The Conspiracy Next Door - Part 1
My second MJ fic I'm working in between working on Mouse and Applehead (I'll be posting the next part tomorrow of that tomorrow, hopefully) as a side project. For a lark, I posted some parts of what I've written during Party Posts and some of you liked what I wrote, so here's the first whole part if anyone is curious.
Title: The Conspiracy Next Door
Author: shinigami518
Rating: PG-13 (but will go into the R territory at times)
Warnings: Swearing, violence, some racism, alcohol drinking, it all depends on what happens with what I'm writing.
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything in this story except Julie, her family and her friends. All music used is owned by their respective owners, writers, and singers. This is also, in no way, a slam against Michael Jackson in any way. I respect him and really like him, his music, and his kindness. This is also somewhat based on the rumors and conspiracies over his death. There is evidence of something weird going on. It may just be crap, but you’ll never know…
Summary: Late 2009, a young woman named Julie Shields, a late bloomer Michael Jackson fan, meets her new neighbor, a enigma of a man named Dave Michaels. What starts off as innocent friendship and a moment of kindness suddenly takes a very strange turn as Julie finds herself involved in a very big conspiracy... one that involves drugs, rock and roll, Michael Jackson, and haters.
Part 1 - The Mysterious New Neighbor
October 20h, 2009
“I have something I have to tell you.” The mood shifts.
“Yes, Michael?” She’s blinded by love.
“…I’m not like other guys.” He is serious. The music starts getting creepy.
“Of course not! That’s why I love you.” Oblivious.
“No, I mean I’m different.” There is something else. Dark.
“What are you talking about?” She has no clue what’s going to happen.
“And insert full moon here.” A young woman remarked with a smirk, hitting pause on the video on her computer. She stood up and stretched her arms and back.
Julie was a young woman in her early twenties, fresh out of college, and trying to find a job. She was of medium build - somewhere in between not too thin and not too fat - with shoulder length dark brown hair and brown eyes, usually covered with a pair of glasses. Her skin was really pale due to her inability to tan and her reluctance of going outside due to an allergy to bees… plus asthma and a fear of most bugs. She was what people would consider plain, someone who didn’t wear much make-up, aside from some bronze tinted chap stick. She also wasn’t huge on fashion, usually just wearing casual clothing and not one who’d dress up a lot.
She also had different interests compared to what other girls her age would have. When most girls would go out to the mall after school, she’d stay at home, drawing or writing stories. While most girls went out to clubs and got drunk while dancing, she rather spend time hanging out with her best friend, Samantha, and talk about varying subjects, from censorship to Anime to video games. While most kids in her video editing classes made videos of friends doing crazy things, she made videos ranging from a parody of the opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Arc to a video of her trying to get keys from a cat under the bed, done in the point of view of the cat to a combination of four Monty Python Sketches.
To add to her “oddness”, she had a varying collection of interests. In Middle School, she was into Dragonball Z, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, ReBoot, and Digimon. In High School, she was into Pro Wrestling, Gundam Wing, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and video games. In College, she was into Yu-Gi-Oh!, Star Trek, the DCAU, Beetlejuice, Disney Animation, Harry Potter, British comedy, and Whose Line is it Anyway. Now, with a serious tragedy in the media, she was into something else.
When June 25th came, something big happened.
While taking screenshots of a show she was into, her brother Will revealed shocking news he just learned through Facebook. At first neither the two, nor their parents wanted to believe it, but when they turned on the news, it was revealed to be true.
A guy she liked on occasions, a man whose music she loved, a person that was so caring and incredible, Michael Jackson, was dead.
The news shook the world. Several of the forums she was part of, plus Live Journal, crashed. The places she could still go to and comment were starting to fill with words of sadness, memories, and offering condolences to his family. Months later, the backlash still was strong and people, including many fans, were still in mourning, making tributes to the fallen “King of Pop”.
