North America / United States / Texas / Houston (Knowles Residence): March, 1994.
It was a quiet morning for the world.
Which was suspicious.
Quiet mornings were usually just loud mornings waiting for mankind to finish drinking coffee.
But if you just stayed silent for a moment and sat in the silence.
This one.
This one was different.
(Crystalline's POV)
I was currently sitting at the breakfast table wearing a silk robe, fuzzy slippers, no makeup and enough irritation on my face to make the newspaper in front of me look personally responsible for what was printed inside it.
ALFRED SAMWELL DEAD.
BUSINESS TITAN SHOT BY SON DURING BOARDROOM HORROR.
I stared at it for a moment as I took another bite of out of a big egg filled burrito.
Selena sat across from me drinking a cup of coffee.
Big mama was beside her, buttering her toast.
Nobody spoke.
I finally swallowed and said calmly with a smile "Well…"
Selena looked over her cup.
I turned the newspaper around and said "Checkmate."
The dining room went completely silent.
Selena slowly lowered her coffee cup and asked "Crystal."
"What." I asked innocently.
Selena was silent for a long moment and said "A man is dead."
"A racist man." I said calmly with a roll of my eyes.
"A dead racist man is still dead." Said selena Immediately with a serious look on her face.
Big mama bit her butterd toast and said flatly with a uncaring look on her face "Both can be true, but who gives a shit."
I pointed at her and said "See. Wisdom."
Selena rolled her eyes.
I looked back down.
The article wasn't funny.
Not really.
Jonathan had shot alfred multiple times after alfred threatened jasmine.
There were witnesses.
There were cameras.
There was no mystery.
No conspiracy.
No strange man disappearing through a back door with a silenced pistol and a conveniently foreign passport.
Jonathan had murdered his father in a boardroom full of people.
"That stupid motherfucker." I thought with a sigh.
Not alfred.
Jonathan.
Alfred had been many things.
Cruel.
Racist.
Arrogant.
Dangerous.
But above everything else alfred had been predictable.
Jonathan wasn't.
I had watched that man spend years swallowing pieces of himself around his father until apparently there had been nothing left inside him except a trigger finger and bad judgment.
Selena stared at me for a moment and asked quietly with creased eyebrows "Have you spoken to him."
"No." I said calmly while wiping my mouth with a napkin.
The dining room was completely silent.
"Are you going to." Asked selena with a serious look in her face m
I stopped chewing.
"I don't know, but what I do know is that tit should eat your food and stop trying to act righteous all of a sudden."
Big mama rolled her eyes and said "Yes you do alina, she also has a point selena, put your old wig back on and get the bed rocking."
I looked at her.
Big mama continued eating.
I narrowed my eyes and asked "Why do old people always answer questions nobody asked them."
"Because young people waste too much time trying to find answers to them." Said big mama as she picked up a cup of water.
I stared.
Big mama stared back.
I sighed and said "I hate this house."
Selena smiled into her coffee.
*RING*
The telephone rang.
I didn't move.
*RING*
Selena looked at me.
*RING*
"If that's another reporter tell them to fuck off." I said calmly as I was about to pick up another burrito.
Big mama narrowed her eyes and asked "Want me to tell them alfred killed you."
I looked at her and started laughing.
Selena sighed and said with a mutter "Both of you need church."
I adjusted my throat and finally reached over and put the phone by my ear and said "Hello."
"BITCH."
I immediately pulled the phone away.
Whitney.
Of course.
I placed it back against my ear and said "Good morning to you too."
Whitney's voice exploded through the receiver.
"Jonathan shot alfred…" Said whitney from the phone with surprise.
"So I've been informed, how do you even know about any of this."I said immediately with a bored and confused tone
"In a boardroom…" Said whitney Immediately, trying to delay the response to my question.
"Apparently he likes witnesses, now answer my question you crackh…I mean you bitch" I said calmly with a dry tone.
The dining room was completely silent.
Heavy.
"Crystal." Said whitney from the phone.
I rolled my eyes and said with a sigh "What."
There was silence.
"You alright." Asked whitney with a more serious tone from the phone.
My smile disappeared.
There it was.
The question everyone kept asking lately.
After mia.
After the grammys.
After alfred.
After london.
After people tried reaching inside my family because destroying me apparently had become too difficult.
I leaned back and said with a real, drained sigh "I'm tired."
Whitney became quiet.
I looked through the windows toward the morning sunlight outside.
Not physically tired.
I could sleep.
I could vacation.
I could disappear into some expensive house where nobody knew the address.
That wasn't the problem.
I was tired of waking up as crystalline.
The records.
Contracts.
Tour dates.
