PLEASE COMMENT, THEIR ARE NO QUESTIONS AT THE END BECAUSE I COULDN'T THINK OF ANY SO YOU'RE GONNA NEED TO COMMENT AS YOU READ.
"Families are messy. Immortal families are eternally messy. Sometimes the best we can do is to remind each other that we're related for better or for worse...and try to keep the maiming and killing to a minimum."
― Rick Riordan, The Sea of Monsters
Jay POV
I took notes in my mind the same way I wrote a rap, I did it step by step where one thing lead to another. Where all of the words lead to one big sentence that explains everything, that summaries the reason for those words.
On December 4th 1980 I was born.
On September 4th 1981 she was born .
On June 3rd 1998 She was lost.
On November 8th 2001 she was found.
On December 30th 2001 she became mine.
I wasn't fond of plane rides, I hated them in fact. I hated how the lift off always made my stomach turn, I hated the fact that one error could kill me, I hated being stuck with a whole bunch of people I didn't know for hours on end, I didn't like the smell or the food or the silly fucking TVs you watch while travelling. Worst of all I hated the autographs. Very quickly I went from a nobody to one of the best rappers in the world, (Not to brag but my 7 albums have all achieved much more than I thought they would, I have awards and shit already. Who would've guessed?) But I got on a normal plane with everyone else and I wasn't even sitting in first class; that was a mistake wasn't it? I'm grateful for the fans, for the people who go and buy my music and the people who support me but can't I get a little space to sleep on this fucking plane. Every second was something new, "Mr Jay Z!" Or, "Can you sign this for me?" And "Hey do one of your songs" and I wasn't enjoying it at all. That was probably evident on my face, Curtis said I never looked happy to see people and it probably threw a lot of people off. I honestly don't mind, I am never happy to see a lot of people but I guess that's what comes with being all famous and shit now. People want to meet you and see you and talk to you but they don't even know you.
I don't want to be remembered for how nice I was, or the kidnapping of my girlfriend or what shoes I'm wearing and what food I got on the plane so I don't know why they're asking me questions like that. I'm not famous because of anything but my talent so they have no need to come to me and say, "Hey, did you know that the kidnapped girl was in your house the whole time?" Or "Are you a criminal too?" Does either of those things make my talent any less or more special? I didn't get it. I couldn't understand why all of a sudden my personal life meant so much to so many people and I didn't like it, I didn't want them to ask me what underwear I was wearing or my favourite food because I think people need to get over themselves. My underwear and food doesn't give me my talent, I do, so really it has nothing to do with them. It's the same in interviews, I go to promote an album but they're asking about where I live now and If I've seen my family lately. Why does any of that matter? I guess there's nothing I can do about it because that's how the media is but I really want to keep somethings honest and precious and mine, while other things I am willing to share and contribute openly. Open: My talent, what I think about sport or some shit like that, funny jokes. Closed: My home life, my girlfriend, my house, my family to an extent. I'm not afraid of my past and I'm not gonna hide it, some people need a reality check- shit happens. Get over it. I don't mind telling them where I came from to hopefully encourage other people in similar situations and to show those who don't know what it's like how it is an will be for a very long time. I'm okay with that. What I'm not okay with is them asking me if I have a girlfriend and who she is and if she's Beyoncé.
ONE DAY EARLIER...
"So a lot of people have seen the footage of you saving Beyoncé Knowles from captivity, no one really knows what happened in the almost 4 years she was kidnapped so no one really knows of your relation to her. The two of you have been seen out since, you released a song together and she's also in high demand within the music industry, tell us about the relationship between the two of you" The woman doing the Interview was too nosey for my liking. She had a short black bob and pale white skin and wearing a formal suit, this TV show was probably one of the most formal I had ever been on but I didn't dress like it. I was still wearing my Roc nation chain, my hat, my jeans and timbs. Nothing special.
"Well I lived next door to her for a very long time and witnessed how hard she worked, she really is very talented and I respect her as a up and coming artist who I'm sure will be a phenomenal super star in time. She deffinately deserves to be as famous and successful as possible, in my opinion if she hadn't been kidnapped she would already be a house hold name. She had an audition for Columbia and now she's got a contract, true artist." I avoided the question and answered at the same time, a skill I had learned when I was young and dealing with the cops. I am sure she noticed my drift away from the question but she didn't bother ask again or re-emphasise what she wanted from me and I was cool with that.
NORMAL TIME
"Mr Carter, we're here" One of the air hostess' told me as she leaned down toward me, I looked up at her and she smiled. She had white teeth and a dark red lip stick which showed on her pale skin and her hair was pulled tightly into a blonde bun as she wore her purple uniform.
"Thanks" I nodded before looking over at Carl who was asleep in the chair next to me and laughed a little, I had really built some sort of friendship with him over the time he had been my driver and I liked it, I didn't do that often so it meant a lot to me and he was a really funny guy. "Car, wake up." I shook him a little but he didn't move, "BACON!" I yelled at him and he quickly popped up fast making me laugh hard.
"Ughh don't do that to me man, I could have died" He explained as he fixed his hat a little and I just laughed at him and he pushed me, "Fuck you Jay" Carl was wearing his uniform for some reason and he tried to fix it a little, pulling at his jacket over his large belly and I just continued to laugh. You would have laughed too if you had seen how fast he got up and the look on his face too. "C'mon, we got places to be" He tried to pull his large body out of the seat and struggled a little before stumbling to his feet and looking down at me before I got up.
