Fall Again (a Michael Jackson fanfiction)

16. Hope gets a call

Hopes POV 🥀

I got home with a heaviness on my heart. This poor man had been through so much, I felt so desperately sorry for him.

I washed splashes of his sick off my skirt and then settled down in bed playing music. I wondered if I had any of his songs on my playlist.

I didn't, so I listened to some, and lay back in bed hearing his gorgeous voice and tapping my feet to the rhythm.

I had recently been diagnosed with ADHD, and Neurodiversity ran in my family, James with ADHD traits and autism, and Juliette with dyscalculia and possible dyslexia.
The ADHD had explained my troublemaking as a child, my impulsivity, the crazy things I did - they considered a diagnosis of Oppositional Defiance Disorder, I was always getting into trouble and often dragging James into it with me.

Most of our schools hated the Emerson family. After me and James left middle school and Juliette started there, they all expected her to be just like us. She wasn't, however, she was quiet and kept herself to herself.

My mum had dyslexia and autism and god knows what else it's believed my father and most of his family had ADHD. He lived just up the road from us, our parents weren't exactly together .

My dad fell in love with her and slept with her repeatedly over the years - creating the two of us older siblings, me and James.

My father always wanted a girl, he didn't really like James. They never got on. But when I was born my father doted over me - I was his small, curly haired princess.

Juliette came into the world after a one night stand. She never knew her father, but I told her once that she could share ours.
Dad didn't shower her with affection like he did with me, but he didn't completely ignore her like he did with poor Jamie.

Juliette didn't talk about much with either of our parents. She told me once she was gay, but refused to say anymore.
I told her I didn't mind, and I hoped she found the right girl one day. She hugged me, and that's one of the rare times that we felt real closeness.

I lay in bed reading a book, hearing Scottie and Autumn laughing at a movie. I wanted to join them, but movies this late in the evening would keep me awake, and when I didn't sleep enough I tended to sleepwalk.

Michael Jackson had insomnia, I'd read in the news, but since we'd got his medication right he'd slept amazingly well at Clemmie Woods.

Work again tomorrow, now Michael was there it gave my job an extra feeling of excitement. I got to see him, talk to him, watch him smile with those gorgeous white teeth and watch his eyes sparkle when he was happy.

I'd walked through those woods this evening in the dark, and it was snowing a little, so my hair was damp and covered in snowflakes.
I hoped Michael would be allowed on a walk so I could show him my favourite route through the woods to the bus stop, which was very beautiful during the day time, bluebells dotted all over the ground, sun shining through the trees in the forest.

I'd love to take him out on a walk, or for an icecream maybe. The news hadn't revealed where Clemmie Woods was, so he wouldn't be mobbed by fans. He could have a day like a normal person.

I was about to drift off to those pleasant thoughts when the phone rang. I put my glasses back on and fumbled around for my phone.
It was mum.
She rarely called on work nights, knowing I'd be tired, unless it was an emergency.

An emergency. Oh god. JAMES.