sebastian wasn’t one for big gestures, especially at work. why would you want everyone mingling in your business as if it doesn’t happen enough? nonetheless clementine’s birthday was coming up soon and sebastian wanted to do something lowkey and special for her. with a small bouquet of differently arranged white flowers in one hand and her grande caramel cloud macchiato with blonde espresso in his other, he made his way into masters’ bright lobby. clementine looked good, she always looked good. knowing how sebastian was with his birthday, he popped in behind her at the desk and placed the flowers down next to her monitor. “i didn’t forget the scoop of vanilla bean this time,” he said with a wink. before he left her station completely, he pulled out one last item and placed it next to the flowers. a brand new copy of ‘Where the Crawdads Sing’ by Delia Owens. “when you have the chance. take a look inside” and with that he was off to his office to swaddle some excel spreadsheets.
Do you think your father would want you to treat Clementine the way you treat her?
“Jokes on you, my father relinquished any right to feel any kind of way about how I do or do not treat that woman due to not saying a single word about her while both of us were alive.
And you know, just to be clear, this question suggests I’m treating her shitty - she’s the one who just dropped into my life out of the blue, told me so much of my life was a lie and then keeps insisting she had it hard. My reaction is entirely accurate and understandable and if you don’t think that, you can just shut up.”
“Breaking news! From unnamed sources we’ve learned that international superstar, Tamyra Williams’ private plane has not landed at Heathrow Airport in London. According to our sources, the plane was supposed to land hours ago and nobody has seen or heard from the plane since it left LAX at the scheduled time. Authorities declined to comment at this time. Our good wishes go out to Tamyra Williams and everyone else on the plane, hoping for their safe return soon.”
Lanelle Williams was sitting in the living room, the tv quietly going in the background while she was going over her script pages for the next day. She was in the middle of shooting a (relatively) smaller part in what she hoped to be a big blockbuster movie in the theaters next year. If everything would go well, her role in the second movie would jump from a small role to the main character, where she truly would get to shine - the whole arc of the character through the two movies as a whole was what sold her on taking up the role in the first place.
Khalon was somewhere in his study, working. She wasn’t exactly sure what project he was working on, or if he was even working on any project at the time - he just stormed off in the middle of dinner and hasn’t emerged since, something that has been happening more and more lately. She enjoyed the quiet for now, but she knew in an hour, maybe two, either Khalon would emerge from the study to make amends, or she’d go look for him and try to smooth things over. It was never one clear person, who initiated at all times, and Lanelle was okay with that.
She didn’t pay attention to the tv, it was just a background buzz mostly - she couldn’t learn the lines in complete silence, she never could, she needed something. What did catch her attention, though, was Tamyra’s name, and she looked up to see what they were saying about her daughter. She assumed it would be about a new project of hers, or maybe some paparazzi got a shot of her arriving in London on her way to Nakeisha, and they decided breaking her privacy like that was newsworthy.
When she looked up at the screen, though, she frowned. Not the imagery she was expecting. As she started paying attention to what was being said, her stomach started to sink and a cold, indescribable, horrid sensation settled inside of her.
“KHALON!” she called for her husband, but no reply. “KHALON, YOU NEED TO COME OUT HERE.” The desperation and panic in her voice was apparent, but she couldn’t move from where she was sitting.
“For fuck’s sake, Lanelle, I need more time, whatever it is, it can wait!” bellowed, annoyed and frustrated. Lanelle, for once, didn’t care one bit.
“KHALON, IT’S TAMYRA, COME OUT HERE AT ONCE!” She was screaming now, her hands slightly shaking, her brain telling her that it couldn’t be it. It couldn’t be true, that her baby girl was all right and well and it must have just been some kind of delay. Her plane probably landed earlier somewhere else for some technical reasons.
By the time her husband came out, the report was done and the news anchor moved onto something else, nothing at all important or news-worthy, as far as Lanelle was concerned. She wanted more information about Tamyra. The fact that nothing important was on the tv, though, meant that Khalon got even more pissed when he thought he came out of his study for nothing.
