[MJ Fanfiction] Collide

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR - BACK TO BLACK

A/N: hey guys, I hope you don't mind, but this chapter is a bit longer than the other ones. I should be updating again this week, stay tuned! xo

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"Hayley?" Michael called my name, and it tore me away from this trance I was in. "Are you alright?"

"I—I'm sorry, I was just thinking about work," I shamefully lied, as I took my pager out of my jacket's pocket. "As a doctor, I have to take this little thing with me wherever I go. I was just wondering if they found someone to replace Carl and I." That part was true, though.

"Which one of your coworkers Carl is?" he wonders.

"The pediatric surgeon? He is at the service, to be exact. He is my boss, my friend and my roommate," I explained, and Michael chuckled a little. "I know, this situation is quite weird, right?"

"I'm not judging you, but yeah it's quite funny that you have to live forty-four hours a day with your boss around," he chuckled again, as he turned on the right.

With that turn Michael took, it was easier for me to have a look at the amusement park. I could clearly see the rides in the distance, and I was quite taken aback by the size of it. I expected the amusement park to be a carousel and a couple of rides, but it was much more than this. There were rides everywhere, a cotton candy stand, bumper cars,... As I kept on walking, I saw the different names of the rides, and a smile decorated my face as I read them in my head: the Octopus, the Wave Swinger, the Super Slide, the Pirate Ship...

I stepped out of the golf cart, and walked quickly further into the park. I heard Michael laugh from behind me, as I kept looking at my surroundings. This place was magical. The more I discovered it, the more I could feel it, I could feel my inner child screaming with joy.

"Oh my God, there's a Ferris wheel!" I exclaimed, pointing it with my index finger, as if Michael didn't know it was there. I was getting excited at the sight of my favorite ride. "This is amazing."

"Isn't it?" Michael asked, as he was now next to me. "I'm proud of what I did with that place."

"You can be," I assured him, as I sighed with a newly found happiness. "It feels just like old times. I loved amusement parks when I was younger."

"When's the last time you visited one?"

"Back in the early eighties, I was on vacation in Florida with my parents. I'd say 1982?" I wondered, squinting my eyes as if it would help me think better.

"So it's been around ten years since you didn't go on a ride," Michael nodded his head slowly, touching his chin while looking at the ground. "It's time for you to discover again what it's like to have fun in an amusement park, then."

"Bu—"

"I know," Michael cut me off, but he gave me a sweet smile, walking closer to me. He looked right in my eyes, and it's like my whole body stopped working for a few seconds. All of my frustrations, doubts or fears just vanished away when he laid his eyes on me. "We're going to go to the movie theater to settle everything there for the children, but once we're done, we're going back there. There's no way you're leaving Neverland without going on the rides, Dr. Brit."