Julie, meanwhile, reacted in a different way. At first, she was in shock. Then during the following week, she began to explore the net for videos, music, and anything dealing with Michael Jackson. Through her search, she learned things she had never knew, discovered bits about his life, the trials and accusations that befell upon him, and his music she didn’t know, and, in doing so, her feelings changed.
She then saw the fallen performer in a different light. She watched clips of him live, performing for thousands of screaming people, watched him move, watched him sing, watched him be amazing and watched him care for others. She watched interviews, clips of him with his family, his friends, his fans…, his three children. She even saw videos she had wanted to see, but had put off due to her interests shifting from one thing to another. And after over a month of this, she realized something.
She had missed out on something incredible. A brilliant entertainer had died… and after watching him in so many videos and interviews, she regretted all the cruel things she had said and thought about him.
With a sigh, Julie made her way from the dinning room, which housed her computer, to the living room where her dog Tug, a white and liver colored English Springer Spaniel, paced anxiously, waiting to be walked. The dog let out a few low whines once he saw Julie walk by.
“I know, I know, hold on a sec.” Julie sighed, grabbing her sneakers and plopped down on the couch. The dog walked up to her, sat down at her feet, and placed his paw on her knee as she slid one of her shoes on. “Tug, this isn’t helping.” Julie laughed, removing Tug’s paw. She then let out a second sigh and began to tie her shoes. “I know things are a bit weird - with dad’s foot messed up and me and him still trying to get work - but things will get better soon, pup.” Julie told the dog as she finished tying her shoes. She then let out a soft chuckle as she stood up. “As if you’d understand me…” Julie told the dog, who just stared at her. She walked over to the built in coat rack and pulled out an ash grey hooded zip-up jacket and slipped in on. After grabbing the red dog leash and hooking it to Tug’s choke chain, she opened the front door.
“Dad, I’m walking Tug!” Julie shouted, looking back.
“Ok, be careful.” A man responded from the kitchen. Julie’s father, Robert, was in his office, which was actually the laundry room that had been renovated to include a small office for Robert to work in for his old job. He still used it to check his e-mails and chat with his old work friends.
With a sigh, Julie exited the house with the dog and made her way outside onto the screened in porch. Giving Tug a jerk and telling him to sit, Julie grabbed the pooper scooper and led the dog out through the porch door.
Tug immediately began to pull the young woman out, leading Julie off the porch and out on the sidewalk. Julie managed to get control after a few seconds, and after waiting for a bit for Tug to sit, they began their walk.
Tug started to get ahead again, looking around and sniffing the grass. Julie smiled and glanced up at the house next to hers, which was designed as a two story apartment building. A wistful expression crossed her face as she remembered the previous occupants. The family had been friends with her family for several years since she and her family moved there, but after some troubles which included a divorce and bills backing up, the family had to leave. A new person had moved into the top apartment of the house, but no one of her family - her parents nor her older brother, who lived in the apartment downstairs of their house - had seen the person.
A gust of wind tickled her skin and caused several fallen leaves to spin around in the air. Tug perked up and watched the leaves blow by, and then…
“Tug, no!” Julie shouted as Tug shot forward after the leaves. She lost her footing by his sudden movement, causing her to fall forward and land on her left hand and knees, her right hand still holding onto the dog leash. Pain shot through her arm into her shoulder as Tug started pulling, wanting to go chasing after the leaves. With a grimace, she gave a sharp tug on the leash, stopping the dog. Tug turned to look at the young woman as if to say “Oh come on, let me after those flying things!” Julie, in turn, glared at the dog with a sigh.
“I swear, pup, you’ve got to-.” Julie began to say, starting to get to her feet when she heard the door to the now re-occupied house open. She froze in terror as she saw Tug perk up and stare at the front door. “No, Tug, don’t you-.” Julie warned.
Too late. Tug took off, running pass Julie and yanking her until she fell backwards on her back, making her let go of the leash. Julie winced as she fell on the ground with a small thud.
