The Remasking

Chapter 15

So tightly her eyes remained closed. But her body was very awake as tears continuously crept out of her shut lids. The salty tears trickled down to follow the path of the crease in her lips before they would drop into the small puddle that was growing wider on her cotton fabric sheets, just besides her cheek.

One image was only there that she could see. One voice kept resonating throughout her mind. Michael's.

(June 29, 2009)

Liliana didn't know what day it was. She didn't know what time it was. She didn't know reality from fantasy. But one thing she knew was real, was the gaping hole she felt was in her heart.

...When she first saw the news coverage over Navi's shoulder, her heart shattered into a million pieces. It was a feeling she couldn't control. Something dark came over her. The thought that Michael was actually gone, never to be seen again...it killed her.

When Navi left the room, she found strength to get up and turn the television back on. Footage of Michael during his prime were flashing across the screen. It almost made her smile until the man mentioned that he was gone. "Dead at 50 years old. Due to a heart attack."

And then the footage changed...to something more recent. Liliana's breaths shortened as she watched Michael being carried out in a body bag. She didn't remember much after that.

Nothing recollected before the point when she woke up in the hospital with Mitch at her side. She questioned him about a hoax. She asked if it was real.

And he confirmed it. Michael had a heart attack around noon in his and Ava's Los Angeles home. At 2:26 p.m., UCLA Medical Center pronounced him dead.

Being that she grew up in foster care all her life, she never had any real family to worry and cry over. Michael and her kids were her family. The thought of her burying one of them never crossed her mind, not even when she found out Michael was in danger. She worried about him but she didn't think someone would actually take it that far. She felt in her heart he was murdered.

He was the sweetest person she ever knew. He had the biggest heart and the gentlest soul. He was too kind for this earth, she thought. But she didn't feel it was his time to go.

She repetitively screamed out NO when Mitch told her Michael was gone. With his arms wrapped around her, he tried his best to comfort her but it seemed like nothing could. She was heartbroken. "He wasn't supposed to die," she kept saying through her tears. "He didn't deserve this."

She didn't leave the hospital until Micah arrived.

On the car ride home, Liliana sat in the backseat with her face stuck on the window. Micah had to stop at the O2 arena to pick up something of his fathers. He made it quick, knowing it was killing his mother to be in the area, but she sat stiff in her seat and continued to stare out the window, dead to the world.

She eyed the digital Philips billboard that had an iconic picture of Michael displayed on it.

At this moment our thoughts are with Michael's children, family, and friends.

We will announce ticketing information in due course.

Then she closed her eyes and imagined the picture coming alive. Michael was performing to Billie Jean and pop locking under a spotlight.

She watched him perform until she made it back home.

Micah carried his weak mother up the stairs to her bed. There, Prince, Paris, and Blanket laid beside her and shared their tears.

Liliana was still very much in shock. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to really console her kids because she was so numb to the whole situation. After a few hours, the children ended up comforting her like she was the child.