The Gorillaz Experience

by thirteen2d

A story about a young guitarist named Cleo Frotner as she shares her experience with a incredible British band the Gorillaz. Follow Cleo as she faces betrayal, love, heart break, and the greatest sacrafice she has to make.

1

Meet 13

Umm...You should all know me by now. Then shame on you if you don't. My name is Cleo Frotner, or 13 as I am now called, and I am the rhythm guitar, trumpet player, and female vocalist for the Gorillaz. People have heard the stories about the other's experience in the band but nobody has ever asked for mine really. So here you go.

I am originally from Sacramento California but, I decided to move to England for a change of scenery. My 19th birthday was coming up on April 13th when I finally got settled in an apartment. Shortly afterwards, I got hired at Uncle Norm's Organ Emporium. It was a nice little place, nothing really too fancy. At that time Stuart was training me. I thought he was a bit of an oddball at first. Then I got to know him better and found out that he is a pretty bright kid. Then that day happened in August. I was about to go on break roughly three hours earlier than normal and asked Stuart if he could take over the till. I got back and took over whatever Stuart was doing before. It seemed like he was zoned out at the till. About two hours later there was a screeching sound. Then Murdoc came crashing through the window in his car. Of course Stuart snapped out of his trance and well...you know what happens next. I felt so terrible afterwards. If only I had just stuck to my regular break time his eyes might be fine, however then there could have been no Gorillaz. There is always a pro and con to things. I called the ambulance and they brought him to the hospital etc, etc. I couldn't stand to work there knowing what happened.

Not to long after the incident I got a new job working as a singing waitress. That didn't work out to well. I had the voice but, I just hated the songs. On the night that I quit that job, I went to a little coffee shop near my apartment building. Seeing the "Help Wanted" sign I figured I could give it a shot. That's when I met Paula Cracker. When I got the job, Paula and I began to grow close. You could even say that we were best friends. We would have guitar sessions with each other, and we even tried to start an all female band. That ended up in a complete failure. After just a little over a year working there, with one promotion, a couple of raises, and tips from my performances, I decided that maybe I should look for a much better job.

One day, while Paula and I were closing, she mentioned something about her new boyfriend. I didn't think much of it; I was more concerned about cleaning up the cake on the floor. About a week or so later Paula told me that we were going to go out after our shift. She said that we were going to have a jamming session with her boyfriend's band. I figured, "Hey what harm could be done". I fixed myself up, grabbed my guitar and out the door we went.

When we finally reached Kong Studios I said to myself, "I think I like this place."

Paula replied, "13, this place has the spooky edge that you have,"

Let me explain...

Way back in high school I got into the whole Wiccan stuff...no not occult stuff...Wiccan… there is a difference ya know. Any who… I only did that kind of stuff just for the exciting thrill, thinking that none of the magic would ever work. However, a lot of the stuff did work. Coincidence… Maybe…. But it was still weird. One Friday the 13th a really old lady came up to me and told me that I had 13 marks from the other side or something. She told me to count all the moles on my body and sure enough there were 13. Thinking back I have noticed the number 13 popping up constantly throughout my life. 13 stitches in my head, born on April 13th, having the address 1313, my student ID was 132639, thus, giving me the spooky vibe and the nickname 13.

When we got to the door this fairly large man opened it. Paula said that he should take us to 2-D so that I could meet him.

"Hey Paula what kind of name is 2-D?"

"You'll see." she replied.

When the large man showed us into the recording room, there was a spiky, blue haired guy sitting at a keyboard with his back towards us.

"Yo 2-D, your girlfriend and her friend are here."

He turned around and there he was..."Stuart? Stuart Pot?"

I knew right away that it just had to have been him.

"13? Is that really you? Man it's been ages!"

Paula just stared at me through those dark sunglasses of hers, "13, you know 2-D?" she asked.

I explained the whole story, not the car part though. We sat down and geared up, and played a few chords.

"Right I almost forgot. Girls, this is Russel Hobbs our drummer." He gave a slight wave and went back to twirling his sticks.

Then all of a sudden the door swung open with a loud bang. Standing there was this foul mouth, disgusting man, with a bass that looked like it would sound terrible.

"Alright then, are we going to play or what?" He yelled.

"Ummm this is Murdoc Niccals our bass player," said 2-D as he slightly toke a step back.

I noticed when Murdoc walked in, Paula toke her glasses off and it looked like she was eyeing him. I thought no she wouldn't think about doing what I think she is thinking of doing. We played for a little bit and it was declared that the two of us were welcome to join the band. We both said we would love to. Eventually, after about an hour and a half or so, we called for a break. It was nice to finally be able to play in a proper band. During our break both Paula and Murdoc left. I was hoping that she would know better...then again...she has cheated before. Soon Russel left to get a sandwich or something so it was only me and 2-D. We caught up with each other, thinking that it was funny how we ended up seeing each other. He explained what happened to his other eye and how he got here. I mentioned that I also could sing, play the trumpet, violin etc. I did say that I would love to learn the keyboards as well. He offered me lessons and I just couldn't refuse them because I've heard him play before at the Emporium. We had some good laughs, remembered the good times we had, and then Russel came in. He told us what Paula and Murdoc were up to in the bathroom. The look on 2-D's face was just kind of blank at first but then it turned into rage. Paula ran in with her...well you get the picture. She tried to explain everything but I called her on it.

Standing up I yelled, "Paula that is it. This is the last straw. You are a lying, cheating, fucking, bitch, of a whore. We are no longer friends. So you can forget about all of those plans we had and stick them right up... well... YOU GET THE PICTURE!"

I looked at 2-D and told him I was sorry. I gave him my number in case he wanted to give me a call and I left. Forgetting that Paula was my ride, I now had to walk from Kong Studios back to my apartment on the other side of town. I figured it is probably for the best, I needed to cool off anyways. Then it started to rain.

It toke me about and hour or so before I got home. I happened to look at the calendar. Sure enough...it was Friday the 13th. I sat down on the couch and closed my eyes. It was only for a minute or two until the phone rang.

2

Overreacting much, I think so

On the other line was…you guessed it…Paula. She tried to explain it to me but I told her that she was mental and to shove it. I positively hate people who are like her. Cheating sluts… I quit my old job just so I wouldn't have to see her anymore. For days she kept trying to call me, but I had, had it with her. I swear she has stolen money from my wallet, and she has lied about stuff just to get out of work. Showing up drunk every once and a while to our girl's night. I mean who does that? That's what a girl's night is right?

One day I came home from grocery shopping and the phone rings yet again.

Picking it up I said, "Look, I dare you, call me one more time and I swear I will get a restraining order placed right on your ass."

"Umm, I don't fink I've ever called you before."

"Wait who is this?"

"It's 2-D. I was calling to see if you still wanted to be in the band."

"Oh! 2-D! Hi! Sorry about that. It's just that… well… she keeps calling me."

"Oh, ya… I told her that she is only going to cause more problems, so she left. But are you still in the band? Cause we could really use your voice."

"Umm ya I'd love to stay. Do you want me to stop by later?

"Ya I'd love it if you came by."

"It may take me a while, because I don't have a car exactly."

"Well actually why don't I just come pick you up?"

I said that it sounded like a good plan and shortly afterwards there he was in the buggy that you see in the "19-2000" video. When we got to Kong Studios there was a bit of a cold vibe. We walked into the living room and I noticed the fairly large collection of video games and movies on one side of the room. I sat down near them to see what kind of stuff they had. They had a really nice collection of some of my favorite movies like "Dawn of the Dead", "Nightmare on Elm Street, you know stuff like that. Everybody else was already in the room and so we started to talk about where we wanted to go with the band. We came to the conclusion that I didn't want to be the lead guitar all the time. I prefer to be rhythm; it's easier on my fingers. At one point I sat down at the keyboard and started fiddling around with it like I did when I was younger. I knew the notes; it was mainly the technique that I needed help with.

"So 13…Face-ache here tells me you can play other instruments," Murdoc said as he toke a drink of his rum.

"Umm…ya…actually I can play a few different instruments."

"Well come on then, list them off."

"Uh… Trumpet, violin, cello, bass, flute, clarinet…uhhhh…lute, zither…ummm…"

"I get it, I get it. You've played a few instruments before. But are you good at them,"

"Well I don't know about good."

"Well come on then show us what you've got!"

"Well… there is a slight problem with that. I haven't got any of those instruments anymore. I had to leave them all with my parents back in the States. Either that or I was only borrowing them. I only have my trumpet, violin, and guitar now."

"Well then. Go get them. Come on I haven't gotten all day!"

When 2-D and I came back to the studio, I set up my violin and began to play Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major. When I completed a large portion of the song, Murdoc was speechless.

"Damn girl. You can play that thing," said Russ giving me a pat on the back.

I put it away with a smile on my face as I grabbed my trumpet. I didn't know any songs off by heart for the trumpet so I decided to play a random tune. I guess they liked it because now you can hear it in "Rock the House".

"Brilliant. That was brilliant. Alright, you can play those instruments in our songs. These will sound great on our upcoming album," said Murdoc pouring himself another drink.

I was glad that I was able to get a positive reaction, even if it was coming from Murdoc.

"Wait! What about the lead guitar? I mean… during live concerts I can't do both."

"Hey Murdoc, I fink Cleo has a really good point,"

"Look 2-D. I'm the one who declares who has a good point around here. I am the leader of the band, not you. However, she's right. Now how is this going to work?"

"Why don't we hold an audition for the role?" I said as I was cleaning the spit out of my trumpet.