“Well? What was so important? She didn’t call, I would have heard the phone ringing, so what could it possibly--”
“They say her plane didn’t arrive.” The words tumbled out of her like a plea, almost as if Khalon himself would whip out all the evidence as to why Tamyra couldn’t be hurt, why she had to be okay, but instead he just stared at her like she lost her mind. Maybe he wasn’t that far away from the truth, especially if this news was true. “The news. They said her plane hasn’t arrived yet. And it should have, hours ago. Hours, Khalon. She would have already called at this point, if everything went okay.”
“She went to see Nakeisha, they probably got lost in catching up and she forgot to call.”
“Then why is the fucking news reporting that nobody can find her?”
Khalon was silent for one, two, three seconds, and every passing moment felt like an eternity of torture for Lanelle, even though she couldn’t think of any other valid, acceptable answer to her question. She could see Khalon’s fingers twitch next to his body, almost as if he was playing the piano, which only made her stomach sink even more. She knew every twitch, every movement of her husband, and that meant Khalon was stressing, panicking, he just had to hold it in. It was something Lanelle only really saw him on a job, when a problem arose that he had to solve, not in their house.
There was a first time for everything, it seemed. A horrible instance none of them ever considered could be a possibility.
“We need to call Nakeisha,“ he decided and strolled over to the phone and Lanelle turned back to the television. They were showing a picture of her daughter from the last event she’s appeared on - even looking at that picture hurt. Tamyra looked put together, ready to conquer the world, as always. It was such contrast to one of her latest memories of her little girl, curled up on the couch she was lying on fifteen minutes ago herself, passed out from tiredness, wearing a casual pj. She shouldn’t have let Tamyra go - but really, what could she have done to prevent this? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
She didn’t even realize Khalon had finished the conversation on the phone (or if he even had a conversation, really), one second she was staring at the television (which has at his point moved onto other news, but Lanelle could only see her daughter on the screen still), the next Khalon wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her close to his chest, gently pressing a kiss to her cheek. And Lanelle knew, before he said anything else, that he didn’t have any good news to tell her.
The tears started streaming.
“It’s been a month since internationally known and loved actress, Tamyra Williams’ plane has disappeared from its scheduled flight from Los Angeles to London. Today the authorities officially announced that they are stopping the search for the remains of the private plane and the people who were aboard on the flight, and declared them, including Tamyra Williams, dead.
The actress’ parents remain silent aside from the single statement they made a week after the disappearance in which they’ve requested privacy and understanding in this trying times for them. Khalon Williams seemed to have postponed a project that would have expected him to be starting work in two days.”
Lanelle was sitting on the floor, her back against the sofa, as she watched the television. She had an almost empty bottle of vodka in her hand and she regularly took a swung of it (every single time she’s heard a news reporter talk about her daughter and every time she looked at the clock on the wall and realized that Khalon still hasn’t come home).
She had so many things to do - now that Tamyra has been officially declared dead, she needed to organize the funeral, she needed to actually go over to her place and pack it up, figure out what they wanted to keep and sell the rest, maybe offer it up for some charity or something. Figure out how to go on now that her daughter, her precious little daughter wasn’t around anymore, something that has never supposed to have happened. And the list of things to do could have possibly went on a lot longer.
And yet, she just sat there, in the dark at this point, drinking alcohol and letting the grief take over.
She wasn’t really sure how long she’s been sitting there for when she heard the front door open and then heard his voice. “No, I can’t do tha-- no, I’m not going to. And you have to stop calling me with this, my daughter jus-- Yes, you pointed it out but that doesn’t change the fact that Tamyra has-- I don’t know what you want from me and how else I could explain this. --No, I can’t talk right now, I just got home. --No, I’m not going to go see you, I need to see...”
This was when he walked into the living room and saw what kind of state Lanelle was in - who has since stumbled up onto her feet and was swaying in place, arms crossed, her fingers clutching onto the bottle of alcohol still. She could have thrown daggers at her husband with her eyes in that moment, if it was actually possible.
“Like I said, I have just arrived home, so I’m going to hang up now. I have things I need to take care of,” Khalon said and then hung up the mobile phone he had.
“Am I one of those things you need to take care of?” Lanelle sneered in anger.
“Honey, how long have you been drin--”
“Are we back here again?”
