《I know this took literally two months to be published but I've been every where between, airports and Key West and college and sleeping. I'm really sorry but I love you guys and I'm gonna do better with consistent posting. It's my new years resolution ♡♡》
~~Starbucks Coffee, Los Angeles, CA
"These peppermint machiattos get more sugary every year.." Dee says smacking her lips from the foam and sugar in her coffee and Shan looked outside to the rain. "It's so weird that it's the eve of Christmas eve and it's raining. In Wisconsin, we're lucky not to be under eight foot of snow." Shan says drawing a smiley face in the fog of the window.
Faith pulled her jacket closer and she says, "It's still cold for L.A. but this is nothing compared to winter back home in Cincinnati."
Dee stared into space and she says numbly, "You guys ever miss home?"
The two shrug their shoulders unsure how to answer and Shan says, "I miss my sisters sometimes. Not really my parents though. I miss the feeling of home."
Faith nodded and she says, "I would've flown to Cincinnati this Christmas but the weather is just too crazy right now. This snow storm is killing all the fun from Christmas back home." Dee sighed and she rested her elbow on the table top, in deep thought. Michael didn't celebrate Christmas especially after death. Last year, the girls felt too pressured to not mention the holiday so they didn't.
They flew to their hometowns to avoid offending Michael's beliefs. This year they all knew it has to be different. Shan scrolled through her Instagram and she sees a throwback video from Michael's past. That year when Elizabeth Taylor visited Neverland and gave Michael a reason for happiness that Christmas. She smiles and she sat her phone to where they all could see. She smiled ear to ear and she says, "When's the last time Mike and Liz talked ya think?"
"I have no idea.." Faith said smiling, getting the hint and Dee begins to giggle, "Only one way to find out."
~~~ Back at Neverland, later that day. Faith knocked on Michael's door and she calls out wanting to know if he was around. The girls all stood listening and they watched as the door creeps open slightly. That usually meant Michael was allowing them inside and they step into his icy filled room. Their teeth chattered knowing he was around and they watched as he appeared sitting indian style in his grand canopy bed with his phone in hand. Dee and Shan held their arms shivering but Faith begin to snarl as her teeth chattered freezing from the outside cold seeping in with his ghostly presence.
"Michael, I'd love t-t-to join you on the other s-s-side but not from-m hypothermia-a!!"
He smiles laughing as he pulls his earbuds cutely from his ears listening to music and he goes to the fire. "Wow, you living folk are a bunch of pansies." He snapped his fingers and from the logs sprouted an orange flame and the girls huddle next to it for warmth and Faith crouched by the rug. Michael sat in his arm chair still laughing at their shivering and chattering and he wonders, "What are you guys up to?"
The orange fire light illuminated his face beautifully as always and there they melted for other reasons besides sweet warmth and Shan swooned, "Just wanted to ask you something.."
Dee nudged her as her fangirl began to show and Faith wondered, holding her knees, sitting ball position infront of the fireplace and she mentions, "Of course you can say no, but we wanted to ask you about Elizabeth Taylor."
He smiled and he assured warmly, "You can ask me about anything. But why Elizabeth? She is not fairing well with her age right now, God bless her soul."
"How do you know?"
Dee asks from the back and Michael admitted, "I've visited her, time after time. When I finally discovered I could travel my spirit other places beside Neverland. Elizabeth, she's in the care of home nurses, and if she wasn't such a fighter, that poor lady would be on her death bed."
They all gasp quietly and their entire plan flew out the window. They feel defeated until Michael began squinting his eyes wondering of their intentions. "What are you girls planning?" He chuckles.
Faith sighs and she cringes to explain. It took a second to gather words, "We were going to see if Ms. Taylor could come and see you for Christmas."
He stopped and he only looked around to see if he could find a response. He sighed then said,
"Girls. I don't think that Liz is not doing her best right now."
The girls all looked to each other and they knew it would be a bad idea to bring Elizabeth if she felt so weak in her age. But something hid behind in the corner of their minds that couldn't stop their curiosity of meeting that amazing woman.
~~ That Next Day
"Okay. Are you sure this is the place?"
Dee asks as she throws the car in park as they exited infront of an address they found on Facebook. Shan checked the mailbox and she checked the directions again and she says, "It has to be."
Faith sighed getting out of the passenger side and she fixed her glasses,
"This will suck if we're wrong."
They entered the door to the ivory and champagne toned mansion on West Sunset and they rang the booming doorbell.
