{Dangerous era – 1993 (Straight hair – Remember The Time style)}

The path I'm walking on is cold and rocky; it seems to be never-ending. A pain is lingering in my heart, giving no promises of ever leaving. My mind and my soul both feel numb beyond words – but what does that matter? It's not as if I can tell anyone about the way I feel; everyone hates me now.

Ever since the terrible rumours surfaced a couple months back, it's been a tragic life for me. The whole world is accusing me of the most horrible crime; something I am simply unable to do. They're accusing me of sexual assault, and they're labelling me as a Paedophile. Honestly, there's nothing in my heart that would possess me to do such a thing; I would slit my wrists before harming anyone, let alone a child – a sweet, innocent child.

Since the accusations, everything has turned for the worst: my family have turned against me, the media has been spreading nonsense about me – even those I used to call my "friends" have left my side – specifically after they've promised never to do that. As well as this, some of my fans have started seeing me as more of a monster than an idol – I never thought my precious fans would do that to me, especially when everything they're hearing is false.

Heaving a loud, prolonged sigh, I continue my little walk up the never-ending pathway. There are no shoes on my feet, and no shirt on my back – all I'm wearing is a vest and pants. It's like I've literally been stripped of both my pride and my dignity because of all of this. It's a nasty feeling to endure.

Realising I'm alone, in the middle of nowhere, tears form in my eyes, threatening to spill over my lashes, down my face. This isolated feeling inside of me is excruciatingly painful; I need someone to assure me that they love me, and that they care for me. My brows furrow a little, as my bottom lip begins to quiver, and my emotions start to show a little clearer, as a soft whimper of sadness passes my lips.

A dark cloud looms above me; its shadow is cast over me, trapping me like a fish in a net. This is all I've been experiencing recently – darkness, and mental agony.

When will it all stop?

When will it all go away?

These questions repeat themselves within my mind, as I continue up the pathway. A deep feeling of grief fills me; it expands inside my stomach, rising into my chest, and into my heart. But the thing that hurts the most? There's nothing I can do to stop it from happening.

My lips parted slightly to breathe, and my eyes half-lidded from weariness, my eyes shift their gaze, until, up ahead, I see a silhouette. It's a small silhouette; it's running around freely, seemingly having the most wonderful time, much like a child – the way I always wanted to be. However, because I'm supposed to be an adult, I'm forced to stop being who I am to please the rest of the world, and to me, that's not fair at all.

A sudden sense of curiosity invading my mind, I venture closer to the silhouette, anxious to find out who dares to enter my "Bizarre, Paedophile-only" world. It hurts my heart to be labelled as those two things – especially since I'm neither.

As I advance on the silhouette, I begin to hear joyful cries of glee; whoever it is, is running around with a kite, on a patch of grass. Where did the grass come from? All I've seen around here is weeds, because they're just as ugly as my reality.

"Hello?" my voice lets out nervously.

The person doesn't answer me; they're too immersed in the fun they're having to realise I'm even here. It's my dream to be the same – to be happy and free, with no cares or worries; to be so concentrated on being cheerful that I don't even notice the rest of the world; to run around on the beautiful green grass with nothing but me, myself and I to think about. And children, of course – always children.

I finally reach the silhouette, to find that it's a little girl. She wears a white shirt with a red and pink checkered dress over the top. She has a little hair bow placed neatly on her brown curls, and dainty little black shoes that gleam in the sunlight.

Wait – sunlight? Since when was there any light in my days?

Eventually, she notices my presence, so she looks away from her kite in the sky, instead looking at me. Her little blue eyes meet mine, causing a shiver to run down my spine. This little girl is beyond perfect to me; her sweet little face, and the purity and naïvety of her expression – it's gorgeous to see after all I've been through.

"Hello there," I greet her.

Granted, this little girl will probably run away as soon as she realises who I am. As soon as anyone realises who I am, they run away because they're scared of me. They don't even seem to think of me as human any more – but I guess I lost that privilege at a very young age.

To my surprise, the little girl answers me. "Hi," she says timidly, pulling down her kite and dropping it to the floor. Her gaze remains fixed on me; mine remains on hers.

"What are you doing here sweetie?" I question softly, gradually moving closer to her.

Her lashes flutter gently as she watches me move. "I'm playing."

I finally reach her fully, only being around a meter away from her now. Exhaling quietly, I continue my little investigation. "Do you know who I am?" After asking this, I bend down, kneeling on one knee, to come to her height.

"No," she answers, her voice angelic and soft.

To this answer, I freeze a little. There's a single person in existence that doesn't know my name, or my business. That's almost unheard of for me, and I hate that.

Nodding, I rest my hand gently upon her upper arm protectively. "What's your name, sweetie?"

"I'm Nancy," she mutters, her eyes averting slowly to my hand on her arm. "Who are you?"

"I'm Michael," I reply simply. "Can I play with you for a little while?"

