North America / California (The Shrine Auditorium): February 24th, 1993.
(Crystalline's POV)
I sat back in the luxurious chair with one leg crossed elegantly over the other and stared out at the room full of polished smiles, fake claps and expensive desperation while the audience settled themselves back down after my entrance and the orchestra melody softened in the background.
The crystal drenched train of my gown was spread around me like spilled moonlight and my bodyguards had already stepped back into their positions, their eyes scanning the room while mine did the same but with much more disdain.
Garry was still on stage smiling like he knew a secret and said while adjusting his suit jacket "Now that the academy has finished apologizing in bulk, let's get back to the actual categories before somebody else walks in looking like they own the building and ruins the little self-esteem the rest of us still have left."
The audience laughed loudly.
I picked up my champagne glass and took a small sip while thinking with a resting bitch face behind my smile "Too late for that punk. Their self-esteem has already been buried under my train"
Mariah leaned in slightly and whispered with bright eyes "You still have your categories coming up"
"I know. I'm not deaf." I said calmly while looking ahead at the stage.
Mariah blinked and sighed softly while michael chuckled into his champagne glass.
Berry adjusted his throat and muttered underneath his breath "Let's just hope they don't act blind tonight."
The audience quieted down as garry opened another envelope and said with a grin "Alright ladies and gentlemen, let's start making people emotional for real now. Our first category tonight is best female R&B vocal performance."
The huge screen behind him lit up.
The names started appearing.
The camera flashed over each artist in the room.
And then my face appeared on the screen.
CRYSTALLINE ALINA KNOWLES: THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR.
The audience clapped loudly.
I gave a small wave with a graceful smile and thought with cold eyes "As they should. I carried that song on my back and made it walk."
Garry adjusted the envelope in his hand and said dramatically "And the grammy goes to…"
The room went silent.
"Whitney Houston." Said garry with a wide smile.
The audience burst into loud applause and cheers.
I stared ahead with the same smile on my face while clapping elegantly and thought with a resting bitch face "Of course. They finally invited me just to remind me they still know how to play in my face"
Whitney stood up with a beautiful shocked look on her face and made her way to the stage while the camera flashed all over her.
Mariah glanced at me carefully and asked softly "You ok."
"I am fine. The night is still young." I said calmly while clapping.
Whitney gave her speech with tears in her eyes and sat back down to another loud wave of applause.
Garry waited for the crowd to settle and said with a chuckle "Alrighty then. That was emotional. Let's see if we can do it again or at least make somebody in the room reconsider their entire team."
The audience laughed again.
"Next up, Song of the Year." Said garry while opening another envelope and then gesturing toward the screen.
The screen lit up again.
The names rolled by.
My face appeared again.
CRYSTALLINE ALINA KNOWLES: A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME.
The audience clapped and some even cheered louder this time.
I looked up at the screen for a moment and thought calmly "This is one of the strongest songs in the entire room, if they snub this one too then they truly have no shame."
Garry smiled and said "And the grammy goes to…eric clapton."
The audience clapped loudly.
My smile did not move in the slightest.
I clapped with the rest of them and thought while looking down at my manicured nails "This is why I don't let institutions decide my worth because these people are musically unwell."
Berry let out a long slow sigh and muttered "Unbelievable."
Michael looked at me carefully and asked in a soft voice "Would you like to step outside for a moment."
"No. I want to see how much more disrespect they can fit into one broadcast." I said calmly.
Mariah covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing.
The next category came.
Record of the Year.
Again my face was on the screen.
Again the audience clapped.
Again the anticipation built.
Again I lost.
This time to a man I knew damn well could not stand in front of one microphone with one orchestra and one spotlight and do what I could do.
I smiled and clapped elegantly and thought with cold eyes "Good. Keep playing in my face. I need motivation."
Garry looked out at the crowd and said with a nervous chuckle "Well now. This is becoming one of those nights where some tables are a lot quieter than others."
The audience laughed lightly though some of it sounded tense.
Then finally came Album of the Year.
The room visibly sharpened. People sat straighter. Shoulders got tense. Smiles got faker.
The screen lit up and my album title appeared large and bright against the black background.
CRYSTALLINE ALINA KNOWLES: NEW ERA.
The audience clapped loudly.
I leaned back into my chair and thought while looking at the screen "If they snub this too then they're not even trying to hide it anymore."
