Janet's point of view
" Richmond?" I asked, frowning. "Like in Richmond, Virginia?" I asked Jeremy, who was still trying to reach June with his cellphone.
"Yeah, duh," he said, putting his phone back in his jeans' pocket.
"Why would she be in Virginia? Does she have family there or something?"
"No, not really," he answered, scratching the back of his head. "Listen, Michael can't know she's gone, or he's going to freak out, ok?"
"You're basically asking me to lie to my brother?" I asked with an attitude.
"It's for the good cause, true me. He can't know she's missing."
"We don't even know if she's really missing. What makes you think she's in Virginia instead of being dead in her appartment, huh?"
"Her car's gone, and she spoke with Michael a few hours ago. She's fine, and I'm pretty sure she's there."
"But why? I don't get it right now, would you please tell me what the hell is going on?" I asked, becoming irritated.
"She's after Anna."
"Anna? Fudge! Who the hell is she?"
"Anna, the girl who tried to take Michael from her, her ex best friend," he said, narrowing his eyes at me. "Tell me you know about the whole story, please."
"What story?"
"Oh Lord," he said, brushing his face with both of his hands. "This is going to be long."
He sat on one of the step, and motionned me to come and sit beside him. I did as I'm told, and he began to explain me the whole story. He explained me how June was betrayed by her friends, how she really ended up at the hospital, thing that Michael didn't tell us. He then explained that since Michael left, June was pretty depressed, and the realease of those photos of her in every tabloid of the country – or even of the world – was the final straw: she was devastated. I then explained myself the fight they both had about this early this morning, and Jeremy was now as worried as I was. He cursed him out, but I couldn't blame him. What Michael did was pretty inapropriated and so not him. Even though he's my brother, I couldn't defend him on this.
"What are we going to do now?" I asked, my head in my hands.
June's point of view
When I woke up again, it was one in the afternoon. I was glad to see I slept a few hours. I checked my phone once again, and notice a few calls from Michael again, and some others from Jer. That's when I remembered I was supposed to have lunch with him and then go to the hospital in order to remove this cast of mine which I'm totally fed up with. I decided to call Jer back. He didn't do anything to me, I couldn't do that to him.
"Hey Jer, it's me, I—" I couldn't finish my sentence because a worried Jeremy cut me off.
"Where the hell are you? Do you know how worried I am right now?" he yelled through the phone, and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was dead serious.
"I'm sorry Jer, I had to leave early this morning. It was like a last minute thing and I—"
"A last minute thing? Why didn't you text me? You know I was on call yesterday, I could have answered your call!"
"I didn't want to talk, I had an argument with Michael, and I wasn't thinking straight. I'm sorry Jer, really."
"I don't care how sorry you are! Where did you go? And all alone, in the middle of the night?"
"I'm perfectly sure you know where the hell I am."
"Please, tell me you're not in Richmond..."
"Ok. I'm not!"
"Seriously, June. I told you to let it go!"
"Let it go? She succeded, ok? I'm sure Michael doesn't want me anymore, and I don't want him anymore either! He made me feel like some kind of whore, and he clearly said that he was ashamed to be my boyfriend."
"I'm sure you didn't understand. You two love each other, don't let her win!"
"She already won, Jer. It's over. Now I'm going to put an end to her miserable existence," I said, feeling the anger boiling in me and the tears willing to fall from my already red and puffy eyes.
"Have you lost your damn ming, girl? This isn't you! Don't do anything stupid!"
"Stupid?" I asked, faking a laugh. "You think this is stupid to fight for what's yours, Jeremy? Michael was my everything, but then this motherfucking cunt ass bitch just popped up and ruin the only thing that makes me happy?"
"Don't let her win, for God's sake! This is everything she wants, June! Open your eyes and face the damn reality!"
"I can't even now what's real or not," I muttered, looking at the ghost, or whatever it was, of my father before my eyes.
"What do you mean?"
"I think I'm becoming crazy, Jer," I admitted, tears flowing down my cheeks at the sight of my dead father in front of me, all smilling at me.
"Where are you? You're freaking scarying me!" he shouted, and I could feel he was about to cry.
