And now...we see Morrison perform for the first time in a long while since being ravaged by jealous students back 5 years ago and watch the full on emotions he's displaying as he gives his entire heart to everyone...


Chapter 54: Morrison's Comeback Performance

Some of the family members of the victims came up to the stage to tell the entire audience about their young daughters that were struck by Trevor and his rich goons and to spread awareness about what happens to any young girl who gets caught up in a risky situation with a guy who looks charming, but even charming guys can have a deadly side with dire intentions to trap them in a position where they will not get out of. Many of the crowd were applauding as soon as Buster introduced them and many of the family members are wearing T-shirts with a collage of the victim's faces to remember them.

"We would like to thank all of you for attending our amazing fundraiser tonight. The acts have been phenomenally wonderful and amazing. It literally lifted up our spirits in the deepest way possible. Before we bring out our next performer, we want to take some time for you all to learn about our daughters and how crucial it is to tell our story about how we lost our treasured jewels and to spread the awareness about what happens when someone who think they have good intentions but they really don't and they only want one thing that they desire to have; control, power and greed so that they can get what they came for." one parent stated.

Another parent of the victim went to the mic herself and said, "My name is Patricia and this is my husband James and this is a picture of our first born daughter, Chelsea. She was 15 years old and she has a very big heart; just giving, bubbly, trusting and friendly. Whenever you been her for the first or maybe 10,000th time, she'll treat you like a part of her family and she will always go out of her way to put others above herself. She had a bright future ahead of her to pursue theater and the arts. She was missing for 6 months and to hear the news that this monster killed her, it shook us to the core."

"My wife and I loved her with every fiber of our being, especially our 8 year son Grayson. Him and Chelsea were really close; anything she'd do for him, she'll do it with the best of her ability. That's how loyal she is towards others. I hope that every parent that's sitting in the audience or watching this on their TV, smartphone, their iPawds or any electronic device that has ever lost a child felt the same exact way we all feel." the father answered.

One-by-one, every parent of the victims had talked about their daughters that were victimized and brutally beaten to death by Trevor and his goons when each of them refused to give in to his advances and as a consequence for their good judgment, their lives were cut tragically short to a treacherous act of violence caused by an egotistical, sadistic, greedy rich kid whose only recourse is to make them suffer when he's denied his wants.

As the audience listens in both in theater as well as in TV or smartphones, there wasn't a dry eye anywhere in the crowd as most of them had the notion that most of the audience are parents in their own right and as soon as they showed the pictures of the daughters that were killed and tortured, most of the parents, whether married or single, had the same thought they had, 'That could've been my daughter' and most of the fathers were genuinely emotional and each of them looked at their own daughters and they knew that they're every father's treasure and if someone tries to mess with that treasure, they'll do anything in their power to shield it with their lives.

As a mother herself, Rosita couldn't help but relate to this story and connected with this emotionally and couldn't bear to think that something like that would happen to one of her kids as they get older and it really brought an eye-opener from a parents' perspective that those parents at the stage who were grieving over the tragic loss of those daughters that she commended their bravery to come out and make a difference in the world.

"As you leave this fundraiser tonight or finish watching it at home, I want you all to think about your daughters and realize how fortunate you are that they're still alive, that you can kiss them good night, hug them, protect them from danger and most importantly, say how much you love them. Just be grateful that they're still here with you because you never know what will happen one day. Tomorrow is never promised to you, in any way, shape or form. We all have to do our part to make sure this would never happen to any other girl or any child so that no parent would go through what we all went through." one parent concluded, emotionally on the last part.

"So, we'd like to thank you all for showing your love and support and again, our much appreciation to Mr. Moon for supporting this fundraiser and getting it off the ground. We'd like to leave you with one of the performers, Morrison. He'll be singing for you as we all show slideshows of our daughters so we can commemorate them." another parent said.

Everyone in the crowd began cheering and applauding as the parents left the stage and in comes a silhouette of Morrison, sitting on the stool, wearing dark jeans, a grey tank top, white and grey sneakers and a black baseball cap, backwards-style while holding onto his guitar. He takes a deep breath and just began strumming his guitar as it's playing a soft intro and although this is a part of honoring the victims, he was determined to go through it and just started singing this one song that is a personal plethora of what he had been through that fateful moment after the hardship he faced after the public reaction from students in his middle school heard about him sing in public.

