(Disclaimer: I do not own Maestro as a character. All rights belong to Michael Jackson.
The cover has been made by me. Hope you'll like it.
- full picture above)

Maestro slowly opened his eyes only to face the wall in front of him. He wasn't sure about how long his sleep had lasted. Could it have been just a few hours? Or perhaps a little longer? He wasn't even sure if he had been just asleep or how he had ended up being there. Cobwebs were hanging from the ceiling of the large ball room, as always. Everything seemed to have gotten very old and rusty and of course full of dust.

Soon enough, he came to realize the fact that although it was day time, the sunlight seemed unable to reach the mansion or even get through the windows. The dust and the mold had covered every window and every curtain. All he remembered from the last time he'd walked among the living was the face of the town's mayor as he was trying so desperately to kick him out of town. And he'd almost made it. But when he returned to Someplace Else escorted by a bunch of police men, Maestro had already disappeared and fallen into a deep sleep which eventually lasted much longer than expected. Or so he believed.

"Oh, well", Maestro murmured as he blinked to clear his vision – his eyes were still blurry although he'd been awake for almost five minutes. He then tried to lift himself up and stand on his feet. He walked a few steps but he suddenly slipped and fell, twisting his ankle in a way that - if he were human - it would've been broken. "Ouch!", he whispered although he didn't really feel pain. Still, that little accident didn't prevent him from trying again. And this time he finally made it.

Something in his memory didn't fit. It wasn't like him to avoid facing his problems. What if someone had intentionally put him to sleep?
A strange sound like a ringing could be heard from somewhere in the mansion. When Maestro got close to it he realized it was just an ancient telephone device. "Who put this here?", he whispered as he picked it up. "Hello?". But the line had gone dead.
The mansion was empty. Not even the mice or the spiders could be heard anymore. "Did you hear about the exorcism?", a voice whispered in his ear. "What exorcism?", Maestro asked before he realized it was probably his mind messing with him. But the voice was persistent. "They all left to avoid trouble. They were sick of all those priests who, following up the mayor, came here trying to 'help them move on'". Maestro didn't bother to answer again. The thoughts in his mind didn't even make sense any more. An exorcism couldn't have sent everybody away so fast, he thought.

When his family wasn't there, he felt as if a part of himself was missing. He had to find them! Now! "Audite me!*", he shouted, "Show yourselves. There's no need to be afraid anymore". But nothing he said had any effect at all. "Look, I'm sorry I left you alone. But you're my family and I don't wanna lose you".

A hint of ectoplasm showed up on the wall behind him. Maestro could now feel a couple of eyes on him. He moved silently towards the staircase in order to have a better look at what was going on around him but then a hand touched his shoulder out of the blue, causing him to shiver. "Memoro te**", he said as soon as he faced a tall, pale man with curly hair in the color of the sand standing on his right. "Really?", joked the man, "So, I assume there's no need to remind you my name". Maestro forced himself to remember. After a few seconds, a name did come to his mind. "Augustus", he murmured, "And I used to call you Gus. Are you still okay with that?". Gus nodded with a smile. "Don't worry. They'll return", he added a while later. "How do you know?". Gus took a deep breath. "When you left, they saw it as an act of betrayal. Took me a lot of effort to convince them otherwise but I made it".

Maestro spent the next few hours sitting on the stairs sighing and whispering. He felt as if he had a thousand different wounds which he was unable to heal, for the time being at least. A few tears escaped from his eyes and he quickly wiped them away as soon as Gus showed up again. "Have you ever wondered how the mayor could be doing after what he caused?", Maestro asked him and Gus bursted out laughing. "He ain't doing that well", he said jokingly. Maestro smirked. "May I ask how you know that?". Gus sat beside him and continued: "After you left, a few of our guys began haunting his office, his house and every other place that he ever walked into. They were really mad at him. The mayor, who by then believed that the exorcism had kicked us all away, thought he was losing his mind because of this whole case. Thus, he sought medical help and is currently at a clinic for the mentally disturbed". "I can only hope he gets what he deserves", said Maestro before he stood up and began his way to the library...

*audite me (Latin): listen to me
**memoro te (Latin): I remember you