"I've got it! We will hold auditions for the role. Put an ad in the newspaper!"

I just blew off what Murdoc said and just said that it was a great idea. I decided that it was getting late and asked 2-D for a ride home.

When I reached my floor, I got off the elevator and saw that my door was wide open. Obviously someone broke in. Walking in with caution, there sitting on the couch was her. She turned around and stood up. I knew right away that this was going to get ugly.

3

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

"Hey hot shot, how's it going? I see that you didn't open your acceptance letter to the university yet. So I did the honors. Congrats girl you're in!"

"Paula why are you here?"

"To congratulate you of course. But no, seriously, why aren't you talking to me anymore?"

"Hmmm where do I start? 1. You cheated on an old friend of mine. 2. You stole money out of my wallet. 3. You lie constantly. 4. You are a backstabber. Not to mention you broke into my house and read my mail."

"I can explain all of those really, I swear. Just please give me another shot. Whatever happened to B. ? Please can we just be friends again."

"Why so that you can hook up with one of my other friends and then cheat on him. No thank you. Now please just get out of my house. I have rehearsals in the morning."

"Wait. You're in the band? Why are you in the band and I'm not?"

"You can't be serious. This is complete rubbish! Are you mental or something Paula? Seriously leave now before I call the cops."

"I have every right to be in that band. For crying out loud I am the one who introduced you to them. I mean really!"

"Leave me alone. I don't want to have to call the cops on you," I said grabbing the phone.

"I will never leave you alone. I am your best friend!"

"Fine if you won't leave me alone, then I'll be at the one place where you wouldn't dare step foot on," I said as I started dialing the phone.

"Oh ya, where the bloody hell is that then?"

"Kong Studios… Hi I'd like to report a domestic disturbance."

Paula came charging at me as soon as I hung up. She threw a punch at my face which knocked me to the ground hard. Grabbing my shoulders she threw me to the wall and went for another punch at my face. Thanks to all those karate lessons I toke as kid, I was able to dodge and block all the attacks. It didn't take the police very long to show up. When they did, she was arrested and I told them the whole story. Afterwards I told them that she was mental and that she should probably see a doctor. When they left I locked the door and realized that I couldn't stay here anymore. When I made the comment about moving in with the band, I was only trying to trick her. Well, I learned my lesson. I grabbed some ice and placed them in a bag on my eye. Maybe it was a good idea to move in with them. I mean after all they live together and it might be a lot easier if we were all together. I decided that I would call 2-D in the morning. At that moment I was too tired. It toke me a second to notice the open envelope on the table. Sure enough it was from the university I applied at. Pulling out the letter the first thing I noticed was, "Congratulations, you have been accepted." Sure enough that put a smile on my face, but it soon left. How the heck was I supposed to balance school, finding a new job, the band, and Paula all at once? I knew that from here on end things were about to get a bit harder than anticipated.

"OH BLOODY HELL!"

The next morning was not a pretty morning to wake up to. It was pouring rain and I had a beautiful, swollen, black eye. I said screw it and decided that maybe now was the best time to call the guys. On the other end was Murdoc's voice. He sounded pretty ticked off. I didn't know why until I looked up at the clock, yup six in the morning, brilliant.

"Why in god's name are you calling at this hour?"

"Umm, well there is something I need to discuss with you guys. Paula came to see me last night. She broke into my apartment and let's just say things didn't end to well. We came to the conclusion that the only way that I was going to be left alone was if I lived with you guys."

"Say what? You live here? With us? I don't know about that darling."

"Well just think. If I live there, then there are more opportunities for rehearsals and recording sessions, which mean that we could have albums ready like that. I mean really, it makes sense."

"BRILLIANT!"

"So does that mean I can live there?"

"Well of course you can!"

"Great can someone come by and help me pack then?"

4

Forgetting the past and moving on forward

"Sure, sure, sure, I'll get face-ache to come help you."

I got myself showered and decided to head down to the coffee shop to see if they will let me take their boxes. I looked through the window of the shop to see if she was there. The coast was clear and they let me take as many boxes as I wanted. I started packing and it was about noon when 2-D arrived with the others. We managed to get the place all packed up fairly quickly. Nobody even mentioned my eye. Murdoc told me that there was already a bedroom ready for me with a bed and dresser. It was decided that my neighbor across from me could have all the furniture. Loading up all the boxes in a rented truck, I began to feel like I was truly welcomed to the group. We got to the studios and unloaded all my boxes into a really nice open room. There was a nice queen size bed and dresser. I remember having a little mini celebration in the living room. Man that was a good night.

The next day I started the tedious effort of unloading all of my items. What seemed like forever was only really from noon to about 6pm. It made me realize that I didn't really have that much stuff. I even managed to put up my posters of some of my favorite movies. I had ended a day without Paula.

When I woke up the next day it was nice and quite. I got out of bed and decided to make everybody some breakfast. I guess the smell of blueberry pancakes woke everybody up. I grabbed the whip cream and told everybody to dig in. Within the next 15 min they were all gone… It made me laugh. I never could see myself as a cook. I was always the one who asked someone else to do it. As we were all sitting there Russel got up and got himself so more food.

"Hey 13, I didn't know you wore glasses." said 2-D as he grabbed the plates.

"Really, I've had these things for years. I can't see without them. I guess you've only seen me wear my contacts."

"Hmm fink you're right. I fink I've only seen you with contacts."

There was a bit of an awkward silence until…

"Right then, what are we going to do about this guitar audition?" Murdoc asked while pouring himself a drink.

"Yo didn't you say something about, you know, an ad in the newspaper or something Murdoc," what I thought I heard Russel say with his mouth full.

"Oh ya, that's right. I forgot about that. I fink it's a good idea. We could get some pretty nice potentials or somefing."

"Well come on then what is it going to say!"

I grabbed a note pad that was on the counter and began to write:

Guitar Player Wanted

Are you interested in joining a band?

Then come and try out at our guitar audition

Location: Kong Studios

This Saturday and Sunday from 8am-6pm

Must know how to play the guitar and not be afraid to perform on stage.

Murdoc added:

NO HIPPIES!

Next thing you know it, we got the ad space and it was ready to be put into the paper tomorrow. Soon we will have our guitar player. But we didn't think we would get her as soon as we did. That Saturday morning Noodle arrived! We were finally a band. Once we decided that she was going to be our guitarist there was a knock at the door. I couldn't see who it was because Murdoc was standing in the way. I pretty much just heard him say that we were no longer holding the auditions. I was so excited! I tried to ask her what she thought, but I couldn't understand a bloody word she was saying. She was speaking Japanese! None of us had any clue on how she got here, but we didn't care. At that moment was the birth of the greatest band to walk the earth. We were the GORILLAZ!

5

Science has to be able to explain it, it's just basic chemistry!

About a month or so later, I began to notice that 2-D was out a lot more often than usual, Noodle became my new best friend, Murdoc….well was Murdoc, and Russel was still a bit off. One day while we were all playing some games, Murdoc runs in holding a piece of paper.

"Guess what guys! We are playing our first gig at Camden Brownhouse."

We were all thrilled. We did the gig and got signed onto a contract. That was the best day for us. At the end of the show while we were packing up, 2-D introduced us to his new girlfriend Rachel Stevens. She was really nice and a much better choice. We all had a few laughs until Murdoc started butting in. You can tell that she hated him right then and there. I thought, hmm this could be a really good thing or a really bad thing. Next thing you know it, she broke up with 2-D a few days later. She said that Murdoc broke the deal and left. You can tell that 2-D was really pissed off at Murdoc the day it happened. After that happened Noodle and I left the room and chilled in hers. I was slowly teaching her English. She got the basics and she was able to sing her lyrics. When we got our pay we decked Kong Studios with the latest high tech gear. Eventually we were introduced to Damon Albarn the lead singer of Blur by Mr. Whiffy. I was so stoked to meet him in person. I have been a fan of Blur for a while now. We all eventually became close friends due to our love of great music. That's when we got to work on the "Gorillaz" album.

Eventually I started school and majored in biotechnology and robotics and minored in the performing arts. I haven't heard from Paula in a long time which was a good thing. I didn't need a job at the moment thanks to the band. So far life had been great. When I got home from school one day there was just an odd vibe in the air. I walked in through the front door and asked if anybody was there. When I didn't get a response, I didn't really think much about it. I just figured that I had the place to myself for once. When I walked passed Russel's room I got a sudden chill up my spine. After reading so many stories I knew that this couldn't be good. I gave the door a slight tap but nobody answered… another bad sign. So I decided that maybe I should check it out. Slowly opening the door I peered inside. I saw Russel passed out on his bed. Then I heard something else in the room that sure didn't sound like snoring. It was talking.

"Russ are you awake?"

All of a sudden a voice came, "Sup."

What appeared in front of me was this ghostly person with a smile across his face. He scared the living daylights out of me. I could see right through him! Closing the door and running as fast as I could, I thought I was crazy. I ran straight out of the building and up the driveway screaming the whole time. I nearly got hit by Murdoc pulling in because I had my eyes closed. I couldn't believe it. A spirit! I thought those were only myths and legends, but no. I guess all of the Wiccan books about spirits were true. Falling to the ground shaking, I tried to catch my breath. I was too scared to even open my eyes. I'm not sure what happened next, it was all a blur. But when I finally opened my eyes I was in my room with everyone. Murdoc was just leaning on the wall not even caring, Noodle had a wet towel on my head, and 2-D was sitting at the foot of my bed.

"Are you alright Cleo?" 2-D asked as he crouched in front of the nightstand.

"Ya I'm fine, fine."

