For so long Mark had been alone, but when he thinks he finds someone that could break that spell, he doesn't know quite how to go about it. Could there be a girl that could break this spell of loneliness for him? Main- MC/ OC

A/N Disclaimer- Most of this does not belong to me, honestly I don't think anything belongs to me- not even the pen that I had written this with- someone stole it during school- but anyway, most of this belongs to the late, great Jonathan Larsen and more over the original idea belongs to the amazing Puccini..

There is 2 things that belong to me… 1) The plot line- it is totally mine, 2) Melissa belongs to me… as a matter of fact, there is in no way that you can steal Melissa cause that would be kidnapping, and kidnapping is illegal- in case you have yet to catch on, I am Melissa, Melissa is I… okay… well with all that said comments are always welcome.

Also please note that I am not at all good at writing songs. I may try sometime in the future but please don't hold it against me if I don't- I am not trying to "ruin" the idea of RENT… I am just simply instilling my own style into this.

-Mici

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525,600 minutes later…

"December 24th 9 pm eastern standard time, so much can happen in a year." Mark said into his camera as he focused in on the street where construction trucks filed past leaving the area," Happiness, sadness, hope, longing," Mark snorted out a laugh as he shifted the focus of his camera to the couch where Roger and Mimi were sitting, cuddled together," Urges."

Rogers head shot up, looking straight into the camera," Hey Mark, I can give you a hint for your next documentary," he paused as Mark cocked his head, completely clueless," Find something interesting- cause the two of us are old news." Roger rested his head on Mimi's shoulder, kissing her neck as Mark nodded, shut off his camera and climbed out the window to the fire escape.

Mark looked around, slightly annoyed by the noise of the construction trucks passing by. The city council had canceled the building of Benny's cyber studio and purchased the and from him. Reluctantly, after many court dates, Belly was finally pulling out all of his construction trucks and equipment before the council took even more legal action

Mark shook his head and looked up at the orange tinted sky as he sat down and rested his forehead on the metal bar. As he let out a deep breath that appeared in the air like fog, the air was cold and bitter, he was glad that they had heat this year, unlike 2 years ago. A soft song floated up to his ears and he looked down at the fire escape kiddie-corner to his where a girl was sitting, her legs dangling over the edge of the escape. Her curly red hair had been caught under the deep green scarf that she had been wearing.

"What language are you singing in?" Mark asked, startling the girl.

The girl looked around, finally spotting Mark," French… I think."

"You think" Mark asked as he shifted so he was facing the girl.

"Well it was a sing we had to learn for choir, and I don't know any other language, except for English, so…" The girl laughed and the laughter floated up to mark's ears like beautiful music.

"You're in school?" Mark asked in a partial daze, amazed by this girl's voice and beauty.

"Yup," she replied with a smile and a giggle," senior year, I can't wait to get out!"

"And you live here?" mark asked, wondering why he had not even seen a glimpse of this girl before.

"Yup, the last-"the girl paused, counting the years out on her fingers," about the last ten years."

"Odd, I haven't seen you out and about before." Mark said, he was getting more and more confused by the second.

"I am agoraphobic- well was. I had to suck it up and finally go to school and get a job." The girl said as she cracked her neck.

"Go to school… finally?" Mark smiled, realizing that this girl was a basket full of mysteries.

" I had been home schooled till the beginning of my junior year, it had been cheaper, but then Allison took me in as her pet project and now I go to NYAA."

"Allison… As in Benny's Allison?

The girl nodded slightly.

"Why are you sitting out here in the cold?" Mark was now mentally strangling himself, he could help but to ask stupid questions, they just kept slipping out.

"Believe it or not, it is actually warmer out here than it is in there-"

"Heats off?"

"Yup." The girl shrugged and laid down, looking up to the sky.

"I'm Mark," he said with a soft smile.

"Melissa."

"You've been here 10 years?" Mark asked, still not believing it.

"Yup, moved out here when I was 'bout 8, from Chicago; my dad wanted a change of scene after my mom passed away." Melissa said, he voice showing no emotion whatsoever.

"I'm sorry," Mark said, now regretting bringing up the topic. He was used to death but still, somehow, he had trouble comforting people that had to deal with it, and he readily admitted that he didn't have the greatest people skills.

"Don't be. It is something that I have learned to live with-"In the middle of her sentence the window opened op and a man, a few years older than Melissa with the same red hair, popped his head out.

"Dad says that you gotta come in and sleep inside now. You may wanna hurry up because he is in a really bad mood."

The man vanished and Melissa looked up at Mark," It was nice to meet ya, I hope to see ya again soon."

Melissa got up as Mark spoke back," Hey, you can some up at any time, even if just to get warm- I know what hell it can be to have no heat." Mark smiled softly.

Melissa nodded and grabbed the window," Maybe I will." Melissa then winked and went into the apartment.

Mark sat there for a few minutes before he finally got up. He needed everything to sink in. He grabbed his camera and wound it up and for the first time in a long time, he faced the camera towards himself and spoke into it," Okay, so maybe this won't make it into the documentary but I need to tell someone and all the people I know would just poke fun at me for these feelings, but I just met a beautiful girl, the problem being that she is about 8 years younger than me. Is there something wrong with that? I know that there are many people you find love even though there is a major age gap. Why am I even thinking about this? The girl was sweet, beautiful, funny and mysterious at the same time, is there a girl out there for me? Could she be it?" Mark scoffed at himself," Could I be any more stupid?" He flipped off his camera at that and headed into his apartment and headed to his bed, ignoring Roger's questions.

Mark lay down in his bed, after he stored his camera under his bed, and stared up at the ceiling, hundreds of thoughts running through his head. And the voice of Melissa singing through his head; a song that soothed him to sleep.