《Yeah, this is super late, I'm sorry guys but I love you. Hope you enjoy this, DM me ideas for chapters if you have them. Hope you had a very spooky, Thriller Halloween ♡♡ 》
"God, why does apple cider taste like a cold apple turnover?" Faith asks puckering her lips to the bitter taste. Shania comes in with an arm full of snacks and she plops them onto the parlor table and sighs,
"I hate buying in bulk, but it's Halloween!"
Faith fixed her kitty ears and she rushes upstairs, "Deeeee! Come on! We're gonna start letting people in soon!" Shania followed Faith as they searched for Dee and they bursted into her room. The Halloween party at the inn was gonna start any minute.
Dee sat infront of her vanity mirror shaping her lips with a pencil. Faith's eyes bugged out of her skull seeing fishnet tights and a black choker necklace.
"What the hell are you?!"
Shania stepped in behind Faith and did the same, "90's grunge much?!"
Dee sighed and said, "Amazon said it was 'Edgy Vampire'."
Faith choked saying in a stutter, "I think spell check wouldn't let them put 'Edgy Prostitute.' Change!"
Dee smiled then asked to Shania's grey leaotard and bowtie,
"What are you supposed to be?"
Shania shut the door behind Faith and she quoted Mean Girls excited,
"I'm a mouse! DUH!"
They shut her door beginning to shuffle downstairs and Shan begins spattering. She spit from her lips as she got hung in some of the faux cobwebs they had draped around the hallway and Faith stops,
"Wait!"
She turns to Shan and asks, "Where's Mike?!"
Shan frees herself, wriggling to get out of the web and says,
"Haven't seen him much today.."
They both begin towards his room and they smiled seeing ominous Halloween fog escaping from under his door. Faith knocks quietly and the door opens slightly and eerie. They both creep inside but were not fased by his effects. Everyday was a spook fest living with Michael.
The room was dark and quiet but a strange green glow eminated from under the bed. The bed shifts to the side revealing a foggy coffin like space in the floor they both stood straight faced and Michael rose like a zombie from Thriller. He roared like the undead and Faith stopped him, "Cut the crap, Mike. We need to get started."
He gawked to her, looking all around his creepy, Halloween show and said, "I just learned how to do that, was that not the coolest thing?!"
Shania poked her head around and she adds in shyly, "It was pretty cool."
"Thank you.." Mike says until Faith pops,
"Are you ready, Mike? I'm bout to go unlock the door??"
Mike pursed his lips and he wonders going back through his closet.
"Should I be a vampire or maybe The Phantom of the Opera?"
"Dee's already being a vampire..." Shan speaks up and Michael turns his head with raised eyebrows cheekily,
"Yeah, I saw that...heheheh."
Faith checked her watch and she says, "Whatever you're doing, Mike, you should hurry. Guests are gonna be here any minute."
"Alright." Michael says and he puts on his Phantom mask, "Gonna use the toaster so I can hang around you guys a little longer tonight. I'll be ready."
Faith shut his door and Shania followed her down the hallway further and she asks curious as Faith bit her nails, "Are you okay, Faith? You seem a little on edge?"
She sighs and says,
"I just don't know who all is gonna be here, you know I'm always nervous when it comes to Michael and the press. I'm just having bad juju about something."
The clacks of high heels sound down the stairs and Dee treads down in an orange witch outfit with the flimsy hat on crooked.
She checked her lip and says,
"I guess a fourth grade witch wouldn't hurt.."
"Much better.." Faith smiles and Dee dusted off her outfit asking, "Where's Michael?"
"Still getting ready..." Shan answered and Faith rolled her eyes chuckling, "And he jokes about us taking so long!"
They all turn to open the foyer doors and the lights shut off.
"The hell?" Faith asks in the sudden silence and the green ghostly glow illuminated the stairs.
"Michael." They all guessed unwavered and he continued.
The Phantom of the Opera theme boomed through the Inn speakers and they covered their ears suddenly. Michael swung his cape and he glided majestic down the stairwell.
"What an entrance!!" Shan cringed with hands still over her ears and the girls laughed. He got to the bottom step and he held the flowy black cape over his face. The music subsided and he asked with a deep heavy accent, "Why...so...silent?"