He had just remembered everything that had happened there; the relentless bullying, being cyberbullied and cyberstalked, receiving mounds of death threats, had his family's tires slashed and enduring many ridicule from those that didn't know him and those that he used to hang out with that literally put him through a very difficult, dark period in his life. But he had been a survivor through it all and that song completely brought out a very painful, yet relatable trigger for him to perform in which he refers to as his 'personal journal' and as soon as he opens his mouth to start singing, he knew that there was no turning back and just releases his heart from his sleeve.

Well, you almost had me fooled

Told me that the world would be better off without you

Oh, and after everything you've done

I can thank you for strong I have become

Cause you brought the pain to make me hide in my shell

I had to learn how to fight for myself

And we both know the truth I could tell

I'll just say this as I wish you farewell

Little by little, all the painful memories started rising up inside him as he's trying to perform, but he knew that he has to keep going regardless and as soon as the strings started playing in the background and the projector lights up the screen behind him, showing clips and pics of the young girls that got killed by Trevor, he kept going forward with it.

I hope you're somewhere praying

Praying

I hope your soul is changing

Changing

I hope you find your peace

Falling on your knees, praying

He kept on strumming gently as the strings comes in the background speakers and the projector slowly fades and the colors surrounded Morrison shows the majority of his emotional complex through his performance, as he went from humble and quiet, to feelings of anger and frustration and it showcased through his voice that made it more stronger than ever. Morrison's family just couldn't help but be emotional about this, seeing him emotional as he's performing, but knew that he had the strength to go on anyway and couldn't be more proud of him. Plus, some of them pulled out their phones and just recorded the whole thing too.

I'm proud of who I am

No more monsters, I can breathe again

And you said that I was done

Well, you were wrong and the best is yet to come

Cause I can make it on my own

And I don't need you, I found a strength I've never known

I'll bring thunder, I'll bring rain

When I'm finished, they won't even know your name

He kept strumming his guitar and he's making it through the song okay, despite almost on the verge of breaking down in tears as he's singing and the emotional apex took all of the acts, plus Morrison's own family and friends by complete surprise as they never expected that side of him to come out in such a big deeper way and as he kept performing, he was almost in tears.

You brought me the pain to make me hide in a shell

I had to learn how to fight for myself

And we both know the truth I could tell

I'll just say this as I wish you farewell

I hope you're somewhere, praying

Praying

I hope your soul is changing

Changing

I hope you find your peace

Falling on your knees, praying

Oh sometimes, I pray for you at night

Oh someday, maybe you'll see the light

Oh some say, in life you gonna get what you give

But some things, only God can forgive

Then, all of a sudden, Morrison released his vocal prowess and an unexpected range; an upper whistle register coming out from his octaves and that made the crowd plus his family, friends and his Moon Theater crew drop their jaws in shock...especially Meena and she has never heard that come out of Morrison before and that made the crowd cheer like crazy as soon as he hit that big note while finishing off the song.

I hope you're somewhere, praying

Praying

I hope your soul is changing

Changing

He had held that 'changing' note sustained for 45 seconds, despite his voice almost giving out and took a deep pause for a second, but the emotional core hit the audience in a lot of levels, bringing the crowd, plus all the acts watching on the side of the stage in tears. Morrison lets out a painful sob as he mustered up enough strength to finish it out with a deeply pained yet shaken, but passionate final vocal to wrap up the performance.

I hope you find peace

Falling on your knees, praying...

He made the final strum and finished up the song as he lets out a deep exhale, which then lead to the crowd immediately roaring with cheers and applause as there wasn't a dry eye in the audience and when Morrison got up from the ground, he was able to see everyone just applauding for him, to the point of giving out a powerful standing ovation. Morrison blinked his eyes and wiped his eyes quickly as he just made it through performing in public for the first time. That fear has been officially conquered and he just took a bow and he even sees his little brother Tucker coming to the stage and gave him a big hug. Just from looking at Tucker's face, Morrison could tell that he's very proud of his big brother.

Tucker hopped onto Morrison's back and carried him on his shoulders and both brothers waved to the crowd and Buster comes out and said, "This kid is gonna have a future here! Give Morrison a big round of applause, folks!"

"And his awesome little brother!" Tucker exclaimed.

Morrison chuckled as he and Tucker walked off the stage and entered backstage where he was greeted by his theater friends who were watching from behind and Rosita said, "You did terrific! It almost got me to tears, Morrison."

"So did the rest of us." Joshua agreed.

"You literally made all of us cry, even Johnny. He was like breaking down with you." Ash added.

"I had...just something in my eye, that's all." Johnny said, tearfully.