“Ouch, damn, ow…” Julie cursed, grabbing her head with both hands as she lay on her back in the grass and leaves, her eyes closed while silently thanking God her head didn’t hit the big tree that stood in front of the house.
“Oh my God! Are you ok, miss?”
Julie’s brown eyes shot open in surprise, hands still wrapped around the back of her head. It was a man’s voice, but not one she really knew. Was it the guy who had moved in next door? She rolled over onto her stomach, one hand still remaining on her head, nursing where her head made contact with the dirt. Shaking her head and blinking a few times to get rid of the stars that were flashing in front of her face, she slowly looked up.
There was, indeed, a man right near her, petting Tug, who was trying to jump up on him. He was white, almost as pale as her, with curly, jet black hair that was cut short, reaching halfway down his neck. He wore a black zip-up jacket over a red button up shirt with black jeans, white socks, and black loafers, plus a pair of black sunglasses that rested on his thin nose. He held a black umbrella over his head, which was weird for Julie since it hadn’t been raining out.
Julie stared at the man, her mind screaming that he looked really familiar. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but she swore she had seen him before. Maybe from Philadelphia, where her mother was from, or Malone, where her father came from…
“I said, are you ok, miss?” The man repeated with a soft, but warm and low voice. Julie blinked, returning to reality, and shook her head, getting on her knees.
“Y-y-yeah, I’m ok. I enjoy getting pulled around by my nearly year old dog.” Julie replied, muttering the last bit sarcastically under her breath. The man let out a sigh of relief, then knelt down next to Julie. Tug walked over to Julie and stuck his face into hers, sniffing her and fogging up her glasses.
“Thanks Tug,” Julie groaned, pushing the dog’s head out of her face with one hand, the other retaining her hold on the leash. “Sorry if my dog was bothering you. I didn’t expect him to go charging like that. I mean, I expected him to go after the leaves, but not yank me backwards towards you.” Julie began to apologize profusely, starting to get to her feet.
“Easy there, miss, calm down. Your dog wasn’t much of a bother, but I’m more worried about you.” The man remarked, halting her words. He then offered a hand to help Julie to her feet.
“I’m fine, just bonked my head on the dirt, no harm done.” Julie waved him off, finally getting on her feet. She then gasped as she realized something. “Hey, you’re the guy who moved in next door, aren’t you?” She remarked, pointing at the man. The man chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck shyly.
“Y-yes, I am, and you must be one of my neighbors, correct?” The man replied, then asked. Julie nodded yes, feeling embarrassed and nervous around the man, especially over the circumstances of their meeting.
“Mmhm, I’m Julie, Julie Shields.” Julie introduced herself, feeling a bit shy. She then gestured to Tug, who was sitting at her side, looking around without a care in the world. “You’ve already met Tug. Nice to meet you.” Julie went on before extending a friendly hand.
“Pleasure’s all mine. I’m Dave, Dave Michaels.” The man replied, accepting the hand with his own and shook it. Julie raised an eyebrow in curiosity. The man, now known to her as Dave, seemed to hesitate when he said his name. She decided to try to break the ice, try to cut the tension.
“You’re not related to George Michael, are you? Or-?” Julie started to asked, the cut herself off, slapping her head with her free hand. She released her hold on Dave’s hand then cursed at herself. “Ugh, idiot, his last name isn’t Michaels, its Hickenbottom. Duh! C’mon, Julie, how long have you been a fan of that guy and you have a brain fart, forgetting that his last name is different when he’s not wrestling.” Julie groaned, then laughed at herself while dusting off her light gray sweatpants. Dave tilted his head slightly, surprised and confused by the brunette’s comment.
“Excuse me?” Dave asked. Julie blinked and felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment.