The girls all clapped and he bowed to his performance and they smiled,
"You look good as the Phantom, Mike."
He wore his hair tied back and his boyish curls escaped from the sides. He pulled the half mask further onto his forehead. His cape swung around his frame almost like magic and he says,
"I could roll with this."
"You finally ready?!" Faith asks smiling and he nods to her snickering,
"Yes. Let them in, my loves."
Dee goes and fixes the candy bowl held by their knight in armor mannequin and she held a thumbs up.
Faith hears the commotion from the front step and she swings open the door.
"Welcome to Neverland!" They all cheered and the crowd exploded in joy.
They all surged in the foyer and snapped pictures of the Halloween decor they had scattered across the mansion. The witches cauldron in the center of the floor poured with dry ice and the bannisters hung creepily with cobwebs and streamers.
Thr party continued on with guests bobbing for apples and playing spiders pong with apple cider and plastic spiders.
Shania takes a photo with a group of party guests infront of the mural in the hallway upstairs and she feels Michael's chill. She thanks them for the picture and she follows Michael's prescence, he goes into the game room and she sees the eyes to the toaster light up with their red glow and she shurgs it off knowing he's recharging but the lights shutter. They flickered and the party guests cheered thinking it was part of the show. It wasn't.
Shania looks over the crowd from the upstairs bannister. The girls are already rushing to the stairs and Shania hears an electric surge. The lights shut off completely and the crowd roared. Faith pulls out her phone and leads Dee up the stairs.
"What's going on?" Dee asks with her hat falling in her face and Shan worries,
"Michael...he used the toaster!"
Faith holds her mouth and she bolts to the top step,
"Oh mike! Not again!"
They rush into the game room which was pitch black and Faith asks, "Michael? Michael answer me?!"
"You think he might be baby Mike again?" Shan asks and their flashlight apps scan the room.
"BOO!"
Michael jumps as Faith runs straight into him from a dark corner, she screamed and hit his arm scowling.
He laughed and began to clap but Shan shows his face with her light. This Michael was different, it was Thriller age Michael. He wore his red jacket and he had the deepest, lovely eyes. Faith exhaled relieved and she says,
"Thought something happened to you, punk!"
He smiled and said,
"What are you talking about. It's just me."
They all stood confused as Michael seemed oblivuous that he was under a malfunction from the toasters surge and Faith feels a pair of baby arms wrap around her legs.
"I missed you!!" A child's voice called and they all turned their light downwards. Baby mike stood cutely in his little suede flower vest and bell bottom pants. He shrugged to all their confused faces and he asked,
"Why y'all looking at me so funny?"
The girls all felt their jaws drop doing a double take to adolescent Michael then grown Thriller Michael until their thoughts are interrupted by the knock of a toy nerf gun.
"Hey!" Baby Mike said rubbing his shoulder as the plastic dart dribbled across the floor. The girls spun around and there stood Bad Era evily grinning taking the gun away from his aiming eye.
"Oh come on.." he laughed, "That couldn't have hurt. Such a wussy."
"Bad Era...." they all whispered and he shrugs his leather jacket a little tighter and the lights came back on. The crowd made an 'awe' noise altogether and they rushed to see what had their attention. There like a miracle, Michael from the 'Panther Dance' began to dance in the middle of their huddle as the music cut back on.
The girls couldn't believe what had happened. Instead of one single glitch, Michael had turned into several other eras of his life and they all ran free. Free like a herd of gremlins to cause havoc against the party.
Dee held back her hair and sighs, "What do we do?!"
Bad Era Michael runs through them making a path a jumps from the bannister and swings child like from the chandelier. He called out in joy and now Thriller Mike already had two party girls on each arm from being the flirt that he was.
"Wait!" Faith tried to stop him as they glided down the stairs but he heard nothing.
"We need to put them all back together somehow!" Shania said frantic and the girls all stood in shock. The room seemed to spin but Baby Mike tugged on Dee's dress.
She sighed and knelt down to listen,
"I'll help you find them, I might be little but I can look."
Dee smiled to his tiny sincere gesture and she tells him, "Our only problem is, how we gonna find all the pieces to you, annnd run a Halloween party."
