Chapter 14: Never Forget You

“You stupid fool; you nearly burnt the house down!” Jaime Ross yelled at her eleven -year -old daughter Jaden. The beautiful young girl with a head full of sun-kissed brown curls peered around the living area from where she was hiding. “I’m sorry mama,” the young girl heard her own voice quivering. “Me, Justin, and Josh were really hungry. S- so I tried to make us something to eat since you said you weren’t gonna be back anytime soon.” Jaime turned away from cleaning up the burned debris from the chicken Jaden attempted to cook and gave her a disgusted look. “Something to eat?!” she scornfully spat out. “You kids eat too damn much! You should know to make a peanut butter sandwich!!!”

“But mama, there wasn’t any peanut butter or nothing. There was only a chicken. That’s why Jadie tried to make us food.” Jaden’s twelve-year-old brother Justin said. He didn’t want their mother to fully blame the incident on Jaden. She had attempted to make fried chicken while helping him and Joshua with their homework. Time had flown by and before she could remember the hot contents on the stove, it was too late. Smoke evolved from everywhere in the kitchen. Thankfully, she remembered in science class to always put out a grease fire with flour. The fire died down, but by the time Jaime arrived back from another night of binge drinking, the lingering smoke caused mild smoke damage to the kitchen.

“You shut up, you!” Jaime yelled at Justin. She already felt the guilt flood her once again. After all, what kind of mother would go out during the week to drink without AT LEAST leaving her children something to eat? She was young and wasn’t a perfect person and her children were all she essentially had in her life. But years of resentment on her ex- husband Leroy had made her take her bitterness out on her children. Being condescending and rude were the only ways she could display her “love” for them. Her golden eyes moved back toward Jaden’s matching eyes and immediately she felt anger again. Her anger was far more felt than the accident that had just happened. Her daughter was beautiful, had good manners, was incredibly smart (she almost always got straight As), and incredibly talented. She heard her controlled, sound voice singing multiple times. It scared her how breathtaking she sounded at such a young age. She knew Jaden would succeed and go places in her life, but she dared not tell her this. In a nutshell, Jaden was everything that she never was or never lived up to be; for that, she was very jealous of her.

She pointed her finger at her, glad to have something to torment her about. “You are a stupid little *****!” she spat out at her. “What idiot would leave the stove with a bunch of fried chicken cooking? Huh? We would be homeless all because of you!”

Jaden bit her lip to keep from crying. She knew if she cried, she would get it even worse, by either a spanking or more verbal abuse. She turned to look at her brothers who could only give her sympathetic looks. The two of them didn’t understand why she always got it the worst, when she was the only girl and not even the eldest. “I-I’m sorry mama,” she mustered up to say. “We were doing homework, and I didn’t pay attention. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.” Jaime scuffled pushing away any sadness she felt as her daughter gave her a pitiful look. “I don’t want to hear it!” she yelled. She threw the dish towel she was holding to clean and walked toward Jaden. Jaden began to shake and took a few steps back as she saw her drunken mother walk haphazardly toward her. “Come here!!!!” Jaime yelled as she grabbed Jaden by her hair.

“Owww, it hurts!” Jaden yelled, fighting back tears. “Shut the **** up, I don’t care!!!” Jaime yelled. “You’re never gonna leave ANYTHING unattended again, are you?” She pulled her hair tighter, causing Jaden to whimper. “ARE YOU???” she asked. “Nooooo…..I won’t, I won’t!” Jaden cried. She wanted the pain to end, both physically and emotionally. Jaime finally let go of her hair and pushed the little girl out of the way. “I’m going to take care of some business,” she said. The children clearly knew that “taking care of business” was going out for more drinks.

She came back and stood face to face with Jaden. The young girl could smell her foul, alcoholic breath. “I want this ENTIRE kitchen clean before I get back and I want it spotless! If you don’t, YOU won’t have a place to stay. Do I make myself clear?” Jaden swallowed and nodded, scared for her well being. “Yes….” She whispered. Jaime gave her an evil smirk, feeling an accomplishment in “loving” her daughter well enough. She left, slamming the door to the small house. Once she left, Jaden let her tears out as she continued to shake. Her brothers sandwiched her, not knowing what to say or do. It was typical of their mother to go off like that, but she had never threatened to kick Jaden out. “We will help you clean everything,” eight-year-old Joshua offered. “Don’t let that woman’s words hurt you sis,” Justin finally said. “You’re not any of those things she called you.”Jaden looked at her brothers with a feeling of pain and love. “She won’t hurt us one day,” she finally spoke up. “When I make it…when I become someone….she won’t be able to hurt us again…….”