Garry opened the envelope very dramatically and looked down into it with widened eyes and said with a smile "And the grammy for Album of the Year goes too…"
A long pause.
"Unplugged by eric clapton." Said garry with a small laugh as he clapped.
The audience erupted.
There was clapping.Cheering. Standing ovations from certain tables. A complete ringing silence inside of my head.
I sat there for a moment with my smile still on my face while my fingers tightened around the stem of the champagne glass.
"One…two…three…four. Breathe. Don't catch a case over a gramophone, alina." I thought while taking a slow breath through my nose.
Mariah looked at me with wide eyes and whispered "Crystal…"
Berry was absolutely still.
Michael lowered his eyes.
I set the untouched champagne glass down on the table with a careful little click and stood up.
The people around our table glanced at me.
The camera almost caught me but my bodyguard shifted slightly and blocked the line of sight perfectly.
"I'll be right back." I said calmly.
Mariah blinked and asked lWhere are you going."
"To keep myself from being featured on the evening news." I said with a smile while turning and beginning to walk away.
Berry immediately stood up halfway and hissed underneath his breath "Don't leave. Don't give them the satisfaction."
I paused for a moment and looked back at him with a very fake gentle smile and said "Oh don't worry. I'm not giving them satisfaction. I'm collecting myself before I start telling the truth."
I continued walking away from the table.
The crystal train followed behind me with two bodyguards lifting it elegantly while the other three made space.
Garry was still up on stage talking through the next category but I had already tuned most of him out by now and was making my way toward the side aisle near the orchestra section where the lighting was dimmer and the cameras less invasive.
I stood there for a moment looking at the audience, the stage and the glittering gramophones in the distance and thought with cold eyes "They gave me eleven apology trophies and four public slaps. Cute"
Back onstage Garry was wrapping up another category and suddenly glanced around dramatically and said into the microphone "Now hold on a second. Is it just me or does the room feel slightly more dangerous than it did twenty minutes ago."
The audience laughed nervously.
Garry squinted out toward the tables and said "Actually where is crystal. She came in like the queen of a crystal empire, got handed eleven legend awards, got nominated for half the building and now…poof. Gone."
The audience laughed louder, the cameras swinging across the tables.
Mariah looked off to the side. Michael lowered his head. Berry rubbed his face tiredly.
Garry kept going with a grin "You know if I were her I'd disappear too. At that point I'd be backstage checking whether these gramophones were real gold or just decorated guilt."
The audience howled loudly.
Berry suddenly appeared at my side like a rich old ghost with bad stress and shoved a spare microphone into my hand underneath the curtain of my train and whispered harshly "Do something before I lose my damn mind."
I stared down at the microphone for a moment and then at him and asked calmly "Are you trying to get me banned from the academy."
Berry's face twitched and said in a whisper "Just sing."
The room was still laughing at Garry's little jokes.
Garry adjusted his tie and said into the microphone "I mean where is she. If anybody sees a platinum blonde billionaire in enough crystals to blind an entire state, please point her toward table twelve, the academy still has categories left to lose her in."
The audience laughed again.
I looked at Berry. Berry looked at me.
Michael from the table looked in my direction and widened his eyes slightly like he already knew exactly what was about to happen.
Mariah sat up straight.
I took one slow deep breath and began walking toward the side of the stage.
One bodyguard tried to follow but I lifted my fingers slightly and he stopped.
Garry was still smiling when he noticed movement from the side of the stage and said with a dry chuckle "Oh no. There she is. Ladies and gentlemen I would like to apologize in advance if the academy has just accidentally awoken something."
The audience burst into laughter.
I stepped up onto the stage slowly with the microphone in my right hand and looked at garry with a calm smile.
He blinked and said with a grin "Ms knowles, I was just kidding. Mostly."
I looked at him for a moment and said calmly while cutting him off before he could continue "A house is not a home."
The room fell silent instantly.
Garry froze. The orchestra behind me froze.
Berry closed his eyes at the table. Mariah's mouth fell open. Michael leaned forward with his elbows on the table and a look of complete focus on his face.
I lifted the microphone to my lips and started singing in a low register, my new warm, husky and mature like voice wrapping around the room like expensive smoke.
"A chair…is still a chair. Even when there's no one sittin' there." I said singing in a low register while holding the note midway with masterful phrasing and no instrumental behind me.
The audience was absolutely silent.