“Aw, damn it, I was going off on a tangent as usual. Sorry, I do that a lot, especially when I’m nervous or something.” Julie apologized, rubbing her neck with her free hand. Tug, meanwhile, decided that he was tired of sitting and started to walk, making his owner nearly tumble over on her left side by his sudden movement. “Tug, damn it, can’t you just sit?” Julie cursed loudly, giving a tug of the leash to make Tug sit. The dog sat and gave the young woman a look that screamed “Stop talking, I gotta pee!” Julie sighed, realizing it would be a losing argument.
“Sorry about this, I gotta go. Tug apparently finds our conversation boring and wants to go do his business. It was nice meeting you, Mr. Michaels.” Julie apologized once again, bending down to grab the fallen Pooper Scooper and began to turn to leave. Before she could get a few feet away, she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her body stiffen up and causing her to “eep” loudly. She spun around and nearly knocked Dave over by the force of her sudden movement, almost hitting him with the object in her hand. Dave managed to jump back and nearly stumbled backwards onto the ground.
“Jesus, I’m so sorry! Don’t scare me like that!” Julie cursed, apologized and stated in the span of several seconds, dropping the pooper scooper on the ground in the process. Dave held up a hand to calm the young woman down.
“No, it’s my fault; I should’ve said something instead of touching you. You have some reflexes, don’t you?” Dave told her, chuckling softly when speaking the last bit. Julie nodded, still embarrassed.
“Well, I’m stopped, what is it?” Julie asked Dave, curious and suspicious over the older man.
“I just was wondering if... if you wouldn’t mind some company on your walk? I mean, to make sure nothing happens after that fall you took.” Dave asked nervously, removing his sunglasses. Julie grew a bit wary and more suspicious over his actions. She knew it wasn’t a good idea to walk with anyone she didn’t know, especially people she just met, mostly due to watching too many episodes of Law and Order, which made her slightly paranoid of strangers.
“No offence, Mr. Michaels, but I’m fine. And besides, I just met you and…” Julie began to state, but stopped when she looked at him closely, noticing his features for the first time. He was thin with visible cheekbones and a few age lines on his face. His nose looked thin, like he maybe had some work done, but nothing super extensive. He had some stubble around his cleft chin, an obvious sign he hadn’t been out in a while.
Then there were his eyes. It was the first time Julie had seen them. They were brown, a deep brown that reminded her of Hershey Kisses chocolates. Warm, kind, but filled with long suffering pain and sadness.
“You’re all alone, aren’t you?” Julie asked softly. Dave nodded slowly, his face showing more signs of age, past sadness and deep, aching loneliness. Julie reached out and touched his arm, watching him flinch from her touch. It startled her greatly and made her heart ache. What happened to this guy?
She knew it was going to bite her in the ass later, but after taking a deep breath and dropping her hand away from Dave’s arm, she held out a hand for him.
“Alright, you can join my walk, but if you try something, I swear I’ll scream bloody murder.” Julie relented, but warned. Dave gained a smile, a small, but sad smile and took her hand.
“Thank you.” Dave thanked, bowing slightly in gratitude. Julie smiled, nodding her head and mentally thinking to herself “What the hell are you doing?! This guy looks like he could be old enough to be your dad, and you’re letting him walk with you?! Are you fucking nuts?!”
‘He’s alone, and he’s hurting. Didn’t you see his eyes? Such pain, and such sadness, he’s been through a lot already.’ Her compassionate side argued with her paranoid and defensive side.
‘It could be a trick!’ Her defensive side snapped.
‘What if it’s not?’ Compassion asked back.
“Julie?”
Julie blinked several times before realizing she had zoned out. Looking around, she saw Dave staring at her in confusion, holding her hand while Tug was lying in the grass, chewing on a fallen tree branch.
“Oh, sorry, I was arguing with myself.” Julie blushed, embarrassed and pulled her hand away.
“You do that often?” Dave asked curiously.
“Sometimes, but not often. So, erm, you still wanna walk with me or are you having second thoughts about it?” Julie answered with a shrug, then asked, grabbing the fallen pooper scooper. Dave nodded yes and gestured for Julie to go on. Julie shook her head. “No, you stay at my side because I don’t entirely trust you enough, especially since I just met you.” Julie stated firmly.
