Forced II: Whatever Happens

Epilogue - Ave Maria

15th of June, 2018
Michael is 59, Jake is 55

Michael: I glanced in the mirror, tightening my tie.

The eyes that stared back at me were different, they were red and puffy since the man looking back at me barely got any sleep lately.

It was as if those eyes belonged to someone else completely. Someone who I forgot even existed within me, someone from a different lifetime.

The man who couldn't sleep for days at a time, who was always occupied with what was coming next for his career. That same man who used to be up all those nights, since his insomnia took over.

The same lonely man.

A tear slid down his face accidentally.

"Fuck."

It smudged his makeup, so I hurried to go fix it.

A muffled ringtone was heard somewhere in the room. But of course, I couldn't find it.

Looking all over, under some papers, under a pile of clothes, it was nowhere.

The ringing stopped, then started again a few seconds later. Finally, I found the device in between the sheets and my mattress.

"Daddy?" it was Paris.

Then her voice came back, to remind me that that man within me was long gone.

"You'll never be lonely, Mike. You have all our beautiful blessings with you."

"You ready to go, daddy? Prince is just walking into the house. He's coming to get you." Paris snapped me out of it.

As if on cue, my son knocked on the bedroom door. "Dad? It's me."

"He's here. We'll be right out." I told Paris and hung up.

Before I opened the door, I took one more look at our messy bedroom.

I could hear Angela's voice in the back of my head again, this time lecturing me about how I should clean it up.

"Seriously, Mike? You know I hate that your papers are just lying there..."

Another tear escaped. Shit, I really need to stop myself today.

I wiped it away, going to the door, only to see Prince waiting there. It never seized to amaze me, what a fine young man he turned out to be.

Most of the older kids moved out by now, leaving me with Blanket and the babies, who weren't really babies anymore.

Prince was living with his girlfriend somewhere in LA, doing everything he could to become a producer. Paris was working on her modeling career. Both her and Lily were living together in a small apartment in the big city, too.

As for my step-children, Lily was going into her third year at UCLA with an English major, while Eric joined the army as soon as he turned 18.

My son hugged me tightly and we stayed like that for a minute. "Hey dad."

"Your tie is isn't tight enough," he half-smiled, and reached his hand to do it for me. "Come on."

Following him quietly, we met all of his siblings outside.

Leo hurried to grab my hand, and tugged on it.

"Hi, baby boy." I said.

He was so big now, being a little over 10. His mother was there for his birthday, thank God. She even promised to try pushing for AJ's 11th and my 60th, but I knew she wouldn't be able to.