A New Life (River Phoenix)

An Intervention

"Wake up!" A voice yells.

I can't exactly determine who it is but I know I've heard it before.

"Come on! Now!" They yell, and I can tell that it's a girl.

I get out of bed and rush to door.

On the other side, I see Iris.

She's practically fuming as she stomps into my apartment and pushes me aside.

"Well, good morning." I say sarcastically as I close the door.

"Good?" She asks, shuffling through her purse.

I can hear the jingling of her keys and other various items as she scrummages through her things. Then, she pulls out a CD.

"You know what's good? This. This video is good." I can tell in her voice she's joking and angry.

"What is it?" I ask.

"Oh, so you've never seen this either? Well you're in for a big surprise, because all of the film corporations have seen it!" She yells.

I walk towards her and begin to reach for the disk until she pulls it away. Then she walks to my TV and inserts it, flipping it on and waiting.

On the screen appears a picture of River; he wears dark sunglasses and a black shirt, and he lays comfortably on a couch.

I can tell she has already seen the video because she starts to rewind it.

As we sit on the couch and wait, she quietly mumbles to herself in anger.

Once it reaches the beginning, she starts it.

(Watch interview above)

For the next 4 or so minutes, I watch as a high River stumbles through an interview.

I'm not sure when exactly it was taken, but by the looks of his scruffy hair, I assumed it was recent.

Thinking back, I couldn't recall a time when he'd mentioned an interview to me.

When It had finally finished, Iris turns to me with heat in her face.

She's shocked by what she has just seen, but I can't say that I am.

"Do you understand why this is such a big deal?" She asks, and I do. "We can't have River out here looking this distraught. We need to talk to him, and you need to do it with me."

"I don't know," I say. "I'm all for talking to him about it, but, I don't want to mix relationships and business. We agreed not to."

She shakes her head and retrieves the tape from the TV.

"Then don't think of it like that. Think of it as two people who care about his well being, and need him to stop."

I sort of just roll my eyes at her, but I know it doesn't help matters. She seems frustrated more by my actions now than she did by the tape itself.

"You'd think as a girlfriend," she begins, but I cut her off.

"Don't even say that." I tell her. "I've talked to River numerous times about this, and if this was any time recently, it obviously hasn't worked. So, don't drag me along to lecture him because I have already done it all. You need to just relax, and, and let him figure it out for himself."