“Understandable.” Dave nodded once more. Julie then gave a slight nod and they started walking, the young woman eyeing the man in suspicion, but with some sympathy. The dog at her side dropped the stick in his mouth and began trotting along side his master, occasionally sniffing the ground.
“I guess you really don’t trust me.” Dave sighed sadly.
“Not entirely. Maybe I just feel sorry for a guy who’s obviously been through a lot. What happened, dumped by wife? Girlfriend? Something personal?” Julie replied, keeping a steady pace while giving Tug some tugs on the leash when he started to pull away from the two.
“Let’s just say that some people I trusted lied to me and… bad things happened because of their lies.” Dave answered softly and sadly, looking down as he walked. Julie furrowed her brows, allowing his reply to sink in. She then glanced up at the black umbrella he held over his head.
“You know, it’s not going to rain today. Why do you have an umbrella out?” Julie inquisitively asked, pointing to the object in Dave’s hand. Dave glanced up at the umbrella and then let out a sigh.
“It’s… hard to explain.” Dave said, not really wanting to talk about it.
“What, you got sensitive skin or an allergy to sunlight or something?” Julie cocked her head, letting several of her long bangs fall into her eyes. Dave stopped walking and silently nodded. Julie stopped as well and winced, realizing she hit the nail on the noggin. “It’s the allergy to sunlight isn’t it? I mean, I know people have it. That girl in that one Extreme Makeover Home Edition episode had it. I saw that episode the other day; she couldn’t go outside unless she had layers of clothes on or an umbrella.” Julie pondered, remembering the episode she mentioned.
“Yeah, it’s something like that.” Dave whispered, stepping back as Tug darted in front of him, sniffing the grass and the sidewalk.
“Ah, I’m sorry you have that. Must suck. So, erm,” Julie nodded sadly, then made a face as she started to whisper to herself “Ok, subject changing time…” she then turned back to Dave, “So, where you from?” she asked casually, hoping it would change the mood.
“California. I… needed to get away for a while,” Dave replied, his expression darkened as a look of sadness crossed his face. “Not like it was my choice…” he whispered mornfully.
“Oh… more personal stuff?” Julie hated to press on about it, but something about him kept nagging at her. Something in the back of her mind kept picking at her, saying there was something about this man. Something odd, but special.
“Yes.” Dave nodded, replying brusquely.
“You didn’t kill anyone, did you?” Julie frowned, being blunt and getting straight to the point. Dave nearly tripped, partially due to a broken and uneven part in the sidewalk, but also for Julie’s frankness.
“How could you-,” Dave asked, first incredulously, then started to laugh, “I did no such thing!” Dave exclaimed. Julie stopped as they reached a small open area in between two houses, letting Tug go forward and sniff around.
“Alright, alright, I was just curious. Not that I know if you’re lying or not.” Julie groaned, then muttered, walking forward with Tug until the dog stopped. Dave looked away as the dog did his business in the grass. “Hey, you wanted to follow me when I was walking my dog. It’s your fault.” Julie shot at him in annoyance.
“I know!” Dave remarked, adverting his eyes.
“Alright he’s done.” Julie stated. Dave lowered his hand and turned back to face the brunette and her dog. “What, you never had a dog before?” Julie asked, a bit crossly.
“I’ve had pets before, but…,” Dave started the say, then shook his head, “Never mind. And since you asked me, where are you from?” Dave stated, then asked.
“Born in Philadelphia, stayed there until I was three. Moved a few miles from here, lived there until ’94, then moved here and lived here since then.” Julie answered, and then ushered Tug to her side and started back to their homes, Dave following slightly behind her.
“May I ask why you moved around or is that ‘personal stuff’?” Dave went on, repeating Julie’s use of the phase “personal stuff”. Julie started to smile.
