Before and After Episode 11

Before and After
"Hanging on to life"
Written by Tony
Edited by: Cody Del Rese

________________________________________________________________

Last time on Before and after:

"Cooper , I have to tell you something" the tears started up again , he put
his hand on my shoulder

"tell me, what's going on, why are you so upset" he asked me again

"When I was twelve I figured out I was different, I couldn't place it but I
knew I was different, and then mom and her views I was scared. I still am
scared, cooper I'm...I'm Gay" the hardest thing I ever had to say I
said. And it seemed everything went still, nothing seem to move,

* * *

On my way home I was happy I finally got the guy and my life was falling in
place. The only thing is my dad , he hates me , he said I was dead to him ,
how can he say that about his own son , a son he help gave life too. As I
turned onto the highway I thought to myself For one or two rotten seeds in
my life I had a few good fruits haha I said fruits,

OHH SHHIIITTT >>>>CRASH!!!!. Everything went Dark.
_______________________________________________________________


(Oliver)

"What do you mean your gay!?" Cooper asked, looking me in my eye

"Just what it sounds like."

"But your girlfriend."

"A cover, I never loved her. Curiosity got the best of me and I wondered
what it would be like to have sex with a girl. Backfired on me though. My
boyfriend caught us, it all just spiraled out of control. I just shouldn't
have cheated on him."

"Boyfriend? Oliver I don't know what to say."

"Please don't hate me. I need you Coop"

Cooper seemed to be in thought, he walked over to the door. I thought he
would leave but he closed it and came over to me and hugged me. My tears
were inevitable.

"Shhh. it's okay, you're still my brother, I still love you Oliver. Come on
stop crying"

I put my head on his shoulder

"You can't tell mom, I have to tell her in my own way, on my own time."
Gently, he nodded his head.

"Just know I'll be by your side." Cooper added, having Cooper in my corner
seemed like the world to me.

__________

(Steven's Dad)

I don't know, but something felt wrong. I hated that my son was gay,
detested it actually. I wanted to write him off, but he is my son. I helped
give him life, he depended on me. I was always there for him but I turned
my back on him.

"He'll get here on time" My wife said giving me an angered look.

"What?"

"You said he was dead to you! I'm pretty sure he heard it."

"Don't give me a lecture, our son is gay, how can he choose this for
himself?" I asked, irritated.

"You don't choose to be gay, I cant believe any of this, what kind of man
did I marry? How can you hurt your son the way you have?" I was about to
say something when the phone rang.

"Don't bother." She put her finger up "Sit there and be the jackass you
are." she walked over to the cordless phone, placing it to her ear.

"Hello. . .Yes I'm his mother. Officer, what is this about?"

"What did our son do now?"

"Oh my God, no." She began to cry. Jumping up from my seat I quickly walked
over to her.

"What's wrong?" I asked

"Okay. . .I'm on my way." She placed the phone back down, tears in her
eyes.

"You don't have to worry about Steven being dead to you because he might
be! Our son was in a car crash and taken to General hospital." My wife was
hysterical, she put her hair in a pony tail and grabbed her keys.

"If my son doesn't make it we're done." She left the house, slamming the
door as I followed her out of the house.

"I need to go too."

"Why? So you can tell him how much of a disgrace he is? Or to see for
yourself if he really dead?"

"I love him!" I yelled, the burning feeling in my eyes. I went around,
getting into the driver's seat as she got in the passenger seat.

__________

(Hospital)

When we got there I asked a nurse for information of my son It took her a
few minutes but she found out where he was and we were soon taken to his
room. He was unconscious and had bruises on his face, a cut on his forehead
and on his lip, and a big black and blue mark on the side of his face near
his eye.

"My baby!" she went over to him and kissed his hand.

I walked over to his bedside, breaking down. I began to cry, my son was
hurt and I said he was dead to me. I felt ashamed. Walking to his other
side I gently kissed his forehead.

"I'm here, right here." I said how could I hurt him the way I did?

"You must be Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell, I'm Dr. Devin Jones. Your son was in a
bad car accident and he lost concussion. Normally I wouldn't be worried but
he hasn't woken up yet. We actually lost him when he first arrived but he
came back to us a little while later. The machines are to help him
breath. He is in a mild coma, we don't know when he will wake up. I had a
battery of tests done and we should be getting the results soon." The
doctor said, walking into the room.

I closed my eyes as the tears rolled down my cheeks. "Will my son be okay?"

"We don't know, but were optimistic he will wake up. Listen, if anything
happens you two will be the first to know. Just be with him, talk to him,
and be optimistic."

"I wonder what he was thinking bout when he crashed, maybe he was thinking,
my father wished I was dead."

"That's enough Marie, I didn't mean any of it. I love him so much. I want
my son to be okay."

* * * * * Oliver

Cooper helped me clean my room, it took a few hours. As I laid in bed I
felt something weird, I couldn't explain the feeling I felt but it was
strange. There was so much I had to do, so to say. For starters, asking
Steven for his forgiveness. Especially after the way I acted at Amanda's
party. I don't expect anything because he is with Tyler. I hope that we can
be friends. Thinking of Amanda, I had to break up with her. I don't really
like her much, I don't mean to say it like this, but she was more of a
means to an end once Steven caught us.

