FicWad

Author's Notes: Written in 2009

Spending the day at Neverland was a complete dream come true, especially for young little Alyssa Combs. She was someone Michael Jackson met a children’s hospital and with his efforts, she was able to get better and go back to her family. She was in a family of 4 children, two brother, one sister and herself. She wasn’t home long when a phone call came and asked to speak to her. Alyssa was a little nervous, as she knew she wasn’t allowed to use the phone. When she had greeted the one on the phone, a wave of happiness had hit her. On the end was the very man who visited her. He had called to invite her and her whole family to his Neverland Ranch for a day of fun.

Now she was at Neverland. At first she was having fun, but it soon wasn’t so much fun when she couldn’t get near the singer, other children surrounded him. Her family were having a wonderful time. Her two brothers were constantly having races down the huge yellow slide. Most of the rides were up high and she was afraid of heights. Her parents weren’t around her to take her on the rides anyway as they were currently fussing over her other sister who was trying to get a hold of some candy. Alyssa walked over to a tree and sat down, not sure what she should do.

Near the Ferris wheel, Michael Jackson just got off the ride with two other kids, who were having a ball. As Michael stepped off, he noticed Alyssa over by a tree, alone. He quickly excused himself, going over to her. He had remembered the girl quite well when he had visited her in the hospital. He was so intrigued by her spirit, he invited her to his home.

He crutched down to her level, careful in not scoffing his loafers. “Now what’s a pretty girl such as yourself, doing over here, alone? This is Neverland.”

She looked up at him. “No one wants to hang around with me,” she answered in a small voice. “Mommy and Daddy are over there with my sister and my brothers are on the slide.”

“Well you can always ask one of the children to play along with you on the rides.”

“I’m too scared.”

“What’s the matter?” he asked in a genuine concern. He hated to see children not having fun.

“I’m afraid of heights,” she answered simply.

Michael gave a soft smile and held out his hand for her to take. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. Neverland is for the imagination not to be scared.”

Alyssa looked at the hand, not sure what to do.

“Come on,” he softly insisted. “I’ll be with you the whole time. It’s really fun.” He held out his hand further, giving her a soft gentle smile. He even removed his sunglasses, revealing his brown eyes.

Alyssa could see the trust in those eyes. She gave a small smile as she hooked her small hand in his. “Okay,” she answered. “But only if you are with me the whole time.”

He tightened his hand on hers smile widening. “Scouts honour.” He stood his normal height. “Now, let’s go have some fun.”

“M’kay,” she said with more excitement. She looked at the Ferris wheel and shivered. “I’m scared.”

“It’s ok to be scared,” he pointed out. “But you can take fear and turn it into fun. Come on, let’s go to the slide, we’ll start there.”

The two walked over to the slide and up to the top. As they went, Alyssa started to feel nervous but seeing how a famous person was holding her hand, she knew he would keep her safe at least until reaching the top. They finally reached the top. Looking around, Michael could see there was one burlap sack left. He had to gently shake Alyssa’s hand so both his hands were free to grab the sack, which they only needed one. Michael wasn’t going to let her go down alone. Grabbing the sack, he set it far enough back for Alyssa to get on.

“Sit down,” he softly instructed, putting back on his sunglasses.

“Michael,” she said really nervous as she looked down. She scooted closer to the man, grabbing his hand again. “I don’t know about this.”

He looked at her, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s ok,” he smiled. “It will be scary at first, but my arms will be around the whole time. Do you trust me?”

“Yeesss,” she said slowly.

His smile widened. “Then sit down and I’ll get right behind you. Your Mommy says that you have gone sledding in the winter time and you had fun then.”

“Yeah. Mommy always goes down with me.”

“Well I’ll be just like Mommy, kay?”

Alyssa nodded. She sat down on the sack, keeping a tight grip on Michael’s hand. Seeing as she had a death grip on his hand, he had to carefully sit behind her, being careful not to twist her hand. Luckily, she was holding the other hand with the same hand she held the first one. Wrapping his free hand around her waist, he took the one that was holding his hand and brought it around the other side so her hand was completely trapped behind his two large ones. He stretched his legs out to rest right against hers. With his arms around her body, he pulled her body to be tight against his.

She clenched her eyes tight shut, nearly holding her breath.

“Alyssa,” he said calmly, noting her breathing. He remembered her name when he saw her at the hospital. “Take some deep breaths. You won’t be hurt, I promise.” His soft tenor voice was like singing a lullaby.

For a few minutes he kept coaching her to breath. He even sang a few versus to a couple songs to help calm her down.

“Hey Alyssa, you finally made it up here.”

Alyssa opened her eyes to see her two older brothers on either side of her. Her and Michael were in the middle track.

“Hey, sis. It’s fun. Watch this!” The older of the two brothers quickly dropped his sack on the slide and sat down on it. He gave himself a little push with his hands and he was soon going down the slide, squealing as he went. He had his hands fisting up in the air. Alyssa’s other brother quickly got into position and did the same.

“Now see,” Michael said. “Look how much fun they are having. Don’t you want to be having that much fun?”

“Yeah,” she said in very small voice.

“Well let’s give it a whirl.”

“You promise not to let go?”

“I promise,” he said gently. “Now hold on tight.”

She gripped his hand holding his other hand like a lifeline as he used his legs to push forward and soon the two were going down. She screamed in fright as they went down, clenching her eyes shut. Michael squealed in delight, hoping to help calm her down.

As the two reached the bottom and came to a stop, Alyssa opened her eyes. She saw that she was at the bottom and just like her friend had said, he kept a tight hold on her. She slightly turned her head.

“That’s it?” she asked in a small shaky voice.

