March 2nd, 1998
Pat woke up to the sound of loud thumping that seemed to be coming from the entryway.
What in the world?
She rubbed her eyes and went into the living room. The front door was wide open and several large boxes were sitting in the middle of the room. Katherine walked right past her.
What the hell?
Pat ran up the stairs to find Mariah. Her daughter was in bed knocked out.
“Mariah?” She whispered.
Mariah didn't move.
Pat raised her voice. “Mariah!”
Nothing.
Pat huffed and shook Mariah. “Mariah!”
Mariah brushed her off and tightened her blanket around her shoulders.
Pat shook her head and left the room. She heard quiet talking downstairs.
She hurried down and nearly ran into to a mover.
“Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?” Pat asked, aggressively.
“Look lady, I'm just doing my job.” One of the movers said. “I was hired to bring this stuff here.”
Pat was taken aback. “Hired by who?”
“Boss wants everything to go upstairs.” Another mover shouted.
Pat looked behind the man directly in front of her face. “Who’s your b-”
“Thanks everyone for all your help!” Michael shouted.
Soon, Michael came walking in with Katherine behind him.
“Michael, sweetheart! What is going on in here?” Pat asked.
Michael stopped in front of Pat. So did Katherine.
He smiled shyly. “My mother’s moving in with us.”
Pat’s face dropped. “What? Why?”
Michael raised an eyebrow at her.
“I- I mean, doesn’t she have a home in California?” Pat asked, trying to clean up her previous question.
“Listen Pat, I know it was just the three of us at Neverland, but now that the twins are here, we’re going to need the extra help.” Michael explained.
“Well then we’ll hire a maid.” Pat suggested.
Katherine rolled her eyes.
Michael chuckled. “Not that kind of help. We need someone to help facilitate things, you know? Keep everything in place.”
“You and Mariah both have assis-”
“I’m moving in.” Katherine interrupted. “My son wants me here.”
Pat didn’t even look Katherine in the eye.
Michael let out a nervous chuckle. “Okay ladies, I’m gonna go finish making sure everything is going good with the move. You two be nice.”
Michael walked up the stairs into Katherine’s new room.
Before long, Pat spoke again. “You better not get in my way.”
Katherine chuckled. “Oh sweetie, this is my house now. Don’t you know who he loves most?”
Pat narrowed her eyes and walked away from Katherine. This was going to be difficult.
March 3rd, 1998
Michael poked his head in his mother’s room, finding her working on clearing it out to make room for her own things.
“How’s it going?” He asked, jovially.
Katherine grinned widely. “It’s okay baby. I see you still got these blankets from when you were a little boy thrown all over this closet.”
Michael giggled. “Mother, that’s for my girls.”
“I get that but there’s only two of them, baby. Do you need every blanket you’ve ever owned?”
Michael nodded his head eagerly. “Well they’re all special to me. Each one means something different--it’s of a different time.”
“Michael, I get it. But you need to stop holding onto everything. I know you love your things very much but you’re gonna have a big mess in this house if you don’t throw anything out.” Katherine explained.
“But Mo-” Michael started.
“But nothing, Michael. I’ve seen people who keep they stuff and let it build up and then one day they can’t even step inside their own homes anymore. You used to do this as a boy and I thought it was a phase but now I see that you just hoard-”
“I don’t hoard things, Mother. I’m not like those people who keep all that stuff in they house.” He explained.
“Michael, I went to Neverland the other day to pick up some things and your bathroom was a mess baby.”
“You went in my room?” Michael asked.
“Yes and you had stuff all over the bathroom sink. Papers everywhere. Paper shouldn’t be in the bathroom Michael.” Katherine chided.
“Mom, I know. I’ll make sure it gets cleaned up.”
“Good. You know that stuff can get to nasty levels and my baby ain’t nasty.” Katherine joked.
Michael gave a nervous laugh.
She’s gonna be a piece of work.
March 3rd, 1998
Michael went outside and walked the short distance to his mailbox. One thing he loved about living in Aspen was the fact that he could be relatively normal. Back in California he would've never been able to go out and get his own mail.
As he walked back into the house he flipped through the envelopes.
Bill.
Bill.
Bill.
Pat?
He paused on a letter addressed to Pat from a Mr. Richard Hathaway.
What's this for?
Michael sat down the bills and looked at the envelop with Pat’s name on it. He looked around the room before going for his letter opener. He found it in a drawer and carefully peeled open the letter.
Once it was open he slipped out a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and a check dropped out.
The letter read:
Dear Patricia,
Here's your fifth installment from the money made on the Long Island home. It's truly been a pleasure doing business with you and I hope to continue this partnership in the future.
Sincerely,
Richard Hathaway
Michael picked up the check, which was written in the amount one million dollars.
Fifth installment...a million...What the hell?
He dropped the letter on the counter and glared in the direction of Pat’s room.
This lying ass…
He angrily folded up the letter with the check inside and slipped it back inside the envelop. He went back to the drawer and got a glue stick to reseal Pat’s mail.
I can’t believe her.
March 9th, 1998
Janet pulled up in front of Michael and Mariah’s house. She wanted to see them before she went on tour and make sure everything was okay after their mother moved in.
She rang the doorbell and waited a few moments before Mariah answered the door.
“Hey girl!” Mariah exclaimed, pulling her in for a hug.
Janet smiled nervously. She was still a little grossed out from Mariah’s display at the housewarming. “Hey.”
Mariah walked Janet in, closing the front door behind them.
“Where’s the babies? And Mike?” Janet asked.
“He just took them upstairs. You want something to drink?” Mariah replied.
Janet nodded. “Yeah, I'll have some water.”