Jaden woke up instantly, slightly shivering. She had broken out into a cold sweat and her breathing was labored. She looked around the room to remind herself where she was again; it was 3 a.m. She had spent another night at Neverland with Michael and the children. The two of them fell asleep together on a couch in the movie room. Jaden didn’t even remember falling asleep; she only remembered watching something on television and talking to Michael.

She sat up, rubbing her arms to keep her warm. It didn’t take her long to realize that she just had another one of her recurring nightmares. It seemed that her tormented childhood seemed to haunt her, no matter how hard she tried to put it behind her. Her mother’s abuse still haunted her to the present day. She didn’t want to hate her mother; but she couldn’t love someone who had hurt her so deeply in her young life. It was because of her that Jaden would wake up at night from having a nightmare about her mother causing her pain and sorrow in her childhood.

Michael awoke when he felt Jaden sit up from the couch. He opened his eyes and wondered why she sat there rubbing her arms all of a sudden. Was it something I did or said? He thought to himself. Maybe I’m moving too fast. Maybe she doesn’t feel right laying next to me yet. “Are you okay baby?” he asked, raising his body up. Jaden gasped and turned around, not expecting him to be awake. “Oh. I’m fine.” Jaden tried to smile. She felt bad for waking him up and didn’t want him to be worried about her. “You can go back to sleep. I’ll lie down soon.”

Michael didn’t buy her smile. He had gotten to know her well enough to know when she was putting up a front. “What’s wrong?” he asked. “You look tense, and you are shivering. What did you dream about?” Jaden gave him a surprised look as Michael wrapped a blanket around the two of them. “Can you tell I just had a bad dream?” she asked. “Well I’ve had a share of some not so good dreams, so I sorta know how a person is after they have had one.” Michael replied. Jaden sat in silence, not knowing what else to do. Michael turned Jaden’s face towards him and looked her in the eyes. “You know whatever you say stays between the two of us,” he assured her. “You can tell me anything. Did you dream about your past?” Jaden looked down. She realized that her new man knew her so well so soon that it was scary.

“Yes,” she whispered as a couple of tears slid down her face. Michael noticed and wrapped his long arms around his young girlfriend. “It’s okay baby, it’s alright.” He comforted her as he gave her some tissues.
“Just let it out. I know you have been holding a lot in for a long time.” As Jaden finally cried into Michael’s chest, she knew that she had been keeping the pain to herself for far too long. Writing music had been her only way of dealing with the emotional scars, but she knew she had to confront it sometime in her life. After a few minutes, Jaden’s sobs subsided. “I try not to hate her Michael,” she began. “But I feel like she hated me first.” Michael immediately felt her pain and wanted to tear up himself. He knew she was talking about her mother’s abuse. He knew how she felt because he used to get nightmares about some things that were done to him by his father as a celebrity child. “I know Jade. God I know.” He said. “It’s because of her that I can only go a few days without having a nightmare about what she did to me as a child!” Jaden yelped. “I felt like she never loved me. She never believed in me It was like she never wanted me there. She would hurt me in so many ways… she had a personal vendetta against me.”

“I know you’re hurting still,” Michael told her. “It may take a lifetime to get over what has happened to you. But you’ve gotta learn how to forgive and forget. Maybe you should talk to her, let her know how you feel. Then you can move on with your life.” Jaden closed her eyes and leaned her head against his chest. “I-I don’t know how to talk to her,” she admitted. “It’s hard, I’m not even going to lie,” he told her. “But it’s the best thing you can do for yourself. I had to do it with Joseph. I’m not completely over it, but it took a burden off my shoulders.” Jaden sighed. She knew he was right. “I don’t know baby,” she said. “I just wanna focus on my music career right now. I know I will have to talk to her soon though.” Michael nodded as her stroked her hair. He didn’t want to force the issue. Everyone had to come to terms with their demons somehow. It took him a long time to have a deep conversation with Joseph. She’s an intelligent woman; she will make the move when it is right he thought.

Being held by her new boyfriend, the King of Pop and finally talking about her issues made Jaden feel better about her situation. She looked up and gave Michael a genuine smile. “Thank you for listening. You made me feel so much better.” Michael smiled back, glad to have helped the situation. “Anytime you need me, I’ll be here for you. Even if that means that I have to charge you for my services.” Jaden giggled as she reached for a couch pillow and playfully hit him with it. Michael laughed as he kissed her lips softly and pulled her close to him. He cut on the television and they found something to watch. He loved having her around and hoped he gave her as much joy as she had given him.

Indeed he did and Jaden felt herself falling deeply in love with him….