Here is part 1; part 2 will be coming soon. Disclaimer stuff…. I don't own these characters… blah blah.
"Did you call Roger yet?"
I look up at Joanne and shake my head. I haven't wanted to tell him the news. He has been through so much and hearing it wouldn't help. First Angel, then Mimi and now Collins. How many funerals do we have to go to? Maureen tightens her arm around me. Joanne reaches out and takes my hand. I look at the two of them and smile. We all know that soon it will be just the three of us left, an in reality, they'll have each other and I'll be alone.
I'm worried about Roger. Ever since Mimi died he hasn't taken care of himself. He stopped taking his medication, stays away for days at a time and hardly even speaks. He moved out of the loft because he said it was too intense for him. I know he didn't want me looking over his shoulder anymore.
"Do you want me to call him?" Joanne asks me, yes I do.
"No, I will." I pick up the telephone. How do I tell him? The phone rings and a stranger picks up the phone. "Hello, is Roger there?"
"Uh… Roger, no he moved out the other day."
"Moved out? Any idea where he went to?"
"No man, I took over his room, I never met the guy."
"Ok, thanks." I hang up the phone and stare at it a few minutes.
"Roger moved out?" Maureen's voice interrupted my thoughts. "Where did he go?"
"I don't know. Maybe the loft?" I hope he went to the loft. Roger has a history of running away when things get tough. "I'll go and look for him."
After assuring the girls I would be fine, I left their place. I hop on the subway and make my way back to the loft. The same loft where Roger, Collins, Benny, Maureen and I lived. Now I am the only one left there. I never thought our tiny little loft could feel so huge.
I walk up the stairs to the loft silently praying that I will walk in and see Roger sitting on the table strumming his guitar. I walk in and the room is empty.