As the hours grew late within the night, I hailed another cab to take us back to the hotel. It was a peaceful ride composed of the silence we all needed amidst the chaos this tour brought to our lives, especially Michael's. That bliss of nothing but the presence of each other felt like it could have lasted forever; locked for eternally in an endless loop of watching the street lights pass by on these long abandoned streets. Unfortunately, that bliss was short lived. It all happened so quickly. They were watching... they were always watching him.
Michael slipped out of the cab and the scarf he had wrapped himself in snagged on the doorway and fell to the concrete floor, exposing his face. As if on cue, a white flash blinded us from behind one of the bushes that lined the entrance of the hotel. A dark silhouette vanished around the corner and before any of us could gather our senses, he was gone, with a camera that held a picture that would start who knows how many rumors.
The hurt in Michael's eyes told it all. He all but ran into the hotel, not caring who else saw him and I followed behind, leaving Teagan to deal with the astonished cab driver. People's mouths fell open as we sprinted past them, but we were gone through another hallway before they could register what their eyes had seen. Soon we were in the safety of those hidden halls that staff use to move around the hotel, but his pace never slowed. He wasn't running from cameras or eyes anymore. No, what he was running from was something nobody can outrun. Sprinting through these halls, he was trying to escape his own shadow.
His door slammed behind him and I was stopped by one of his guards. "Let me speak to him." I pleaded but the guard shook his head.
"He's not ready to talk, but I am." He knew my face from the day before so he trusted me. "What happened? My job is to protect Mr. Jackson and I need to know right now if something happened that could harm him."
"Not physically, no." I responded, sliding down the wall to take a seat across from Michael's room. "We took him out to the city, disguised him up a little. Not enough, but it made him feel safer." I began. "It was late so nobody cared to notice. Everything was so perfect and he looked so at peace to be out there without the chaos that follows him everywhere else. It was almost like he finally found a moment to forget who he was. Then there was a camera... with one simple flash, we lost him." The guard just nodded. He had seen this before, he knew the drill. I sat there for a few moments, unsure of what to do, but eventually I got up to leave, looking back one last time before parting ways, wishing I could help in some way, but I knew I couldn't. I barely knew him, and he barely knew me. So I returned to my room where Teagan already waited.
"How is he?" Teagan asked.
I shrugged in response, unsure of what to say. "I suppose we'll find out tomorrow."
He showed up the next day unphased. Whatever had haunted him the night before had been shoved aside to focus on the show. When the lights hit him on stage it was as if there was nothing else in this world but that stage and the crowd of people that fed every fiber of his being with energy. He came alive up there, transforming into the king everyone labeled him to be.
Offstage, though, the shy and humble heart returned. I thought he was going to walk past me, go straight to his trailer, but he paused beneath my ladder. "Can I get that tour of the catwalks you promised me?" he asked, shifting his weight nervously.
I nodded. "Just... don't fall." There was no other way to phrase it. He giggled at the prospect and made his way up to join me. The walkways stretched around the front half of the stage, moving like a web that connected all the light systems together, but he was content sitting where I already was
"I never got the chance to say thank you for last night." he said, looking down over the stage.
"And I never got the chance to say I'm sorry... we put you in a possible dangerous situation without thinking of the consequences." I replied.
"I knew the consequences when I agreed to go. It's just the price of fame... I only hoped I could escape it for one night. It seems even that is too much to ask."
"Hey Michael!" a voice called from below. It was a kid named Michael Bush. He'd been working wardrobe for Michael since Captain Eo. He was quite the character and fit in well with Michael's company. "I've got the film from tonight's show. Let's get you out of that costume so you can watch it."
"I'll be right down!" he returned, standing to descend. He turned to me before taking the first step. "Come join us later to watch the tape. Maybe you'll learn something new." he offered before his head vanished beneath the beams.
"What on earth were you doing up there, Michael?" asked a woman's voice with a laugh. Karen, I think her name was.
He shrugged with an awkward smile. "Just visiting a friend."
YOU ARE READING
One (A Michael Jackson Fan Fiction)
Fanfiction"It's an adventure, it's a great adventure. There's nothing to be nervous about. They just want wonderful experiences. We want to take them places that they've never been before. We want to show them talent like they've never seen before. We're putt...