Khalon stopped for a moment, freezing, those fingers twitching just for a single second before he collected his composure. “Back where? You shouldn’t be drinking, Nelle. I know today has been rough, but we’ve talked about it. It’s not leadi--”
“Where have you been?”
“I’ve been out to get groceries.”
“Then where are the groceries?”
Another pause from Khalon, now an even longer one, before he let out a long sigh. “I ended up going for a drive instead. I needed to clear my head. Think.”
“Think?” Lanelle echoed, the word slurring. “You needed to think? What did you possibly need to think about, Khalon? About losing your daughter or about how to use that to fuck somebody else?”
Even the air froze around them fora moment, and thenk he spoke up again, “You’re drunk, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“So you haven’t been talking with one of your side pieces?” Khalon paused just for a moment too long. “I knew it. I fucking knew it. You know, I thought we were over this. I looked the other way, you got it out of your system and I figured we could build things up together again. And now? You start this back up now?”
Khalon pinched the bridged of his nose and Lanelle felt a surge of pain hit her heart. Just like Tamyra. “I haven’t been out sleeping with anyone, Lanelle, not now, and not for a while. I don’t know what you think you’ve heard, but it wasn’t anything like that.” He stopped for a moment before adding, “You shouldn’t be drinking. Did you open that bottle after I left?”
Lanelle shook her finger in front of him, “No, you don’t get to--” she hickuped, “you don’t get to ask me that. You don’t get to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do. You don’t even get to waltz into this house after-- after everything you’ve been doing off with your women while I am-- while we--”
The bottle slipped out of her fingers and broke on the floor with a loud crash and Lanelle realized she was crying again. She was drunk and angry and grieving and she didn’t even know what to do anymore. She looked up at her husband - probably only on paper, she wasn’t sure anymore, just like she wasn’t sure if she could take another loss -, and he hesitated for a moment before he stepped closer, cradled Lanelle’s face and pressed a kiss onto her forehead before he cradled up into his arms, rocking the two of them back and forth.
“I wasn’t seeing any women, I swear, my dear. I couldn’t do that to you, not since we lost our princess.”He ahs done it before, though, Lanelle knew that, so she was probably an idiot for beliving him this time around, but she couldn’t help it. She got lost in the comfort of his arms and when she could feel his tears streaming down, too, she forgot all the accusations. They were hanging onto each other as if their life depended on it. And maybe it has. Maybe this was the only way they could get through losing Tamyra.
(They could never properly get through it, though, not really.)
“The funeral of Tamyra Williams was held today. The news of the disappearance of the actress has shocked the entire world back in September. The talented woman was declared dead a month after her disappearance, and today her parents, director Khalon Williams and actress Lanelle Williams has held a funeral to say their final goodbye to their daughter. The couple has held an open ceremony for their daughter to allow the public to attend and pay their respects, if they wanted to - and the public wanted to. The crowd was huge, people wanting to say their goodbyes to a person who have made an impact on their lives. Once the official, open ceremony has ended, the parents held a smaller, more intimate gather of just close friends and family.
A woman who spent her entire life in the entertainment industry, delivering us movies that we will remember for years. In remembance of Tamyra Williams, you can watch Women of Life, which is considered to be Williams’ first adult role, later tonight.”
Lanelle found the birth certificate about three months after the funeral. Khalon and her relationship was hanging by a thread, but they were trying to make it work. Only they could understand the pain of losing their daughter, they had to stick together. Or so Lanelle thought.
She was drinking again - she was trying to do it less, but that only meant that she became smarter about it and hid it from her husband -, so when she found the certificate, she thought it must have been the alcohol. It had to be it, right?
But she blinked and She wasn’t even sure what she was looking for in Khalon’s study, she has forgotten about that the moment she’s seen the name on the birth certificate. Because it didn’t hit her immediately what she was holding in her hands, no. Lanelle thought it was Tamyra’s birth certificate first. Why else would any other person have her husband named as the father of the person.
And then she saw the name.
Clementine Ike. Born November 1, 1988. Father Khalon Williams.
Lanelle just stared and stared at the birth certificate, trying to force her brain to work through the haze of the alcohol and put the information together. She knew he has been sleeping around before, they even talked about it finally in the last couple of months, but Khalon has never mentioned a child. Another daughter. He said nothing was ever more than a mistake.