"You gave us all a bit of a scare."

"Gee I wonder why?" I said as I sat up. "Promise you guys won't think I'm crazy if I tell you what happened."

They all promised and I told them what I saw.

"Well that's a load of rubbish. There is no such thing as ghosts," said Murdoc as he was about to leave, but standing there was Russel.

"That's not true Murdoc. Spirits are real," said Russel as he told us the story of Del.

We were all amazed by the story. I asked him what Del looked like. He described the exact figure I saw in his room. I think at that moment it blew everybody's mind, including Murdoc's. Murdoc's jaw was dropped. Nobody said anything for the rest of the night. We were all a little too spooked to even talk.

6

"Spend what time we got left soakin' up some sunshine"-Dawn of the Dead

After about a year or so later in early June, after I got home from classes, it finally hit me that things were going to be ok after all. I had great friends, my career was the band, my grades at school have been amazing, and there really wasn't anything that could go wrong. When I walked in through the door 2-D came running up to me with a huge smile across his face. All I could see was the gap where his top front teeth should be.

"Guess what!" he said with a large amount of excitement in his voice.

Murdoc pushes him aside and said, "We are finally ready to release our first album!"

I was so excited that I think I gave off a bit of a scream. Next thing you know it, we were working on our "Clint Eastwood video". Things were fine at first. We were all doing our parts up until Del showed up. We all didn't know what to do so we just continued with the video. Del laid down some incredible rhymes which gave the song a really nice edge. Next thing you know it, the cemetery pops up along with these undead gorillas. It scared me up until one of them grabbed Murdoc "below the waist line". That made my day. At the end of the video Del went into Russel's head, the gorillas where gone, and we still had an unwanted cemetery. I still don't think any of us has a clue about what happened. All I can really say is that Del will forever be a part of us. He appears again in the "Rock the House" video, and pretty much gave us all some sort of bruise to remember him by. Not to mention he scarred me for life with his blow up gorilla cheerleaders. But hey, we were able to get some more of Del's amazing rhymes. Once we completed the other music videos and released the album, things were running smoothly. We became a hit sensation! We couldn't go anywhere without someone trying to stop us…ok maybe I'm over exaggerating just a bit. We weren't that much of a hit sensation yet, but we were up there.

One evening I was chilling outside on a grave stone just enjoying the cool night air. It was a full moon that night which I thought was pretty cool. I was alone until I heard someone walking behind me. I turned around to see 2-D. He stood right beside me and looked up at the sky.

"You know, you shouldn't be outside on a full moon 13."

"Why? Are you afraid that a werewolf is going to come out and get ya?"

"Ha, ha, ha, well if ghosts are real then why not werewolves?"

"Ha, ha you have a good point there."

"Don't you find it a bit chilly out here?"

"A bit ya. Why are you going to offer me your jacket?"

"I could, but I was thinking that maybe we could go inside and watch a movie or somefing."

"Hmmm I don't know. How do I know that you won't try and make a move on me?" I said jokingly

"Well I don't know, maybe we would have to go inside and find out."

"Well maybe we should go inside and find out then."

I sat down in the living room with some popcorn as 2-D popped in "Dawn of the Dead" and turned the lights off.

"So, you put in a scary movie eh? Trying to make a move by scaring the girl first?"

"Damn, how did you know?" he said jokingly as he sat down next to me.

"Well I ought to let you know that this is one of my favorite movies!" I said proudly

"Well I fink my plan got ruined."

We had a few laughs until the movie came on. That's when we laughed even harder than before. We both were able to quote the movie and knew what person died at what part. That night was really when 2-D and I grew closer as friends. We were both so relaxed and calm… well except we were laughing a lot.

When the movie ended 2-D said, "That was really fun! I fink that we should do this more often."

I looked over at him and said, "Ya we should shouldn't we."

That's when he looked at me…then there was a moment I couldn't quite explain. We were just looking at each other, nothing more, but there was just something odd about it. It was only like that for a minute. I gave him a smile and he smiled back. That's when Noodle came running in. She jumped up on the couch in between us and switched it over to regular T.V…apparently she just had to see this one show. That's when I left. I still didn't know what the heck that was. But I eventually would, right?

7

Surf's Up Jamaica

In the process of recording our first album we, went to Jamaica. That was a really fun trip. This was before all the things that got awkward with the band. But that will be talked about later. When I first heard about the trip I was stoked. It would be the first time I've gone to a place like that. That was when I realized…me… in public… in a swimsuit. Yes I admit it I am very insecure about the way I look. That's why my signature look was mainly baggy clothes and sweatshirts. My first thought was, "Oh no what am I going to do?" Then it was more like, "Well people have seen me in scuba gear and surf gear before." I started packing and I bought myself a swimsuit.

When we got to Jamaica we were all pumped. The hotel was nice, we had an amazing view, and we were set to start our recording. That was when I got a text from Noodle one morning saying that they were all going down to the beach. I didn't want to go at all, but I thought that putting me out of the action isn't going to help me get over my insecurities. I got changed into that lime green bikini and black bottoms, and slapped on a t-shirt and shorts. I met everybody in the lobby with my towel and we were off to have our day off at the beach. It wasn't crowded when we got there, which was nice. Noodle was the first one to dart into the water. Hey all of us have done that when we were her age. Eventually everybody else joined except for me. I just laid there enjoying the warm sun on my skin. It wasn't very long until Noodle ran over to me.

"Why you not swimming?"

"Noodle you're blocking the sun."

"Why you not swimming?"

"Because I don't want to."

She ran back and not too long afterwards they all grabbed me and threw me into the water. The water was BLOODY COLD! I screamed of course and ran back for my towel. I realized that wearing the t-shirt and shorts was really uncomfortable now. Dry faster and possibly get a nice tan or, develop a farmer's tan in hot, wet, sticky, clothes. They were coming off. I didn't care anymore. I tossed them off to the side, figuring that I was already dripping wet, and I dashed towards the water. At one point I dived under and popped back up next to Russ.

"Damn girl! So that's where those curves have been," he said giving a little shove.

"Excuse me?"

"Well you've always worn those baggy clothes of yours. You should show off your body more often," he said as he started swimming away.

"So 13, How about you and I spend a little more time together. You know. Have a good time, just you and me," Murdoc said with a wink

My response to him was, "Eww," and I swam away.

All I could hear was Noodle and 2-D laughing their butts off.

When I got to the shore I noticed that the waves were getting larger. Eventually when the others came back in they got large enough for surfing. That was when I noticed the surfers coming from a little shack. I headed over there and found out that it was a type of shack where you can rent all kinds of stuff. I saw the surf boards and right away wanted one. Running with the board to the group of surfers I tried to talk to them. Thank goodness they where also tourist and they spoke English. They told me all kinds of stories and tried to show off their skills. When I told them that I wanted to surf they laughed at me. They said something like, I don't have what it takes or something like there is no way I'd be able to do it. I pushed them aside a headed out to the waters. Reaching the wave I did my thing and surfed away. I did my usual tricks and flips that those surfers failed to do. I tried to be a bit daring and did a handstand. When I slowly surfed my way back to shore, they all looked stunned. I basically walked up to them and said, "That's how I roll, Californian style."

I walked over to the others to find out that Murdoc fell out of a tree. I guess he saw me… well… being the old me and it threw him off guard. I continued surfing and even tried to teach Noodle how to. Surfing made me realize how much I actually missed home. I didn't realize that I really missed the Californian air. I missed the celebrations with my families. I tired to keep myself in a happy mood for the rest of the day. I called it in and chilled on the beach. Totally didn't notice the lack of suntan lotion that I had that day until the next morning. My back was in so much pain. Lesson learned…

8

Gorillaz Tokyo Style

We went to Tokyo to do our concerts there. Nobody realized how popular we actually were in Japan. When we got off the plane there was a swarm of people waiting to greet us. It was really cool. I guess Noodle has been spending a bit too much time on the internet, but hey nobody really complained. I've always wanted to go to Tokyo. Get a taste of other cultures and religions ya know. Well it's not like I don't get enough of it back in England right? I mean Murdoc is a Satanist, 2-D is a Buddhist, Noodle is Japanese, and Russel…well he still puzzles me… and then there is me being a Christian from California. Bet you're wondering what our conversations are like at the dinner table right now huh? A Christian and Satanist living under the same roof can create complications, but we don't really care. We are one happy family, despite Murdoc always picking on me and 2-D.

So here we are in Tokyo to do our concerts. All was good; we were all having a blast. Hitting the sushi bars, buying cool gadgets, you know all kinds of stuff. Noodle and I hit the malls. We bought so much new clothes that we each had to buy a new suitcase for them. What Russel said to me during the Jamaica trip really hit me. I do wear too much baggy clothes. It was time for me to get a new style. Bring on the tank tops and skinny jeans. I now constantly wear this black tank top, with army shorts, a Mario green mushroom belt and buckle, and black converse shoes. It was nice to be able to show off a bit of skin for a change. Finally getting rid of my pale look and enjoying the sun a little more.

One day there was a knock at my hotel door. 2-D was standing there and asked me if I wanted to go for some sushi. I thought, "Hmm this sounds a bit fishy," then I started laughing cause I just thought of a pun. I said sure and we were out the door. The sushi place we went to was really nice. I don't remember what it was called, but the décor was beautiful. We sat down and within the first few minutes we had people taking our picture. Not to sound racist or anything but it seems like all throughout my life Asians have always taken photos of me. It's true! When I was younger on a family vacation we were always stopped by some Asian tourists. They would always ask if they could have a picture with me. Till this day I still don't get it, but I guess now that I'm with the Gorillaz I do. Any who, we sat there eating the sushi and didn't really talk about anything interesting. We walked around some garden for a bit and eventually stopped at a bridge. We were having a great time. It was nice just having the two of us alone together for a change. We haven't really been able to be alone since that one night. Then there was an awkward moment… my phone rang… On the other line was my seventeen year old brother Jacob.

