dchseven

Michael slowly opened his eyes� he felt light, floaty, really pretty damn good. The lights didn�t seem as bright this time as he looked about in a groggy haze. There were a lot less people than the last time he had opened his eyes�. When had that been? He wasn�t sure anymore.

�Mike?�

Michael looked in the direction of the voice, that seemed to come from a long way away. Standing right at his side his father was looking at him and speaking� his lips were moving, but only occasional words came out. Michael started to laugh, at least he thought he was laughing� he couldn�t really be sure, he didn�t hear any sound. He didn�t feel anything, it was like a Vodka hangover, his muscles felt like rubber bands.

�Michael!� The voice was demanding now, Mike winced at a sharp feeling in his temples. Not quite a headache, he was sure it would have been if it weren�t for the floaty feeling� this was just a stab of pain brought about by the shout. He looked at the voice again, then turned away, closing his eyes, praying for relief from the voice, and hoping that his father would just leave him alone� He felt genuinely afraid, he hadn�t felt like this in a long time, he knew he was in trouble, he just hurt too bad to take the punishment he knew his father would hand out.

�Mike�� Joe turned from his son to speak to someone else in the room. Someone just out of view. �His eyes are open. I�m not sure he hears me though.�

Michael felt Joe�s hand on his shoulder, shaking gently, he didn�t want to respond, he wanted to go back to sleep, back to the dreamy floaty feeling. It was leaving him now, being replaced by the heaviness of consciousness, their wasn�t any pain, but his body felt like dead weight on the bed. It was a chore to make even the slightest movements. He looked and tried to block the sunlight from his eyes with a weak hand, but his arm wouldn�t co-operate. From out of nowhere someone came and closed the blinds and the sunlight dimmed to a faint glow in the room.

�Michael� please wake up.�

Mike had never heard his father seem so concerned. Oh God, it must be awful� He must be in really bad shape. He didn�t feel like he was in such bad shape. He had a memory, of bright lights, of a room full of people, of horrible pain, he couldn�t place the memory though, it seemed unreal, like a dream.

�I�m �wake.� Looking up at his father, Mike was surprised to see, not anger, not punishment, rather, relief� great relief. He was happy that he had actually made contact. He had a momentary fear that he wasn�t going to be able to speak to anyone, like the memory that plagued him from a distant place, trapped inside, unable to tell anyone he was there� unable to beg for mercy from the pain.

�Oh thank God��

He heard his mother, he searched the room, searching for her, when he couldn�t find her he tried to rise�. Ohhhh, big mistake� there it was, that memory� sharp and in focus, he could feel bone, every muscle, and all of them hurt.

�Mom?� His eyes searched, feeling the panic begin to set in, the floaty feeling was completely gone now� and the memory was back. All of it� the hand on around his neck, the painful feeling of fire in his lungs as they strained to pull in air, the throbbing in his head, the dizzy feeling of passing out, hitting the floor, the pounding of fists on his chest, sides, back, face. When he moved his hands to block the blows, the fists moved and hit somewhere else, evading every block, changing their target with every attempt of protection. �Mom?� His eyes pleaded for her. He saw Joe turn and motion to an unseen person, and then she was there, above him, holding his hand.

�It�s okay, Mike. Don�t move honey.� She�d been crying. Wiping her eyes, she smiled down at him. �We�re all here baby. Mona, Dad, me, and�� she forgot the woman�s name, she had been there the whole time, for the last five days, eating with them, crying with them, praying with them; still she hadn�t spoken much outside of answering questions� always simply, no lavish explanations� it might have been easier for Katherine to warm up to this girl if she would have opened up a bit. She couldn�t really be sure if the child was just shy, or if she somehow felt above all of this, all of them� Mona seemed to like the girl, that spoke volumes really, Mona had NEVER like anyone that Mike had been with� no one was ever good enough for her boy. Kate stifled a laugh, yeah, well after all these years, she supposed she did have the right to her share of the title �mother�� not mom, but definitely mother. When Mike had moved out of the house, Kate had worried so much� he wouldn�t eat if someone didn�t remind him, especially when he was involved in a project, he didn�t sleep enough if someone didn�t nag him constantly to get some rest� he just needed someone to be constantly aware of his state of health, �cause God knew that boy didn�t pay any attention to it. There had been a few housekeepers before Mona, none that had stayed very long� Mike was not the easiest person to get along with, long term, he could be demanding, impatient� When Mona had come, Kate had felt a weight lifted from her shoulders, someone who would watch over Mike like her own, when Mona stayed, Kate had been overjoyed� someone who could see beyond the impatience, the demanding� someone who could see the creative soul that fueled his very being; the tender, loving human being touched by greatness, who touched the world, someone who saw all of that, and loved him because of all of it and in spite of all of it.

