Disclaimer: Don't own RENT. Nothing to do with it.
Summary: You look familiar, your smile reminded me of… I always remind people of…
Not quite the cat Scratch Club. How Mimi and Roger really first met.
Melpomene
Chapter Six
In the months that followed, the small bond of pity and remorse that Mimi held with Mark and Roger faded into another blurry memory of the clientele in the club. The faces of men seemed to somehow all blend together after awhile. She became increasingly aware of her own solitude, and of her growing dependency on the stash she kept in the drawer of the table next to her bed.
AIDS was something she had heard of. Back when she was even younger, maybe even before she left home, it was mentioned in passing. A frightening sort of plague that attacked the careless and the young. AIDS was not something Mimi would have ever given much thought before it was dropped heavily in her lap. She had started to finally become aware of what her diagnosis meant for her and what she should be doing with her time. Somehow, the idea that drugs weren't entirely the best option slipped from her judgement.
On her walk home from the club on an early night when there hadn't quite been enough money for a good hit, Mimi passed a sadly encouraging cardboard sign.
Life Support
A group for people coping with LIFE.
The writing was blurred below the second line from the rain the night before.
"What's it for?" She found herself unconsciously asking out loud.
A thin man brushed past her on his way out. "AIDS." He grumbled, continuing on his way down the street. Saddened and annoyed, he appeared.
Mimi stared at the sign and the dim, hazy glow of a light at the bottom of the stairs. She moved toward them and started down, even though the latest meeting was ending. The people inside all looked relatively normal, with the exception of one girl who seemed to be on the very edge of her life. She was headed out, holding the hand of a healthy looking boy.
The girl smiled at her and touched her arm for a moment as they passed.
"No day but today, honey." She told Mimi, her voice barely above a deadened whisper.
Mimi shivered and pulled away. These people were all dying. To chance spending her time among them would be to give in to a constant reminder that she couldn't keep denying her fate. They sat there in their little metal folding chairs with their hopeful expressions. Some with faintly knotted arms from drug usage, others holding hands and accepting their coupled death sentence. Some were alone, melancholy in a corner, lingering as the others left together. She would have to accept eventually that she was nothing else but one of a million in a plagued generation of misfortune.
No day but today.