the moment i saw you cry ☾ michael jackson

☾Epilogue

Dad passed away on June 25th 2009, due to cardiac arrest at exactly 2:26pm. Nobody has been the same since. I was driving down the streets of Los Angeles in my car, going back to my house to Amanda and Jasie one afternoon, when suddenly my phone rings. I pick it up and it's grandma Kate telling me to come to the UCLA medical centre immediately; Dad was in trouble.

  I drove as fast as I could to the hospital, but by the time I got there, the only thing I heard was grandma Kate screaming to my aunt LaToya over the phone, "HE'S DEAD, HE'S DEAD!"

  I suddenly lost it. I collapsed on the floor on my knees and broke down crying. I think I even passed out.

  I knew I had to tell Prince, Paris, and Blanket soon. Everybody else just stood there, crying, not knowing what else to do. I guessed I had to be the one to break it to them. And when I did, I wished I could've taken it all back...

  "Wake up, from this...horrible, horrible nightmare, I wished someone had told me," I tell the story to the audience at the funeral, standing on the stage, shaking, trying not to break down, "but no one did. It was real, and the moment I realized, I couldn't stop crying. Pain isn't even the word to describe how I felt – I was devastatingly hurt.

  It's the most amount of devastation I ever felt, ever since twenty years ago when I found out my mother was dead. Now, I'm going through that exact same pain for my father."

  "And," I continue, pushing the tears back up, "even though I was adopted, he loved me as if I was his own blood. I feel like I've told the story so many times, and that everybody knows it now. Although he's taught me so many great things in life, and one of them was not to take anything for granted because some people have it a lot worse, and to do everything in our power to help others.

I could understand since I was once one of those people, until he took all of my pain away one day. But I would just like to conclude by saying one more thing," I look up, feeling the stage headlights shine down on me. Dad's favorite place to be. "God, You had a way of turning my trials into triumphs, I couldn't be more grateful, thank you. And Daddy...I love you."

  I begin sobbing now as the crowd claps loudly, placing the microphone in it's stand and sitting back down in my seat. Lisa then gets up as it's her turn to speak with a saddened facial expression.

  "Michael was an extremely gifted and talented man, as many of those would look at him to be. But not to me. I've known him practically my whole life," she takes a deep breath in, "and it's just so hard to see him leave me...us, so untimely. It makes me question why God has to take all of the good people away. And Michael did nothing but good in this world, and everybody took advantage of that...but luckily his kids and I, including the people who were close to him, reminded him everyday how much he was loved, because sometimes he needed to be reminded, since he didn't deserve any of the absolutely horrible things people made him go through. We've been married for such a long time, I don't think I'll ever be able to move on, but eventually, my heart has to heal. And so does everyone else's...and I believe we can. I love you my sweetheart – we, love you, Michael," she finishes on that final note and wipes her tears away.

  I clap along with everyone else, agreeing with everything she said. I hate how people treated him, he didn't deserve any of it. The only thing he did was bring joy, light, and happiness to people from all over the world through his talent. I could say so much more on that topic.

  My uncle Jermaine then comes out and begins singing the song, "smile."

  And it's true.

  On this day, even though our hearts are aching, we need to look up...and smile. What my dad wanted the whole world to do.

  When he finished up, he said a few last words on the matter and we applauded him. Then, my uncle Marlon comes up onto the podium, and we the family, stand behind him as he begins, "I-I, I stand here, t-trying to find words of comfort," he stops to take a breath while the other brothers comfort him, "trying to understand why the lord has taken our brother to return home for such a short visit here on earth. Michael, when you left us, a part of me went with you, and a part of you will live on forever within all of us.