"Umm hi Jacob"

"CLEO!"

"Jacob can I call you later? I'm kind of in the middle of something."

"But I have to tell you something!"

"Ok quickly what is it?"

"I'm in Tokyo!"

"What? You are? That's great! Maybe we can chill."

"Ya! So ummm, who's the guy you're with?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh you know exactly what I'm talking about. Turn around."

I turned around to see him standing there with a smile on his face and yelled, "YOU ARE SUCH A LITTLE CREEPER!"

He ran over laughing, "I'm sorry, but I just can't help it. You know me."

I gave off a grunt and introduced him to 2-D.

"Wow so you weren't kidding when you said that he has no eyes."

"I didn't say that hey doesn't have eyes Jacob. I said that it looks like he doesn't have eyes. He has them they are just pushed back, I think"

"Right, so ummm nice to meet you bro. So are you two umm… you know."

We both started laughing and you can tell that it was an awkward laugh.

"I'll take that as a no then. Well I gotta run. I'll see you later sis. Call me!"

He ran off to some girl who instantly gave me the older protective sister vibe. But I remembered what I was like when I was that age.

The rest of the evening had an awkward vibe. 2-D walked me to my room and stopped me before I could walk in. He tried to say something but I guess he couldn't get it out. He paused and just said goodnight. That was just one of the awkward days around him. I guess Noodle noticed it because she kept trying to bring it up to the both of us. I noticed that both of us always changed the subject as soon as she said anything. But it doesn't matter because we are able to get together our "G-Sides" album. It was just a simple album we threw together, nothing to big. Or so I thought. But I will mention that later on, now is the time to talk about something else…

In August after we got back we were nominated for that MTV2 Viewer's Choice award for our "Clint Eastwood" single. Then there was the whole fiasco where we were told that we were going to be the winners but weren't. We even made that whole acceptance speech video and everything. I mean we were ready to run up on stage and get the award. When we didn't, I felt crushed. Murdoc was so drunk and pissed that night. I mean we were all really bummed out, but our acceptance speech video that we did thankfully didn't go to waste. We were able to use it for the MTV Europe Music Awards. Best song and dance. Dance, who would've thought us in dance? But hey I'm not one to complain about winning awards. We were on top of the world. Ok maybe not… But we were able to do some kick ass concerts in Britain. So what if we didn't win that one award that we thought we were going to win, it doesn't matter. We were great in Tokyo, Britain, and we just released our "G-Sides" album. We were all together right? Happy and playing some great tunes. Nobody could break us apart. I was glad to be with these guys. Nothing was able to bring us down. Then came September…

9

Home is where it Hurts

September 11th 2001… otherwise the day known as 911. Everybody should know what happened on that tragic day. I was in the kitchen washing the dishes from breakfast when it all happened. I was totally oblivious at first. I could hear the T.V from where I was. It sounded like a movie at first. Then I heard the announcers and recognized them from the News. I walked into the living room drying a plate when I saw the T.V screen. At that moment I froze, dropping the plate so that it broke and cut up my foot. I didn't notice the pain at all. All I could focus on was seeing that image of those towers going down. With my eyes wide, tears started to form in them. My old friend Cory Baker that I grew up with started a job there. I just prayed that he wasn't there. I ran to the phone and dialed his number. No answer. So I tried his cell, nothing. I called his girlfriend's cell, finally an answer. By the sound of her voice…I'm sorry… It's just that he was like a brother to me. In fact I called him my brother every once in a while. When she told me that he was gone, I threw a fit. I hung up the phone and threw it across the room, nailing Murdoc in the face. With my feet bleeding I curled up in a ball and cried. 2-D came over and gave me a hug. He picked me up and brought me to the bathroom. I continued to cry as he cleaned my feet and bandaged them up. I still couldn't believe that Cory was gone. He was always there for me when I needed him. Even if we were as far apart away as we were. Sure I did tick off his girlfriend Cheryl but he didn't care. 2-D brought me to my room and sat me down on my bed. He sat sown next me and told me that everything was going to be ok. He didn't understand. Nobody here would. I told him about Cory which made me cry even harder. 2-D grabbed me in a hug and held on to me. I must have cried on his shoulder for at least twenty minutes. When I finally sat up he told me that everything will be ok and that Cory was in a better place. He stood up and gave me a kiss on my forehead and walked away. At that moment I knew that he was right. Cory will be in a better place. I looked over at the picture of us when we were younger and thought to myself, that no matter what, his spirit will always be alive in my heart.

A while after the incident, Murdoc came up to me and told me about the whole 911 song with D12 and Terry Hall. Everybody knew how much this song would mean to me. I said that it was a good idea, and soon afterwards we were off to go record it. As I was reading the lyrics on the plane I admit that I did get a little bit teary eyed. 2-D was sitting next to me and I guess he noticed because he gave me a side hug. Noodle, who was sitting on the other side of me, saw it and told me that it was ok for me to cry. She told me that letting it out will make me stronger and keep Cory's spirit alive.

When we got into town we meet up with D12 and Terry Hall at the recording studio. I was able to meet Eminem. He is a nice guy, but the type of guy you wouldn't want to be on their bad side. Luckily everybody already knew their lyrics before hand. It seems like the Gorillaz went behind my back and did this as a bit of a surprise for me. When we were recording you can tell that what everybody was saying had heart to it. It was like a strong, powerful feeling in the room. The patriotic feeling of all of us put together is really what motivated us. I guess it was really what brought us all closer together as a group as well. We all had the same motivation and feeling in the song. When we completed the song it was like all of the anger in me had lifted away from my body. The energy put into the song was really what I needed. I felt so alive and better about the world. At that moment, I knew that things were going to be a bit different. I wasn't too sure on how different… but different. We released the single on our website and even did the song at our concerts. This song was really the song that helped keep Cory alive. He always enjoyed that kind of music.

When I got the invitation to the funeral I knew that I had to go. I told everyone that I would be leaving for a few days and started to pack. As I was in my room packing 2-D walks in and asked me if he could come with. He thought that it might not be a good idea if I went by myself. Noodle came running in saying that she wanted to come too, but she was coming down with the flu so I said no to her. I told 2-D that it was fine with me because I knew that he was right. Besides, he would also be a shoulder to cry on.

We got to the funeral and I said a few words. It was basically how close Cory and I were and what not. That night I cried on 2-D's shoulder again. I guess this time I cried myself to sleep because when I opened my eyes it was six in the morning. I went to rub my eyes only to find them still wrapped around him. I thought that it was weird that he stayed with me. I didn't even notice that he was awake either because he said something which made me jump. I thought that it was very sweet of him to stay. He was the shoulder to cry on in my time of need. I knew that the difference I was talking about earlier was staring right at my face. He stared at me with a smile across his face. A smile that told me everything was going to be ok.

10

Flipping through the Pages of Time.

In every good book there is at least something that tells the reader about the character's past or just more about them. If you look at "Rise of the Ogre" there is everybody's story about their past. So I figured why not put one for me. Actually the whole point on why I'm writing this book is because I have to write down my experiences for therapeutic reasons. It's not my fault I was in the hospital with a broken leg because of a massive fall.

So as you already know I'm originally from Sacramento California. I grew up in a nice small house with my brother Jacob and my parents. When I was younger we had this yellow lab named Indie. Man did I love that dog. I remember all the different stuff I did as a kid, sports wise I mean. I was in karate, the archery club, surf club, softball, cheerleading, gymnastics, dance, horseback riding. I mean you name it; I've done it at some point in my life probably. My whole entire family was one of those families who lived life to the extreme. We did all kinds of stuff together, from white water rafting to rock climbing. I remember doing all the traditional stuff as well. My father was from Indonesia and my mom has a very rich German and Polish background, with a bit of Welsh and Cherokee. Having these many cultures in me allowed me to experience many different kinds of traditions growing up. Traditions from hanging a dead lizard skin above my door to eating black forest cake. Along with these many traditions my family has a rich musical background. I picked up the guitar and trumpet at an early age. Then I learned the various other instruments like the cello and zither. My family and I would always have what we called our Sunday Jam sessions after we went to church. I swear we could have made our own Jazz band

When I was in school I was one of those geeky types of people. I mean really geeky, but I was really open about it. I had a lot of friends, even friends who were in the popular click. I was usually seen with an X-Men comic, a biology text, a Manga, or something on ancient Egypt. I was also known as the girl who was scared of the sound that balloons make when they pop. Can you believe that a person who can climb a mountain to a point well beyond others be afraid of that popping sound. People always bullied me for that, and for the fact that I was in the band, choir, and drama club. It's not my fault I love the performing arts. High School was really tough for me. It was hard for me to fit in even if I was a cheerleader. In my last year I remember trying to find a new image. I still enjoyed all of the stuff I did before but I kept it more hidden. I started wearing low cut shirts and mini skirts. I even got the top of my ears pierced, which are still pierced till this day. But one day a whole bunch of people called me ugly and what not and that's what caused me to have that insecurity. Thank goodness Noodle and Russ helped me get over that.