The timeline fit. They had a rough patched around that time, but they bounced back, and Lanelle has decided to not say anything even though she knew about the cheating. They stuck with each other through so much over the years, and they were good together, this was something she could forgive, in the end. Or so she thought.
As she was looking at the birth certificate of this girl she has never known about, she couldn’t stop thinking about Khalon with Tamyra. He was the one who started calling her their princess and it caught on. He adored his daughter as much as it was possible, he was so good and so sweet with her. They both had busy schedules, but whenever they got the chance, he was with her. Lanelle thought it was special. Lanelle thought the one woman he’d never betray was Tamyra.
And now all she could wonder if he was the same with this child, if he went to visit this Clementine more than he has seen Tamyra during her childhood. If he called this girl his princess, too. If he was finding solance in his other, new, shiny daughter after the loss of Tamyra.
This was the last staw. This was too much, even for her. She could forgive so much, she could look the other way, but a child he never told her about - what else was he hiding? How else was he disrespecting her? She couldn’t handle this, she couldn’t take this, she couldn’t just stay after this.
She downed the rest of her alcohol, packed a bag and called herself a cab. Before she left the house, she left the birth certificate and a short note on the coffee table in the living room. It read: “Don’t wait for me, I’m not coming back. Hope you’re happy with your new family. Rot in hell.”
“Lanelle Williams has filed for a divorce from Khalon Williams 8 months after the couple have tragically lost their daughter, Tamyra Williams. Lanelle Williams, in her public announcement, claimed that the reason for their divorce was incompatibility, but the two of them would always be connected through their daughter and would remain supporting friends to each other. Khalon Williams has not broken his silence over the matter yet.”
𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 : susie's room
𝙖𝙫𝙖𝙞𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙡𝙞𝙩𝙮 : for @whvmsy
‘ where should i put this ? ’, susie asked the other while her body was facing the wall in front of her. in her hands she held a fleetwood mac poster that she took to every hotel, apartment, airbnb, or generally any place she was staying at the time. ‘ god , i need to make sure to tell elli that this wallpaper needs to be the first thing to go. i feel like a light blue would look great , what do you think ?’, her thoughts spilled out of her head as she finally turned to face her friend.
when: may 29th, later than they should be staying up
where: cabin six
sloane wasn’t religious, but she was certainly praying that the camp directors wouldn’t be paying close to attention to cabin six tonight. if they did, they might’ve seen the window left open, though they’d been explicitly told to keep them shut after dark. they might’ve seen the lights left on for far too long, or the clouds of smoke dissipating into the night. all it would take was for one director to pass by, and even with their eyes shut, they’d be able to tell what was going on by the smell alone.
inside, sloane and her bunkmate were sitting on the floor, a game of crazy eights long abandoned in the space between them. sloane was leaning up against one of the bunks, sitting cross-legged in her pajamas - an oversized t-shirt that, though faded, read CATSKILL MOUNTAINS and a pair of blue cotton shorts. “oh, that isn’t too bad...” she’s reacting to the story clementine just told her, but she can’t keep a straight face. “okay,” she recants, erupting with a small fit of giggles. “maybe it’s a little bad.” sloane takes another hit from their partially finished joint before passing it off to clem.
“i’ve got another one: on my eleventh birthday, my brothers and i went to this steakhouse - oh, what was it called? i can’t remember, but it felt like a really big deal because my parents didn’t come, and they didn’t usually let us do stuff alone. my brothers kept daring me to steal something and i had already nabbed a set of silverware and a couple bread plates, but they wanted me to go bigger. so when we left i rolled up the big ass mat they had at the door and took it with me. it was at least half my height.” she smiles wistfully, remembering how she and her brothers were snickering the whole way out the door. they were a lot closer then, and she treasured these memories.
“anyway, my parents found the mat and all the other stuff in my brother’s car the next day, and they made me go back to the restaurant and return it all. i had to do a whole formal apology and everything, i was absolutely dying.” laughing at her own embarrassment, sloane shakes her head. “one day i’m going back for that thing.”
#transgender
#f1
