Episode 50, "Boiling Point"
The Season Cliffhanger
OUTSIDE OF TAYLOR AND AMBER'S APARTMENT
The sound of the gunshot sends shockwaves through the entire crowd. For a fleeting moment, all time stands still. The SWAT officers stop, the commotion among on-lookers is silenced, and Devin, Taylor, and Amber all freeze in terror.
"What is going on in there?!" Devin yells, exasperated. Police officers and SWAT members surround the house with their high-power guns. Spotlights circle the apartment from hovering helicopters and a negotiator is shouting something through a speaker phone.
"I--I don't even know what's going on anymore. All I know is there is a man in there with a gun and he has Alex and OUR BABY!" Amber cries.
The negotiator, a larger black man, hurries to Taylor and Amber. "We're going to try and contact the suspect by phone. You are the residents of this establishment, correct?"
Taylor and Amber nod. The negotiator motions for them to follow, and they go to a phone unit, while Devin looks on at the house, a formula working in his mind. Something had to be done. Now
CANDICE'S APARTMENT
Exhausted, Candice throws the door to the apartment open. Her make up has run down her face, her body sore, her eyes red and swollen. She doesn't bother turning on the lights as she stumbles into the bedroom blindly in the darkness.
Desperate and emotionally exhausted, Candice throws her purse to the floor and messily unzips her torn dress and tosses it onto the bed. She sighs as she stands in the darkness, her bruised naked body cold and vulnerable.
Sniffling, sorrow caught in her throat, Candice makes her way to the bathroom and turns on the shower. She gets in, grabs the soap and begins scrubbing her entire body profusely. Angrily, she scrubs her hands and her breasts, furious, with conviction.
"I'm dirty!" Candice cries, "I'm dirty! I--"
Candice tears interupt her. She screams in the shower, her cries gut-wrenching and loud. She drops the soap and then falls to the shower floor, the water falling on her like rain. She sobs uncontrollably, hugging herself. "Oh God!"
Some blood circles around the drain, the water diluting it and making it color the drain red.
OUTSIDE OF TAYLOR AND AMBER'S APARTMENT
The negotiator is on the phone, calling the apartment. Nervous, Taylor wrings his hands as Amber holds on to him for dear life. Anxiety and horror fill both of them.
"Ross, this is Dan Trevino, the negotiator for the Los Angeles Police. Listen, I know you are having a hard time right now but I want you to come down and work with me for a second. What was that gunshot we just heard? Is there anyone hurt Ross? Ross can you please tell me--"
INSIDE THE APARTMENT
"Stop it! Stop saying my name like we're friends! And stop talking down to me like I am crazy, I don't need you to be condescending to me! And I don't need to talk to you either."
Sweating, Ross looks over at Alex who is now holding the baby, cooing nervously and trying to quiet its tears. The baby has gotten relatively quieter now, though the atmosphere is incredibly intense and it is still fussing. Miserable, Alex wipes some sweat and tears from his face as he cradles the baby.
"NO! I DON'T think you really know how I feel! I mean do you? Do you know? Being like me...being who I am! I didn't ask to be gay! I didn't choose this! You think I wanted the pain, and the hiding, and being ostracized and ridiculed for who you are? All I wanted was someone to care for and someone to care for me without repercussions, without lies or deception or constant questioning of our identity. I thought Alex was that person. I thought Alex would be that for me. I mean, can you understand the HUMILIATION and the heart-ache? NO! I don't think you can or ever will understand because you're not a GOD-DAMN FAGGOT like me. This is not the life I want, and this is...God this isn't what I wanted!"
Furiously, Ross tears the phone from the wall and violently throws it across the room, tears filling his eyes and anger distorting his face. His back to Alex, Ross crumbles for a moment, hunched over the table and breathing, trying to control himself.
OUTSIDE OF TAYLOR AND AMBER'S APARTMENT
The negotiator is frustrated. "Hello?? HELLO?" Hesitantly, he hangs up the phone and looks at Taylor and Amber. "He hung up."
"What happened?" Taylor says, anxious. "What did he say? C'mon, man, TALK! What did he say? Is my kid alright?"
"He...he's gay, and I think your friend Mr. Harrison turned his romantic propositions down. He's lost it. Years of emotional hiding and it's all come out now."
"Well what are you going to do?"
The negotiator thinks for a moment. "Let me go talk to my colleagues for a moment." He walks away. Taylor and Amber rolls their eyes, horrified, and hug eachother. Devin walks up to them, his mind working relentlessly.
"I don't know what they are going to do," Devin says, "But something is going to be done now. And I am going to be the one to do it."
"But, Devin!--"
"NO! I know what I have to do." Devin says, angry. "I am sick of this on-going pain that has dominated our lives. No more pain, no more suffering. No more being the damned victim. It's going to stop, Taylor. We can't live like this. We can't spend our whole lives constantly battling things like this. There comes a time when we have to stop being losers and become winners. Stop being stepped on and take control. We have never fought back Taylor. It's time. It's time we fought back and took our lives back. We have to love, and we have to live. I want you to be brave, and let me live. For you, for me...for all of us."
INSIDE TAYLOR AND AMBER'S APARTMENT
"That was...beautiful." Alex says. Ross jumps, and turns around, pointing the gun at Alex and the baby yet again.
"What?"
"That stuff you were saying. About being gay. I never knew it was so hard. I mean--"
"I'm glad you think my pain is so horribly amusing. And please, Alex, don't patronize me. I don't need your sympathy!"
"O.K.," Alex frowns, "But Ross, this whole gun thing...It's no way to handle these issues. Ross I can be there for you, I can be your friend, I can be everything you need because believe it or not, I really like you a lot. I just can't be romantic with you because, Ross...I'm not gay. Are you really going to punish me for that? And this baby? And this baby's family? Just please...Ross, please put the gun down, OK?"
Ross thinks for a moment, visibly upset. Hesitantly, unsure, Ross starts to put the gun down. He looks at Alex, who genuinely and sympathetically nods his head, supporting Ross.
As Ross is about to put the gun on the table, Devin bursts through the door. "GET AWAY FROM HIM!" Devin yells as he charges Ross with imminent rage.
"DEVIN! NO!!!" Alex screams, pleading! But it's too late, Ross turns picks up the gun and turns around and open fires on Devin who is charging him. As Devin is in mid-run, one bullet enters his forehead and exits the other side of his head. Instantly, his body is thrown back and flung to the floor, a spray of blood painting the wall near him.
Horrified and instantaneously, Alex's instinct forces him to run to Ross and tackle him to the floor. They struggle for a moment, rolling around on the floor violently, trying to get control of the gun. Without hesitation, Ross unloads three shots into Alex's chest and stomach. Immediately, his body becomes lifeless and Ross' shirt is covered in blood, his face painted red.
Frantic, Ross stands up. Before he can do anything, swarms of SWAT officers flood into the apartment and open fire on Ross. Like a shooting target, a barrage of shots rain on Ross, through his face and chest, his legs and stomach...shot after shot, until his lifeless bloody pulp of a body falls to the floor, a pool of blood forming beneath him.
Taylor runs into the apartment and is shocked at the carnage. Tears running down his eyes, he holds Amber and crumbles to the floor, both of them sobbing in pain. They rock back and forth, crying profusley as the police officers begin to clear out.
ROLL CLOSING CREDITS
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