"I need help Jer," I declared, as my father sat next to me on the bed.
"Where are you June?" he yelled again.
"Super 8 Hotel in Richmond, ask for 'Aurélie Smith'. I need—" I trailed off mid sentence and yelled "Don't fucking touch me!" at my dead father, standing up from the bed and locking myself in the bathroom, crying. "I need you, please come here Jer, I-I'm losing it."
"Calm down! I'll be there as fast as I can okay? J-Just calm down and don't move!"
I hung up the phone, and held it close to my chest, crying my eyes out. I didn't know what was happening to me, I didn't know why I was seeing such things. Voices kept running through my mind; my father's, my brother's, Michael's, my mother's... The only one which seemed to catch my attention was my father's voice. He kept telling me to fight for what was mine, to face the adversity, not to endure it. I stood up from the floor where I was, and took a look at me in the mirror. I looked horrible: it was obvious I lacked sleep, and with no make up on, we could see all the tiredness and sadness in my face. I wiped the tears from my eyes, fixed my hair in a high ponytail, and got out of the bathroom. I put my large shades and baseball cap back on, found my jacket and purse, and headed out of the room, determined to find the bitch who ruined my life. But as soon as I opened the door, I was face to face with the last person I expected to see.
Michael?
**
Jeremy's point of view
As Janet was as concerned as I was, she told me she set up a flight for me on her private jet, so I could be in Virginia faster. Of course, I thanked her a thousands time on the trip to the airport, but she kept saying she would do anything for June because she really considered her as family.
After I left Janet to the airport and asked her not to say anything to Michael until I am with June, I got on the plane, and arrived in Richmond one hour later. I took a cab to reach the hotel where June stayed and asked the receptionnist the room of "Aurélie Smith", and headed directly to the room she indicated me: 2908. Once I was in front of the door, I immediately heard June screaming at someone. I banged at the door, but she didn't seem to hear me, so I decided to enter the room without being invited in, and hopefully, the door wasn't locked.
"I can't believe you! You're not here! You can't be here!" she screamed, not noticing my presence in the room. She was talking to herself. She was alone in the room. All alone, in the dark, and it was freaking me out. "You're on tour! I know you're not real! Please get out of my mind!" she yelled again, collpasing on the floor, crying hysterically. I ran at her side, and held her tight. As soon as she sensed my touch, she stood up from the floor and got away from my hold, taking a few steps back. "Don't fucking touch me! I'm fucking tired of fucking ghosts touching me!"
"I'm not a ghost, June! I'm here for you, ok? I came as soon as I could!" I yelled, taking a few steps towards her.
"No! I know you're not real! You couldn't be here this fast, it's impossible!"
"I came here with Janet's jet, June, I'm really here. I'm here for you, you're not alone anymore," I calmy explained, but you could here the worry in my voice. She looked really bad: she was pale, and there were huge bags under her eyes. "I'm really here for you, and I'm going to help you, ok?"
"Julian, Michael and my dad! They all say that, they all say the "I'm here for you" shit!"
"The difference between me and them is that I'm really here. Look," I said, picking my phone from my pocket and dialing her number. Her phone rang, and she took a look at it before answering it without speaking a word. "You see," I spoke into the phone, "I'm really here, and I'm here to help you," I declared, hanging up my phone and putting it back in my pocket. She looked at me, and then to her right, where I supposed the fake Michael was standing, and she began crying again, running into my arms. "Shhh," I hushed her, rocking her back and forth. "We are going to fix you, ok?"
"I'm crazy, aren't I? Tell me I'm not crazy, Jer! Please," she cried on my chest, which brought tears in my eyes as well.
"No," I said, sniffling back tears. "No, you're not crazy sweetheart."
"Michael," she whispered, "Michael appeared to me, and he told me I shouldn't go see Anna. He's defending her! Why is he defending her, Jer? Why?" she cried again.
"He is not defending her, he's not even here. Do not take what those hallucinations tell you seriously. They're just confusing you," I said, trying to reassure her. "I'm sure Michael doesn't want you to go after her because you don't need this kind of stress for your heart, you need to calm down. It's not heathly."
