One (A Michael Jackson Fan Fiction)

Chapter 25

There was a moment of silence to honor the dead, and during this silence, I was reminded of an ancient myth I had heard as a child. "Have you ever heard the story of Pandora's Box?" I asked.

"Many times." he replied. "Pandora finds a jar in the keeping of Epimetheus. When she opens it, she releases plague, death, and hardship upon the land." he said.

"Yes, but one thing was left at the bottom and that was hope. It's a story to remind us that even when the darkest things are among us, there is still hope. The event was a tragic one, but we'll always have hope for better days to come. One day we'll see a world full of love with no more hatred or fear."

"One day." he agreed and we moved on to smaller things. Our conversation was eventually cut short when Ashley invited me to join them for dinner. I bid Michael farewell and he promised to call again soon, which he did near every day.

I walked down the hall from the guest room one morning to find Sage sitting on the staircase with the phone wire wrapped around herself and the phone itself pressed against her ear. She listened intently to the other end, deeply enthralled by whatever she was hearing. She appeared to be the only other one awake at this hour so I leaned against the wall and waited. A broad smile stretched on her face the longer she listened, but eventually the magic came to an end and she finally seemed to notice I was there.

"Oh, hi Quinn. It's for you... nobody was up yet so I answered." she rambled, spinning in circles to untangle herself from the wire. Sage handed me the phone and rushed off to her half poured bowl of cereal.

I pressed it to my ear and said, "Hello?"

"Quinn!" Michael exclaimed. "I'm sorry to call so early but I couldn't wait to tell you." I looked over at the clock that read it to be seven in the morning, making it only four for him. He probably hadn't even slept yet. I assumed Sage's previous position on the stairs and waited for the story.

"I met this family last night, they came to the ranch at my invitation. The couple has a ten year old boy who is dying of cancer... doctors say he could die any day. I wanted to give him incentive to hold on for just a little bit longer so I gave him one of my jackets and one of my sequined gloves. I told him that I wanted to see him at my concert when we arrived at his hometown and I wanted him to wear the jacket and the glove when he came. I can't wait for you to meet him. He was absolutely ecstatic to be coming."

I smiled as he spoke, hoping beyond everything that this little boy had enough strength in him to make it.

A week later we were back in motion. I had parted ways with my sister and her family and now had settled into the hotel in Pittsburgh. Tech rehearsal started early the next morning and all of us shuffled into the arena, groggy from the sudden reintroduction to life on the road. When Michael walked in, though, the energy returned. He had an odd way of doing that. He carried such an intense presence with him that you couldn't help but to feed off of it.

The tech run started off bumpy, trying to get all the errors and mistakes out of the way, but before long, we had all molded into the flow of things and the show came back together with one magical moment of perfection. It wasn't until then that Michael allowed us to call it a night, and even then, he lingered on the stage while the rest of us shut down, practicing and warming up his body for the coming months. Two weeks away had exhausted him.

I stayed in the catwalks, moving closer to the stage to watch from above. He glided so effortlessly across the stage, spinning rapidly to the music in his head. Then suddenly with one last burst of energy, he flung out his arms and collapsed to his knees, letting his head fall back with his eyes closed as he caught his breath. When finally he had found himself once more, he opened his eyes, meeting his gaze with mine and he smiled. I returned the expression of joy and made my way down to the stage.

He rose to his feet and Bush handed him a towel that he draped around his neck. I met him at the base of the ladder and the two of us walked to his trailer, catching up on anything we hadn't talked about on the phone. Once he had collected himself, he offered to take me back to the hotel. The hour was late and I no longer had Teagan to walk with me to a bus, so I accepted.

I sat in the seat, staring out the window at the city that surrounded us. Even in the darkness of the night, the haze of smoke billowing from factories floated like dark clouds in the sky. Looking at the haze, I spoke. "I read in a book once a tale of the earth years and years from now. We had poisoned it with our toxic pollutants and the air became too harsh to breathe. So the last of the humans built these domes and supercomputers to bring life into the world once more as one last apology to the earth. When the domes were ready, they walked out into the poison where forests once were and never returned. Two humans traveled through time and met with the supercomputer in charge of saving the nature in one of the domes. This supercomputer looked human and loved quite the same. With love alone, she had nurtured the dome of land back to it's natural beauty. But the visitors could not grasp the thought that a machine could have humanity. It raised the question of what truly defines humanity?" I wondered aloud.

Michael thought for a moment before responding. "I suppose it is the depth at which we love that determines our humanity. This machine in your story, and even animals often act with more humanity than some humans do. Humanity is earned and cannot be achieved through hatred." he answered.

"Perhaps we, as humans, should reevaluate what it means to be human." I stated, turning my gaze to Michael.