A/N Another long wait. I've lost steam. Sorry. School, work… Kait being grounded. Who knows when the next part will happen or if it ever will… Review and convince me to continue. Any grammatical mistakes are there because Kait didn't get to read it first.
"I should call Benny." Mark finally said after a few minutes. "He should be here."
"He's on his honeymoon, Mark." Maureen gently reminded him.
"Yeah, I know, but… he'll come home for Roger."
"Yeah, you call him. I'll clean up the bathroom." I softly said.
"I'll help you, Collins."
"No Maureen, you better not risk it." Her eyes bugged out for a second, and then she silently nodded. "I'll do it." I searched the tiny kitchen for cleaning supplies.
"Benny? It's Mark." I walked into the bathroom and shut the door. I took a deep breath and stared at the spot where a few minutes ago, April's body lied. A girl I only knew for a few days, but yet somehow, I'm cleaning up her blood and helping these people get through this.
It was when I was on my knees scrubbing the dried blood from the floor that I realized that I hadn't thought about Michael during this whole time. It was the first time since his death that he wasn't immediately on my mind. In fact, I realized I was able to care for others besides him.
"FUCK!" The sound of the phone crashing against the wall startled me and I went out to the living room. Tears were streaming down Mark's face. "He's not coming. The fucking bastard isn't coming."
"What?" Maureen approached Mark and rubbed his arms. "He's on his honeymoon, Mark, he'll come when it is over."
"No, he said he couldn't get involved in this. That his father-in-law and investors wouldn't understand about why he was rushing back to the city because of a girl's suicide."
"Mark… I'm sure…"
"No. You know what he said? He said that April's death was going to bring the market value on this loft way down. He said there isn't any point of trying to sell it now, so we can all stay here for free."
"That Fuck!" Maureen yelled. "I knew as soon as he got married he would do this."
"Look, I'm sure he'll call back." I offered, though I wasn't sure. I didn't even know Benny.
"No, he won't. He only cares about one thing lately, getting ahead." Maureen said.
"He said we were golden." Mark calmly said. "That we would be here rent free and we wouldn't have to worry about anything. I mean… that's a good thing, right?"
"Yeah, with Roger being sick, you're going to need more money."
"God, Roger." Mark fell into the couch. "We have to find him, we have to find him."
"He's not going to just give up junk because of this. It isn't going to be easy." I wanted them to be prepared for the worst. It was going to be a hard road ahead and they needed their strength. "I'll go look for him. You two, stay here and rest."
Mark pulled Maureen to him. She was crying and his lips were trembling. They both must have been exhausted because they didn't argue with me. I grabbed my coat and headed out the door. "Any suggestions on where to start?"
"Yeah, St Mark's Place. That is where his dealer usually is."
"Ok." I opened the door, "Take care of each other." Maureen sunk completely into Mark's lap and he stroked her hair, finally letting tears roll down his face.
I didn't have to walk as far as St. Marks. I walked out of the door of the building and there he was. He was just standing there, smoking, trembling looking like he wanted to scream but he didn't know how.
"Roger?" I approached him carefully.
He shook his head and backed away from me.
"Roger, why don't you come inside, so we can talk?"
"Did you see them?" He spoke softly. "Did you see them take her away? Like she was an object… a… a thing. A body. Not a person. Not April. She's now just a thing."
"Roger…" I reached out to him.
"Don't! Stop! Stop saying my name… stop trying to help." He looked at me suddenly. "Who the fuck are you anyway? Why do you care?"
"Because… I wanted to help her."
"Help her?" He inhaled deeply on his cigarette. "Help her with what?"
I realized that I was stuck. I was going to have to tell him. "Roger, April was HIV positive."
The cigarette fell out of his hands and slowly cascaded to the ground. He shut his eyes title. "No…"
"I'm sorry. She just found out before Benny's wedding. The same time… the same time I found out."
"You're a fucking liar."
"I wish I were." There wasn't anger or fear or any other kind of expression on his face. Just nothingness. "You know what that means, right?"
"What? HIV Positive. Yeah, I know, it means she had AIDS."
"No, that's not what I meant."
He looked me in the eyes for moment and the realization hit him. "No! No no no no. No."
"Roger, you have to get tested."
"No! I can't do this. I can't die!" The numbness in his expression broke and tears were running down his face. I stepped to him and embraced him, his body stiff; he leaned over onto my shoulder. "No… no…"
"Shh… It will be ok."
"April… how could she…" He sprang up and stepped away from me. "I did this to her. I gave it to her."
"You don't know for sure." He was starting to break and I was afraid he was going to take off.
"Just… stay away from me."
"Do you want me to get Mark?" He quickly shook his head. "Come upstairs, it has been a long night." Long night indeed, the sun was starting to peek over the horizon.
His body relaxed and he exhaled loudly. I took it as a sign that he was relenting. "Come on. We'll get a good sleep and then go to the clinic tomorrow."
"Yeah, ok. Tomorrow."
