A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter! And I updated before two weeks had passed...didn't make one. Sorry, guys!

Disclaimer: I still do not own this wonderful rock opera.

Where It's Like the Twilight Zone

December came, and with it, the first blizzard of the year. Temperatures dropped to the single digits, and everyone put on an extra layer of clothing. Fortunately, after the one storm, the snow came lightly on most days, allowing rays of sunshine to poke through the clouds. It was on one of these pleasant but bitterly cold afternoons that the call came.

Mark was in the Loft, staring out the window at the snow and imagining how it must feel to be in sunny Santa Fe. It was hard to imagine, since the apartment building had gotten so cold that Mark had started wearing his scarf and coat to bed. He'd also begun to skip work at least once a week. As of yet, Alexi hadn't fired him, but at this point Mark didn't even care.

The phone rang. Mark shifted and his eyes flicked briefly to the sound, but he let the machine screen as usual.

Speak!

"Mr. Cohen? This is Doctor Walker from the-"

Mark leapt over to the phone, recognizing the voice of the man who was in charge at the rehab center. "Hello?"

"Mr. Cohen?"

"Yeah, I'm here."

"I'm just calling to report that Mimi Marquez left the facility yesterday afternoon."

Mark nearly dropped the phone. "What?"

"You didn't know?"

"No!"

The doctor sighed. "I figured you didn't. These calls are protocol only if the family of the patient, in this case, you, doesn't call us within a twenty-four hour period to confirm their patient has returned home. When you didn't call…"

"And no one stopped her? She just walked out?" Mark asked in disbelief.

"Mr. Cohen, I run a corrections facility, not a prison. Unless our patients are considered unstable or it is requested otherwise, they are free to leave whenever they wish."

"But – it's so cold out! And did you guys ever think that she could be buying drugs as we speak?"

"I'm very sorry, but what they do when they leave is out of our hands. I have already contacted Mr. Coffin to inform him he no longer needs to pay for our services." The doctor didn't sound sorry, and suddenly Mark was angry. Angry at this stupid facility for not caring what the people they treated did when they left.

"Thanks for nothing," he snarled.

The line went dead.

Mark took the steps to Mimi's apartment two at a time, hoping he would find the dancer there. He opened the door. Silence greeted him.

"Mimi?" he called. There was no answer, and Mark somehow knew that Mimi hadn't been to the apartment since she left it a month before. He took a glance through the other rooms just in case, then mounted the stairs to the Loft, thinking.

He wasn't going to call Roger yet. Mimi had only been out of rehab twenty-four hours, so there really wasn't a reason to worry. But glancing out the window and remembering the cold, Mark shivered and felt worried anyhow.

He decided to call the others just to give them a heads-up.

Maureen and Joanne were both at home, and they promised to be on the lookout for their dancer friend. They also mentioned that if Mimi hadn't turned up in a few days, they would come to the Loft to devise a search plan.

Collins wasn't home, so Mark left a message on his machine. He considered calling Benny, but decided against it when he remembered that Benny already knew Mimi had left. Besides, Roger wouldn't want Benny involved unless it got more serious.

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It got more serious. A week later, Mimi still hadn't shown up and they were all getting really worried. It was December 10, two weeks until Christmas Eve, and the weather was awful.

They'd called Benny about the fourth day, and though he hadn't seen Mimi or heard from her, he promised to help as much as he could.

Mark knew the time had come to call Roger. He hesitated in front of the phone for a couple minutes, and then found the number, over a month old, on the desk. The two best friends hadn't spoken since Roger had first arrived in Santa Fe. It seemed a long, long time ago, considering the two used to talk every day, and Mark found himself eager to dial the number just so he could hear his old roommate's voice again.

Roger answered on the third ring.

"Hello?" The musician sounded tired, even though it would only be late afternoon in Santa Fe.

"Roger, it's me, Mark."

"Mark?" He was surprised to hear from his friend, that much was certain by his tone.

"Yeah, listen-"

"I'm sorry," Roger cut in, "I shouldn't have yelled at you like that the day I left."

Mark blinked, taken aback by the unexpected apology. It was obvious that Roger had wanted to say that for a long time.

"It's…okay. I didn't exactly keep my cool, either," he reminded his friend.

"Well, yeah…We're friends right? I mean, it was mostly my fault."

That was definitely not Roger – the best friend Mark knew would never have admitted it was his fault. In fact, Roger would normally never have apologized. He would just move on, and so would everyone around him. Either Roger had been cloned, or he was giddy or drunk. Mark ruled out the first possibility.

"Um…is there something-?" He didn't get to finish his sentence.

"I found my song," Roger interrupted, "It just came to me a few weeks ago. I'm in the middle of writing it."

So that was what was making him so happy.

"That's great!" Mark said enthusiastically, "I'm happy for you, buddy."

"I should be done with it in just a week or two, and then I can call and play it for you."

Mark's heart dropped.

'Call and play it for you.' Call. No. He wanted Roger to come home and play it, before Christmas. But it sounded as though Roger had no plans to come home anytime soon.

"Listen, Roger – I don't want to tell you this, but Mimi left the rehab center a week ago, and she just disappeared. We don't know where she is."

There was a moment of silence on the other end. Then-

"Really?" Roger's voice had changed, gotten lower.

"Yes. Look, just because we don't know where she is…it doesn't mean anything. She could be at another friend's house, or anywhere, really."

"Yeah…"

Mark tightened his grip on the phone. "I just thought you should know," he said lamely. There was no response, so he continued, "Don't worry. She's only been gone a little while…We've started looking, asking around. It could be nothing." He was trying to convince himself as much as Roger.

"Okay," Roger's voice was quiet now, "Call me if you find anything…"

"Of course," Mark said, feeling awkward.

"I've got to go. Bye."

"Bye." Mark hung up, feeling awful for ruining Roger's happiness. But he needed to know. The cameraman sighed and left to go meet the others.

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Roger lay back on his bed. Mimi had disappeared. Everything he'd been so happy about only moments before seemed unimportant now. Half of him wanted to board the next bus to New York, but the other half told him to wait. Mimi would turn up. She would.

He reached for the controller and clicked on the television, instantly recognizing the show as the Twilight Zone. Even as he watched, a young woman huddled in the snow, shivering.

Roger frowned. He didn't remember this episode. Then the girl looked up and Roger knew what he'd see. Mimi's face stared out at him, her eyes pleading.

Seizing the controller, Roger reduced the screen to blackness. He rolled over, desperate to sleep to get himself out of this nightmare. But he knew this wasn't like a regular nightmare - he couldn't wake up.

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A/N: Fairly long chapter, hope you liked it! Please review! Oh, and Dr. Walker is after Fredi Walker, the original Joanne, for those of you who don't know. But my Dr. Walker was a male.