He shrugged and said adorably,
"We'll multitask."
The girls all smiled together and they saw someone approaching them from across the stairs. Janet smiled in vampire fangs and she smiled, "I think that impersonator down there's pretty good. Where'd you find him?"
They didn't know whether or not to tell Janet the trouble they found themselves in, so they made a path around the truth slyly.
"Closer than you'd think, hehe" They told her.
~~
"Okay.." they all devised inside a huddle and Faith went on,
"As we run around trying to get all of these Michael's back together, what are we gonna do about this party.."
"I wanna listen.." Baby Mike groaned getting through their legs and he stood cutely in center.
Shania looks over to Panther Dance as he still entertained everyone with his footwork on the dance floor that was the foyer and Shania mentions, "If we can get Dangerous Era to keep his act up, it should buy us some time."
Dee worries and she squints, "How's the toaster gonna get fixed while were running around?"
"I can do that." Faith answers, "Did it once, I'm pretty sure I can manage again."
"Uh-oh.." Baby Mike mutters and he points over behind them. Bad Era wore a motorcycle helmet and lugged a box spring mattress over to the top step. He lays it down flat and Shania gawks, "IS THAT MY BED?"
"He's going surfing!!!" Dee and Faith jerk and they begin bolting over to stop him,
"BAD ERA!!!" They called out but it was too late. He jumps ontop of the mattress like a boogie board and down he surfed with arms out like a beach bum. They stood watching the havoc and the mattress knocks down every vase from the side boards as it crashed. Michael gets up from the wreckage and laughs hysterical inside his helmet. They held their heads becoming exhausted already and Shania caves,
"I'll get him, you guys get the others together!" She hurries down the many steps and Faith runs grabbing the toaster to fix.
This wasn't going to be easy.
~~
Shania loses the backside of Bad Era as he disappeared from her view as the crowd moves infront and behind him. She moves through their groups awkwardly,
"Sorry...excuse me.." she pokes her head up trying to catch up and she sees his figure by the punch bowl.
She comes over now panting like a dog and she scowls,
"Don't you move!"
He turns screwing the cap back onto a small flask and she blinks in disbelief.
He stirred the plastic cauldron, mixing his new alcohol kick and she spits,
"Did you just spike our punch!!!???"
He tosses the flask aside into nothing and he rolls his eyes, "Oh come on, it's like two percent. A pansy couldn't get drunk on two percent."
She tsks with hands on her hips, "Listen, this is weird to explain but-"
"Yeah, yeah." Bad Era groaned and he mocked, "You want me to get back in line with all the other Michael's so we can be one with your pal ghostly Mike. Well that's too bad."
Shania was confused and he started to walk away acting bored. She followed him with an annoyed tone and she asks,
"What? Why not?"
He smirks and he says, "Cause I like being free, that's why."
He tips over the candy bowl from the punch table and she shakes her head unamused.
"It's not about what you'd prefer, ghostly Mike is here to stay and you're a part of him so why does it even matter?"
He grimaces and tells her slyly,
"It doesn't. I just like being my own alter ego for once, capeshe?"
"Faith is gonna fix the toaster and you and all the other Eras are gonna be back where you belong. Point. Blank."
Shania growled and Bad Era smiled.
He laughed maniacally and he fishes in his pocket. She furrows her brow to what was so funny and he reveals the content of his pocket.
"What toaster?" He held the severed toaster cord in his palm with all its exposed wires and circuits and Shania could've screamed.
He had cut it cleanly from the other end when no one was looking and he says,
"She ain't fixing nothing tonight."
~
"Baaaaaby Mike!" Dee called out as she looked through the costumed party guests. She looked through their moving legs and saw him crawling under the snack table. She does a double take and she goes over lifting the Halloween table cloth and he sat in a ball.
She crouched down and asked softly,
"Baby Mike, what's wrong?"
He looked around with fearful little brown eyes and said, "This party is scary. There's guys in werewolf masks. I hate werewolfs!"
He shook as one of them stomped by and she tried to hide her smile. He watched as they walked away and she held out her arms,
"Come on."
He rubbed his arms unsure but she promises,
"I'm not gonna let any werewolves get you, Michael."