There is this one day in particular that really sticks out in my head. I was invited to a party at this one guy's house. The music was great. I really love the type of music you can dance to. Stuff like pop, techno, rock, punk, metal, and alternative are the type of music I listen to. A couple of girls dragged me to the side. They started asking me questions about the Wiccan stuff that I did. It seemed like the whole school knew about that now. They tried to make me show them the stuff I can do but I kept telling them no. They were obviously drunk beyond belief. They stared pushing me around. We ended up in the kitchen and they shoved me into a cabinet. The cabinet wasn't built properly, so as soon as banged into it; it fell right on top of me. When I went to the hospital I had those 13 stitches in my head that I was talking about earlier. I knew after that night that this wasn't the crowd I wanted to be in. I remember sitting in the hospital bed watching my anime, "Star Trek", and various horror movies.

Well that's enough about my past lets talk a bit of the present. I still enjoy all of those things mentioned above. Except now I enjoy basketball, soccer, scuba diving, and playing video games. To add onto the scar on my head I have a hole in my mouth from a McDonald's straw and I broke my leg from one of our video shoots. Lets see…I can touch my nose with my tongue…My favorite holiday is Halloween and my favorite colors are blue or black. Ummm… I enjoy roses and Chinese food…Uhhhh… I can speak German, French, Spanish, and Korean. I like cats…Err this is harder than I thought it would be…Noodle and 2-D are my best friends at the moment and Murdoc pisses me off constantly…Well that's all I can think of at the moment but I guess that's enough about me for one day. Let's talk Gorillaz.

11

Smile for the Camera

One day Damon and Jamie Hewlett sat us all down and asked us about doing some type of home videos. The type of videos that allowed the fans to get a taste of what the band is like off stage. We all didn't really care. That was when they handed me really nice cameras. They told me to film anything that I thought would be worth filming. That's when I started doing my camera walk around. For "The Eel" video I hid the cameras in the kitchen hoping to get some of Russ's cooking skills. Well I got what I got instead. The "Jump the Gut" video was sort of a planned one. Noodle told me what 2-D was going to do and her bet with Del. I figured that this would be a great opportunity to see us goofing off. I grabbed the cameras and placed them in the places I though would be the best. I can't believe I got the shot I did of him missing the jump! "The Game of Death" video was just one of the random walk around videos I did that was picked. I walked into the living room to see the wall gone to reveal our dojo on the other side. I thought this video could show how crazy we truly are. Then there was also the "Hey, Our Toys have arrived" video. That one was another one of us goofing off with the cameras. The "Free Tibet" video was 2-D's idea. He thought that it would be a good idea to do it. I didn't realize how strongly he felt about it. He grabbed the cameras and off he went to do the campaign. When he came back Murdoc basically told him to go find a Halloween costume. This would be the "Fancy Dress" video. I was supposed to be dressed up as Cleopatra. Get it, because my name is Cleo! But I also figured that this would be an opportunity to show off my brand new eye of Ra tattoo on my left arm. When 2-D came in as a mummy, Noodle started laughing and said that we matched. She was right so we toke a couple pictures of the two of us together. When we showed all of the videos to Jamie and Damon they were impressed. They toke them and started on the phase one DVD. I guess everybody was glad to get those cameras out of the house. Everybody started being their normal selves again.

Noodle was sitting on the couch with her laptop on our website one day when I walked in. I started playing one of the random shooter games we have when she said something.

"That's weird," she said. I looked at her as she continued, "someone put up a poll on our website."

I paused my game and looked at her screen. Sure enough it was a poll on who people thought is the hottest in the group.

"Well it wasn't me who did it so don't look at me."

She of course voted for herself which brought her to a result page. The rankings where: 5th Russel, 4th Murdoc, 3rd Noodle, 2nd 2-D, and me as 1st. My reaction was something like, "What the Fuck?!"

Noodle looked at me and said, "Told you so."

She has been bugging me about my looks for a while now. I was always calling myself ugly and what not. She was always there to say ya right. I stared at the results still shocked to see them. I thought 2-D would be the one at number one. That's when Damon came into the room with the others.

"Wow I didn't think that we would get that many results so soon," he said as he sat down.

"What results? What are you talking about?" Murdoc said pushing Damon aside. He saw the laptop and stormed out of the room.

"Right then, now down to some business. I've signed you guys up to do a photoshoot. That's why I did the poll on the website. I wanted to see what people thought of you guys."

"I get that but a who's hotter poll?" said 2-D

"Well I couldn't think of anything else. But it appears that you 13 and you 2-D are the winners."

"Winners? Winners for what exactly?" I asked.

"Well it seems like 2-D is the sex symbol for the girls and you are for the guys," he said standing up

2-D and I just looked at each other when Damon said, "We need to show you guys off a little more. Maybe put you in more revealing clothes."

"Umm no thank-you Damon. I ain't classifying myself as one of those bloody sluts you see on T.V,"

"Well maybe not that revealing 13. Just come to the shoot tomorrow and see what we have planned for you."

The next day when we got to the studio we were brought into our own changing rooms. When I saw the outfit picked out for me I actually liked it. I was given a pair of black capris and tank top with a black plaid Gatsby hat. Once I was dressed some lady came in and handed me a black and white studded belt. She straightened my hair as I told her how I usually do my make-up. I was totally punked out with hooped earrings, black heels, and my music note necklace tossed in. When I stepped out everyone was already out there.

Damon walked up to me and said, "Now that's how to be a sex symbol."

I looked in the mirror and thought wow I actually like the way I look. We did a couple of shoots with our instruments, some without, and a few by ourselves. I remember in one of the poses I was given my gun that I had in my guitar case. Another shot 2-D and Murdoc lit some cigarettes. But overall we did some amazing photos. I felt great! I couldn't stop smiling. I even asked if I could keep the clothes. When we got home I was talking to 2-D and Noodle in the kitchen. I basically said, "Hey, we could totally be sex symbols."

12

Showin' Off the Goods Back Home

Life was great. I haven't heard from Paula in over a year, I got my doctorate in biotechnology and robotics, I was in a number of musical performances, the band was hitting it big, and I could have never asked for a better group of friends. There was the whole deal at the British Awards as well. Not to mention the whole fact that I was able to go back home. We were going to go on tour in North America. I would finally be able to show off the goods back home. It was 2002 when this was all taking place. However, before we left there was the whole thing with Kevin. Kevin was this guy in one of my classes. Well, one day he gave me his number and so I showed it to the guys. We all thought that he only wanted to get into my pants because I was famous. So as a joke I called him up and we went out to a bar. Well it turns out that it was the total opposite. He actually wanted a relationship. So that's when we started going out. That's when I learned that he was nuts. He wanted the opportunity for a trophy girl and to exploit me for my money, but he truly loved me. He was very abusive towards me and he told me that if we were to every split up he would kill me. The love was real in him but it was crazy love. Then he made me take him to meet the band. When we walked into the living room I introduced him to everyone. Murdoc offered him a beer, Russel broke out the food, 2-D left as soon as we walked in, and Noodle was already asleep when we got there. It seemed like everybody liked each other. It was then decided that he would be able to go on the tour with us if he wanted to. I said that it was a bad idea and that night Kevin told me he was coming along. He thought that I would never come back if he didn't come. We all started packing and off to North America we went.

It was a bit odd having Kevin around. It seemed like everyone else liked him except for 2-D, which I thought was really weird. I thought it was weird because he wasn't one to have this kind of attitude towards anybody that I've seen. Whenever I was with him without Kevin he was fine, but when Kevin came in, his attitude changed, he left, or he got a bit protective. I remember after one of the concerts 2-D was trying to tell me something about Kevin but I couldn't hear him. Noodle was telling me that 2-D was feeling depressed but nobody knew why. At that moment I had a feeling that I knew exactly what was wrong, but I didn't want to admit it to myself. When I finally did admit it, I began to feel depressed myself. I realized that being with Kevin may be hurting him.

As we continued to travel around North America I kept calling my friends to meet us somewhere. A few of them even managed to get front row tickets to our concerts. It was nice to be able to see all of them again. I even got to see Jacob and his girlfriend Emma. Everybody began to make fun of me. I guess being away from home for as long as I have been, I started to develop a British accent. Some didn't even care, just as long as we were all able to have a good time with each other. It helped me feel a little less depressed.

One day it was my one month anniversary with Kevin. I remember him taking me out to dinner at this really fancy French place. Things were going great until I looked up at the moon. It was a full moon, which reminded me of that one night in the graveyard with 2-D. Then I remembered the bridge and the hotel room. All of these memories flooding into my mind made me feel sick.

"Cleo, are you alright. You seem to be upset."

"Oh, I'm fine really…fine," I said as I started playing with my food

"Cause you can tell me if there is something wrong,"

"Everything is fine,"

Then he said something that made me remember something else.

He said, "If there is anything wrong you can tell me, because I will forever be that shoulder to cry on as long as I have you by my side."

I dropped my fork because I remembered that, that is what 2-D told me when I was crying on his shoulder after the funeral. My thought was right. I had feelings for 2-D. I didn't want to admit until I knew that I was right. I ran out of the restaurant as fast as I could. Kevin kept calling after me as I ran into a taxi.

When I got to the hotel I ran right up to 2-D's room. When I got no answer, Russel, who was next door, opened his door.

"Girl you can try and get him out but none of us have been able to for a while."

I kept banging on the door which started to annoy some of the other guests because I got about several shut ups and many people swearing at me. I got an idea and ran down to the lobby to get a key. I ran into Kevin on the way down, literally ran into him. He tried to stop me but I kept running to the front desk. They gave me a key and I ran straight back to his room. Kevin of course followed me all the way up. I was too impatient for the elevator so I toke the stairs. Tripping on the very last step because that is something I would do in a dress. I managed to sprain my ankle and Kevin saw his chance to stop me.

