"Andie, Andie's gone," he said quietly.
Roger looked at Mark in disbelief. He thought that Andie was going to see Maureen or something, not running away. Mark handed Roger the note, his hands shaking. Roger read it over carefully.
Fine, consider me gone. Was all that was written on it. No reason, no explanation, just those four simple words.
"I'm calling the police," Mark said, picking up the phone.
"No, Mark, wait. Let us look for her first; I'm sure we can find her faster than the police can. They sit here asking questions for hours on end, wasting time. You call Benny, and Maureen and Joanne; I'll get Mimi, and call Angel and Collins. With all of us looking, we can find her faster."
"What about Julia? Joanne and Maureen can't just leave her alone in the apartment."
"We'll figure it out. Now, come on. We have a Bohemian to find."
Roger bound down the fire escape, not caring how much noise he made. Mimi jumped when he rushed into the apartment.
"Andie's runaway. We need help to find her," he breathed. Mimi stood up in a flash. "I need you to call Collins and Angel. We're meeting back at the loft to figure out where to look for her."
"You aren't going to call the cops?" Roger shook his head.
"Not yet. We want to look for her on our own first, and if we can't find her, then we'll call the police."
"And you're sure that she wasn't abducted or something?"
"Yes Mimi, now please, call Collins and Angel for me!"
In no more than five minutes, the eight Bohemians were gathered in the living room at the loft. Everyone, that is, but Angel and Mimi, who were going through Andie's room, trying to see if she left any other notes behind.
"How could she have gotten out without Mark noticing?" Angel said, almost to himself. He was about to go out and play on the street corners, so he was wearing his jeans, old beat-up t-shirt, and jacket, not drag. Something caught Mimi's eye. It looked like someone had sat on the bed, only it was in the center of the bed, directly under…the skylight! Mimi stood on the bed, under the skylight, as Angel watched her. She jumped up slightly, and grabbed hold of the open skylight (Andie had it open whenever she possibly could). "I guess that answers my question."
"I don't know. Let me see," replied Mimi. Using her amazing upper-body muscles, she hoisted herself up onto the roof. Angel could no longer see what she was doing. Meanwhile, the guys, Joanne, and Maureen were talking in the living room when they heard someone climbing down the fire escape, and saw Mimi standing outside.
"How did you get out there?" Benny asked, confused, just like everyone else.
"She climbed through the skylight in Andie's room, and down off the roof," replied Angel as she came into the room. Mark hung up the phone.
"Naomi says that she doesn't know why Andie would just runaway, but she wants to help. Could someone possibly go pick her up? I don't want her riding the subway alone this late."
"Yeah, I will," Collins offered, as he pulled on his coat.
"Keep an eye out for Andie while you're out. She might be around here still," Joanne said. Collins nodded, and left the loft.
Angel tried to remember if Andie had said anything that was out of the ordinary that day. No one could figure out why someone like Andie would runaway without any reason. Suddenly, he remembered a conversation he and Andie had had just hours before while they were shopping.
"Do you know how lucky I am that I live so close to the subway?" Andie asked in a teasing voice.
"Oh yeah, and why is that young lady?" replied Angel as they stood in line to buy a snack from a street vender.
"Because if I get tired of you guys, I can just pack up my things, and leave…no questions asked. But, I would never want to leave Bohemia. It's my home, and I love it." Angel gave her a hug.
"I'm glad. We all love Bohemia. You'd have to, or else you'd go insane by those horrible living conditions."
"They're not that bad."
"You should have seen the loft before you moved in. we used to have parties there all the time, just the eight of us. Now, now, we have to find a new place to party." Andie laughed and shrugged.
"Hey, you can still party there, I'm not complaining."
"No, but I think Mark would from 'exposing you to such horrible thoughts and ideas'," Angel said in a voice that sounded just like Mark's, causing Andie to laugh some more.
"Like I don't get exposed to those things at the Life?"
"Exactly! But, he's your Uncle, and I guess he can be right…sometimes, don't tell him that though."
"I won't, promise."
"I know where Andie is," Angel said, standing up from his seat on the couch. Everyone looked at him. "The subway. We were joking around today, and she said that if she ever got tired of us, she'd use the subway to leave." Mark looked skeptical. It couldn't be that easy, could it?
"Well, then Collins will she her, won't he?" Maureen asked.
"I don't know. He seemed pretty distant when he left, so I'm going to go down to the station too."
Mark said, "We'll look around Alphabet City just in case you're wrong or something." Angel nodded. He knew she was right, but there was still that small chance that he wasn't.
Andie was coming out of the bathroom, when she saw a familiar figure standing on the tracks. Collins. She carefully retreated back to the bathroom, careful not to make any noise. She'd have to wait for the next train. Collins seemed so lost in thought that she figured that he didn't even know she was gone…nobody would probably find out until morning, but by they she'd be gone. She didn't know where she was going, but if her Uncle Mark had a better time without her, then she'd give that to him. Andie checked back every five minutes or so to see if Collins was gone, until he finally was gone after fifteen minutes. Cautiously, Andie left the bathroom, and sat back down on the bench. She placed her backpack under her seat, and drew her knees up to her chest. She was tired, so she rested her head on her knees.
