Chapter 24: The Panic

{M}

“Jackson!” A deep, rough voice echoed through the whole place. It was kind of like a slur though. He looked at Autumn, who was the one facing the door and whose eyes were ready to fall out from her body. He was very confused, so he looked back. There he saw why everybody, even the employees, were out of breath.

   Josh. He was armed with two black pistols, and his eyes were red (from something, he couldn't tell, but he was sure it wasn't from crying). He walked like his legs were made of jello, and he had to lean onto the walls for support. He was drunk, no doubt.

   Nonetheless, everyone was terrified. Of course, they were. They had guns pointed at them. Michael looked out the window, and he saw the security guard lying face-down on the floor. No wonder no one was noticing or helping them. The other people who were passersby of this scene were the poor people who lived in the streets. They only looked at the inside of the franchise, but could not actually do anything.

   Josh was somehow able to walk decently towards them. There, he forcefully grabbed Autumn by the hair, who in return, instantaneously gave out a loud yelp of pain, Before Michael could even fight back, Josh pointed one of the pistols directly at him. The other one was still pointing at the clerks. Michael took a step back.

“Not so tough now, huh, Jackson?” Josh slurred-taunted. Michael could now smell the awfully strong scent of beer from his breath.

“Why are you even so mad at me? What do you want, Josh?” Michael countered, trying to muster up all his courage. He himself was petrified of this situation; how is he even going to help these poor people who he accidentally dragged into this mess?

   Josh laughed maniacally, and Michael could see Autumn was scared the hell out of this. He couldn't blame her. She's literally standing next to maniac who could wipe them all out in a minute. Who would even laugh at a time like this? Surely, he was insane. Literally. The employees huddled up together, and one even tried to sneak to the back room.

“I wouldn't do that if I were you,” he chuckled, loading the gun he was pointing at the counter. He then turned to Michael again. “And as for you, I want you dead. You're nothing, Michael Jackson. You think I should be grateful to you because you helped me recover? Bullshit! You didn't help me, nor my father. You ruined the both of us! Should I thank you for that?”

   Michael stared at the madman in bewilderment. What the hell is he rambling about? Yeah, he helped Josh and his father, but he didn't do anything wrong. Why was Josh even blaming him for his life now? Michael had nothing to do with it.

“Josh, you're drunk. You don't know what you're saying. You're probably just confused.”

“Don't know what I'm saying? My ass. You know how my dad died? Those- those outside hooligans ganged up on him, thinking he was friends with you and was also as rich as you, you superstar freak! They shot him dead, and that's what I'm going to do with you.”

   And at that, Josh broke out in tears, his eyes now redder than before. He loaded the gun pointing to Michael, who was angered, sympathetic, and mostly speechless. It wasn't his fault, right? He only tried to help.

   Josh now had his finger on the trigger, ready to pull it any moment. Michael counted and treasured his last milliseconds, for he knew nothing could save him anymore. Who knew he would end up like this? He just hoped he would let Autumn live peacefully after all this.

   Suddenly, two bulk pairs of arms grabbed Josh's, who almost immediately dropped the pistols at the sudden impact on his body. Autumn, who was completely frazzled about everything, and Michael looked up and saw the familiar faces of his bodyguards. He sighed in relief.

“Wow, I never thought I'd be this happy to see you,” he huffed, trying to catch his breath.

“See how much trouble you've already gotten into? It's only been 3 hours!”

“How was I supposed to know I was going to get attacked?”

“This is why you shouldn't sneak out on us.”

   The employees were now also able to breathe easily again. Michael walked towards them and apologized repetitively for the horrid incident and offered to pay for the damage and their safety. They said there was actually no need, since no one was hurt in any way, but he insisted.

   He also rushed back to Autumn, making sure she's okay. She is pretty messed up, but he was more worried of her emotional state than her physical state. She was probably traumatized after this. Well, even he is.

   Michael then walked solemnly towards Josh, whose arms were held by the bodyguards and head was down. He still reeked of beer, and something else.

“I really hope we can still settle things in a peaceful way,” Michael said through his gritted teeth. His fists were clenched so tight his knuckles turned pale-white. He was filled with rage for what he did to Autumn and to the poor, innocent employees.

   Josh looked up wearily and stared at Michael right in the eyes. His were of light blood-red and dark brown, while Michael's were of clean white and light brown. Suddenly, he broke out into a devilish smile.

“I sure do, too,” he giggled maniacally again, but this time, his right arm slipped from the bodyguard's, Bill's, arm. Bill was confused, and everything happened too fast to process the happenings. One moment Josh was a tiresome man, the next he was a wild animal.

   The other bodyguard clung tightly on Josh's left arm. Though it was very hard to restrain him, since he kept moving and wiggling.

   Quick as a flash, Josh grabbed a pocket knife, which was hidden inside his pants' pockets and ran onto Michael. Michael couldn't process anything at the moment; he was still too shocked. Why is everything happening so suddenly?