"What the fuck are you doing?" he yelled, "You embarrassed me in front of a whole restaurant,"

"Oh no my ankle is fine you dip shit," I said trying to stand up.

"Well then maybe you shouldn't have ran away from me! Maybe you should've stayed sitting at the table. I mean really? What the fuck were you thinking when you left?"

I managed to stand up and hobble my way to Stuart's door.

"Answer me you little bitch!"

Everybody in the hall heard the argument because everybody's door was open, including 2-D's. He pushed me up against the wall as if there was nobody watching and began to choke me. At that moment something in 2-D's head snapped because he quickly charged at Kevin. There was no way the he could take down this mass of muscle that Kevin was. I was on the ground gasping for air when I saw Kevin reach for a gun he had tucked under his shirt and pants. I tried to scream but nothing came out. Luckily 2-D brought out his gun first. All of us in the band knew that there were blanks in there… but Kevin didn't. 2-D fired which distracted Kevin. I managed to get up and grab Kevin's gun, falling to the ground in the process. Kevin turned around and started cursing at me, saying stuff like I loved you. When he was yelling at me 2-D nailed him in the head with his gun knocking him out. I dropped the gun and started to cry. That's when the police showed up and did their thing. 2-D picked me up off the ground and brought me to my room once again. I was so scared. I surely thought that Kevin was going to kill him. I held on to 2-D tightly as he sat down with me in his arms.

"What I was trying to tell you the other day was that Kevin isn't for you. I've seen him yell at you before and even push away. I noticed that you haven't been yourself and it started to hurt me. I knew that somefing wasn't right between the two of you…You should get some rest and get that ankle wrapped."

He got up and started to leave but I stopped him. I just had to tell him how I felt about him. There were just so many things that I wanted to say to him but I couldn't find the right words. I gave up and just said thank you. That night I realized that I did have feelings for him, but the question was if my thought was correct. Does he have the same feelings towards me?

13

Livin' La Vida

I guess after what had happened with Kevin, I kept to myself for a while. I kept telling myself, "no I don't have feelings for 2-D and that it was just my mind playing tricks on me". But every time we made some form of eye contact my heart skipped a beat. I was just being a fool to myself and I hated myself for it. I just didn't want to face heart break again, especially someone close to me as he is. Because of my paranoia about Kevin I kept a gun on me at all times. I still do today, except now I have a new one that I like to call my Bloody Rose after the one in "Vampire Knight". I even bought myself holders that I can wrap around my legs and body. Not only did I buy those, but I bought myself a couple of daggers and switchblades. I guess you can say my emotions got a hold of me for a while. I was just one big mess of them. There was just so much that hit me in the past few months that I'm surprised I didn't snap.

As we continued on with the tour, I slowly opened myself to the group. However, I kept my distance around 2-D. I kept my distance to the point where I started hanging out with Murdoc a lot more. I guess you can say that Murdoc and I developed a strong friendship after that trip. He isn't as bad as he looks. We hung out to the point were we even did magic stuff together… just to learn from each other. His way of magic was much darker than mine. A lot more blood and sacrifices of meat than I'm used to. The housekeepers hated coming into his room. There would always be leftover wax pentagrams on the floors. I tried to get them out, really I did. After we would do our thing I always had a bucket of water and cleaners ready. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get it out. I was able to get it out of my clothes no problem so I didn't see what I was doing wrong. But hey, it was fun so I didn't really care. It was one of the only ways that I was able to really connect with Murdoc. Then things got a little too far. One night I was watching him do one of these summoning spells to bring a demon to our realm. I kept telling him that it was a bad idea but he didn't listen. When he finished the spell nothing happened. He did all of that for no reason. That was when this little tailed boy came out of no where and jumped right at me. He kept clawing at my face with his long claws and managed to rip my shirt a little. As I threw him at the wall he tore my pentagram necklace off of my neck and vanished. I looked at Murdoc and we both started laughing. The little bastard came back and bit me in the neck. Murdoc grabbed him and threw him out the window. The next day when the others asked me about my bandaged neck, all I told them was that I had a rough night. After that night we kept summoning more and more creatures. We thought that it would just be harmless fun. But eventually it got to the point were they became moochers. In the end we managed to get them all back through the portal except for the stupid demon boy.

We were at the end of our tour in Mexico and at the top of the A list. Things were going to be nice and smooth at our last concert, or so we planned. When we got to the stage, some of the equipment didn't work, so we had to send somebody to get something to fix it. The band that played before us was terrible. Somebody stole my wallet. Luckily there wasn't anything too important in there. When we got on we hoped that things were going to get better. We started off with our first song, no problem at all. Not to long afterwards Russel passes out on the drum set. They way he did is funny to say now because we all had our backs turn and all you could hear was this loud bang from one of the symbols. I guess the poor guy hit his head on one of them on his way down to the snare. When the medics came I guess the crowd began to get restless. They were getting louder and more violent. Russel was all good to go when riots had started to break out. Some people ran on stage. I remember Murdoc hitting one of them with his bass while he was playing. I also remember having two guys play tug of war using me as the rope. The security was no help at all; they pretty much just sat there. We managed to escape with what minor wounds we had, but we all agreed that, that was kind of fun. Who knew that having a riot at your own concert would actually be fun?

After the tour we all decided that we should try getting into film. We all kind of figured that every musician has to be in a film at some point in their career. So before we went back to England we made our way to good old Tinsel Town. We signed up for a few projects. We were sure that we were going to have our faces up on the big screen. Boy, were we wrong. All of the projects we did went down the toilet. We managed to film them all, but I guess we just weren't cut out for Hollywood. Then there was that glimmer of light. Murdoc tried out for this role that pretty much described who he was. Then they told him that they wanted someone younger for the part. Back to the shadows we went. I didn't try out as much as the others… in fact I didn't try out at all. Well that's a lie; I tried out for one part and only managed to be an extra because of my degree in the performing arts. I was only in one scene but still it was something. So what if you can't find my name in the credits. I will always be known as "Teenager #3".

While we were in Hollywood I began to feel like my normal self again. Noodle finally came out of her cyber world that she was in and started hanging out with me. So what if there is a bit of an age difference, we both didn't care. We were the only girls in the group and that's pretty much how we stay so close. There are things we can talk about that we just can`t say to the guys. They just wouldn't get it. This one day in particular the two of us decided to have a shopping day. As we hit the town we went to this one music store. This store was one of those music stores that had every instrument you can imagine. We found these synthesizers that blew our minds. We looked at each other and decided that we needed to have one of these for the band. We split the bill and got ourselves a high quality one. I also managed to get myself a flute and clarinet for a great deal. Then we both noticed the guitars. The two of us grabbed them and just started rocking out. I swear we developed a large crowd around us dancing and singing along to the songs. Of course we went clothes shopping as well; I mean it is impossible not to. After all the shopping we went out to lunch. Across the street from us was an arcade.

"Do they have DDR?" asked Noodle

"I'm sure they do. Bet you can't beat me."

"Bet I can," she said getting ready to run across the street.

When we got inside, stashed our stuff with the people at the counter, and ran straight to the machine. I grabbed the tokens that were given to us and off we went. I was sure that I was going to beat her with flying colors. I thought that until I looked over at her score. We were tied. A trained dancer like me tied with a kid. I guess we both got intense because we had a crowd swarm around us for the second time that day. Song after song we kept tying to beat each other. At one point we just didn't care and just danced to the music. That was a great day.

I decided to hit a couple of night clubs and famous parties while we were in town. Those would be some of the nights I will never forget. Well some of them I just couldn't remember the next day at all…must have been great party then. I admit that I am a down to earth party girl. One night I even ran into 2-D at this one club I went to. I was having such a good time that I didn't even care. We had a couple of drinks together. I even managed to drag him to the dance floor with me. I never knew that he actual had a natural talent for dance. Well it was either he was really good or I was just really drunk. I'm not one to drink that much but I guess times change when you're in Hollywood. I was living life again. Nothing could pull me down. Not even when I dirty danced with 2-D. It seemed like everything was a. o. k. But I knew that whenever I felt like this, that something bad was just waiting around the corner to come and bite me in the ass.

14

"Curse those Damn Dirty Apes," Until the Very End

One day I logged onto my laptop to work on my studies from my computer at home. My work was developing the type of technology you would see in a Sci-Fi movie. But the odd thing was I couldn't access my home computer like I've been able to in the past. I thought that there was no way that I could have been hacked. I prayed that I wasn't hacked because there could have been a chance that I lost everything. When I finally managed to get back into the system, everything was fine, which I thought was odd. So I decided to access our security cameras to see what the problem might have been. Everything seemed fine; there was nothing out of the ordinary. That was until I got to the camera in the recording studio. There were these three things in there that I couldn't make out. They were jumping around banging on our equipment. I started to panic a bit because there was a lot of expensive stuff in there. When I tried to tell everyone what was going on at home nobody believed me. They still didn't believe me when I showed them my screen. When I asked Murdoc if he locked the doors he said that he did. Obviously he didn't because I could see that the front door was wide open in one of the cameras. As I stared at the screen one of them jumped right up onto the camera. It was a bloody monkey dressed up in a space suit. How they hell did they get in? Better yet how the hell did they end up at our place? I phoned Damon and told him what was going on at home. When he got into Kong they were all gone and the front door was shut. I hoped nothing was broken.