Studios.
Award shows.
Photographers.
Executives.
People thinking they could decide what I should sing.
People asking when the next album was coming before the current one had finished selling.
I loved music.
That was exactly why I could feel myself starting to hate everything around it.
Whitney was silent for a long moment and asked quietly from the phone "How tired."
I rubbed my forehead and said "Enough."
Silence.
Whitney knew me.
Which was unfortunate because people who knew you couldn't be distracted with bullshit.
"Are you thinking about quitting." Asked whitney from the the phone with surprise.
"No." I said Immediately.
I didn't hesitate.
Never.
Music belonged to me before the industry ever did.
"I'm thinking about leaving." I said calmly as I stared out the window of big mamas house.
Yes.
After everything, she decided to come back to it.
"That sounds like your quitting." Said whitney with a sigh from the phone.
I chuckled and said calmly "No, bitch. I'm stepping away."
"For how long." Asked whitney Immediately
"I don't know." I said Immediately with a roll of my eyes.
That answer felt strange.
I usually knew.
I knew the note.
The arrangement.
The contract.
The percentage.
The room.
I knew when people lied before they finished lying.
But I didn't know what happened after music.
And for once that felt exciting.
I was silent for a moment and said quietly "I've been doing this most of my life. Maybe I want to see what else I'm good at."
Whitney snorted and said from the phone "Your getting on my nerves."
"Already mastered that, spending money, being professional. Cussing and being Legendary." I said calmly with a sigh.
Whitney laughed.
I smiled.
"Don't disappear on me." Said whitney from the phone with a sigh.
I sighed and said with a smile "I won't."
We spoke for several more minutes before hanging up.
I placed the telephone down.
The dining room was completely silent.
Selena had been watching me.
"Yes grandmother, what can I do for you." I asked calmly.
Selena had a surprised look on her face and said "You actually meant it."
I knew immediately what she meant and said "Yes."
Selena leaned back and said "No album, tours or any other of that fun stuff"
"Be serious right now. I mean what I say. Back me up get big mama." I said while glancing at her.
*SNOOZE*
I looked flabbergasted.
Big mama looked me up and down.
I ignored her picked up my plate and stood up.
Selena was silent for a long moment and asked "What are you going to do."
I stopped.
There were companies.
Film.
Television.
Fashion.
Beauty.
Production.
Property.
Philanthropy.
Things I hadn't even thought of yet.
For years the world had handed me microphones.
Maybe I wanted to see what happened when I put one down "I'll figure it out."
*RING*
I stared at the telephone and thought "I need to have this phone removed from this house. It's been here even before I was born."
I picked up the phone and placed it by my ear and said calmly "What."
My attorney's voice came through.
"Good morning to you too." Said my attorneys voice from the phone.
I closed my eyes and asked with a sigh "What happened now."
"Jonathan samwell requested to see you, should I tell him to kiss your ass ms knowles." Asked my attorney with a fake giddy tone.
My eyes opened.
The room became quiet.
Selena watched me.
Big mama apparently woke up at a convenient moment and groggily looked at me.
I was silent for a moment longer and asked "Where is he."
"Tch…london." Said my attorney calmly from the phone.
Likely thinking I didn't just hear him click his fucking teeth.
I looked at the newspaper again on the dining table.
At alfred's photograph.
At jonathan being escorted away.
At blood drying beneath a boardroom table.
I thought about saying no but then remembered big mama.
I sighed and said calmly while rubbing my forehead "Get the plane ready."
"There's something else." Said my attorney from the phone. His tone rather to calm.
"What." I asked with narrowed, cold eyes.
My attorney was silent and said "The academy called."
I frowned.
"The academy of what." I asked coldly.
"The academy of awards." Said my attorney calmly from the phone.
I blinked for a moment and smiled while saying "They're planning a special musical performance."
I waited.
My attorney adjusted his throat and said "They want you to perform for them."
"That's not unusual." I said calmly with no surprise.
"They also want whitney houston." Said my attorney calmly from the phone.
I raised an eyebrow.
"Luther vandross." Said my attorney calmly from the phone.
The other eyebrow rose.
The phone was silent for a moment.
"And mariah carey." Said my attorney calmly from the phone.
I became silent.
Big mama rubbed her eyes for a moment and said "What happened."
I slowly smiled.
Maybe I wasn't music wasn't finished with music quite yet.
"Tell them yes." I said calmly with a smile.
Selena frowned and said with narrowed eyes "I thought you were stepping away."
I ignored her and picked up the newspaper
I folded alfred's face in half and thought calmly while looking off into the distance out of the window "One last time."
Just.
One.
Last.
Time.
…
THE END…
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