“Well, the reason for going from Philly to here was due to the neighborhood getting a little crazy and dangerous for my family. My brother was finishing kindergarten and I was still really little. Plus, he was one of three white kids in his class.” Julie explained, keeping an eye on her dog as he started to pull towards the way back home.
“That must’ve been tough for you.” Dave remarked in observation.
“Not really, I don’t really remember my life there. I was really little back then. As for moving to here, my brother and I were bullied and mom wanted to move close to where she was working.” Julie shrugged, then continued as her expression darkened slightly. She then sighed and then turned to look at Dave, still walking. “The teachers also kept thinking there was something wrong with me because I kept acting and doing things that were ‘different’ and not ‘normal’. I sang, I did impressions and they thought I had multiple personalities, I drew a lot, I skipped and they thought there was something wrong with my hips, and I held the pencil the wrong way. You know they made me redo a coloring of a teddy bear because I didn’t color it brown?” Julie went on. Dave’s face softened on hearing her response.
“There’s nothing wrong with being different. And from the sounds of it, you were just having fun.” Dave remarked politely. Julie nodded solemnly.
“I know that. The problem is telling that to those teachers back there AND my first teacher here. Because I didn’t obey her insane rule of asking the other students for help before her due to the fact I was new there and didn’t know anybody, she thought there was something wrong with me.” Julie kept on venting. She then sighed in anger. “You know, just because I like to write, make videos, draw, and play video games doesn’t mean I’m not normal. I just like doing that stuff instead of going out to bars or clubs or malls every night.” She shouted in frustration. She then took a deep breath to calm herself before turning to face Dave.
“Sorry about that. I just hate what everyone thought about me when I was little.” Julie apologized with a sigh.
“It’s alright. You just needed to let off some steam.” Dave replied kindly. Julie then stopped and whispered “Ah shit” loudly to herself. Dave looked up and noticed two things.
First was that they were back to their homes.
Second, there was an older man waiting for Julie outside of her house. He stood on crutches on the front porch, frowning as he saw the young woman walk with Dave.
“Julie, who the hell is that?” The man asked, sounding very protective of his daughter. The man had short, balding gray hair and a matching beard. He had brown eyes and was quite chubby.
“Dad, it’s ok, he’s our new neighbor.” Julie remarked defensively. Julie turned to Dave. “Dave, that’s my dad, Robert. Dad, this is Dave Michaels, our new next door neighbor.” Julie introduced the two men. Robert pulled himself up and hobbled over to the two while Tug kept pulling on the leash, wanting to run over to the approaching man.
“Nice to meet you, sir.” Dave smiled, extending a hand to shake. He then noticed the cast on Robert’s right leg. “Oh wow, what happened to your foot?” Dave asked in surprise.
“Motorcycle accident.” Robert replied with a sly smirk while Tug danced happily around at his feet. Dave raised an eyebrow.
“He’s lying. Busted it up while getting out of the bathtub.” Julie stated with a smile. Dave winced in sympathy.
“You know, you look quite familiar, like I’ve seen you before. Have we met once before?” Robert asked curiously.
“I… have that kind of face. It was nice to meet you, Mr. Shields. I need to get back to work.” Dave smiled politely, then noted.
“Oh, you work at home?” Julie wondered.
“Y-yes, I help run a news site at home as an editor.” Dave replied, a bit hesitantly to Robert and Julie’s ongoing confusion. Dave cleared his throat. “I really must be going. It was nice meeting you two.” Dave remarked, turning to leave. The father and daughter, plus their dog, watched the walking enigma they had just met walk away and enter the house next to theirs.
“Weird guy.” Robert commented a few seconds after Dave disappeared inside.
“But lonely. Something happened to him, something bad, and it hurt him. I don’t know what it was, dad, but it must’ve really had a serious effect on him.” Julie put in frowning, confused and concerned about the mysterious neighbor they had just met.
So, what does everyone think? Should I work more on this?