�Faith.� Mona whispered in Katherine�s ear. Hoping the woman sitting crouched in a chair in the corner of the room, sleeping, wasn�t aware of the lapse of memory. Mona had felt the tension between Kate and Faith, she couldn�t quite put her finger on why though. Kate had always been accepting of Michael�s women, of all of her children�s choices in partners, whether she agreed with their choices or not� unlike herself, Mona had never known Katherine to speak up against or up to any of them, she thought perhaps Kate was afraid of loosing her own children if she pushed too hard.

�Hummmmm, oh, yeah, of course, Faith� she�s here too, dear.� Kate continued, holding his hand, wiping his forehead. She saw the corners of his mouth lift slightly. He was pleased to hear her name� She sighed and resigned herself to not be so hard on the girl. She didn�t particularly like the idea of Mike in a relationship with a groupie, she�d rather he stay on his own level� Oh dear, that did sound bad, even to her. �Mike?�

Mike could feel himself drifting again� it was a good feeling and he was in no mood to fight it. Faith was there, she had stayed. Deep inside he was relieved that she hadn�t turned and run� hadn�t left when he wasn�t MICHAEL, and was just Mike, a man� a man who had gotten caught by a moving freight train. He heard the phone ringing. He heard his father answer�

�Mike. Are you awake?�

He tried to ignore his father�s voice. He didn�t want to be awake, but he felt his eyes open in response to the question, almost with a life of their own.

�uuuummmm�� His mouth stuck together with that sleepy glue that formed after a long night�s rest. He hadn�t been sleeping that long, had he. It had only seemed like minutes; yet looking around him he saw the room was lit with the bright lights above him again and out the window was black, pitch-black night. �Hello�� Mike let the receiver lay on the pillow and turned his head to lie on it. God he wanted to fall back to sleep. �ss is Mike.� He tried to speak clearly but his voice still slurred, there was that floaty feeling again, coming back slowly. Did he remember a nurse, someone there and the faint pinch from somewhere else, not really him, and the flood of relief from the aches that were beginning to form into pain. Somewhere, another memory�

�Is this Michael Jackson?�

This voice was loud and clear, decisive� business.

�Yessss. Ssssis Mike.� Damn� his eyes felt like they were being held down by invisible weights.

�Mister Jackson, this is Yvonne Munson, with Lloyds of London, sir, are you there?�

�uhuh� Wha time sssit?� Awfully late for a business call, he thought.

�I suppose it�s late there� It�s 8 a.m. here in London.� The voice paused, listening for a response. �Mr. Jackson, are you there?�

Mike sensed the frustration in the voice, but damn her, why did she have to ask so many questions?

�Yssss, Sorry, feeling� I�m tired��

�You�re tired? You�re lucky to be tired, to be tired you have to be alive!�

He didn�t like the tone of her voice one bit� who did this woman think she was, anyway?

�What were you thinking?�

�Suxuse me� esssssuse me fur not thinking clearly. Under the circumstances.� He was awake now, it took him a few minutes to shake the grogginess from his head.. But damn it, now he was mad. �And just who do you think you are calling me like this?�

�I think, sir, that I represent a company who has the right to insist that you use some common sense when entering a dangerous situation� In fact, we demand that you do. It�s in your insurance contract� We own every part of that body.�

�I beg your pardon� You OWN it? I think not� You are paid to insure me, yes� but.�

�But nothing, sir� Not you, not Sony, not you and Sony put together have enough money to pay the premiums on a stunt like you pulled last week.�

Last week, he had been there a week? Oh God it must be awful. Despair was beginning to sink in� He saw Faith now, now that he was turned on his side, he could see that entire side of the room, she was slumped in a chair in the corner, sleeping soundly. Why was she still here?

�You are expressly forbidden within the clauses of our insurance policy to place yourself in directly in harms way.�

�Well, I didn�t exactly plan..�

�You know better than to enter a mob scene unprotected��

The woman rattled on across the miles connected by a thin line of wire, but Mike wasn�t listening any longer. This was the speech he had expected from Joe and it was making his head hurt to be getting it now from a total stranger. He let the phone drop to the floor and waved Joe off when he went to pick it up.

�Leave it� leave her talk to the floor. �cause I don�t want to hear it.� Looking across the room at Faith. Mike reached out and grabbed Joe�s arm. �Wake her up. Please.� He watched as Joseph walked across the room, shook the sleeping woman, and pointed in Mike�s direction. Michael could see his lips moving, but he couldn�t make out the words. But he saw a smile move across Faith�s lips as she began to get up and move across the room towards him.