Chapter 5: Don't Cry Out Loud

Sam walks into the diner and sits next to Marilyn. "What are you doing here?" asked Marilyn

"I came to see if you were all right." Said Sam "And to take you home. Fast food is not going to solve your problems."

"I wasn't going to eat." Said Marilyn taking out a bottle of liquor she was hiding in her coat

"That's not going to solve your problems either. Now, come on, it's late let me walk you home and we can discuss this more tomorrow." Said Sam

"Fine. I'll go home but I'm not discussing anything." Said Marilyn

"You're right we don't have to discuss anything. We can just hang out and do whatever you want to do. In fact, I'm meeting my boyfriend Tom for lunch tomorrow afternoon why don't you and Joe join us? Get your mind off of the pressure of the show." Said Sam

"All right. I'll talk to Joe about it." Said Marilyn

Sam and Marilyn leave the diner and walk back to Marilyn's apartment. Joe was sleeping on the couch when she walked in. "Good night, Sam."

"Good night, Marilyn."

Marilyn closes the door, goes to her room pops a few pills, gets ready for bed, and instantly falls asleep.

(***)

The next day, Sam walked into Tom's apartment. They were meeting there before they went to lunch. "You all right? You look exhausted." Said Tom

"I was up all night with Marilyn." Said Sam

"You worried about the show?" asked Tom

" Not the show. The person." Said Sam

"Come again?" asked Tom

"My friend Marilyn is worrying me. I think she might be addicted to diet pills and she's thinking about joining the Pro Ana movement. Her boyfriend Joe and I set up an intervention for her last night and it blew up in our faces. She refused to listen to anything we had to say and walked out. I invited them for lunch to get her mind off the show she's in. That's the real problem. The pressures of the show."

" Pressure will make people do insane things. I'll help in any way I can." Said Tom

(***)

Marilyn and Joe enter La Bella where they are waved over to the table that Sam and Tom are sitting at. "Tom Levitt, this is my long time friend Marilyn Monroe and her boyfriend Joe Daniels… Marilyn, Joe, this is my boyfriend Tom." Sam introduced

"So, you are the lovely Marilyn Monroe. It's nice to meet you. Both of you. So, what do you do?" asked Tom

"I'm in the ensemble for "I will always love you," " said Marilyn

"OoO, one of our rivals. It's dangerous for Sam and I to be talking to you. Doug Hughes is a great director though. Just as good as director as Derek. Not to mention he's a thousand times nicer." Said Tom jokingly. "So, Joe is you a baseball player?"

"No. I'm a claims examiner for Arch Insurance. " Said Joe

"OoO, that sounds exciting." Said Tom

"I'd rather be in your profession to be honest." Said Joe

"No, you don't. Our profession is insanity. One day it's here the next it's gone. It's a rollercoaster." Said Tom

"Then why do it?" asked Joe

"Because we love it. It's who we are." Marilyn responded.

"There are temptations sometimes but we try to get through them." Said Sam

"Yea and we wouldn't give it up for anything" said Marilyn

"Every once in a while we do take breaks from the insanity." Said Tom "And I heard Doug is very good about giving anyone who needs it some time off. Especially if they are in the ensemble." Said Tom

"I told these two last night. I'm not taking time off. I don't need time off." Said Marilyn

"No one said you did. I was just talking very generally." Said Tom

"O, right! Sam told you all about the fact that I've been taking pills and was thinking about joining the Pro Ana movement and now he's trying to get you to convince me to take time off because you're an un bias outside party. Well, sorry but that's not going to happen. And Sam… Joe I can't believe you two would go behind my back and stage this!" yelled Marilyn

She then gets up from the table and stomps out of the restaurant. She gets in a taxi and heads to the rehearsal studio. When she gets there the creative team is in the middle of a meeting

"She's getting dangerously skinny… not to mention several people say that they see her pop handfuls of pills before and after every break. God only knows what she does at home. " Said one of writers.

"I agree, something must be done, " said Doug just then Marilyn enters "Miss Monroe, what are you doing here the ensemble isn't called in for another two hours."

"I'm sorry. I just had a huge fight with my boyfriend and I wasn't sure where else to go. " She said as she started to cry and shake

"Miss Monroe, are you… are you all right?" asked Doug

"I… I'm fine." Said Marilyn as tears start rolling down

"Miss Monroe, you've seem very detached lately and it seems to be hindering your work. I'm giving you some time off." Said Doug

"Time off. For how long?" asked Marilyn

"Indefinitely." Said Doug

"You're firing me! You've been talking to, Joe! The two of you have been conspiring against me!" yelled Marilyn

"I don't know anyone named Joe and I'm sorry, Miss Monroe but this is for your own good and the good of the show. When you deal with whatever is going on you can come back." Said Doug

Marilyn runs out of the room slamming the door behind her. She gets in a taxi and heads back to the apartment. She starts trashing the place in grief knocking things off of walls and throwing things on the floor. She goes into the bedroom, writes a note, puts the song "Don't Cry Out Loud" on her iPod and turns it up to the highest volume, and goes into the bathroom. Then she takes the entire bottle of diet pills she has in her purse and shoves them down her throat she gets dizzy and her vision gets blurry, finally she gets light headed, and as she falls to the floor she sings " And if you should fall remember you almost had it all." Everything suddenly goes black.