The orchestra men looked at one another with confused looks on their faces, trying to find the melody on the fly.
"And a house…is still a house. Even when there's no one there to hold me tight." I said singing in a low register while sliding up the register gently and bringing it back down with crystal clear control.
One pianist slowly found the key.
A soft chord came in.
Then a violin.
Then another.
The orchestra scrambled like rich men trying to fix a public disaster in real time, catching up to me as I continued without ever looking back.
"A house is not a home…when there's no one there to hold me tight…" I said singing in a mid register while gliding across the stage slowly and holding the notes longly with my left arm spread slightly.
The room stayed completely silent except for the growing melody behind me.
The orchestra had found me now.
I looked out at the audience with heavy eyes and thought while still singing "This is what a robbed room sounds like."
"You climbed the stair and turned the key…oh please be there. Still in love with me." I said singing in a low register and sliding up to a aching high pitch with perfect phrasing, the pain in the lyric settling over the whole auditorium like a curse.
People had stopped pretending to sip their drinks. Stopped whispering. Stopped breathing normally.
Mariah had tears in her eyes already.
Michael looked like he was witnessing a holy event. Berry had both hands over his mouth.
Garry slowly backed away from center stage with a look of complete disbelief and muttered into his dead microphone "Oh my god."
I closed my eyes and let the orchestra rise with me.
"I'm not meant to live alone…" I said singing in a mid register while holding the note very longly and stepping forward into the center spotlight.
"Turn this house into a home…" I said singing while sliding higher with a painful elegant ache in the tone, the whole room absolutely still.
The violins swelled. The piano deepened.
The orchestra was fully with me now, chasing the shape of my voice like they had no choice but to follow.
"When I climb the stair and turn the key…" I said singing with a heavier emotional rasp now, gliding from low to mid and then higher again while my left hand trembled outward.
"Please be there…still in love with me…" I said singing in a very high register while holding the note longly and making the air in the room feel thin.
The audience was already done. Completely done.
Some had their hands over their mouths.
Some were crying. Some were staring like they had just realized what real humiliation sounds like when wrapped in beauty.
I took one deep breath. My eyes opened. My chest lifted.
I said singing in a crystal clear, bell-like, very high register all the way up with no fear and no strain at all "I'm not meant to live alooooooooooone."
The note rang through the shrine auditorium like glass splitting in heaven.
It climbed. And climbed. And climbed. A very high sustained note. Sharp. Pure. Elegant. Cruel.
The orchestra nearly collapsed trying to stay underneath it.
The audience exploded before I had even fully come down from it.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." Said the crowd loudly while standing up.
I descended gracefully from the note, my eyes cold and my face calm and sang lowly into the microphone one final time "Turn this house…into a home."
Then silence.
Complete.
Stunning.
Breathless silence.
I looked out at the standing audience for a moment, then calmly pulled the microphone away from my mouth, smiled and threw it across the stage.
*CLANK*
The microphone rolled loudly across the floor.
A couple of the orchestra members jumped.
Garry's mouth was open.
Mariah stood up first clapping and screaming.
Michael stood right after her. Berry remained seated for a moment with his head bowed like he had just seen god and then finally stood too.
The whole shrine auditorium erupted.
I slowly took one step back. Then another. Then with impossible poise I curtsied all the way to the floor, elegant and controlled, my arms spread wide as the crystal train pooled around me like shattered light.
The audience screamed louder.
"AHHHHHHHHHHH. WOOOOOOOOOO." Said the crowd cheering loudly with a roar.
Camera flashes wildly.
I rose back up gracefully, gave the audience one final soft smile and turned around before anyone could say a word.
No speech.
No thank you.
No acknowledgment for the academy.
Nothing.
I simply stepped off the stage and started walking.
My bodyguards moved immediately.
Two lifted the train. Three formed around me.
I kept walking.
Behind me the audience was still screaming and clapping. Garry was trying and failing to speak. The orchestra looked shell-shocked.
Mariah was half crying. Michael had one hand over his heart. Berry looked like he was trying not to have a stress induced funeral.
I made my way down the side aisle and toward the exit with one thought "If they wanted me there so badly they should have known better than to seat me in a room full of thieves and expect me to smile pretty all night"
The huge double auditorium doors opened.
The cold california night air hit my skin.
And without turning back once, I left the grammys behind me.
*DOOOM*
…
THE END…