She smiles; her eyes seem to sparkle a little once I've asked that question. She nods with a high level of certainty, taking my hand and dragging me as quickly as her short legs can carry her, to another place. As we travel, the sunlight seems to fade; it gradually turns darker and darker, until I see nothing but black around me. I'm curious to find out what's happening.

Nancy eventually comes to a stop, then as I look up, I notice my surroundings – it's still dark, but there are thousands upon thousands of beautiful illuminations, and lights, and every kind of decoration you could imagine. There's also some brightly-lit fairground rides scattered around, which ignites a hunger within me to be a child right in this moment.

"What is this place?" I ask in awe. My voice is no louder than a whisper due to the feeling of wonderment I'm experiencing.

"It's Neverland," Nancy tells me with a giggle. "It's the place to go when you want to have fun!"

"And you don't mind if I have fun here with you?" I ask, my voice increasing in volume, but holding apprehensiveness within it.

She knits her eyebrows together in confusion. "Why would I mind? You can do what you want to do."

Tears of joy fill my eyes at these words; never in my life have I had the freedom to do what I want in terms of reliving my childhood – or lack of a childhood. Before, I've always been judged and deemed as "Bizarre" and "Strange". My heart soars knowing that Nancy won't even care about my decisions right now.

Without warning, a shirt appears on my body, as well as shoes – as if my dignity is being restored by this little girl. This is the first time in forever that I've felt happier.

"Then what would you like to do?" I ask through my happy tears, wiping them from my eyes with the tips of my fingers.

"Whatever you want to do, Michael," she responds sweetly, looking up at me in anticipation of my next answer.

"Well ... what's the best, most fun, exciting ride here?" I quiz, a subtle closed-mouth smile finding its way onto my face.

"All of them," she informs me, a huge grin forming on her lips.

"Then guess what?" I start. When she gives me a look of playful impatience, I finish, "We can go on them all!"

She squeals in delight at this. "All of them!" Then, she grabs my hand, leading me to the first ride – the Carousel.

* * *

After riding all the fairground rides, Nancy looks up at me, as if waiting for me to say what's happening next.

"Is there anything we've missed?" I ask her softly, noting that all the music and sounds have died down, now.

Without speaking, she takes a hold of my hand, before silently leading me towards a lake – there's a small boat floating on the water, causing tiny ripples to flutter over the surface. We both get in the boat, then Nancy grabs an oar, starting to row it at a steady pace. We begin to move, away from dry land, towards the middle of the lake. As we venture further out, I decide to ask another question.

"Nancy ... do you think I'm strange?" I interrogate, my tone almost dejected.

She stops rowing the boat, looking at me to find that a single tear has rolled down my cheek. She wipes it away with her hand, shaking her head. "You're not strange Michael. Don't cry."

"Do you trust me, sweetheart?" My voice is soft and gentle now, as not to scare her.

"I trust you," she whispers.

"Do you think I would hurt anyone? What about a child? Do you think I would hurt a child?"

She shakes her head again, wiping the small cluster of tears from my eyes. "No Michael. You're too nice to hurt anyone."

My eyes avert their gaze downwards. "Just as I thought ... " Feeling the need to confide in this young yet mature child, I speak once more. "I love children a lot. Some people tell me that my love is strange or weird. Some even say I would hurt a child. I would never do that, not ever."

"I know," she replies, before looking up at the sky behind me. She points upwards, "Michael, look!"

Turning around and looking up, I see that the sky is full of pure white balloons, each giving off its own wonderful glow. It's absolutely incredible to see – quite simply breathtaking.

"That's beautiful," I comment, turning around to see Nancy in awe of what we're seeing. "I wish I could look at it all day."

"Me too." She crawls across the boat, until she's right next to me; then, she lies her head against my lap, looking up at the balloons once more.

My fingers run through her hair, removing her hair bow to give her a little more comfort. "You're tired, Nancy?"

She shakes her head, and I feel the movement on my leg. "No, I'm not tired."

"Okay; as long as you're sure." A small chuckle passes my lips at her silliness. "So ... what if I stayed here forever? What would happen then?"

She stifles a yawn, closing her eyes. "We could be best friends forever."

"Best friends forever, huh? And you'd never leave my side, would you? Some people do that sometimes, and it makes me very sad," I admit, trying to keep the mood lighthearted by snickering quietly.

"Never," is all she says.

And I believe her, because children don't lie. This has really put everything into perspective for me; all the adults I know have disowned me, and metaphorically left me for dead. This one sweet, beautiful child, however? She has the decency in her heart to let me be happy; she doesn't judge me. Her purity and empathy are simply perfect, too; it'll get her far in life.

And this is why children will forever be my best friends ...

... Because I feel more loved by a single child, than by every adult I've ever known in my thirty-four years of life ...

~~

Not sure if this was any good. Just felt the need to express how much I love children, and how much Michael does, and to put life into perspective from Michael's point of view. :3
I hope you enjoyed it. :)