Even the walkway leading up to the door seemed to be polished marble and they heard footsteps. The girls all fixed their navy blue work blazers and a woman came to the door. She seemed confused as to why they were suddenly there but she smiled,
"How can I help you?"
The girls all forgot their lines and it took a second.
"Well, we're from a ways up the road and we were ugh-"
"We were wondering..."
They all cut the innocent act and Faith finally asked,
"Is Mrs. Taylor home? Is this a good time?"
The woman sighed and she fixed the hair that fallen in her face back behind her ear and she says warning,
"I can't let any kind of press inside. She's very tired."
"We're not from any kind of press." Dee said quickly and Shan helped her,
"We were sent by an old friend."
She looked over her shoulder still not sure then girls revealed the Neverland broaches hanging on their pockets.
Her eyes widened not seeing that sigil in years and she says,
"I'll see if she's awake."
The girls stepped inside and the woman turned closing the door,
"I'm Naomi by the way" she shook their hands gently, "I'm her grand daughter. Can I bring you anything while I'm upstairs?"
The girls assured her this was strictly a professional visit and Naomi goes upstairs.
The girls were left alone there in the lonely foyer and the gasped to how Mrs. Taylor was still showing Michael how it's done in terms of luxury.
The ceilings were embellished like the ones in chapels and the windows stood twelve foot high. They were lost in the grandeur until they heard a voice from the upstairs.
There, Mrs. Taylor came from around the corner and she was wrapped in a silk shawl. She held the railing and she put a pair of glasses that glared in the sun from the windows.
She had curlers in her hair but Naomi chased behind her as she started down the stairs.
"Nana! Wait, let me help you!"
Elizabeth was too stunned to listen and she gripped the railing as she moved closer, staring at those golden Neverland broaches.
She got to the bottom and Naomi stared down amazed that she was able to climb down on her own. The girls moved closer to help her down and Elizabeth took their hands. After balancing herself, she took her fingers and wisped them across the hanging emblem on their pockets and she smiled seeing it for the first time in years.
"I'll be damned."
She looked to them and they still held onto her and she greeted,
"It's very nice to make your acquaintance. You can call me, Liz."
They all three smiled shaking her hand but the pleasure was there's.
They sat in the sunroom and Elizabeth assured them that she was in critical condition with osteoporosis and her episodes of dementia but she's been waiting for years to visit Neverland again.
Naomi begged to come with her but Ms. Taylor refused to be on a leash. The girls promised to take the most serious precautions regarding her health while being at Neverland and swore her grandmother would be in good hands.
~~Christmas Day, 12:05 p.m.
"What has gotten you three so on edge?" Michael asked from the top of the stairs and the girls couldn't say. It was a surprise. They all dusted off their skirts and blazers, making Michael remark,
"You guys only wear those when guests or someone very important is coming by."
He narrowed his eyes and he shot his spirit down the stairs and by their sides in a blur.
"What have you planned?"
They hear a car pull into the roundabout outside and they exit not saying a word, but deviously grinning.
Naomi stepped out from the drivers side and she helped her grandmother exit the car. The girls bid them good morning and told Mrs. Taylor she looked lovely.
She was painted in all her beauty with lipstick and blush and said putting her oxygen across her nose.
She laughed and said,
"Is Michael awake?"
They all stopped and Naomi knew it was the dementia. She felt brokenhearted and she began to say,
"Nana...you know that-"
"He's never awake on Christmas morning of course."
The girls all spat before Naomi could finish.
"But-", Dee giggled, "You're more than welcome to come with us to wake him. "
She smiled wide in her daze and she took Shania's arm as they started inside.
"Oh well what wonderful staff he has. He should pay you double!"
'Why have you done this?' Michael said in their minds from inside the house, 'You're lying to her. Tell her I died. She's old and ill!'
The girls looked to each other but they wanted to go along with their plan. Elizabeth missed Michael just as much as they did. And it was only fair to share their secret with those who loved him.
'This isn't a good idea. What if I scare her?'
Faith and Dee opened both the front doors for them to step inside and they couldn't believe their eyes.
Michael had made the house just like that day in 1993. Tinsel was wrapped around the bannisters, stockings were hung across the fireplace and a 12 ft. Christmas tree stood tall in the corner of the front parlor. The holly and mistletoe was lined everywhere and golden and silver bells were scattered on the mantles and shelves.
Elizabeth smiled and she said,
"Oh it's so darling. How merry and warm it looks in here!"
