Chapter 1: Theres A Rent in the Fabric
"May she find peace,
May her love joing her in his own time,
May she forever be remembered.
Mimi Marquez
Beloved friend and lover,
Died: Easter 2003"
Mark was still in the hospital in a coma, but it was a doctor induced coma. He would wake up once he was healed enough that he wouldn't inadvertly injure himself more. Mimi had died with in a week of the fateful mugging. Everyone agreed, through the tears, that Mimi's death was ironic, for it wasn't AIDS that killed her, it was a head injury which meant she would never wake up, given by two muggers. The same two muggers also had injured Mark, but not nearly as bad. The only solace that could be found was that since they had raped Mimi they would probably have AIDS. Maybe they would repent?
Marks condition was stable, the doctor told them he could go home by the end of the month. Maureen and Joanne were footing the bill, and caring for Mark until he was fully recovered, so Mark wouldn't be staying at the loft for a while.
Roger, as execpected was a nightmare, and had nightmares. No one wanted him alone up in that loft, but he refused to leave it, and Maureen and Joanne couldn't move up there with him. They thought of Benny, but decided that was a bad idea when Roger attacked him when he saw him by Mimi's hospital bed. Roger blamed Benny for everything, he blamed Benny for sending him on a buisness trip out of town, he blamed Benny for everything, despite the fact that Benny paid for the full funeral and all the hospital bills for both Mimi and Mark. Benny was out of the question.
Who could stay with Roger? Who could watch Roger to make sure he didn't do anything stupid, like smack or suicide? Who had the strength to over power Roger physicially if all else failed? Normally Mark took care of Roger, for though Mark was smaller and Roger could easily bowl him over, Mark had a phsycological hold over him, but since none of the others had it, they wanted brute strength.
It was pure chance that Collins came sweeping into the loft one afternoon, not but a week after Mimi. He was humming chipperly, oblivious to the aghast stares of all his friends. He didn't realize what was wrong until after he shouted a big Hello. When they told him the change in him was visable. He seemed to age ten years instantly, but Collins was practical. He immediatly saw the Roger dilema and put his duffel bag into Marks room, it was where he was going to stay.
Roger of course, hadn't been in the room when Collins had been told, for Roger had locked himself in his room, as was normal when there was something he couldn't or didn't want to deal with.
The Bohemians wern't a happy bunch, but they couldn't exactly label themselves unhappy or broken. They all still had each other. They all still had their hopes and dreams. While they were one less, and there forever would be a rent in the fabric of their group, over time it would heal, smooth over. It happened with Angel, they never moved past it, but they were able to deal with the loss and keep living, for Angel. They would do the same for Mimi. She would never be forgotten, how could they when every day they would know she wasn't with the group where she rightfully belonged? But they would learn to remember her good traits, her sense of style, her bright personality, and everything that made them all love her in the first place. They would live. How long they didn't know, but they would live.