Morrison blinked his eyes and knowing that he accomplished that task head-first and he hopes that this time, he will not stop performing in public and no one would make a big stink about it in the harshest way possible and Meena walks over to Morrison and she was just smiling at him and she said, "I always knew you could do it. But that high pitch...I had no idea you had that in you!"

"Yeah, neither did I! I never really noticed that I had that powerful voice...but I guess I had found it inside of me. And it's because of you. When I had very few friends, you were the only one to get me through that hard time when I was 11. So...I just wanted to say thank you for being my emotional rock." Morrison added.

"Anytime, Mo." Meena replied.

Morrison smiled at her and he was just beaming with joy that Meena became his only source of strength during that difficult time he had faced before and soon, Tucker blurted out, "When are you guys gonna kiss?"

Morrison then rolls his eyes and sighed amusedly and said, "Funny, Tuck."

Morrison then sets Tucker down and he said, "Guys, this is my little brother Tucker. Tucker, that's Rosita, Gunter, Ash, Mike, Johnny, Braxton, Joshua, Brutus, Tanner, Victoria and Emily. And that's Stars Volcano, The Rebel-Nation Army, Tiger Fury, Newfound Rebels, Jimmy and the Moonlight Crew and Breakout Mafia."

"Hi." Tucker responded.

"Hey." everyone said.

"What about Jumbo here? Did you forget to introduce the kid to her?" asked Mike.

"Meena and I already know each other. She would babysit me." Tucker replied.

Meena nodded her head in agreement as this is proven true and she said, "He's a sweet kid too. Even though he's a bit of a handful."

Tucker looks at Mike for a second and he said, "You kinda look like one of my teachers from school; Mr. Mincefine. Only he's kinda taller and big fat-headed."

Mike dropped his jaw in shock after Tucker compared him to one of his teachers and he spluttered, "Fat-headed?! That's...that's insulting!"

"I have to agree with Mike. It's offensive...to all fat-headed people everywhere." Ash pointed out.

Mike sneered at this and said to Tucker, "You're lucky that you're a kid. Really lucky, kid."

Tucker blinked his eyes at this and he turned to mostly everyone and asked, "Is he always this grouchy?"

"In a word, yes." Rosita answered.

Just then, Vincent comes backstage and he sees Tucker there and he said, "There you are. Mom and dad have been looking for you."

"Mo introduced me to some of the people and they all seem really, really nice; especially the gorilla." Tucker said, to Vincent.

Vincent looks up and sees all of them for the first time and some he's met before, including Johnny and he takes a slight chuckle and walks up to Johnny and said, "Dude...you slayed the stage tonight...and I'm very serious."

"I hope it's a good thing, yeah?" asked Johnny, a little apprehensive about the term.

"It's a good thing, believe you me." Vincent said, smiling.

As Tucker heads to Johnny's side, Vincent walks over to Morrison and with a hint of surprise and what little humility he has left, he said to Morrison, "Bro...you got your power back."

That was surprising to hear from Vincent for the first time that he's commending Morrison for something amazing and he was silent for a second as he's letting it all sink in for a while and after what he had just done, he realized that he was right. All those years of being slammed by one performance at 11 years old and now has the opportunity to regain his power back really solidified why he loved performing in the first place and Morrison lets out a soft chuckle and said, "I did, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did." Vincent replied.

"I guess I was thinking of them when I sang it and it shows that you have torn me down, but I'm still standing up like a stubborn building that refuses to cave in. I have just unleashed all of that anger, frustration, fury, hurt and everything that I had kept inside of me for 5 years and then it all ended up in forgiveness. Even when the ones that threatened my life and my talent, I can't hold a grudge against them forever. At some point, you just gotta be stronger than that." Morrison added.

"That's a perfect description." Rosita added.

"Hey, think you and Tucker can stick around backstage for a while?" asked Morrison.

That immediately lit up Tucker's eyes and got excited and asked, "Would we? Can we?"

Vincent chuckled softly and knew that there's a big vibe around the stage and he said, "Eh, what the heck?"

"Yes!" Tucker exclaimed, happily.

"Just as long as that kid doesn't come near me." Mike said, warning Tucker.

Vincent looks at Mike for a second and he said, "That might be a little bit of an impossibility."

"We can watch Meena perform." Morrison replied.


Morrison definitely brought all of his power back! That song was 'Praying' from Kesha and this chapter is actually a re-write from the original chapter I wrote with a different song choice. Hope ya'll like! Next up, Meena performs!