~~Chapter 5~~
~~Virtual Insanity Index~~
Michael looked at Jeff for a few moments more until he finally realized his seriousness. He reluctantly nodded at Steven Speilberg.
�� "Alright everybody," Steven yelled into the bullhorn. "That's a rap. Sorry for the trouble but it is important that we stop this rehearsal."
Michael, terribly confused, saw Halle Barry come up to him as the rest of the crew started to put away the equipment. Halle gave Michael a light hug.
�� "What's going on?" she asked with concern.
Halle gazed at Michael with star-struck eyes. It was obvious that she was flirting with him. Of course Michael thought she was beautiful. Her short but stylish hair, nice body, and perfect brown skin was very attractive to Michael. But he felt no bond with her. The connection between Michael and Halle was hollow. It was only in front of the camera that there seemed to be a little charisma, just like all the other girls he had co-starred with in videos. Besides, he probably wouldn't be good to her anyway.
�� "I don't know what's going on," Michael whispered softly as he turned and walked away from Halle.
�� "Michael!" Lisa called when she saw Michael walk across the set with his head lowered as if he were a lost child.
She ran up to him. "What's--"
�� "No, I don't know what's going on." Michael said.
�� "Oh." Lisa was silent.
�� "Hey, you know, I've been meaning to talk to you." Lisa finally said as Michael headed into Mark's make-up area. He took off his trenchcoat and sat down in the chair.
�� "Quickly, please." Michael said to the lanky-looking Mark. Mark start off by carefully taking off the wig.
�� "You see, Mike..." Lisa attempt to continue.
�� "Hey, ya know, I really don't feel like talking." Michael said.
Lisa was silent.
�� "I mean, I've got Sony on my back, a video I'm trying to finish, a stalker after me, some other shit I don't know about, and here comes Miss. Presley to make everything better for me." Michael ranted sarcastically.
�� "I understand you are a little stressed but--"
�� "A little? Just a little?" Michael paused, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. With his eyes still closed, he said softly, "Lisa, just leave me alone, okay? Please do that for me. Please."
Lisa reluctantly opened the door to leave.
�� "Hey, we could talk sometime about--"
�� "Lisa, Please." Michael said. Lisa sighed and left.
He's just stressed, She thought. He'll want you back.
� "Where have you been?" Crystal asked as James burst through the kitchen door breathless. Crystal sat in the kitchen, still dressed in her robe, sipping tea.
�� "Why do you need to know?" James asked, grabbing a beer from the refrigerator.
�� "Look, stop it. I only asked where you've--"
Suddenly James spit out the beer all over his white under shirt, laughing.
�� "Stop it? You're telling me--" he slammed the beer at the wall across the room. It spilled everywhere. "--to stop it??"
James walked up to Crystal. "I see the woman doesn't know her place." James slapped her and hard.
Crystal wanted to stand up to him, but James was right, she didn't know her place. James began to laugh and run up the stairs. Crystal knew what he was planning to do and he wanted to do it for a long time now.
�� "James, don't!" Crystal cried, running after him.
By the time Crystal got to their room, James was already pulling tape out of her cassettes and throwing her CDs across the room. It was all Michael Jackson music. Crystal stood in the doorway and watched James laugh loudly once his rampage was over. She blinked her tears away.
�� "Yeah!" James said smiling. "And I know what you've been hiding from me too."
He went into her dresser top drawer and went through all her panties and bras. He finally pulled out a Michael Jackson poster hidden at the very bottom of the drawer. Crystal remained silent and still at the doorway. James opened up the poster and revealed Michael Jackson with long wavy hair, standing with his thumbs in the pockets of his black jeans. He appeared to be looking sideways, sporting a black leather jacket with a variety of buckles and buttons. James walked up to Crystal with the poster in front of him. He had a smirk on his face.
�� "Where'd you get this?"
Crystal swallowed hard and stimmered the word "Ebay" as she twirled a strand of her blond hair around her finger.
�� "What is with you and this guy?" he laughed. "It's like you love him more than me."
Crystal quickly shook her head. "No, no, never."
�� "Well, we'll just make sure you know what the deal is." James began to rip the poster into pieces.
�� "If I find anything about Michael Jackson in this house, I will kill you." He whispered. "You better believe what I say."
Crystal nodded.
�� "You're obsession with this guy won't last long anyway," James mumbled walking pass her, down the stairs.
Feeling depressed about what had just happened, but for a strange reason, incredibly tired, she laid down on the bed. She found herself looking on Jame's nightstand and found a picture of Crystal and James on their wedding day. James was dressed in a black fancy suit and had a big smile on his face. If only Crystal would've known what kind of person he really was. He was a charmer back then, she even knows that he only needed woman to feed his power, but other than that, he hated them. He was raised to think that way. Now she was stuck, trapped by blind love.
In a black mini van, Michael hid in the back seat with Jeff. He looked out the window as they passed right by Neverland. He saw policemen there. Michael turned to Jeff to ask where they were going but Jeff was talking on a CB radio.
�� "Where's the decoy?" Jeff asked.
There was static heard.
�� "Uhh, we're heading toward Neverland with him. Pretty convincing, there are reporters following us."
�� "Good. We're going to Janet's. Keep checking in." Jeff replied. There was static and then a cut off. Jeff looked at Michael and said, "Someone trashed Neverland. We think it's your stalker."
�� "Trashed?" Michael asked softly. They were approaching Janet's mansion.
�� "Trashed. They broke things, threw things, just trashed it. You're gonna hide out at your sister's place for now, we got a look-a-like going to Neverland."
Michael took a deep breath. "I hope I can use Janet's computer," he said.
Janet did let him use her computer. As before he logged into instant messaging, Janet approached him again.
�� "Michael..." she started. She ran her fingers through her hair, which was dyed with streaks of brown. She wore a white tank top with some blue jeans.
�� "What is it, Jan'?" Michael asked.
Janet glanced out of the glass windows, and saw all the tight security outside.
�� "Michael, you've changed." She said. "A lot."
Michael stayed quiet. He wasn't sure how to react to that comment.
�� "I'm not putting you down or anything." Janet said. "But you seem so sad. I've tried to ignore it, but...."
�� "Janet, I'm fine. Don't worry about it. I'm okay." Michael said, knowing he was lying. He was far from okay.
Janet nodded uncertainly and walked away. Michael finally went into instant messaging and sent a message to Crystal.
�� " How are you?" He typed.
�� " Not so good." MsGhostRyder sent to him.
Michael paused then typed, " Do you mind telling me what happened? Are you okay?"
There was nothing for a moment but then said , " I'm just really tired today. And I'm mad at someone. That's all. " Michael sighed and typed, " Well, I hope things are better for you. How's the weather over where you live. It was really nice here. Sometimes nature cheers me up when I'm depressed. I go outside and write songs." Michael regretted it once he clicked on "send".
�� " LOL. Yeah. Okay. Ya write songs. Anyways, you know it was really nice here too. Where do you live?" Crystal asked.
Knowing the situation he was in right now, Michael hesitated.
�� " I live in Encino." he typed.
�� " OMG, me too!" Crystal said.
Michael paused with his hands still on the keyboard, thinking about what this could mean.
�� " Hey, do you wanna meet up?" Crystal asked.