Today was a big day for me, I was meeting with my family and see my new home. I brought it while I was on tour and spoke to some contractors and all that shit about getting it to look perfect for me, I really wanted to spend more time with my family this year and decided to get some spare rooms if anyone ever wanted to stay over and I have a big kitchen and all that. My condo has 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 living rooms, 1 huge kitchen, a really big outdoors space and a screening room that I doubt I'm gonna use.
Gloria POV
I was sat on the couch in the living room reading a book desperately trying to Finnish it before I had to go and look after the kids as usual. I often found myself with a book in my hands but my attention drawn away to the many kids running a muck in my house getting into all kinds of trouble. My daughter Michelle had four sons: Mel, who was 9, Joviah, who was 11, Jasper was 12 and Colleek who just turned 14 a few days ago. Then my other daughter Andrea had two sons: Marvin, 4 and Cameron, 3 before her daughter Jessica who was only 1 years old. And finally my son Eric found himself with one child, the worst of them all, Lia. Lia is only 3 years old but she's a handful to say the least, they all are and in times like this where they have all come to see grandma it's a little too much to handle. How would you do it? 8 kids running around playing games and you know they're going to get in trouble at some point, they always do.
I placed the thick book down on the couch, my living room wasn't special. I had a TV placed upon a cabinet filled with more books, there was a table in the middle of the room with a book on that, three couches (all black) and a white carpet. There were shelves on the matt grey walls which held photo frames and small things no one gave much attention to any more.
"Granny!" One of the voices yelled, it was a boy- I didn't know which one- but it was one of them. One year I had them all wearing name tags because I kept getting them all mixed up every time they came to visit, that's not my fault. Their parents should try to have a more of a variety in their children's looks,
"What do you want?" I called back, "I aint got no money fo' yo' ratty ass!" I yelled as I stood up from the couch and fixed my dress pulling at the sides gently as I tucked a braid behind my ear and began walking in the direction the voice came from.
"There's a paedophile at the do' " He yelled back, the fuck this kid talking about paedophiles for? Ain't no damn paedophiles knocking on my door. I picked up my baseball bat not knowing who it was and saw Joviah standing there in front of a man. All I saw from behind the door were his shoes and his feet seemed pretty big. I walked forward a little bit with the bat in my had tightly before the man spoke,
"I told yo skinny ass I ain't a damn paedophile" The man replied, I chuckled lightly knowing exactly who was at the door and placed the baseball bat down on the ground before leaning on the wall to see the two of them talk. Joviah didn't know who it was but then again he wouldn't we haven't seen Shawn in years and I've only spoken on the phone with him. I missed him a lot and now he's all over the TV making momma proud. I really am very proud of him.
"Yes you are" Joviah answered. Joviah wasn't the most welcoming, usually if some bill collector or someone asking for money from a charity came to the door people would send Joviah to the door to get rid of them. It was funny.
"No I'm not you little pussy" Shawn better watch his language around my grand babies. Knowing Joviah he was likely to curse right back at him,
"How would you know? You look like you ain't got no pussy 'coz no girl like you" Told you. I wasn't going to let the tow of them continue with this because it wasn't going to lead any where good. I knew them both very well and they were very similar.
"Alright guys shut it!" I yelled as I walked over to the front door and held it open before looking at my sun. He smiled brightly, he smiled like that as child, I remember him smiling at me all the time. He was a mommy's boy, very special and kind and had a beautiful heart. "Gimme a hug" I held my hands out for him and smiled while my eyes filled up with tears. I missed him so much. Looking at him just made me think of when he was a little boy holding on to my legs tightly because he didn't want to leave me alone.
"Mom!" He yelled before hugging me so tight my feet were lifted off the floor. Man when did this boy get so big? I chuckled as he hugged me before he placed me down and kissed me on the cheek. "Man, I missed you" He hugged me again. This felt magical, Like I had been reunited with a lost family member who I hadn't seen for 50 years. Being away from your child isn't the same as being away from any other person because time moves different;y. You realise that you're missing all these mile stones in their life and it's as if one minute is equal to a thousand years. In the blink of an eye you can miss their first steps, their first kiss, their first girlfriend and their first love. You can miss them becoming themselves and realising who they are in the world and after the age of 8 years old I missed all of that in my child life so that he can have a better life. So we all can have a better life. I missed a lot but I promise to never miss that much again and never leave him in the hands of a murderer, or a kidnapper or anyone who might harm him in any way because he's worth so much more to me.
"Shawn" He pulled away from me and smiled down at me, "Tell me everything" I pulled him into the living room closing the door behind me and we sat down with the kids on the carpet all waiting to hear his story attentively. All wondering who he was and where he came from, some of them recognising him from TV but all of us connecting with him on a family level. A family he hadn't been around for a very long time and very quickly I could see who he was going to get along with the best. Colleek - who was sat next to him and Lia- who was sat on his lap. He started from the beginning.
On December 4th 1980 he was born.
On September 4th 1981 she was born .
On June 3rd 1998 She was lost.
On November 8th 2001 she was found.
On December 30th 2001 she became his.
And in the middle were all the facts and story lines of what I had missed out, what the kids wanted to hear and what he went through growing up and how my brother treated him compared to everyone else. But also how it was time to let him go, to let Curtis go and move on. Move on with her.
THANK YOU FOR READING.