3 months later
Elizabeth Taylor, Hollywood legend and indomitable woman whom many feared, was despairing. Michael was not getting any better. He got thinner and thinner by the day. His Vitiligo spread visibly from day to day. She had got to the point when she would spoon feed him and look after him like he was a baby. Janet, busy with her new album, was putting in as many sister hours as she could manage.
"Michael, you need to shape up. We are doing our best to find Yannina and, trust me, we will find her."
Michael looked at his baby sister with hazy eyes and snorted.
"If she doesn't want to be found...you won't find her, Dunk. You don't know my Yannina. Take her to a hippie camp...she'll blend in. Take her to a fucking church choir...she'll blend in again. Take her to a senior community in Florida...you get the point, don't you?! She is a girl of immense capacities! I lost her...she left me, Dunk!"
Tears pooled in his eyes again and fell down his thin, pale cheek.
"There, there, my dear boy!" jumped Elizabeth from her seat. "Don't despair. No one gets below my radar. Trust Liz, Okay?"
Michael stared ahead, feeling cold and empty inside. She was gone. His love, his life, his reason for living. One more thing he could do...as far fetched as it seemed.
"I want to go out, Liz. I have a place I must be at."
Elizabeth's eyes shone. Yes, that's what the boy needed, to get out.
"Splendid, my dear! Shall I book a restaurant, have dinner out?"
"No, Liz...there's a specific place where I wanna go."
She did not protest. Anything was better than staying indoors, not eating and crying all day long.
Michael gave the driver the specific instructions, under Elizabeth Taylor's stupefied looks.
"Where are we going?"
"You'll see, Liz."
Finally, they reached the place. AgiosNikolaosGreekCemetery, written in gilded letters.
"Michael, what is this? Why are we here?"
"Her mother is here" whispered Michael faintly, getting out of the car and walking ahead like a zombie, pulled by an unseen force. He reached the well known grave. Now it was adorned with a beautiful marble angel, watching over the eternal rest of Yannina's mother. What was her name?
"Eleftheria" he remembered, kneeling down.
"Mrs. Eleftheria, I know you can see Yannina from up there...I know you see her and protect her. Please...please let her come back to me. Steer her to me. I love her...and I can protect her, look after her. I love her, Mrs. Eleftheria and I can't see my life without her. Please...please guide her back to me...send her to me! Please!"
Elizabeth Taylor had barely caught up with him, frowning to see him kneeling at the grave. It was so weird. Everything written in that strange alphabet...what was Michael doing here? But before she could question him, she saw something to the right of the grave Michael was knelt before. A fresh grave. A brand new wooden cross, the lettering in Latin alphabet. She read the words there and gasped. Loud enough to make Michael look up to her and then follow her shocked gaze. He read the words on that cross and they burned a hole through his feverish brain.
"NOOOO, YANNINA, NOOOO!"
He jumped up and threw himself over that fresh grave, grabbing the cross in his hands and screaming out like a wounded animal. There was a very simple text there, sealing his fate forever: YANNINA CHRISTOFORIDIS. Born 7.07.1965 Deceased13.10.1988. RIP. Three days ago. She had died three days ago and he hadn't known it, felt it...tried to stop it. As the bodyguards dragged his limp body back into the car, he wondered why he was still alive...why his heart hadn't stopped beating already...
Days and weeks dragged on indifferently. Liz was permanently living at Neverland, feeding Michael and making sure he didn't do anything stupid. Every once in a while, she dressed him nicely and took him out for shopping or lunch. People needed to see him, otherwise nasty rumors would build up. But the rumors appeared nonetheless. Michael Jackson looked whiter and whiter by the day – he was bleaching his skin most probably. He looked frail and thin – he was addicted to drugs, obviously.
"Michael, you need to wake up and take charge of your life and career again. You are on the brink of signing a major deal with Sony, you can't afford to be weak. They will take advantage of you. They will serve you a rotten deal."
"Liz...I got the negotiations under control. My work is the only thing keeping me alive right now."
"Dear boy...life is full of tragedies. I lost Richard...and I lost him in such a painful way. I lost him to alcohol. He died long before he breathed his last. You were spared....you didn't have to see this terrible thing..."
"LIZ, I'M BEGGING YOU!" he shouted, covering his ears with his hands. "Please, Liz...don't....just don't!"
Janet walked in and sighed. Her brother looked worse by the day. She pulled Elizabeth Taylor aside, while Michael ambled in the bathroom to brush his teeth.
"I fear for his life, Liz...I really do."
"I know. I tried introducing him to that crazy girl, Lisa Marie, Elvis' daughter. She looks and acts eccentric enough to suit his tastes."
"I don't think it's the eccentricity...I think this Yannina girl was really special. In a way we'll never understand. I think that...how can I put it? What Michael saw in her is something that nobody else can see."
Elizabeth sighed and shook her head.
"There was something wrong though....Janet, it sounds creepy, but I need you to accompany me to her grave. I was too worried about Michael back then, but I definitely felt there was something wrong about that grave."
"What about Michael?"
"I talked to your mother. She is coming over to watch over him."
The two women drove to the Greek cemetery again.
"That is her mother's grave....This one is hers."
Janet looked closely around and nodded.
"I can see what is wrong with this one. Look at all the headstones around us. They are in Greek lettering. This one...it's written in our regular alphabet. It's the only one we can actually read."
Liz shot her famous violet eyes into Janet's and a strange smile played on her lips.
"As if someone wanted to make sure it can be read...Janet, we're not stopping the investigation. There is something fishy here, and I'll be damned if I stop before I get to the bottom of this story. I am not letting that boy despair and die of a broken heart! Whatever it takes, we owe him the full truth about this girl!"
"Liz...let's just not give him false hopes...It would kill him."
"Oh, we are not telling him anything until we have some definite facts in our hands."
"Why would anyone want to make this girl disappear? Liz, this is too weird."
"She used to be paid for killing people. That's as weird as it gets by my book."
"She's beautiful, though. Did you see her photo in Michael's bedroom?"
"I did...She is...pretty."
"No, Liz, she's beautiful. I saw her in person, too. I could feel her love for my brother. She was so protective with him. When Joseph said something nasty, like he usually does, she looked ready to jump at his throat."
"Did she now? Well, I might cut her some slack for this."
"Let's just hope she still lives and breathes upon this earth...Let's hope our conspiracy theory holds."
"My intuition is rarely wrong, Janet. Let's go now. I'm calling the private investigator to put him back on track."
Janet looked at the indomitable Elizabeth Taylor, praying that she was right. Otherwise, she feared that Michael's life would never get back on track.
