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Joe peered through the blurry windows to the hospital room. His hospital room. The room where his body lay.
- So you're telling me...
The Master looked at him with unseeing eyes.
- that I can break the cycle.
Joe turned away from the hospital room, from his unconscious body, from the crying Ming.
- You're telling me I can free myself from this.
He continues, looking around the hall. There are many other doors there, behind the glass walls he sees other pictures. He recognizes himself in each of them.
He watches what is happening in the room opposite.
Ming sits on the floor, barely conscious, steady streams of tears dripping from his sightless eyes. Joe looks at the figure on the bed. It's him. His corpse. The body was found at the bottom of the canyon two years later.
This was the end of one cycle.
He continues down the hall. He looks at every door. He watches as his body lies in every room, on a hospital bed, in a different condition, but each time it is him. Barely alive or freshly dead. And Ming is next to him. Crying.
- But what is a cycle? What are you offering me, Master?
He asks, standing at the last door in the hall. There is a green EXIT sign above them. Joe is waiting. His hand is on the handle of that door. He doesn't press. He's waiting.
- Everything is a cycle. This is what we call life. From birth to death. From returning to leaving. A cycle that a normal person cannot break out of.
The master speaks, although his lips do not move. Joe has the impression that what he sees is just a person's imagination, that it is an avatar that he shows to others so that they can feel closer to him, so that they can accept his words more easily. People didn't like what they didn't understand. They didn't trust something they couldn't understand. A man would trust a man.
- Should I? The cycle looks simple.
Joe says, backing up and walking between the hospital rooms again, it seems. That the corridor gets longer with each step he takes. New rooms appear and take their place between those he has already seen. However, the picture behind them does not change significantly. It's always Joe and Ming. It's always a sad picture.
- Why should I break out if I know what the end of the cycle is? Why stop it. If I know how it ends?
He asks again. The Master approaches him although his body makes no movement.
- Because this is your chance.
A man says.
- Break out of the cycle.
He speaks again.
Joe smiles slightly at him. He is able to sense more and more pressure in the man's head. He already saw it, he wanted Joe to break out of the cycle. He shrugged as he walked towards the newest room. Not only Ming was inside. He saw Sol, P'Wut, Mike, even Jim's assistant was there, and Tong. He didn't die alone in this cycle. He had more people with him than in any other cycle. He didn't know why, but he hoped it meant something.
He looked again at Ming's tearful face.
He knew that no matter what happened now, he would miss him. If he was never able to see his face again, he knew it would haunt him in his dreams. He knew he would suffer with him, just as he would suffer without him.
But he felt like he didn't really have a choice.
He had to abandon his mortal attachments and move as his Master told him. Break the cycle. Liberate yourself.
He opened the door. He couldn't see anything, there was immense darkness behind the door, which blinded him for a few seconds.
- Whoever breaks free from the cycle will experience nirvana. Nirvana is your greatest chance and greatest happiness.
He heard the master's voice before he saw the remnants of light disappear, the master closed the door through which Joe had passed. There was no turning back. He couldn't go back now.
Joe shuddered as he felt the cold wind on his skin. He heard the phone ringing. A new call he felt like he had to answer.
He opened his eyes, which he didn't remember closing.
He looked around.
A hill, a cliff, a group of people around him.
Noise. The sound of an incoming call.
Ming's name on the phone screen. Without controlling his movements, he moved the green cup to the center of the screen.
- P'Joeee. Please come home... Please let's talk P'Joeeee.
Ming groaned.
The call was disconnected before Joe could speak.
He was there. Again.
He's back...
Nirvana, right? He looked around.
“So let there be Nirvana.”
He thought as he took off the protective vest in which he was supposed to shoot the motorcycle scene.
“fuck it all.”
He thought without even telling anyone. By simply leaving the set.
“Fuck you all. I've had enough."
He left.
He'll come home.
He'll eat cheap soup.
he'll sleep with Ming, letting him apologize and grovel for the next week. And later he will forgive him. He always forgave him.
He will apologize to P'Wut for trying to work on a foreign film. The man knew it was no good and tried to protect and stop him in every way possible. Everyone that was within his reach. He wouldn't chain him like a certain person...
And then they will deal with Tong or not. He didn't really care about this man. After all, he was willing to put himself in danger to help him, to help his child not become an orphan. He completely didn't think about the fact that there was no child yet and if he was an orphan, Tong would have to somehow cause May's death too...
He just wanted to rest.
Maybe he'll even let Ming spoil him for a while. After he apologizes, of course.
Nirvana…
Who would have thought.
Heh.
He could live with that.