Blanket

          We all stare at Dad in disbelief. He's never yelled at us before. Everyone steps back one time and stand in silence.

          "Did you hear me?" Dad booms. Paris shakes at his tone, but steps forward to answer.

          "I did it, Dad. I must've forgotten after awhile when I came in to get help for the ride. I'm sorry." Dad's face softens, but his eyes remain hard. Now it's my turn to speak up. I walk forward slowly, next to my sister and straighten my posture.

          "That's not true. The ride was perfectly fine. Paris just decided to leave her up there. The poor thing was freezing." Paris gives me the side eye, but keeps up the act.

          "Maybe the ride was slow--"

          "No, it's not slow. I sneak out my window all the time with Skyler to ride the rides at night. The Ferris wheel is anything but slow" I say quickly, cutting Paris off. I can tell from the narrowing of Dad's scrutinizing stare that I slipped up big time. I clear my throat and go in for a lame save.

          "Can you please focus on the problem at home? Paris left Ella up there to freeze. We might not have noticed her absence if it wasn't for Skyler's freaky universe reading skills." Skyler hits my arm hard. I roll my eyes in remorse.

          Dad's deep brown eyes are still scrutinizing all four of us. His eyes are cool and angry, but he says nothing.

          "Go to bed. All of you, we'll talk in the morning" Dad says in a hard tone. We all run off, the stairs rumble under or pounding feet. Before I make it to my room however, I feel someone drag me from behind with my shirt collar. After one big yank I'm on the floor. I look up to see an amazingly pissed Paris.

          Shuttle-bugs.

Paris

          I immediately hold blanket down, pinning his arms and legs. Before he can even say anything, I'm throwing punches at him in seconds, landing blow after blow on his puny little chest. I was livid. I hear several people coming down the hall and up the stairs, due to Blankets screaming. I feel delicate, cold hands pull me off him. The hands turn me around until I'm facing Ella. She looks tired, but her sapphire eyes are as icy blue. She uses her one free hand and slaps me in the face, hard. My face is turned to one side as she presses two fingers into my neck. I pass out immediately.

Ella

          Paris' body is limp in my arms as I hand her to her older brother. I walk over to a hysterical Blanket. I kneel down and cradle his fetal body. He's frozen into position. I rock him back and forth on the floor, looking up to see a very stressed out Father. He sighs.

          "Can you please take Blanket to bed Ella? Everyone else go to sleep. I need to think." Everyone nods and scurries off. I lift up Blanket's body princess-style. I walk to his room, lay him down, tuck him in, and leave a kiss on his forehead before going back to bed.

Michael

          I walk into my study and sit down in the chair. I close my eyes and think.

          What the hell am I going to do? Everything's moving way too fast. Too many things have happened in the seventy-two hours. It seems like Ella's causing problems without even being a troublemaker. I sigh in despair.

          "What am I going to do?" I moan. I hear a pair of heels walk into the study. I open my tired eyes slowly to see a worried Michellé. She walks closer and cups my cheek in a mothering manner.

          "Are theur alreight Mr. Jackson?" she asks sweetly. I nod slowly before vigorously shaking my head. She gives me a sympathetic smile and hug.

          "Go to bed, Mr. Jackson." I widen my eyes at her in shock. She had instantly lost her thick Yorkshire accent with the language. She giggles at my shock as she leads me to my room. Once we're there she closes the door behind her as she leaves the room. As soon as my head hits the pillow, I fall asleep from mental exhaustion.

Genevieve

          "Abeje, come with me, Abeje" I say, guiding the young girl toward the doctor's facility. The young girl cowers, but I gently place my hand on her small, seven year old back, and gently push her forward. She goes without hesitation now, walking with me towards the facility.

          I love this volunteering. We're distributing vaccines in Nigeria. It was excellent timing, since my daughter, Ella, is recording an album, my other daughter, India, the sweet thing, and is visiting a friend in California, same area as Ella. Jerry, my other daughter, is in college already, and Angelo, my son, was accepted into a summer Europe retreat. My husband, Christophe, is on a Europe business trip, conveniently, so Angelo stays with him. Leaving me and my trip to Nigeria!

          Abeje and I walk into a doctor's office after I check her in. there's a television in the office running Nigerian news with an English caption. We're in an urban part of Nigeria.

          We both watch as the news soon switches to our dear Michael. I laugh a little, remembering our time together. I watch on in curiosity.

          It looks like he's taken another fan to the hospital.

          "No reports on what condition this young girl is in but reports have described her to have curly brown hair, blue-green eyes, pale skin and about five foot eight." I laugh at the reporters description. Sound so much like Ella, except she's 5'5". Speaking of Ella, I should call Benetta.

          "Hello?"

          "Hi Benny, how's Ella and India?" I ask, giving Abeje a reassuring squeeze.

          "They're great, did you wanna talk to them?" she asks.

          "Yes I would love to." I hear ruffling sound and some conversation before India comes on the phone.

          "Hey Indie!"

          "Hey, Mom. How's Nigeria" she asks solemnly.

          "It's great. Is everything okay over there?" I ask carefully. India breathes out deeply.

          "It's Ella. Ever since we got off the plane, she left. She hasn't been here for days. How come she gets to go out and record and I get monitored everywhere" India whines. I stop dead in my tracks.

          "What do you mean she hasn't been home in days?" I ask cautiously.

          "I mean she hasn't been home. Something about, ‘Going to find her real dad.' She can be so stupid sometimes. Christophe is in Europe."

          "Indie, watch your words.  What do you mean she left to find her real dad?" I ask frantically.

          "Yeah, she just took a cab there. And get this, she asked the cab to take her to Neverland. Silly, Ella, she's so stupid--"

          "Watch your language!"

          "Sorry" she says meekly. I sigh.

          "It's okay Indie; I'll talk to you later, alright?"

          "Okay, love you."

          "Bye, love." I hang up and go on to my phone to look through plane ticket bookings. Too bad there won't be a California flight from going west until I head back home. I'm determined though, to see my daughter, and stop this damage.

          I walk out of the facility with Abeje, who now has her vaccines, and find my boss.

          "Hey Ginny--"

          "Sorry Aaron, but I have to go and find my daughter.  I was really looking forward to helping this year." He gives me a warm, reassuring smile.

          "It's alright, Ginny. There's always next summer. You go ahead and do whatever you need to do. I'll see you back home." I smile at his kindness.

          "You're the best friend ever" I say giving him a quick hug before walking away.

          "Hence the name ‘Best Friend', Ginny. See ya later!"

          I run to my car and drive to the hotel I've been staying in. I arrive there shortly, pack the few items I had, load them and head towards the western part of Africa. I'll stop in Ghana, where my sister's husband's parents live, and visit them for a bit.

          And then off to Cali.