my hand and showed him the pill. "AZT." I told him. "The same thing Collins takes. He said you could take some of his until you get your own prescription." Roger's face immediately fell and he looked away.
"I'm not taking that." He said in a half angry half sad voice, so I had no clue what he would do next.
"Come on Rog, just take the one." I said again.
"I said no!" his voice started to rise and I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere if he was angry like this.
"Alright fine" I put the pill in my pocket. "Another time." I offered him a small smile what wasn't returned, but Roger's eyes did soften. I put my hand on his forehead trying to see if his fever went away from last night. His skin felt warm but not horrible which was a good thing. I stood up from the bed "Just rest, if you need anything I'll be in the living room." I told him. I went to leave but he called me before I could reach the door knob.
"Mark!" I turned around and faced him. "I don't hate you." I just smiled brightly at him, a real smile, and walked out.
Thank you all for reading! It really means a lot to me! I hope you liked this chapter, Again it's pretty long. oh and HAPPY TONY'S! I'm so happy about every that won and was nominated :) and if you wherent watching it, you missed out- NPH rocks! (and he actually played mark if you didnt know that!) but i'm getting off topic here! Thanks for reading and please reiview I would be happy to take any of your ideas! (But dont worry i still have a lot of tricks up my sleve hehe)