"I don't care of my health! I don't care! I want my life back! I want my Michael back!"
"I know, I know," I whispered, a tear rolling down my cheek while I rubbed June's hair gently. "Did you take your treatment today?"
"No, I don't care. I didn't take it with me at all."
I broke the embrace and looked at her in the eyes like she was crazy... Well, like she was crazier than she already were, actually. No joke intended.
"You didn't take it with you? June, what the hell? You need that treatment! You could suffer a cardiac arrest right here, right now!"
"I don't care," she said, turning her back to me to look through the window. "I just want to find her. I'll be okay once I find her, I promise."
"Don't promise things you can't promise. Right now, I'm taking you to the hospital so you can be given your treatment."
"I'm not going anywhere unless it is to find the bitch's house."
"We'll go after her once you're given your freaking treatment," I lied, trying to sound convincing.
"Liar," Crap. "Why would you help me get her while my health is so important to you?"
"Because maybe you're right. Maybe if you see her you'll feel better afterwards," I lied again. I knew it won't. The only thing which could have helped her at that point was a therapist, or maybe Michael.
"Promise me," she said, turning around to face me. "Promise me we'll get her, Jer. Please."
I hesitated a few seconds, and when I saw the hope and the sadness in her eyes, "I promise", I lied. There was no way I would do this. She said she wanted to kill the girl, and I surely didn't want to become an accomplice of murderer attempt. I wouldn't have believed her if she wasn't this crazy, but her craziness scared the hell out of me. She was capable of everything.
"Go take a shower, and then we'll go looking for your medecine," I gently asked her, placing a soft kiss on her foreahead.
She did as told, and enterred the bathroom, leaving the door unlocked as I asked her. While June was taking her needed shower, I decided to call Janet to let her know what was going on with her –possible– future sister-in-law. She took care to leave me her number before I leave New York so I can tell her how June was feeling, and so she could tell Michael she was fine. But the fact is... She wasn't fine.
"Hey, are you with her?"
"Yeah. It looked like I arrived at the right moment," I sighed, sitting on the bed.
"What do you mean?"
"She really is in bad shape, Janet. She looks like a wreck, and when I arrived she was having an hallucination with your brother..."
"With my brother? What was she saying?"
"She kept saying she couldn't believe him because he was on tour, that he wasn't real... She's scarying me. She's not herself anymore."
"Oh Lord..." Janet said, and I could tell she was as shocked as I was. "What are we going to do? What are we going to tell Michael?"
"I don't know," I sighed again. "Man, she even forgot her medecine for her heart. I think she wants to die," I said, my voice shaking.
"What do you mean? You think she forgot her pills on purpose?"
"I don't know... She said she didn't care about her health, that she needed Michael," I declared, rubbing my left temple.
"We need to tell him," Janet whispered, and I think she was crying.
"Tell him what? 'Hey man, come back from your tour and disappoint milions of your fans because your girl is becoming crazy'?"
"No, we can't do that..."
"Exactly. I'll convince her to give him a call when she's feeling better, and I promise I'll fix her."
"Don't promise such things. We don't know what is wrong with her yet. She's having hallucinations, it's not something common."
"She needs help. From a therapist, and since we don't have one and since she's not in New York, I'll be her therapist until we come home."
"Take good care of her, ok?"
"I will. Tell Michael she's fine, and she doesn't want to talk to him right now. Tell him she'll be calling soon though."
"Are you sure about it?"
"I have to," I whispered as I heard June stepping out of the shower. "I have to go. I'll text you to let you know how she's doing."
"Okay, bye," she said in a low voice.
"Hey Janet? Don't worry, she'll be fine," I said, trying to reassure her.
"I hope so."
And I hung up, wipping the fresh tears that fell from my eyes. I never saw June this devastated before. I thought Julian's death would be the only time I'd have to see her this way, but I was wrong.
She was even worse.
____________________
Hey guys,
I'm officially on holidays, which means I'll be able to update a lot more, yay! I hope you like this story, and thank you for reading, voting and commenting. You're adorable.
L.O.V.E,
Julie