Blissful Touch || MJ (18+) Short Story *Completed*

Chapter Eight

Angel

I grabbed a few books as me and Michael sit upstairs in the library. It's an uneasy rhythm as I look at his reactions towards people. I guess he didn't speak most of the time in public but it was alright with me. My father loved him and I couldn't count on both hands, how many times he asked where he was. I grabbed his head, turning his focus to mine.

"Michael, I need you to take small breaths for me and relax. This is all going to be great. I will help you to speak normal again.. if I can." I said.

He takes a deep breath and holds out his hand for me to grab. I touched his hand and I held out a small book for him. There were levels to this shit and I want to spend so much time with him. I opened up the book and I laid it out infront of him.

Michael looked at the book, "Th-his I-is a ch-childs bo-ok." He said as I nodded. I looked back at him, "You have to trust me and this is the small part where you start slow with talking. You did say that you sing?" I asked.

"Y-yes." He said as his face calmed and a smile appeared. I smiled back and I nodded, "How do you feel when your singing?" I asked.

He cleared his throat and looked down for a minute. He reached over and grabbed a small piece of paper, writing on it. I felt like he was too embarrassed to express with his voice again. He slides me the piece of paper and it reads:

"I feel like I am free. No worries, no troubles."

I looked at him confused and something told me that there was more when his eyes started to water a little and he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Is this too much for you at the moment? We don't have to start now if you don't want to." I said.

"S-soon?" He asked and I nodded closing the books. I didn't want to pressure him into anything. So I sat still as he then gets up and sits next to me. He lightly rests his hand on top of mine.

"I-I a-am s-scared." He calmly said. "Michael, I will be right here to walk you through everything. But if I may ask, what did you mean by the troubles or the worries?" I asked him.

He took out his phone and found a few photos. He showed me his phone and I looked.  Him and two other people were around him. They were close in range and they all were smiling. There was a small kid with an afro and his smiled just like him.

"Is this you?" I asked as I looked at him and I smiled. He took his the sleeve of his long sweater and pulled it up. He revealed pigmentation of brown and lighter colors on his arm. Then I understood, he had virtilgo and it was spreading as he gets older.

"Oh, okay virtilgo. My great grandmother had that and she was fully was white when she passed. It runs in the family." I said.

I reached down where my pants leg was sliding back in my chair, revealing my own portion of skin pigmentation. Michael's eyes grew wide in astonishment.

"Y-you h-have that-that t-too?" He said and I nodded.

"Yes, it started with both legs first. I have some spots on my back and my shoulders. And sometimes it was very hard to adapt around certain people exposing my skin." I said and he took a deep breath.

He only nodded and then a picture of an obituary was next. Both of his brothers were buried in Gary, Indiana.

Then pictures of a newspaper article describing a car crash with only one survivor and Michael was the only living survivor. I looked at Michael and sadness took over him. I sat his phone back down and leaned him into a hug.

Rubbing his back, "I'm so sorry Michael." With tears in my eyes, I felt his pain. I pulled back taking both if my hands, rubbing his cheeks gently wiping the small tears from his eyes.

"I'm so sorry. Was it after this you developed a speech problem?" I asked and he nodded.

"I-i w-was s-six w-when t-that h-happened." He said as he swallowed. I nodded and I let go. I wiped my eyes but the tears were endless. I took a deep breath and I gathered my thoughts.

"You were in the car?" And he only nodded. I wanted to change the subject so I turned to something in one of the books, searching for something and I spotted it. Michael leans in as he reads with me. Some children can have a tramatic experience and that can have something to do with that. And it wasn't his fought.

After a few hours, me and Michael had a lot in common. Besides the bullying that he went through from peers in school and his father mainly, he took his time. We laughed and talked some more up until it was time for the library to close. We rode in the train together, even though we never talked much we managed to make it safely to our cars.

"C-can I-i c-come b-back t-tomorrow?" He asked. I smiled and nodded. "Of course you can at anytime. " I said. For a moment he thought about it.

"Actually.. I would like for you to stay over." I said and he agreed.

To be continued...