"Oh my God, Janet! I'm going to faint!"

I couldn't believe I allowed Marlon and Janet to talk me into playing twister. Marlon chuckles as his leg when over my leg as I was in doing the crab. I don't even know how much longer I could last without falling on my back! Janet reaches over and spins the wheel.

"Red, right arm."

I huff as she gets under me and puts her small hand on the red dot from the mat. The blood rushes into my head as eventually I felt on top of her. She squeaks, "Michael!" I gasp before rolling off of her, "Sorry Janet." Marlon was on the floor laughing as I playfully kick him in the side as I smile as well, "Well I want to see you doing the crab for 5 minutes straight without falling." I sat down on the couch, stretching my arms as Janet looks at me.

"Michael, do you think we could go to Disneyland someday again?"

I look at while smiling widely, "How about this weekend? The two of us, we would have so much fun!" She squeals as she hugs me tightly, "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I laugh at her reaction as I notice, Joseph walking up.

"Sorry Janet, but Michael has practice this weekend."

I look up at him then sarcastically looking around the room, "Who? Certainly not me." He grumbles, "You know you have rehearsal for the tour." I scoff, "I'm not doing any tour with anyone." His stern voice raised at my words, "Boy, you promised!" I fold my arms, "Yeah before my head almost got burned off." Marina is right. I need to stand my ground against Joseph. I can't tolerate this behavior anymore in my life. It's toxic.

He chuckles as Marlon gulps, "I can see that fire burned away the rest of your common sense to be talking back to me when you are living under MY roof and you obey MY rules." My eyes wander as I think of a comeback but nothing came to me as Joseph walks off.

"I'll see you at practice, Michael."

I scream back, "I won't be there! I'm going to move out and then I don't have to follow your damn rules!" He turns to me, "Move out?" He looks at me, processing the words I said before he began to laugh.

Hard.

I've never heard Joseph laugh so hard in my life. He wipes the tears from his face, "You? Move out? That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time. Where would you live? In Mickey Mouse's castle?" He laughs at his own joke as the whole demeanor pissed me off. I grumble angrily, "You'll see." I storm out the living room to my room and slams the door behind me. My blood was boiling as I sat on the edge of my bed and cried. I cannot take this anymore, I can't take an another day of being emotional abused by this man. I really wish Marina was here, but she wasn't. And she won't be for an another couple of hours.

She made me feel good about myself. Every little thing about myself she made me feel good. She nurtures me and loves me and just makes me feel so good, emotionally and physically. I just wanted to hear her voice again, talking to me and telling me that I'm going to be okay. To tell me that whatever Joseph say doesn't matter. I wipe my tear-stained face with the sleeve of my sweater while sniffling.

It's just not fair.

I stand up and walk to the window, staring out at the grassy hills of Encino. The many trees that surrounded the neighborhood. I sigh in disappointment, knowing in a way how weak I was. I was still living under my family's house while the rest of my siblings had their own places, they just come here to visit from time to time. But why was I? Why am I still here? What's holding me back?

I look down at the marble white, window veil before sitting on it, opening the window. The tangerine orange sky was setting as the golden sun rested against the hills. It was a beautiful sight as the orange, purple, and yellow mixed together in this exquisite setting. The soon-to-be night breeze blew against my face, causing me to smile. I just wanted the moment to last forever as nature took its course. Eventually, the sky was dark as the stars began to come out of the dark shadow of the night.

I hope to see a shooting star tonight.

The night sky reminded me of the night Marina and I looked at the stars, the constellations. To wish upon these little bulbs of light seemed naive but it was special for me. For these stars gave me so much hope in my life. I found one and closed my eyes, saying my wish.

"I wish for confidence and courage...confidence to break away from my family. To have the strength and courage move on..."

"And I wish for Michael to be happy because he deserves just that. He's this amazing, loving, sweet, passionate man that deserves the whole wide world...and I'm so grateful to have him in my life."

I turned around to notice Marina as she sat on the other side of the window ceil. I smile widely, "You're here? You're a whole hour early." She nods, "I got off a little early, yeah." I reach over to her and kissed her lips sweetly. She cups my face in her soft, delicate hands as she mumbles against our lips, "I missed you." I broke away, "Me too." My hand rested against her thigh, rubbing it gently as I laugh softly, "You know, you can't be wishing on MY star." She raises an eyebrow, laughing, "Who said it was YOUR star, Mr. Jackson?" I roll my eyes playfully, "Me. I own all the stars!"

She giggles at me as her hand rub against my arm, "In all seriousness, Michael are you okay? You want to break away from your family?" I slouch back in on the window ceil, "I'm tired of being bossed around by my family and being bullied around." She leans over and lays against my chest as I held her in my arms.

"You don't deserve it, you know that right? You're beyond amazing and maybe you just need more independence in your life. Ever thought of moving out?"

Her finger drew circles on my chest as I look down at her, "I've thought of it every since Jermaine moved out but.." My voice trail as she looked up at me, "You're afraid to?" I nod while blushing. Her hand reached up to caress my cheek, "Not to add more problems but apparently the media knows that we went out. I mean they don't know about us kissing or anything but I just wanted to be the one to tell you." I frown, "That's weird. Did they say anything bad?" She shook her head, "No, not really. They don't have enough information to really lie about what it was."

I nod, "Well, that's alright. Are you okay?" She nods, "Yeah, it's fine. I mean people already see me as the doctor that saved you. Eventually, it will all subside. I'm just having my 15 minutes of fame." I laugh at her joke as she pecks my lips, "Look, eventually you will get the confidence to move out okay? Don't stress." I nod at her as she reassures me, "You know when Jermaine moves out and left the Jackson 5. I wanted that confidence and strength to look Joseph in the eye and be like 'I'm done!'"

She sighs, "Well Michael, you're just too kind. Too sweet to put your foot down like that." I huff before standing up, "Girl, you didn't say all of that last night. I certainly had you down." She blushes while covering her face, "Michael!" I snicker as she playfully punches my arm while I watch her face turn cherry red.

"You're so cute when you're embarrassed."

Her hand covers half of her face while she giggles, "Look here, I just wanted to check up on you. You better take your medicine tonight, okay?" I frown, "You're not staying?" She shakes her head, "No, I'm going home. I know my grandmother misses me a lot." She stands up and walks to the door, and I grab her wrist,

"Wait...can I s-stay with you, over there?"

—
Wow. Really bold of you, Michael.

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-lcgendxry ♥︎