She pulls him into her arms tightly and he sets him on her hip. He smiled shyly and he says catching something from the corner of his eye.
"Dangerous Era!" He says pointing and Dee shuffles her way over. She pulls Panther Dance to the side and she flicks up his fedora,
"How long can you keep this going?! We need time and lots of it!"
He rested only for a second and he tells her over the roar of the party,
"I could go all night. Take your time. I haven't even done the moonwalk yet."
She nodded but he told her carefully,
"You have to watch Bad Era! He's a trouble maker and he's going to do what he can to stop you guys from putting us back together."
Dee nodded again and she says, "Thank you."
Baby Mike smiled to his older self and Dangerous Era tassled his tiny afro.
They turned away and Dangerous Era slid back into his place in the center of the dance floor.
Dee carried little Michael away from the huddle and she wandered into a new part of the mansion muttering to him, "We gotta find Faith. If Dangerous Era is right, Bad Era has definitely got some plans ."
"Uh oh.." Little Michael said on her hip.
~~
Faith sat on the bottom step and she held the toaster in one hand and a screw driver in the other. She unscrewed the bottom panel to expose the copper eyes in center and she cursed, "Damn, these things have blew again!"
Footsteps thudded behind her and she cranes around seeing Thriller Era in the company of two party girls dressed as cats. Their eyeliner drawn whiskers smeared on their face as they fake laughed to his jokes and she grimaced.
She turned back around to fix the toaster and he notices her blueness. He tells the girls to go grab some punch just to lure them away and he sits on the step beside her.
She only glances over pretending to not pay him much mind and he mentions,
"I like your outfit."
She smacked her lips smartly and she spat, "Yeah I've noticed you chase a lot of kitty cat."
He laughs with a wide luminous smile and he says, "That's dirty."
"Only if you took it dirty.."
They both laugh and she sat down the screw she had been fumbling with and says,
"Would it be too much to ask if you just stayed right here and not drifted off to God knows where.."
Thriller Era smiled and he says, "Yeah yeah, you're wanting all the eras, so you can piece your era of Michael back together. I know..."
She smiled and she says soft,
"Thank you."
He really was a charmer and he jokes with her playfully being a casanova,
"So, ya got a boyfriend?"
"You can stop now..." she says but turns away to retrieve her tools back and to hide her now flushed face and he laughs,
"Cat got your tongue?"
She belly laughed to his cuteness and she smacked his shoulder to try and stop him while she could still hide her smile. She knew then that Michael had always been a day dream on two legs. She falls from her cloud feeling the cord hit her knee and she notices a pinch. A pinch from the exposed wire on the inside. The cord had been severed and she felt tears well into her eyes.
~
"So lemme get this straight.." Shania said as her lips tightened with her itritation towards Bad Eras stubborn attitude. All night they had followed each other back and forth, arguing and eye rolling.
"You don't wanna go back to the past with the other Eras because you don't feel relevant anymore? That's what this's about?"
He took a swig from the black solo cup and she jerked it away from his palm.
"You're a ghost, you schmuck!"
He wiped his lips with the back of his leather glove and took his cup back.
He turned it upside down over the above bannister and heard two feminine shrieks from down below, their makeup ran down their face now drenched in cider and he laughed,
"Happy Halloween!!!"
She sighed and says,
"Listen to me.."
He looks over with elbows propped against the rail and his eyes were the closest thing to assault. They were deep yet so hidden and she took a shallow breath to get her mind back on track.
"Bad Era is just as important to all the other Eras. Each era has it's own way of being better than the last but all of them are simply...Ugh-- simply....Michael."
He blinked still listening and she finished,
"Michael lived fifty years with each era of his life being phenomenal. It's impossible to think that one is better than the other. Michael, you are amazing."
He narrowed his lips thinking and he sighed knowing it was only right.
"Okay. Okay, my hands are tied. I won't cause anymore trouble."
Shania sighs in relief and she thanks him quietly. She held back her hair exhausted from chasing him around and he smirks passing her by,
"You're cute when you're irritated, Shannon."
She shakes her head in disbelief and she growls, "My name is Shania, idiot."
"Yeah whatever." He said starting down the stairs to find the other Eras, "Close enough."
