SWEETHEART • MJ [ORIGINAL]

Eleven.

"MAMA, YOU AND Daddy are always fighting." Zuri whined to her mother, pouting in the most adorable way. Though, she wasn't trying to be adorable. In fact, she was extremely sad. "Can't you stop?"

"Daddy has done some terrible things, Zuri, baby." Linda sighed, wishing she could just get out of her marriage sooner than the process was taking. She was tired of arguing with her soon-to-be ex-husband. Moreover, it was every time that she came in contact with Paul, her anger arose.

"No, he hasn't." Ariah muttered under her breath, which caused her mother to raise an eyebrow at her.

"What did you just say, Ariah?"

"Nothing, Mum." Ariah turned to look out of a nearby window, rolling her eyes at her mother's disbelief in the man she was soon divorcing. "Nothing at all."

Mrs. McCartney just sighed. "It's getting to the point of such ridiculousness."

"I know." Ariah agreed with her mother. Linda was always blowing things out of proportion and accusing Paul of all kinds of crazy things that everyone knew he would never dream of doing. "You oughta talk things out with him, Mum."

"You betcha I will." Her mother spoke quickly and tied Zuri's shoelaces up and left the room, most likely to find Paul. Ariah sighed and placed her little sister back on the floor from her seated position on top of her mother's dresser.

"You want to play?" Ariah faintly smiled at Zuri, but shelooked even sadder than before. This worried Ariah. This worried Ariah a lot.

"No." Zuri whispered and she looked very sad. Ariah already knew that her little sister was really sad about her parent's divorce, but they all were. "I don't want to do anything."

"Do you want to talk, maybe? Perhaps, watch Sesame Street or The Jetsons with me?"

"No!" Zuri suddenly bursted into tears and wiped her eyes, obviously trying not to cry anymore than she was. Ariah was shocked and she blinked back tears herself, just watching her sister deal with the family's trauma in her own way. "I'm really sad and I just really want to be alone, Riyah." The little girl ran out of the room and Ariah heard her little footsteps running down the stairs. Where little Zuri was going, probably to cling to her parents as usual. Yet, they were in the middle of a verbal argument as this was normal in the McCartney household.

Zuri wasn't the only person in the family heavily affected by the divorce and all of the bickering though. It was taking a toll on Ariah and sometimes, the fighting between her parents was way too much to bear. She went into her room, trying to block the sounds of her parents' booming voices, but they seemed to get louder as time went on. It was hard to escape.

However, Ariah had an idea. She looked at all of her posters on the wall, her favorites including her father and his former band, Lionel Richie, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and The Jetson family. She sighed, looking at her collage full of Jackson Five posters. The several pictures she had of Michael on her wall were exclusive. Yet, she started taking everything off of her wall.

Ariah grabbed a Pink Floyd backpack out of her closet and stuffed all of those posters in as neatly as she could. Those very posters were items that represented the young girl as an individual and she didn't want to be careless with them.

Then, she went into her closet, grabbing two pairs of shorts, pairs of knee high stockings as well as a pair of Scooby Doo knee high socks, and a bunch of Beatles t-shirts. She stuffed them in her backpack as well. Her bag wasn't too spacious, so she couldn't bring too much to wherever she was going. She grabbed a pair of Chuck Taylor's, the classic black and white ones. She had tons of shoes and outfits, but she decided to leave those behind. She grabbed a few pairs of aviators that she had and stuck them in her bag, hoping they wouldn't break on her journey.

Ariah sighed heavily, hearing her parents argue. Their voices seemed more audible, which let the young girl know that they were closer to her room in this moment. The girl felt like she was tensing. She felt uneasy and she thought she could have been experiencing a full-on panic attack, which she had never felt in her entire life.

Ariah paced her room in circles, trying to calm herself down. Her anxiety was at an all time high, for no reason in particular. It seemed strange to her because her body had never responded this way to the frequent bickering always coming from her parents.

"Ri, you're okay. Stop it, now." Ariah mumbled to herself, taking deep breaths and trying her best to think of happy thoughts.

The young girl saw a notepad in her room on a nearby shelf and she found a pen nearby. She began to write a note to her sister, Stella.

Sis, I need some time to myself without all of the arguing. It's too much. I know you might think I'm crazy for wanting to escape, but I think I am crazy. You get to spend time out with Jason, so you're not here to witness all of the fighting like Zuri and I. You might not understand how much of it's taking a toll on me. Zuri, she's heartbroken. I am the same, if not worse because seeing my baby sister so sad breaks me. I hate it. I hate them always arguing. I hate feeling sorry for our family. I hate the speculations the media makes about us. I hate the accusations Mum makes about Daddy. I hate everything and I have to escape, I just have to do it. I'll be back soon, don't come looking for me. I'll be okay. I'll be safe. I love you. -Ri

Ariah folded it up into a tiny piece and she left it on her dresser, hoping Stella would notice it when she got home from her date with Jason. The young girl sighed and went out of the room, went downstairs, and out of her home to escape her typical lifestyle for a little while. In the note to her sister, she said that she would be okay and that she would be safe. In all reality, Ariah didn't know where she was going or when she was going to be back. Hell, she didn't even know if she was safe. She couldn't be more frightened.

--

I never thought to clarify this, but Ariah's name rhymes with Mariah. It's not Ah-ree-ah.

Dedicated to these girls out here drippin' in finesse: shamones & kxnyewxst!