Not to long afterwards 2-D came up to me and showed me a CD. It had the Gorillaz label on it but it wasn't our work. That's when I recognized the cover. It was a picture of a monkey with the exact same suit that one of the monkeys in the studio wore. He popped the disc into my laptop and started playing it. It was our songs only they were remixed. We were all confused. Everyone thought that someone went behind our backs and did this CD. Nobody was talking. So Russ called up Damon and put him on speaker so we all could get an answer.

"Oh, right that CD. Well funny story about that. When you 13 called me up about the monkeys at Kong… I went over to check it out of course. There was nothing there except for a note on the door. Anyways, I found this CD sitting on the ground. I assumed that it was just something you guys were working on before you left. When I heard it, it all sounded finished. So I thought that because I was there to find the monkeys you described to me, I would use them for the cover."

"So wait let me get this straight. You just found this random CD with music on it and assumed that it was a finished project of ours?" I asked.

"Umm ya. A thank you would be nice."

"Damon I'm pretty sure that none of us made that CD," said 2-D as he made eye contact with all of us.

"Wait, so if you guys didn't make the CD then who the bloody hell did then?"

There was an awkward silence and I think we all had the same thought on who made it, but we didn't want to say it.

It was quiet until Noodle broke the silence, "Monkeys."

It made sense. As they were jumping around the recording studio they must have jumped on the keyboards and what not. Eventually I guess they managed to create the album that we know as the "Laika Come Home" album. We couldn't really complain because it was in our name. That was when Damon told us that someone sent him a music video of one of the songs. He sent me a link and we all watched with great confusion. None of us could put a finger on it, well except for Murdoc. He said that this was all the doings of the guy who stole his Winnebago Dr. Wuzel or something like that. But hey, we had another album out.

After we did some more performances for the MTV awards and our failure to get into film we decided to try something different. We dared to try our script writing skills. We locked ourselves up in a hotel room and just ordered room services. Those were brutal times. We had a sign on the door that said "we had lions in the room and the door was hooked up to electricity". We kept tossing around ideas but none of them really stuck. 2-D kept saying stuff that was already made into a movie. We were all getting tired of it. We eventually were just at each other's throats. We soon had some stuff written down but they never did get endings. We all got so stressed out that it was ridiculous. We kept throwing knives at each other, literally. On our last day together, we were in a huge fight. 2-D continued giving off movies that were already done. Eventually Murdoc cracked and attacked him. He started choking him right in front of all of us. I got up right away and tried to pry his bony fingers off. It was no use, so I tried to pulling his arms. Russel got up and started yelling at Murdoc trying to get him to stop. He had the parental type of tone in his voice. Noodle got in between the two of them and bit Murdoc's hand. It was no use, even the pain and the blood coming from his hand couldn't get him to loosen up. That's when I noticed Russel raise his massive fist in the air. I dove for Noodle and got her out of the way just in time. I got up to see Murdoc struggling to get up and 2-D gasping for air on the couch. Murdoc managed to steady himself and basically told us that he had a good time while it lasted, but he was tired of carrying our dead weight. When he stormed out of the room we realized that we were finished. Russel packed up his things and said that it was nice meeting us all and ditched. Noodle was saying something in Japanese flailing her arms everywhere and stormed out of the room. I toke 2-D to the hospital to make sure that he as going to be ok. On the way there I did get teary eyed. The band meant the whole world to me, but now that everybody was ditching I just couldn't take it. Then I looked on the positive side. I saw this as an opportunity to finally finish my studies, to be able to go see my parents, or finally travel around the world like I wanted to. I looked back at all the negative stuff that went on in the band. All of the arguments, the riots in Mexico, you know the stuff like that. At that moment I decided that I was out as well. As I sat by the hospital bed in the emergency room, 2-D and I began to talk.

"Are you leaving too?" he asked

"Yup, too much for me to handle at the moment. Some time away from all of this is probably what I need."

"You know you don't have to leave right?"

"Of course I know. I just feel like it's something I should do. Goodbye Stuart. It was nice being able to catch up with you."

"Take good care of yourself Cleo," he said as I left with tears in my eyes.

And that was the last time I heard from 2-D then. That was the last time I heard from any of them really. Were we ever going to get back together? I didn't think so then. Was I going to miss any of them? Of course! I was going to miss all of them. But at that moment I didn't care. I just wanted out. And that's when the Gorillaz were no more.

15

Hello? Is Anyone there in that Brain of Yours?

Not a day went by without me missing them. I packed up my stuff from Kong and decided to move back to California to get back to my old life. However there was a slight problem. My parents had recently moved. I guess instead of going back to Sacramento I found myself flying to Prince George British Columbia. It was a nice city, not too big and not too small, something perfect to start a new life. I didn't tell my parents that I was coming into to town so they were surprised to see me on their doorstep. Luckily they were able to turn the computer room into a bedroom for me. As I began to unpack all of my stuff, I came across the various items that reminded me of the band. Who was I kidding? The band was my life! How could we just abandon our love of music? I tried to ignore the fact that I missed them all, especially Stuart. I don't know how many times I was tempted to call one of them. I tried to move on with my life.

Not too long after I moved I got a job at a music store during the day and worked as a dance teacher in the evenings. On weekends I managed to throw in some private guitar and vocal lessons. On days that I was off during the week I was the coach for the Duchess Park Cheerleaders. I guess I was trying to keep my mind off of the past. It didn't really help that I was doing stuff that could relate to the band. It didn't really help either when people kept bringing up us splitting up or kept asking for autographs.

The pain was slowly lifted as time passed. I found myself with a new boyfriend Devon Johnson. It was cute how he asked me out because he was so nervous. I was about to get off my shift and go straight to the dance studio, so I was changed into my leotard. He tried to use some cheesy pick up line but stopped himself and said something like, "there is no way a beautiful singer like you would ever go out with a small city boy like me." I thought that he was cute and what he said was really adorable. So I basically told him that he wasn't just any small city boy. He was a small city boy who had a date with a beautiful singer on Saturday. The look on his face was priceless then. He was a really nice change from Kevin. He was so sweet and compassionate. I admit that I really did like him but I kept thinking that he was just a substitution for what I couldn't have.

One day I was at work at the music store just like any other day. I was out stocking our new shipment of piano music. Because I had recently lost me contacts I was stuck wearing my glasses for the time being. Well, there was this one customer who came up to me. I couldn't tell who she was because she had a hood over her head and dark sunglasses on. But her voice sounded so familiar. Then she started asking me about my glasses.

"Don't you normally where contacts?" she asked

"Oh, umm, ya I do. I just recently lost them. How can I help you?"

"Ya, I was wondering if you could tell me what you're doing here? Shouldn't you be out making another album or something?"

"Ya, we split a while ago. I guess it just wasn't our cup of tea."

"Right, so...uhhhh… Why did you tell them I was crazy?"

"Excuse me? I have no clue what you're talking about."

That's when she toke off her sunglasses and hood and said, "You know damn right what the hell I'm talking about."

"PAULA!?"

"You sound so surprised. Well you know what, because of you, I now have to take these pills. I only agreed to take them just so we could be friends again."

"Paula what happened to you? You look like a complete mess. You don't look like yourself."

"Please just give me another chance. What harm could be in that? Please just one more. I've, I've changed! Honestly."

I looked at this defeated person and still couldn't trust her. But maybe she did change; I mean she didn't even look like her normal self. I told her to come to my dance class that night and that she could come home for a few drinks. She gave me a huge hug and ran out the door. I thought that there may be a chance of hope for her.

When she came to the studio, things were fine. She cleaned herself up and started to look like herself again. She even joined in on the adult class. Things were great. She seemed to be a much better person. Eventually as the days passed we began to become friends again. She told me her story on how she fell a part after she had lost our friendship. She moved to Canada in hopes to start a new one and eventually succeeded. She got into school, and a nice job working at the doctor's office. The day she ran into me she broke up with her boyfriend, which explained why she looked like the way she did. As the days went by our friendship grew. Eventually to the point where I felt comfortable enough to have her meet Devon. Devon and I had gotten closer and closer and I swear he was going to ask me to marry him one day. However, we were out at a bar one night. I stepped away to answer my phone. It was Jacob calling for a ride from his friend's house. When I hung up and went back to our table Paula and Devon gone. I began to panic and hoped that she didn't do it again. When I began asking around I finally got an answer. I ran outside through the back door to find them making out. The sight of them broke my heart. I pried her away from him and threw her at the wall. I punched Devon in the face breaking his nose in the process. As for Paula…well…I picked her up from the ground and punched her in the face as well.

As I punched her in the eye I said, "Hurts getting punched in the eye doesn't it?" referring to what she did back at my apartment. I gave Devon a kick in the nuts and walked away.