The girls all felt the same as they knew it was Michael's doing to impress Elizabeth and they sighed,
"Yeah. It's really something."
"Take me upstairs." She commanded and the girls followed but urged her to stay and rest. Elizabeth looked up to the grand stair case and she says,
"I forgot about all these steps."
"Why don't you sit down here, Madame and I'll go upstairs and see if I can rouse him, in the mean time we'll put on some tea to drink. It's a bit chilly outside." Faith says
"I adore Earl Gray, dear." She says as Shan leads her into the dining room, Dee opened the swinging doors and Faith rushed upstairs. She couldn't even knock on Michael's door before he surged it open and began his pleads being emotional,
"This was a mistake! A very big mistake, Faith!"
Faith sighed and she stepped inside his room. She tried her best to explain, "Michael you don't understand!-"
"Faith! What if she sees me?? I can't scare her, Faith! I just couldn't-" Michael says rambling obviously hysterical and he sinks into the wall trying to hide like a turtle.
"Michael!" Faith whined, "Michael, Elizabeth has dementia."
Michael heard that and he hung his head from the wall slowly. His eyes became sad in his ghostly presence and Faith went on,
"She thinks you're still alive. She thinks it's 1993 all over again. She wants to see you."
Michael stepped out from being hidden in the wall and he said lowly,
"Then, I have no choice."
Faith blinked her eyes and Michael changed his appearance. He changed into those red monogrammed pajamas and he tied his hair back.
"I need to re-charge." He said, "I'll need all I can get. I always try to impress Liz when she's company at Neverland."
"I'm sure she'll love every second." Faith promises and they started downstairs.
~~
Michael was full formed and he stepped through the dining room doors and the girls were pouring Elizabeth her Earl Gray tea as she went on, obviously telling her life story,
"Now my third husband, dear, was a man who worked underboard for the McCarthy administration in the sixties. He was quite a charmer but I suppose that's what made him qualified."
She sipped her tea and Michael rolled his eyes chuckling,
"He isn't alive today." She said and she turns to smile wide.
"There you are!" She perked up with bright eyes and that iconic Elizabeth grin,
"There he is! Michael Jackson, I knew you'd be in!"
Faith goes to join the girls as they made a way into the kitchen giving them a moment. Michael goes hugging Elizabeth's neck finally, while trying not to tear up and he made their normal small talk.
"I brought your children some candy, Michael. They'll need it! It'll make them sweet, where are they?"
Elizabeth went on scrounging through her hand bag and Michael played along,
"Oh, they're with their mother today. I won't see them till later tonight. "
He hated lying but now it was necessary.
"Oh well, do tell them to that I stopped by. Here, I brought them lollipops!"
Michael takes them but it falls through his palm. His energy was so low and he was becoming translucent and cloudy. He chuckled pretending it slipped through his fingers and the girls came through with another tea pot on a cart.
Michael kneeled down retrieving the fallen candy and Shania pretended to help him.
"I've got the toaster being brought in from the kitchen. We'll make Elizabeth those English muffins. And you some energy." She whispered.
Michael thanked God and he saw Faith bringing in the toaster with the cable hanging and she connects it to the wall beside the counter. Michael stands aside as she pushes down on the lever and Michael regained energy. He hid his hand over the eyes as they distracted Elizabeth with more tea and he felt recharged.
"Be careful, Michael!"
She suddenly choked patting her lips, looking over,
"You'll burn yourself!"
He removed his hand quickly and laughed from his surge of new energy. It made his head swim at first but he played along more,
"Sorry, my hands were cold."
She laughed and said,
"You're the silliest man. You're always cold, you have no iron in your blood."
"I know, I know." He laughs sitting back down.
~
The rest of the day, they went on like nothing in the entire world had changed. They walked the house and caught up with every detail they could. They talked about marriages and Hollywood but Michael always listened as if he could still be apart of it all. The girls couldn't see, but Elizabeth Taylor was the only reason he couldn't have been depressed remembering he wasn't alive. As if he had forgotten. At the end of that day, after they opened presents by the fire and sang Christmas carols over hot cocoa, until Naomi called saying she was in the drive way.
The girls felt heavy in telling Elizabeth her ride had arrived but Elizabeth told them thank you.
"Well, mister Jackson. You need to call me over more often. Why don't you ever call me?"
Michael helped her from her seat after telling the girls not to worry and he says,
"Well a starlet like you is always busy, Liz. I try to let you breathe."
"Oh but I miss you terribly!"
