Fireworks 1 and 2

Jungle: Chapter Ninety-One

    "TMZ has learned that Mia Thomas has been hospitalized for exhaustion after collapsing onstage during one of her tour show performances with rapper Drake. Drake was reportedly at her side as she was being admitted, but she has had a tough week after being attacked by now deceased Oakland Raider Trevor Riley."

    "Welcome to The View. Today's topic is Mia Thomas, and the recent grievances she's had to go through, from getting attacked by Trevor Riley, to witnessing his death, to now falling over while onstage with Drake at their Cleveland show. We have a video clip of her dropping to the floor. The reports are saying she was hospitalized for exhaustion or fatigue, but this undoubtedly has to do with the recent events. She's been through so much - and really, when you break it down, she was nearly a rape victim. I mean...if we're being honest, right? Everyone is talking about this, and the same question keeps coming up. Is this a topic that Mia is going to speak on? Or is she going to hide behind stories of exhaustion and fatigue until this story blows away? And furthermore, when a celebrity goes through an event like this, is it their responsibility to come forward to the public and speak on it? Celebrities have voices that are heard above and beyond the average person. Is it a celebrity's responsibility to address situations like this so that we, as a society, can try to help find a resolution, or way to prevent instances like these from happening in the future?"

                                                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Drake told Mia not to turn on the television mounted in the top corner of her hospital room. Whenever he stepped out to take a call, she would flip on the television anyway. She saw the stories. She saw, first-hand, that all media outlets were asking the same question. Would she speak out, or would she stay silent?

    After hearing the advice Bey had for me, I have to speak out. I have nowhere near her level of influence, but Whoopi was right about one thing: my voice is heard more than the average person. If I can at all help prevent even one person from being assaulted the way I was, it would be worth speaking out. There is no doubt about that. Seated in her hospital bed, she wrapped her arms around herself, replaying last night's events in her mind. After her fall, the first face she saw was Drake's. He'd been leaning over her, looking completely distraught and pain-stricken. The audience was buzzing with concern and worry, but the minute he helped her to her feet, the audience erupted in applause and screams of support.

    "We're ending the tour early," Drake had told her.

    "No, we're not," she argued with a frown while struggling to sit up. "We're finishing out the tour. I just..." She glanced towards the crowd. "I'm going to sit at the front of the stage, instead of dancing around the way I usually do."

    His brows drew together. "You don't have to do this, Mia."

    She reached up and touched his face. "Yes, I do, honey." Stretching an arm out to the audience, she asked him, "Do you hear that? Can you hear them? The love they're showing for me, for both of us right now?" Her eyes welled up with tears. "I can't leave them early, not after they spent the time to come here to see both of us. I'm up. I'm good. I'm going to give them a show. It might not be the show they deserve, but I'm going to give them all I've got."

    She'd given Cleveland her entire heart last night. As soon as the lights went down, Drake lifted her into his arms and carried her offstage. He barked orders at his crew and their fleet of cars barreled down the highway towards the closest hospital.

    All night, all she could think was of how grateful she was for him, how much she loved him. Her love for him was so strong that all of her fears temporarily took a backseat. Then she was lying in a hospital bed and he was slumped back in a chair beside her hospital bed, and she was alone with her thoughts - and her fears. The feelings of being violated returned, and every dull thud she heard through the thin walls of the hospital room caused an immense about of dread coursing through her body.