___________________________________________________________________________

(Flashback)

I hadn't seen Steven since I slept with Amanda. I tried calling, e-mailing,
texting, nothing worked. About a week later Amanda decided I was her
boyfriend, by that time people in school were passing around that bit of
news. I didn't stop her, I should have but I just went along with it
all. As we walked down the hallway in school Amanda held my hand. Every
time I was thinking "What the hell did I do?" Just as I was about to let
go, Steven turned the corner. He froze as he stood in front of us and
looked down at our hands, fingers tied together. I opened my mouth but
nothing came out.

"Oh, Steven. Have you heard? Oliver is my boyfriend" Amanda said,
excitingly.

He looked as if he wanted to cry. I just wanted to hold him and tell him
everything would be fine.

"I heard, that's great." Even with his smile I knew the pain he felt
inside. Believe it or not, I was feeling the same pain.

"Have a good day guys." He turned as I reached my hand out and touched his
shoulder. He looked at me and jerked his shoulder forward so my hand could
fall off. His eyes got watery and he walked away. I knew he wanted to run,
runaway from me, school, everything.

"I have to go to the bathroom." I ran to the bathroom and ducked into a
stall and cried. I was hurting him, I was hurting myself. I was gay. Why
was I doing this? Pretending to be something I wasn't. I had to maintain a
stupid image The straight football jock with the cheerleader girlfriend,
when I preferred Steven.
___________________________________________________________________________

(The Next day) (Josh)

I went to school happy, didn't know why but I was. I went to my locker and
noticed Steven not at his locker. He's usually there before me but I found
Oliver standing at his locker.

"Do you know when Steven will get here? I really have to talk to him." He
asked as I walked up.

I took out my history book. "I have no idea. So your finally apologizing
about what you did?"

"Yeah, I was being a dick, but I've been working through some stuff. I just
wanted to talk to him, maybe patch some stuff up." He sounded hopeful.

"He should be here already." I closed my locker just as Oliver was about to
say something my cell rang

"Hello?" I said, not recognizing the number.

"Hi, Josh? It's Marie."

"Oh, hi, Mrs. Mitchell. Steven isn't here yet."

"I know, he's in the hospital. Honey, Steven was in a bad car accident
yesterday, he crashed his car and he is in a coma." I could hear her on the
brink of a break down. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, not my best
friend.

"What hospital?" I asked, my own voice, strained as I felt my throat going
dry as I began reaching the point of a break down.

"General hospital on Main. Please Josh, don't worry. I just thought you
should know. Okay honey get to class." She hung up as I did. Amanda and
Mark were walking over just about then.

"Is everything okay?" Mark asked as he walked over to me, Amanda to
Oliver..

"No, nothing is okay. Steven was in a car wreck." I looked to the floor.

"What do you mean Steven was in a wreck?" Oliver demanded

"He's in a coma now." I could feel the burning sensation in the back of my
eyes.

"Oh my God." Oliver started running his fingers through his hair. "What do
you mean, he's okay right?" I didn't know how to explain things any better.

"He's in a coma, simple as that. Look guys, I'm going to the hospital. I
cant just be in school as if nothing has happened" I put my history book
back in my locker, digging out my keys from my pocket.

"I'm coming with you." Oliver stated, stepping up, away from Amanda.

"Oliver, we have a math test." Amanda protested.

"Yeah well someone I love is in the hospital, that matters more then some
stupid test!" Amanda was taken back by that comment so was Mark and I. She
was pissed as she walked away.


"Hey, I'll drive and when we're done, I'll bring you guys back to get your
cars." Mark suggested, we both just nodded our heads in agreement.

_____________

(At the Hospital)

After finding out Steven was on the seventh floor we quickly made our up
and sat in the waiting room. I was worried, what was going on with my best
friend? What if I lose him? My mind was going a mile a minute. Finally, his
mom came out to find us all sitting there, waiting.

"Boys what are you doing here? shouldn't you be in school?" She asked,
wiping her eyes.

"Yeah but I wouldn't be able to concentrate with Steven in the hospital" I
admitted as Mark and Oliver nodded in agreement.

"Well, I'm glad you boys are here. I wanted to go to the Cafeteria to get
something to eat but I didn't want to leave my son. My husband went home to
get us a change of clothes."

"Go to the cafeteria, we'll look after him."

"You are good boys, I`ll be back in a few minute."

She went to the elevator and pressed the button as it came she got on. We
made our way to his room. When we went inside we saw him, his eyes closed
and tubes and machines hooked up to him. Oliver began to sob, Mark was
right there to comfort him, rubbing his back.

"You still love him, don't you?" Mark asked as Oliver nodded yeah, wiping
his eyes.

"I wish I never hurt him, I love him so much. I hate seeing him like this."
Oliver went over to the bedside and held his hand. I had to fight back the
tears because I could barely look at Steven like this. It was like he was
lifeless, not the full of life kid he always was. Mark stayed quiet as he
stood back.

"Steven wake up please." Oliver pleaded to an unconscious Steven as he bent
down and kissed his forehead. All of a sudden a loud noise like alarms
surrounded the room. Oliver backed quickly away as I noticed Steven started
moving his fingers.

"Look guys." I pointed out. As they turned their attention back to Steven
he was moving his hand. Oliver went back over to his side, taking his hand
again.

"That's right, wake up baby, please wake."


To be continued. . .