Janet took a seat at the island. “Where's Mother?”
“She's probably in her room.” Mariah said disinterestedly, handing off the bottle of water.
Janet opened the water and took a sip as Michael came down the stairs.
He smiled and leaned in for a hug. “Hey, Dunk.”
“Hey Mike. How are you?” She asked, hugging him.
“I'm good.”
“I bet you are after you damn near got head in front of everybody.” Janet joked.
Michael blushed. “Dunk!”
Mariah laughed. “Now you know I was playing.”
“You play too much. That's why Rebbie almost whooped your ass.” Janet pointed out.
Mariah rolled her eyes. “She did not almost whoop my ass.”
“Last time I checked you were the one on the floor.”
Michael shook his head. “Dunk. Stop it.”
“What?”
“She’s sick-” Michael paused, glancing at Mariah. “I mean-”
“No, it’s okay.” Mariah said. She took a deep breath and looked Janet in the ey. “Have you ever heard of PPD?”
“PPD? Yeah, why?” Janet asked.
“I have that.”
Janet’s eyes widened. “Oh wow Mariah, I didn’t know. I mean you look so good with the babies-”
“Yeah well I have to try.” Mariah snapped.
Michael’s face deflated.
Mariah stood up, clearly noticing Michael’s mood change. “I have to use the bathroom.”
Janet watched her leave, then turned to Michael. “Well that was awkward.”
“Yeah, it's been like that since we've been home.” He shrugged.
Janet’s eyes widened in startle. “Really? I had no idea, you guys seemed so comfortable at the housewarming party.”
Michael shook his head, signaling that time as an anomaly.
“How are you dealing with it?” Janet asked.
“Better now, but before it was a lot harder because I didn’t know and wasn’t sure and stuff. And so I did things, things that I’m not proud of.”
“What kind of things?” Janet asked.
“Not good things.”
“Oh god Michael, did you hit her?” Janet whispered.
“No, Janet! I didn’t hit her. I just- I-”
“You what, Michael? What did you do?” Janet pressed.
“Like, I wanted to give her a taste of her own medicine. So I told her to sing for me.”
Janet involuntarily chuckled. She didn’t mean to laugh but it was kind of funny.
“Naked.” He continued, innocently.
Janet jerked back, her chuckle turned into a concerned frown.
“And threw cold water on her.”
Oh hell no.
“Michael what the hell? Why would you even- Who would even-”
Michael interjected. “But that’s not the only thing.” Michael explained. “I froze her out. I made her spend time with the girls even though she clearly didn’t want to. I was just so angry Janet, I-”
“Michael, you made a depressed mother interact with her children? Don’t you know she could’ve seriously hurt them?” Janet questioned.
Michael seemed confused by Janet’s concern.
Janet continued. “I mean she could’ve been damaged psychologically too but she could’ve taken it out on the babies is what I’m saying. You don’t play with shit like that.”
Michael sighed. “I didn’t know what to do. And I didn’t know that she had the depression until after the fact.”
Janet frowned. “Well now that you know, did you apologize?”
He mimicked his sister’s expression. “I don't know how. What do I even-”
“Figure it out, Mike.”
March 14th, 1998
Michael laid in bed reading his book when Mariah walked out of the bathroom in her black robe. He glanced up at her.
Black.
The last time he had seen her in that black robe was when-
It dawned on him.
Fuck.
He went back to his book, noticing Mariah getting ready out of the corner of his eyes.
She slipped off her robe, revealing her large bust and shrinking child-bearing hips.
Damn.
Distracted, he stopped reading his book, opting to put it in the drawer instead. For a moment he just watched her.
He soon stood up off the bed and walked directly in front of Mariah.
She stared up at him, still half-naked.
He took her hand and guided her down to the bed. He could tell she was confused.
He then crossed his arms, taking either side of his shirt, and pulled it off. Feeling embarrassed, he covered his eyes for a moment. He took a deep breath and slowly began pulling his black jeans off--he wore nothing under them.
Mariah’s eyebrow shot up in confusion.
Feeling exposed and vulnerable, he opened his mouth to speak. But didn’t say anything.
Instead, he forced a smile and belted:
“When I had you to myself, I didn’t want you around
Those pretty faces always made ya, stand out in a crowd.
But someone picked ya from the bunch, one glance was all it took
But now it’s much too late for me to take a second look-”
Michael instinctively moved to cover a large brown spot on his stomach as he continued to perform I Want You Back for her.
“Oh dahlin’ I was blind to let ya go.
But now since I see you in his arms:
I want you back!”
March 14th, 1998
Mariah just looked up at him, still very confused by what he was doing. Michael noticed and quickly moved to hand her a bottle of water off the nightstand.
Oh my god. Mariah thought. You don’t have to do this.
He reassumed his original position.
“You and I must make a pact
We must bring salvation back-”
A tear slid down his cheek.
“Where there is love, I’ll be there.”
He sniffled.
“I reach out my hand to you
I have faith in all ya do
Just call my name
And I’ll be there.”
He took a deep breath.
“If you should ever find someone new-”
He was so embarrassed he was shaking.
“I hope that he’s better to you-”
Michael stopped for a moment, trying to hold back a wailing cry.
Mariah covered her face as the moment hit her hard.
“Just call my name-” He sang, holding the last note impossibly long.
“Mariah.” He said through grating sobs.
“I'll be there”
I can’t see him like this.
He opened his mouth to sing again but she stood up and put one finger in front of his lips.
He tried to sing through her but she wouldn’t let him.
He cried out through harsh tears. “I can do it Mariah. Let me do it!”
Mariah simply shook her head, broken to pieces.