Shania smiled but hid in her hair. She fixed her mouse ears and she said clearing her throat, "Adorable idiot."
~~
Dee bounces Baby Mike on her hip still and she looks over the crowd. She stands on her tippy toes being only 5'2'' and she cringes,
"Michael, help me find Faith."
He takes one glance and he points, "Over there. On the steps by the clock."
She does a double take and laughs, "How'd you do that?"
He bounced his eye brows and giggled,
"I ammm spoooky."
They both laughed and the shoved their way through the crowd.
"Thank god, Faith." Dee spoke finally seeing her with the toaster,
"Thought we'd never find you."
Thriller Era stood beside her winking but Dee disregards still blushing. Bad Era walked down the steps with Shania behind him and they all called role,
"Okay, we've got Baby Mike, Thriller Mike, Bad Era annnnnd we need dangerous.."
Dee sat down little Mike and she runs over grabbing Dangerous Era from his dance huddle and he stumbled away. They all met by the stair well and Faith checks that everyone is here.
"That's great but we've got one problem!"
She shows the torn off cord and everyone but Shania and Bad Era gasp.
Shan elbows him swiftly in the ribs and he goes into his breast pocket.
He gives her the severed cord and she spits,
"Thanks. But at this point, the way you just sawed this off, we'll have to buy another toaster all together. There's road blocks in town because of trick or treaters. We're gonna be here till tomorrow."
They all looked around sad but Baby Mike looked up. He shoves his way through them towering around him and he yanked the toaster from his hand.
"Hey!" Faith said in shock and he snatches the other cord too.
He ran upstairs fast like a rabbit and they all chased crying out for him to come back.
"See the kind of message you're giving little kids?" Shania joked to Bad Era and he chuckled,
"Thanks Shannon, much love."
She hit his arm again and they followed his foot race into the game room. They barged in the door and he stood with the toaster behind his back and he says,
"I can fix it. I know I can. I can do it if I close my eyes but I just wanna see."
They all stood confused but Dee asks him soft,
"Michael, what do you mean?"
The three older eras stood side by side and he goes up whispering. Thriller leaned down to listen and he smiled. He crouched to Baby Mike's level and he says,
"When you turn twenty four, you release an album, called Thriller. It's a song about creepy zombies and spooky creeps. And it sells multi-platinum allll over the world."
"What's that mean?" Little Michael asks innocently and Thriller Mike thought for a second,
"It means they had to re make your entire album just so they could have enough for everyone to buy."
Little Michael smiled and he goes to Bad Era. Bad Michael bent down and he says,
"After that, when you turn 28, you sell an album called Bad. Show me your bad face. Grrr..."
Little Michael laughed and Bad Era went on smiling,
"These songs talk about going fast and beating up the bad guys and stealing their girls and saving the day. You have lots of fun, little man."
Michael holds out his arm and they fist bump and side hug so tenderly and the girls watch in awe.
He finally comes over to Dangerous era and he says,
"What's your name?"
Dangerous Era knelt down and he says, "They call me Dangerous."
Little Michael notices the fedora on his head and he mentions, "Hey, I seen those all the time when I would go shopping. They are so cool."
Dangerous takes off the fedora and he places it on Michael's head. He giggled and the brim completely covered his eyes. He puts it back in place and he says, "Whatcha call it?"
Dangerous thought for a moment and he answered,
"That hat is your legacy, little man."
"More like yours, you mean."
Dangerous shook his head and he clarifies, "We are apart of each other."
They all gathered around and the girls held Baby Mike's shoulder. They crouched down around him like the others and Shania started to say,
"Michael, they couldn't have gotten anywhere without you."
"Everyone has to start somewhere.." Dee says and gestures to the three eras, "You are their start."
"You made them, little dude." Faith says petting his back. Michael shrugged and his eyes twitched with sadness. His little lips quivered and he says,
"Joseph told me I wouldn't be nothing. Not if I couldn't get my act together. It makes me sad all the time."
"Joseph isn't there forever.." Thriller Era adds in, "Infact, you hardly speak once you get my age.."
Little Michael hung his head and says,
"Yeah I guess."
Faith smiles and she points to each era as she explained,
"Look. Look with me."