They heard the car horn from outside and the girls checked through the curtain.
Elizabeth felt tears well up into her eyes and she said more, still looking up at him.
"The world misses you terribly."
The tension and urgency of the room began to shift and Elizabeth brought her hand to Michael's cheek.
She sniffed and very softly said,
"I'm not that much of an old coot just yet, Michael. I know this isn't you."
She saw through their jolly mirage and she knew just what was going on.
Michael felt that he had to lie no longer and it felt like a weight being lifted from his shoulders. The girls felt the room grow that icy cold and it was like Michael let go of one ginormous weary breath as he melded back to his ghostly form in his white chemise and messy hair. His face was more aged and his eyes more serious. Elizabeth smiled, unphased and she petted his locks saying,
"I saw you that day. I saw you and I knew nothing would ever be the same. Nothing would ever be quite alright. Ever again."
He placed his hand over hers and his eyes were so sullen. He was defeated in sadness but she still smiled
"I still love you."
Michael sighed and he said,
"I still love you."
She patted his cheek playfully and she let only one tear fall. The girls watched in awe, admiring her strength but she bidded him goodbye.
"You had better call me."
Michael kissed her hand gently like a gentleman and he purred, fighting his sadness with a smile,
"Yes, Madame."
She turned to the doors as Faith and Shania opened them from either side, letting Naomi come inside. Dee held Elizabeth's arm as she was led careful down the outside steps and she turned to Dee.
She smiled in that sweet, wissful way that strong older women do and she said,
"Take care of him. I'll be back."
Naomi opened the car for her grandmother and Elizabeth put on her iconic sunglasses and left the ranch for the very last time that day.
Dee came back inside and Michael sat in the arm chair beside the fire. The Christmas decorations still hung from every banister and lined every wall. The girls looked around feeling that awkward tension building again and Shania says,
"Michael. You can take those away now. Elizabeth is gone."
He tossed the rest of his cocoa into the potted plant beside him and he says,
"I'll leave them be."
The girls took off their blazers and sat by the fire and Michael only stared into the flames.
He collected every thought and every detail he had wished to have shared with Elizabeth on Christmas like the one in 1993.
He wanted to stay quiet but the thought of how happy that day was made him smile.
He snickered and he said happily,
"Merry Christmas, girls."
The girls all smiled softly as he was finally coming around and replied ,
"Merry Christmas, Michael"
He sat his cup aside and he points over to the 12 foot tree in the corner and he says bouncing his leg.
"Well open your presents. What are you waiting for?"
The girls looked to each other and they shrugged. They began to cringe having to explain,
"We didn't get each other presents, Mike." Dee said.
"We honestly wanted to make sure we made you happy today." Faith added.
"Guess we kinda forgot about ourselves. But we're adults. Wrapped gifts are for kids.", said Shan.
"Nonsense." Michael said and he pointed to the tree again.
There, unlike two seconds before, sat three wrapped gifts with golden bows ontop. The girls go over unsure until Michael urged them to unwrap them.
They knelt beside the tree still in their button ups and pencil skirts and one by one they unwrapped a wooden box with a pretty, polished lid to open.
They looked to Michael confused and he watched them continue. They lifted the small polished lids and from the box, flittered up Michael's small luminescent butterfly and it flapped it's beautiful ghostly wings. Soft, chiming music came from the keys inside and it played their song.
"I am your joy....your best of joy.."
They felt their hearts sink and they watched as Michael's magic played little memories across the thumb sized mirror inside.
Memories of Michael's birthday, the symphony night and Neverland . The girls were in awe and Michael smiled widely seeing them happy.
"We love it." Faith said as the others watched speechless.
They closed the lids to those beautiful music boxes and they all remembered the present they had originally gotten for Michael, was packed inside the coat closet under the stairs.
Dee stands up and she goes over and brings a small gift bag. She places it infront of Michaels legs and he was caught off guard from staring into the fireplace. He looks down and says,
"What's this?"
The girls turn to face him and they giggled.
"It's your present, duh."
Dee steps back and she goes to sit down, giggling as well.
Michael sighed, smiling he goes down and pulls out the tissue paper.
The girls erupt in laughter seeing his face as he pulls out a water pistol.
It was engraved on the side with Michael's initials and he smiled proudly taking it from the bag.
He laughed and pointed it around to every corner like the sharp shooter he was. He horse laughed covering his mouth and the girls surrounded him in a hug.
It was the best Christmas since 1993.