   Soon, Michael felt a horrendous, stinging pain just above his stomach. He fell on his knees, and his hands clutched his stomach. When he looked at his hands, blood filled them. It doesn't take a genius to know the newly cut wound is oozing way too much blood. His once cleaned blue button-up shirt is now filled with huge and fresh bloodstains.

   He groaned in pain as he tried to support his body from falling flat on the ground. Blood was now also oozing from his mouth. Tiny black spots filled his vision. He blinked and blinked to make them disappear, but couldn't. In fact, the spots just grew bigger and filled his vision.

   He looked up and saw the shocked, astonished faces. Even Josh looked surprised of what he had just done. “I- I didn't.. I didn't mean to- No, this wasn't supposed to happen,” Josh stammered, but frankly, it was too late.

   The spots finally caught up with his vision and covered everything in black, until he could see no more. The last thing he heard was Autumn screaming “Call 911!” and the rushed footsteps of the people inside the franchised fast-food, before slipping into unconsciousness.

-

{A}

   Autumn paced around the room for several minutes now. The beeping sounds of the heart monitor were not actually helping her to calm down. What if Michael never wakes up? Just when they were starting to get along and have a great time.

   A knock on the door cleared out her mind of negative thoughts. It was Bill, the long-time trusted bodyguard of Michael. On his shoulders were 2 humongous plastic bags (which looked more like huge garbage bags due to the size). He dropped them on the floor, and before walking out the room, he muttered a “Fan letters. God, help me.”

   The incident from McDonald's was kept a secret. At least for a short while. The first few hours after the incident, Michael was rushed to the hospital through ambulance, and Autumn pleaded to the witnesses of it to not mention of it to anybody, which they all agreed to.

   Then almost 12 hours later, a video of the incident dropped and played on televisions all over the world. It turns out a paparazzi reporter was trailing them since they left the hotel and caught everything in HQ pictures and videos. Wonderful, right? No; not at all.

   It has been almost 2 days since Michael's been in a coma. The doctors have already operated on him and sewn his deep wound, which was near his gut, but he had a major blood loss, making it uneasy for him to regain strength and consciousness.

“You can't die yet, you still have a second show to do,” she said jokingly as she tried to cheer herself up. She wiped the tears brimming in her eyes and sat down on a small chair just beside the hospital bed.

   She stared at his body, now clothed with a plain white hospital gown. It was probably just her mind playing tricks on her, but every time she looked at him, she could see the deep wound through his clothes.

   This was all her fault. She shouldn't have let him drag her from the hotel. She shouldn't gave been so selfish in wanting some alone time with him. She should've been thinking of his safety the whole time. In fact, she shouldn't have dragged him into this mess in the first place.

“I could be dying right now, and all you can think about is the second show,” a faint and hoarse familiar voice croaked out. She looked away from his stomach and stared at his now-open eyes.

“Michael?”

“Well, do I look like Jermaine to you?”

“No. Thank God.”

“Thank God I don't look like Jermaine?” He jokes, and she playfully hit him on the arm.

“Thank God you're alive.”

   They had a moment of silence, but this time it was not of awkwardness. It was of genuine peace.

“You know what? Come here,” Michael requested.

“What?” She asked as she walked towards him. “Is something aching?”

“Hm, yeah. I think my lips are aching. Would this lovely nurse check them out please?”

“Sure, let me just get my magnifying glass.”

“Come on,” he said as he pouted jokingly. She laughed and leaned towards his lying figure.

“What do you want me to do with them?”

“This,” Michael said before he gently puts his lips on here. He pulled away a few seconds after. “I think I'm going to enjoy being hospitalized.”

“Oh my God,” someone, a female voice, said. They both turned to the direction of the voice. It was a open-mouthed Jenny.

“Jenny, I- ” Autumn started, but she was cut off.

“You kissed Michael Jackson. No. Michael Jackson kissed you. I think I drank too much last night, and now I'm hallucinating, right?”

   After almost an hour of explaining to Jenny that she's not hallucinating and they actually knew each other since they were teenagers and that Autumn was actually going to tell her (in a more decent way than this) and that nobody assaulted anybody, she finally understood.

“Yeah, I understand. But can I have a picture? No one is going to believe this.”

-

{M}

“So you're saying Josh is in a mental asylum now?” Michael giggled. “Sorry, that was rude, but really?”

“Apparently he was supposed to be arrested for attempted murder and illegal possession of firearms and marijuana, but according to them, they discovered he really 'just had an emotional trauma' and needs therapy,” she explained.

“Yeah?” Marijuana- that explains the red eyes.

“Yeah. But I don't care, I'm not visiting.” She then quickly changed the topic. “So, the show's in 4 days. You think you can make it?”

“Are you kidding me? Of course I can!”

---

A/N: Hi! So here it is, chapter 24! Hope you guys really enjoyed this! Kind of dramatic, isn't it? Lol.

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