He smiled at her. “Yup, that’s all there is to it. Did you want to try again?”

“I don’t know that was scary.”

“Well, we have all day to try it. How about we go on the Carousel?”

She smiled. “I’d like that. It’s not very scary that one. But I’m too little to get up on the horse.”

Soon the boys came down again. Unwrapping his arms from around the girl, Michael stood up and asked the boys to take up the burlap sack while the two went over to the Carousel. The boys agreed and headed back up to the top again where another child was waiting to go down. Michael and Alyssa, headed towards the Carousel. There was no one using the ride at that moment and Michael allowed her to pick which one she wanted.

She looked around until she found the one she wanted, which ended up being a pink horse. He smiled at her before picking her up and setting her up on the horse. When she was secure on the horse, a few other kids decided they wanted on the ride. Michael sat on another horse, directly beside Alyssa and waited for the ride operator to activate the ride.

The ride soon began and Alyssa smiled with glee as she went up and Michael went down and then when he went up, she went down. She held tightly to the pole so she wouldn’t fall.

“This is relaxing,” she said, looking at Michael.

“Yes, this is relaxing,” Michael agreed.

By the time the ride was over, Alyssa was beginning to have fun. She got what she wanted and that was to spend time with the singer.

Michael got off his horse and lifted his arms to help the girl down. He held her waist as she brought her other leg over. She lightly slid off the horse, trusting the man’s hands to hold her steady. Her hands went out to touch his shoulders as she slid. When she was completely off, he bent his knees, lowering to the floor. The two then walked hand in hand off the ride, onto the grounds.

“How about the Ferris wheel next?” Michael suggested. “I know it’s high, but I’m with you. You can get a view of Neverland like you’ve never seen before.”

Alyssa gave a fearful look at the ride and then turned to her gaze to the man walking with her. She saw the genuine look on his soft smile as he looked down at her. Though she couldn’t see his eyes, she knew he was looking at her.

“Come on,” he continued. “It will be fun.”

The two continued to walk until they were in the line up for the ride. When it came time for them to get on, Alyssa began to really nervous once again as she sat down. Michael wrapped an arm around her when the ride operator closed the bar around them. He then pushed her small body to snuggle up beside him as they began to move.

She gripped his shirt as the moved. Soon the wheel went around and she could see the top, but it was short lived as it made it’s way around and then back up again. She could hear Michael saying ‘wheeee’ as they went down. She knew he was trying to help her. But the time they were making the third trip around, she began to relax. When the ride was finally over, the two got off and were greeted by Alyssa’s parents.

“Are you having fun sweetie?” her mom asked.

“Yeah!” Alyssa said. “Michael is very nice. He took me down the slide and then the horses and now the Ferris wheel. I didn’t want to go before because I hate heights.”

Alyssa’s mother looked at the singer. “I don’t know how to thank you.”

“Just being here is thanks enough for me,” the singer responded. “And you have a wonderful daughter.”

Alyssa smiled. “Can we go on the slide again?”

Michael blinked. “You want to try it out?”

“Yeah, but I want Mommy and Daddy to come too.”

“Well our other daughter is now on the zipper with a couple new friends,” Alyssa’s father said. “I don’t see why not.”

“Yay!” Alyssa grabbed Michael’s hand and started to pull him towards the slide. Michael laughed as she tugged on him.

Soon the three adults and Alyssa were on the top of the slide. Alyssa averted her eyes away from the slide. “Mommy, you take that side and Daddy take that side. I’ll go with Michael.”

She visibly shaking, but not as bad as the first time and the adults could see that, but they did what the girl asked. Alyssa planted herself in the middle on the burlap sack and waited for everyone else to get into position. Michael crawled up beside her and held her tight against him, like he did the first time.

“Mommy. Daddy. You go first.” Alyssa finally said.

Everyone realized what the girl was now wanting. She wanted her parents to be at the bottom when she came down so she had something to look forward to at the end of the slide. As instructed the parents went down. Michael held back, knowing the girl wanted to wait until her parents were at the bottom. When they were and were off the slide, looking up, Michael pushed forward, going down once again.

This time when Alyssa squealed, she yelled out a ‘wheeeee’. She watched as her parents cheered her on as the two went down. Once getting to the bottom, Alyssa was now very satisfied that she wanted to go again, but this time she wanted her Mom to take her. The two headed up as the father stepped over to the singer.

“I never had a chance to thank you,” he said. “What you did for my daughter while she was in the hospital, it was so amazing.”

“She is a sweet girl,” Michael answered. “Tell me, why was she there?”

“We had just recently moved here. I got transferred and apparently Alyssa took some sort of allergy attack of sorts. We’re in the process of trying to get it check out, but it’s too much for my medical coverage to handle. I may have to quit my job and leave California.”

Michael shook his head. “I’m sorry to hear that. Maybe there is something I can do.”

The father blinked. “What can you do? I’m sure you have other things to do besides worrying about the welfare of some stranger.”

“I love children and seeing them in discomfort annoys me. You tell me what Alyssa needs and I’ll have it done.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Just let me do this,” Michael continued. “You have a remarkable daughter. She’s very sweet. I want to help and I will not take ‘no’ for an answer.”

The father chuckled. “I guess it’s true what they say about you. You are a very generous person. Thank you Michael Jackson.”

“Please, Michael,” Michael said. “We are way past singer to fan. Please, don’t hesitate to call, if you need anything either.”

Michael looked up to see the girl waving down at him. He could see a big smile on her face as her mother sat behind her. He waved back and waited for the two to come down. Soon the two were done and Alyssa now wanted to go on another ride with her parents. Michael took this chance to go and spend more time with the other children before they had to leave.