Angel entered the subway station, looking around carefully. It was pretty empty, because nobody would dare come to Alphabet City at 10:30 at night, they'd get mugged if they didn't live there and were used to it. Angel paid his fare, even though he wasn't going to ride the subway, and went to the tracks below. There, he saw a blonde figure with an old red sweatshirt huddled on a bench. It was Andie, he had been right.
Angel sat down next to her on the bench, but she didn't look up, so he said, "You know, you have everyone really worried about you." Andie looked up, but when she saw it was Angel, went back to her original position.
"Go away!" she exclaimed through tears. Angel placed a hand on her back, but Andie pushed her away. "I said go away!" angel remained calm through the whole thing.
"Not until you tell me why you ran away. If it's a good reason, maybe I'll help, but if it's not, I'll be forced to drag you back to Avenue A."
"Why would you help me? You're only going to take me back to Uncle Mark, who doesn't want me anymore."
"Oh sweetie, what gave you that idea? You mean everything to Mark, what would give you that idea?"
"I heard him, Roger, and Collins talking about how much fun they used to have before I came. I'm just ruining their life, so I left." Angel shook his head.
"Look at me. I want you to look at me." Andie looked at Angel. Her face was blotchy, and streaked with tears. "I want to tell you about my life. What it's like to really not be loved by a family, something you don't know about." Andie listened, even though she was acting like she wasn't. "I always knew I was different, but I couldn't really place it until I was a little older than you. Then I knew that I wasn't just gay, I should have been born a girl. I thought my family would have been supportive of this, but it was quite the opposite. My Mother began to cry, demanding where she went wrong, and my Father began to yell at me. He told me that as long as I lived under his roof, I was to be a normal child. I knew that I couldn't do that though. After about a year, I got a boyfriend. That was it for my parents. My Father kicked me out of the house at the age of sixteen. That's what it feels like to have a family that doesn't love you. To be kicked out because you're different, not getting the support you need. You have an amazing support team, so why don't you come home?" Andie shook her head. Angel grabbed her arm, and tried to pull her to her feet, but she wouldn't budge. "Come on, you're going home."
"You said that you'd help me! You said that you'd let me leave if I really wanted to!" Andie cried out.
"No, no, that's where you're wrong. You're putting words into my mouth. I told you that if I believed that you had a good reason for leaving this all behind, I'd help you. Here's the thing, you don't have a good reason to leave, so I don't care if I have to fling you over my shoulder, and carry you back to Avenue A myself, you're going home!"
"No I'm not! I'm leaving!" Angel crouched down in front of Andie.
"Sweetie, there's nothing for you out there. Trust me, I know. If you leave, there's no turning back from this decision. You're only 14, please come home. Talk to Mark, work things out. Let me tell you, I've never seen him as happy as he is when he's with you. He loved Maureen, and she dumped him, and is now with Joanne. Right after that, he was upset a lot to see the two of them together, but when you came, he had someone to care about too. He was a loner, he didn't date or anything, so he needs you. You've changed Mimi and Roger too! Mimi went back to school all because she saw you all hyped up about school yourself when you first arrived."
"You're making that up!" Angel smiled.
"No, no I'm not. She told me that herself. And Roger, Roger has a job! A real, honest-to-God job! You should be proud of what you've done for us. Now please come home." Andie looked away.
"I can't," she said quietly. Angel took her face in his hands, and turned it to face him.
"Why not?"
"I'm afraid of how Uncle Mark will react. He'll be mad at me for just leaving, and I don't want to face him."
"I can't promise you anything there, Andie, only that I'll talk to him beforehand, and see if he won't yell, and tell him why. Come home now. I'm not asking you anymore, I'm telling you." Reluctantly, Andie stood up. So much for leaving and making everyone happy. Didn't Angel get it? She'd only keep running away if that's what she really wanted. Angel took Andie's bag, and led her out of the subway station towards Alphabet City.
Meanwhile, Mark, Maureen, Roger, Mimi, and Benny were all crowded on Avenue A, trying to figure out where else to look for Andie. They had asked around, and looked in all the shops for the past forty-five minutes that Angel's been gone. Maureen gave Mark a comforting hug.
"I'm sorry, Marky, but there's no where else to look. Maybe you should call your parents, they might know where she is," she said.
"No! If I do that, then they'll bring me to court for child-custody, saying that I can't take care of her. They can't find this out," he replied firmly. Maureen sighed, she hadn't though of that. It was always a constant battle between Mark and his parents and Becky for custody. They would send a letter or call about once a month, saying that those things about Becky weren't true, and that the offer still stood. They were about to go inside, and call the police, when they saw Angel walking down the street…with Andie.
"Oh my God, Andie!" Mark exclaimed as he ran up to his niece, and pulled her into a huge hug. Much to everyone's surprise, Andie struggled out of Mark's reach, and stormed up the fire escape.
Benny asked, "Where was she?"
"Trying to leave on the subway, I don't know to where though."
"Did she tell you why she ran away?" Mark asked. He was clearly confused by Andie's behavior. Angel nodded.
"You should talk to her about it." Mark sighed. So much for a relaxing night and having Andie go to bed early. Angel handed him Andie's bag.
"Thanks Angel."
"Anytime. Now go talk to your niece." Mark nodded, and went inside.