Michael looks up with tears streaming and he sniffed listening,
"Thriller Era sold so many records, they sold out buddy. That means everyone in the world was listening to your songs. Bad Era, Bad Era makes movies and he shook hands with the president cause his work was so good."
She points to Dangerous and she smiled,
"Dangerous played a show at the super bowl and made his own charity to help little kids who don't have a home, they called him The Panther"
Dangerous Era did his music video panther growl like magic from his vocal chords and they all laughed.
It was silent until Faith stresses,
"There's nothing but love in your future, Michael..."
The eras all held his tiny hands and they say, "We promise."
Michael wiped his face and he muttered from sudden joy,
"I can fix it, just watch."
They all stood to watch him but Shania was tangled up again. This time, Bad Eras arms swung around her and she was shocked. She blinked in disbelief and he muttered,
"I'm gonna miss you."
She stuttered and he pulled away. He rubbed the back of his head as she finally spoke slowly,
"See ya soon" she giggled, "-badass"
He laughed with those iridescent eyes and he takes off his leather jacket and hands it over. "What?" She asks dumbfounded, "This is your leather jacket, no way."
He urged her and he smirked, "Now don't clack your jaws about it, take it. Jeesh."
Faith felt a jacket wrap around her as well and she saw red leather. The Thriller jacket hung on her shoulders and Thriller Michael smiled,
"You look good in red."
She blushed embarrassed and he joked to tease her, "Now your face matches the jacket."
She punched his arms as he belly laughed and Dee stood alone. She looks over to Dangerous Era who also stood alone and she nearly tackles him in an embrace. He laughed and hugged her back,
"You're my favorite.."
she babbled on like a fangirl and he takes it in stride listening.
They all glance over and Michael crouched alone in the floor. A glow began to rise around him and they all ease in to watch what he was doing.
He shut his eyes tight and he held the severed cord to the toaster and like a magic act, he lifted his spirit hands and the cord was attached like it had never been broken.
"Now why didn't we think of that?" Bad Era asks feeling like a dummy and Dee asks amazed,
"How'd you do that, Mike?"
Mike stood up from the floor and he bounced his eye brows again,
"I ammm spoooky..."
They all giggled and they looked around knowing it was time to mend things. Little Mike jumped un Dee's arms unexpectedly making her groan and she pulls him up. He placed the fedora on her head and he says,
"I love you."
She nearly choked up in trying to say it back and the girls passed him around like a teddy bear.
Bad Era glided over playing innocent and accidently switches on the toaster with his shoe.
"Whoooops.." he says like a girl and little mike jumped down running over. The girls stepped back as the Eras stood together, side-by-side.
As the eyes in the appliance grew their hot, inferno red.
The ominous ghostly glow began to envelop them into it's shine. It blurred their lines and hid their forms but through the intense glow, they saw little Mike waving. They waved back until they shielded their eyes to the transformation. The toaster clicked off and the room was dark.
The girls looked around and Faith mutters, "If he..jumps out...and scares me.."
"BOOO." Michael jumped and she stomped screaming. They all held their chests from that scare and Michael laughs back to normal,
"You should see your faces.."
They looked him up and down and Dee mentions,
"It's nice to have you back in one piece."
"Literally.." They joked and he pulled them into a hug.
"Thanks girls. I'm glad you guys are able to handle all of me at the same time, I can't even do that somedays."
They shrugged still in their group hug and Shan giggles, "We're good like that."
They pulled away, all on his arm and he says, "Now are y'all gonna listen to me next time when I saw we just dress up and stay home?"
They all groaned and Faith crossed her arms laughing, "Michael, Hugh Hefner and the Playboy Bunnies is not gonna happen we told you that."
"Okay..okay.." he said and they all started for the door. It was silent until he muttered agging it on,
"But why not?"
They all smacked his arm playful and Shan pulls Dee aside. She feels the sleeve of Bad Eras leather jacket and asks unsure, "Think I could borrow those fishnets for the rest of the party."
Dee smiled wide and she says flicking the rim of her fedora,
"Only if I can borrow your rhinestone glove."
"Deal.." They said and hurried to their rooms for the rest of their Michael themed party on Halloween night.
~~