#forever michael

Summer, 1974 - Encino, California

“where do you wanna go, Joker?” Bill asked as he seated himself behind the wheel.

“just drive around, Bill. I wanna take in the scenery today. it’s beautiful outside, look!” Michael turned his head to stare out the window in admiration. his gaze fixated on the sky and trees in a dream-like daze.

Bill chuckled and started the car. he knew how much Michael liked feeling the atmosphere outside. he knew how much he loved nature in general. Michael’s always had a whimsical view of the beautiful things in life.

pulling out of the driveway, you could hear the screams of fans from a distance behind the tall-standing gates. Michael flashed a smile and politely waved at the crowd as security tried shooing people out of the way.

once they were on their path to their late evening drive, Michael placed a stack of mail on his lap and began to go through each of the pieces carefully, giving every letter the same amount of undivided attention. he loved going through his mail. each message increased his gratitude more and more.

Michael had his own routine following this as well. he’d write back to them, expressing love ten times harder than the actual fan in appreciation for the support. that’s just how Michael was. he considered his fans ‘family’.

♫

about an hour or so had passed and it was already getting late. Michael had read through most of his stack. he figured he’d just continue on the next day.

while placing the stack back on the seat next to his, one of the letters fell from underneath. instinctively, Michael picked it up and was about to put it back where it was, but became intrigued by the different formatted envelope addressed to him.

it was a light yellow packaging, but it didn’t look like the typical yellow envelopes you receive. this shade looked identical to a banana pudding color. the lettering was unique and nicely put together, almost looking like calligraphy. to top it all off, a sunflower sticker was placed on the corner, which made him smile. drawn to the letter, he leaned back into his seat and opened the last letter of the night.

it read: Dear Michael,

you’ll probably never get this letter, Michael.

I wrote you a hundred times before.

knowing how I feel, I’ll write a hundred more.

puzzled, he put the paper down. he honestly started feeling a bit bad for not recognizing the fan’s attempts to contact him sooner. how come he’s never seen these before?

he rummaged through the rest of the letters in hopes of finding at least one more from the same person, but nothing was found.

that night, he looked at the letter for a final time before going to bed. he laid the letter on his nightstand and turned off his lamp. not even a second later, his eyes opened and stared at the ceiling in wonder. could he maybe be able to retrieve any of the past letters that he’s missed?

♬

the following morning, Michael informed staff who managed his fan mail about a specific name and address to look out for. he wanted to hear more from this person before replying.

not only that, but he even dug through past mail sacks to find old letters that the person was referring to. luckily enough, he found a few! unfortunately he couldn’t find all of them in the piles of thousands of postcards. he spent the rest of his morning and afternoon juggling between replying to other fans and work while also reading one letter from the supposed usual sender at a time.

“look Michael, your fans love you!” La Toya exclaimed happily as she looked over the mountains of envelopes. she scooted closer to him to skim over the letter he was currently on.

Michael laughed along and handed her the note. “they’re not my fans, they’re part of my family.” he turned his head to scan the filled room, then he sighed. his eyes went back to the note and pointed at it.

“I want you to read that.” she mumbled an “alright” and began to read. after about a minute, she gave it back with a small giggle. “that’s very kind.”

Michael rolled his eyes playfully and giggled along, taking the letter back. “yeah, I haven’t replied yet.”

“well I didn’t expect you to, you just opened it!”

“Toy, that was from two months ago. they’ve been sending me letters this whole time and I’ve just been sitting here not noticing them.” he stressed. she could tell that he was feeling some type of way about that and probably imagining how the person must feel.