Forever and a Half || Michael Jackson

Unpublished Section 1 - Leading to Citria's Father's Death

Hey guys! Seeing as this story has been officially over for a month and a half (or should I say, forever and a half? I'll see myself out), I figured I'd share with you, scenes that didn't occur in the book, but helps to add depth to the storyline!

The first is a little sad, so here is a slight trigger warning (mention and depiction of overdose) but I figured I'd let you guys see anyway!

Unpublished Section 1 – Leading to Citria's Father's Death

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-Citria's Father's Point of View-

Having just come off the phone to my lovely daughter, I head towards the front door to see who's knocking. It better be something worthy of interrupting my time talking to Citria. As I open the door, I realise who it is — Marco. Without giving me much time to react, he barges his way in, and stands in my living room.

"What are you doing here?" I ask from the front doorway, feeling nervous, although not wanting to appear obvious in this. My heart is pounding a little heavier — which isn't the best thing for somebody like me, who's getting old.

"Hello, brother," he responds; all of a sudden, he has a warm smile. At this moment, I'm unsure how genuine it really is. "I just came to speak to you. You know, have a little heart-to-heart. That's all; nothing bad. Also — sorry for barging in like that. Not the best start to this, really."

My eyebrows furrow slightly at this answer. Is he being serious, or is this another joke of his? It's very hard to tell. "Talk about what?" One brow lifts as I interrogate him. I may be old, but I'm not going to allow him to pull the wool over my eyes.

He grins loosely, leading me gently to my chair in the living room, and closing the front door behind him. "Well, I just wanted to discuss everything that's happened lately, that's all. In a civil and adult way."

"Marco, you've never done civil," I retort, although being careful not to trigger any kind of attack he's planning on me.

"But that doesn't mean I can't do it," he chuckles, heading into the kitchen temporarily, before retuning back a few moments later with a glass of water and my medication in his hands. "So look, dear brother — I know all our lives, we haven't had the best relationship." He takes a seat near to me, setting the glass of water and the medication down on my coffee table. "And that makes me very sad."

"You chose to lead the life you did," I respond, shaking my head. I'm not going to budge that easily. "You killed our sister."

"And I regret that deeply! Really, I do. It was a very major mistake that I made without even thinking about it. If I could turn back the clock, I would not have done it." He takes a sheet of paper from off the coffee table, playing with it gently in his hands as he talks. "And as for us ... I want to try and redeem myself. I would like us to be brothers, once and for all. Really I do."

"How are you ever supposed to do that, Marco?" My eyes follow his fingers whilst he fiddles about with the paper. "How can you ever redeem yourself for what you've done?"

"Well, for a start ... " He looks down at this piece of paper he's been messing with. "I've done some research into the medication you're taking, and I've found out that the ones in this new packet are lower dosage than the ones you were taking, so that means you have to take more in one go to get the same affect. Would a bad brother make the effort to look out for you like that?"

"New packet?—I thought I still had my old ones," I question uncertainly. "Where are they?"

"I checked for them, and only found this one. Your doctor must have left them in the kitchen whilst you were sleeping or something. I don't know. But the note I have here says to take more pills than what you've been taking, now."

"I normally take two as it is." My brows knit together in confusion. "How many do I need to take now?"

"Well ... the note says that the old medication had 100mg of whatever it was you were taking in before ... now these new pills only have 5mg. So I assume you'll have to take twenty of them."

"That's ridiculous," I exclaim, somehow not believing what he's saying. "How can I take twenty pills in one go?"

"It's safe to do, my brother," Marco explains, reading the note. "They wouldn't prescribe it that way if it wasn't meant to be. Plus they provided a lot of them so you have a few days' worth to take."

"I see."

-Marco's Point of View-

This is almost too easy. If the old man is this unintelligent then he'll be an easy target for sure. This 'new medication' is actually a strong sleeping pill that I brought with me; he never had any new medication at all, so these will surely cause him to overdose. Then, that'll be one less person on my hitlist.

"If you just take a few at a time, it'll only take four or five goes to take them all," I advise, giving him the warmest smile I possibly can. I'd like to think by his facial expression that he's believing what I'm saying. He seemed very apprehensive at first, but he's like putty in my hands now. He takes a small handful of the new pills and throws them back into his mouth. I hand him the glass to swallow them down. "That's right, dear brother. I'm here to help you through this, you know."

He reluctantly gives me a smile. "Thank you Marco."

"It's not an issue. I know I made some huge mistakes in the past, but I was young and stupid. As for Michael's family ... another mistake. It costed a lot of lives, and I'll carry that with me forever. And I will pay for my crimes when I pass on. God will decide my fate from then."

He gives a look of slight disapproval. "He's hurting, Marco." He swallows another set of the pills. "He's hurting more than you'd ever imagine."

"And I'm so very sorry for that," I lie, in my most convincing pitiful voice. "God will punish me when I reach the other side, and he hopefully shall bless Michael with the future he deserves."

"I hope for you that this is true." Another set of pills swallowed. This is almost too easy. "Because seeing him the way he has been is torturous for me."

After one more set of pills, I aid him in resting the glass of water back on the coffee table. "There, see. You got that dosage taken no problem, didn't you?"

"I suppose it was easier than I thought." He looks down, almost sadly. "I hope you really are guilty for all you've done, Marco."

"I forever will be. And one day I'll get my comeuppance." To add to the charade, I cross myself with my hand, before standing up, and heading into the kitchen. Quickly, so that I don't stay too long, I make him a coffee to further add to the legitimacy of my acting.

Once I re-enter the living room, I hand him the drink, which he sets down on the coffee table with the glass of water. From out of my pocket, I also hand him a bottle of medicine. "You need to take this, too," I explain to him gently. "This one helps you to sleep better. I heard you were having problems with that." He takes the bottle and gives a half smile.

"Until the next time, my brother. I sadly have business to attend to. But I will see you some other time. I hope we will build our relationship up again from here." Before he can respond, I lift him up with my arms and bring him into a hug. He takes a moment to hug me back, but once he does I can't help but chuckle to myself in triumph.

"Goodbye, Marco." He bids me farewell as I let him go and I see myself out.

I would stop and watch everything unfold, but I suppose it works better if he dies alone. He'll probably begin to hallucinate, or believe things that aren't true soon. As much as I'd love to see that, I better flee as far away as I can so that I'm gone for when the police get involved. Citria will be devastated when she finds out about her poor father's overdose.

Oh well; it's not my problem to deal with anymore.

Goodbye, Mr Espinosa.