Smile

Chapter 4

February 30th 1988 (1:12 pm)

"D-Do you have a notebook I can borrow?" Mariah nervously asked Michael.

Michael turned his head around to look at her and chuckled. "You don't have to be nervous I'm a person just like you are." He assured her.

You may be a person but you're still Michael Jackson

"there's a few empty notebooks in my suitcase and you can one of them." He continued.

Mariah nodded with her arms behind her back, she stood there for about 10 minutes and Michael noticed "What's wrong?" He asked her.

"Can you get it for me?"

Michael lifted himself up from the couch and walked to where his suit case was. He quickly unzipped the suit case and grabbed a black notebook with a golden butterfly in the corner. He went back to Mariah and handed her the notebook. "I don't know where I got this one from but you can have it." He said.

Mariah smiled and held the notebook in her hands staring down at it. "Thanks." She replied and grabbed a pen off the table. She then sat on the floor and started jotting down lyrics.

Michael noticed though he couldn't see what she was writing. "What are you writing?" He asked her clearly confused.

"Uhh I'm writing...." she paused trying to think of what to say. She didn't want to tell him about her passion and love for music because she didn't want to seem like an opportunist. "I'm writing..... a to do list." She lied.

"Oh." Michael replied.

Who writes that much on a damn to do list? He thought to himself.

They both sat in silence for a while both doing they're own activities. Michael decided to start up a conversation to get to know her better. "What's your favorite color?" He asked her.

"Pink." Mariah replied, still writing in the notebook and extremely focused. "What about you?"

"Red." He said back. "What are you writing now? It can't still be a to do list."

Mariah shrugged her shoulders still staring down at the notebook. "Um... Poetry." She lied once again.

"Can I read?" He asked.

Mariah had only written a few lines of the song and they could pass for poetry, she decided she'd let him read it because she needed feedback anyway.

Michaels eyes scanned the words written on the paper.

Swept me away
But now I'm lost in the dark
Set me on fire
But now I'm left with a spark
Alone, you got beyond the haze and I'm lost inside the maze

"Wow." Michael said very impressed. "Though for some reason this seems like a song, when I read it I hear a melody behind it. You should write a song can you sing?" He asked her.

Mariah immediately started talking fast. "Oh no I can't sing at all, I couldn't sing if my life depend it, I'm an awful singer and I could never-"

She was interrupted by Michael bursting into a fit of laughter. "A yes or no would've been fine." He joked.

Mariah smiled as Michael handed her back her notebook. "Thanks, anyway I think I'm going to go outside to get some fresh air." Mariah told him and started slowly walking to the balcony. She shut the hotel rooms doors and closed the curtains.

She grabbed a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of her waistband that she stole a few weeks ago and grabbed a single cigarette out of the carton.

She light the cigarette and started smoking it.

She hadn't had a cigarette in days and though she wanted to kick the habit it's not easy when you've been smoking since the age of 12. Mariah started softly singing to herself noticing that the cigarettes were taking a tole on her voice, still she continued smoking the cigarette.

She threw it off the balcony and walked back inside.

February 31st 1988 (6:34 pm)

"Pat stop crying you look stupid, why do you even still want that half breed bitch?" Marvin asked her annoyed.

"Marvin don't call her that!" She retorted tears streaming down her face.

Pat was distraught, she hadn't heard from Mariah in 3 whole days and she was beyond worried. "What if she got kidnapped?"

Marvin rolled his eyes and turned up the television. "Yeah yeah keep crying over that ugly bitch." He muttered.

Patricia snatches the remote out of his hands and through it across the room. "That's all you do!" She shouted angrily. "All you do when your not at work is sit on your ass, insult my daughter and call her racial slurs, beat us and watch T.V and spend all our money on alcohol and food for yourself leaving me and Mariah unable to eat for days at a time!"

Pat quickly regretted her decisions to stand up to him seeing the anger that grew in his eyes. "You don't talk back to me, you know what fine. I'll find the little whore." He got up and approached the phone hanging on the wall. He dialed in Sherry's number and waited for her to answer.

"Hello?" Sherry asked.

"Hey, look is do you know where Mariah is cause Pats over here having a bitch fit." He asked.

Sherry rolled her eyes. "Well when we were at the concert one of Michael Jackson's bodyguard or whatever he was took her backstage, she called us after the concert and apparently she was out having dinner with Michael Jackson, now that I'm thinking about it it sounds crazy but she has no reason to lie." She explained.

Marvin smirked, he had a idea.