I was furious! She did it again. What hurt me more was that Devon and I had been together for over a year and Paula and I were only friends for a couple of months. Both of these relationships destroyed in a matter of seconds. Just when I thought that matters couldn't get any worse I got a phone call…

16

Back in these Demon Days

It was Noodle who was on the other line. I was so excited to hear from her that I totally forgot about what had just happened. She told me that she was at Kong and that she needed my help. Then she was cut off. I began to worry. Here is this girl who was between the ages of fourteen and sixteen all alone. As soon as I picked up Jacob and brought him home I told my parents that I was leaving. I packed my things as fast as I could and left. I tried to get there as fast as I could. When I finally managed to get there, there was something wrong with the place. This wasn't the Kong Studios that I knew. It seemed that the unwanted cemetery that we had, had developed some friends. It was like our version of "Night of the Living Dead". There were flesh eating zombies running all around the place. Thankfully I was smart enough to keep my gun on me. Shooting my way to front door I felt like a hero. I got in without a scratch hoping that Noodle was ok. I barricaded the doors and ran around the place calling for her. Thankfully I found her curled up with her monkey and guitar in a corner. But when I looked at her it wasn't same Noodle that I came to love. Then I looked in a mirror. The person staring back at me was not the same person who stared at me from that mirror before. I didn't realize how much I had changed myself. My bangs were died red; I was wearing a black tank top and ripped jeans, with high tops. Not to mention I was sporting a new yin yang tattoo on my left ankle and weapons were strapped to me. I went to pick Noodle up from the ground, but as soon as I touched her, a fist was flying at me. I ducked in time for her to attack me. This definitely wasn't the same person I played DDR with. I kept telling her that it was me but she just wouldn't stop. Her fighting style was different. It wasn't the same style I was used to. Eventually she managed to do a roundhouse kick to my shoulder, knocking me down. I used my hands to try and block my face but I guess she finally realized it was me. She stopped and broke down right in front of me. I've seen her cry before but not like this.

The next day she told me everything, and I mean everything. The whole Ocean Bacon, experiment stuff that she was put through. It explained how she was shipped to us in a box. She showed me what she was working on while she has been there. She also showed me the videos she took of the zombies outside. When we were reunited, we knew right away that we were going to make a come back as a band. There was a slight problem though. We still had our situation with the zombies outside. I loaded up some machine guns I found in the basement along with some various other weapons. When I saw myself in the mirror I swear I looked like I jumped straight out of a zombie film. I had two machine guns in my hands with the bullets wrapped around my body. A crossbow and a regular bow were strapped to my back with arrows. You could see my gun in it's holder on one side and my dagger on the other. When Noodle came out all she had was a rifle and her katana blade she got back home. But when I looked at her I didn't see the same little girl I first met. She was grown up. She didn't even wear her headphones anymore and her bangs were covering her eyes. We were set to go take on the zombie apocalypse. I toke the planks of wood off the door and kicked it down like I've always wanted to. With a cigarette in my mouth I began firing at those things from hell. It felt so good being able to handle that kind of machinery and being as violent as I possibly could. We went nuts. When I ran out of bullets for the machine guns I used my crossbow. Perfect headshots every time until the string snapped, then I had to use the regular bow which wasn't as fast to load. When I ran out of arrows my good old gun was next and then my crazy ninja skills with my dagger. By the end of the day we had a pile of dead zombies with sweat and zombie guts dripping off of us. That was the most fun I had in ages. Ok maybe they weren't actual zombies but they were definitely the mindless souls of terrible talent, and we actually didn't kill any of them, only scared them away. And I didn't actually do any headshots…well I have the control to make it seemed like I just missed them.

For the next couple of days afterwards we had some major cleaning up to do. We managed to dispose the talentless remains in the most humane matter…ok we burned a lot of them until the smell of their terrible works became too much for us to handle. Our gross weapons had to be cleaned along with our nasty looking clothes. Not to mention we had to put Kong back together. The poor thing fell apart during our absence. As we were cleaning up the recording studio one day it sounded like the front door was slamming shut. There couldn't possibly be anymore zombies but you can never be too careful. I grabbed my gun from the chair and made my way to the door. Standing there was definitely not a zombie because it seemed to have some form of a brain. However, I couldn't tell who it was because they were wearing a raincoat.

"Freeze scumbag!" I yelled as if I was a cop.

"Wait, wait, WAIT, It's me! Stuart!"

"Jesus Stu, why didn't say anything before?" I said lowering the gun

"I didn't think anybody was home! Will you put the gun away, you're making me nervous."

"Sorry about that, but you can never be too careful nowadays, right?" I said putting it away.

"Good point…So don't I get a hug?" he asked with a smile.

I smiled back and of course gave him a hug.

As he was hugging me back he said, "I don't fink you've ever called me Stu before."

"Oh, really…well then Stu what brings you here to our neck of the woods?"

He gave off a chuckle and said, "Noodle contacted me, what about you?"

"Noodle said she needed my help for something and got cut off… so here I am."

I looked at him and he looked at me, but when I looked at his face it wasn't the same person I knew from the Emporium. I guess times had changed for him as well. But as we made eye contact my heart still skipped that one beat. It was nice to finally be able to be in the same room with him again, even if times had changed. I knew that Noodle would want to see him so I grabbed his arm and dragged him into the recording studio. You can tell she was thrilled to have her "brother" back. Not too long after he showed up, Murdoc and Russel came as well. Time apart from each other was really rough on all of us. Murdoc was in jail and developed his cape look and Russel was just a mess. Apparently he saw the grim reaper again as he took Del's spirit away. We all shared stories about what happened to all of us during our absence from each other. Noodle and Russ's stories seemed more emotionally painful. And I thought my life sucked then. But like what my mom once said to me, "You think your life sucks now, but there is always someone out there whose life sucks even more than your own." Boy was she ever right.

As we got to a point were we finished swapping stories Murdoc introduced us to his raven and Noodle showed the others what she had been working on. All of us loved what she was doing. We were all in and ready to start the project for our "Demon Days" album. We were back baby!

I guess Noodle had some sort of quest to find talent amongst the mindless zombies that we see in today's media. Just some form of life amongst the mess I guess. Video after video we watched and they were all the same crap. They were the same types. There were the guys with high vocal ranges and a sweet and innocent look. There were also the trampy girls who thought that they are going to be the next Brittany Spears. Then there were the screamer bands and not to mention the people who had no talent at all. After days of painful singing and jokes we were able to pick out what we thought had potential. I still have no idea what Noodle did to the people we picked out. But hey, it was all her thing so I didn't care at all.

The Gorillaz were back with our newly released "Demon Days" album!

17

Dare You to Feel Good

Noodle wanted to make a difference in the world through our music. She did the whole "Reject False Icons" thing and all of our songs talked about how society was basically destroying freedom and corrupting the minds of children. She was right. There needed to be a change. People were just falling into their own graves. I admit that I was one of those people in the past, but I grew up and saw a brighter tomorrow.

After the album was released we were back on the charts. Day after day we got higher and higher up the lists around the world. Eventually we ended up with the number one spot with "Feel Good Inc." in some countries. Now that's how to make a come back. We were back and about to clean up society with our sensational songs like "Kids with Guns", "Dare", and "El Mañana". We were all different people compared to the past. We had a darker persona which was a great change compared to our first album. Things were way different than before.

Once we released Noodle's album we called up Jamie and Damon to start working on our videos. First up was our "Feel Good Inc." video. What Noodle wanted was what I thought would be impossible to do. She wanted an actual island with a windmill flying around a tower. It took a lot of work but I manage to call up some people and off to work we went. Thanks to my education I was able to create a device that allowed the island to float. I guess you could call it some sort of hovering device. It was difficult to get the land mass up there but we still did it. Next was having the technology that made it so the windmill allowed it to move around. That wasn't too hard to figure it out. I would explain what we did but I would lose you after the first sentence. Once we finished putting the finishing touches with the paint, Noodle's Island was ready to go. We celebrated our success failing to realize that the shoot was schedule the next day. Noodle was the only one who was responsible that night. The next day was brutal. I felt completely dead, and whose fault was that, mine. Man I can be such and idiot at times. Well I'm glad that I wasn't the only one though. 2-D was a mess. Well it was either that or he was a really good actor. The poor thing looked like he actually was trapped in a hell hole. During the video I had to jump through the window in an action shot and land on the island, then jam with Noodle near the end. I don't know how many shots we had to do to make it perfect. I was the only person brave enough to jump from that distance and height. Then the whole helicopters where supposed to follow us because I escaped and what not. I say "what not" a lot don't I? Once we were finally finished the shoot we said goodbye to the windmill for the time being. That thing was a pain in the butt getting down as it was getting up.

After the trapped feeling that was the "Feel Good" video, next, was the electronic energy that is the "Dare" video. None of us knew what was going on. Noodle decided to go behind our backs to do this video. It was her song after all. On the morning that she was filming I had just finished my Yoga session in the yard. I was in the kitchen fixing myself up a nice healthy smoothie when I began to hear music. I didn't think much about it at first. As I was walking down that hallway I saw 2-D with his head pressed against the floor.

"What on earth are you doing?"

"Shhh, the music is starting again."

"It's probably just Noodle."

"Ya, but what is she doing?"

"She is a teenage girl what would she be doing…On second thought don't answer that. She's probably dancing around or something."

The music kept playing all day. It was getting ridiculous. I was in my room trying to get my robot arm to work the whole time. Every time she dropped something it made a loud bang which made me almost rip wires out or something. I don't know how many times I yelled for her to shut up. When it all finally ended I looked out the window to see a camera crew leave. I was pretty much like, "what the hell is a camera crew doing here?" Then I saw Damon and Jamie and knew that something wasn't right. So that's when I decided to investigate and went into Noodle's room. I knocked on the door and opened it.

"Noodle what was going on?"

"The Dare Music video"

"Wait, the what music video?"

"Get out of my room!" she yelled throwing a basket ball at me.

The little bugger did a music video without us. Explains what all the cameras where doing. But why she didn't tell any of us, I still don't know. Even if she told me that she wanted to do the video by herself, I wouldn't have mind at all. Whatever, I finally had some quiet time to work on my cyborg project I've wanted to make.

18

Crazies among Crazies

2-D and I were shopping one day when I noticed our "D-sides" album. I thought to myself that we truly were back together as a band. I was glad because I couldn't picture my life to go any other way. As we continued our shopping at the mall, we bought a few games and movies. I never realized how much we have in common. We both love horror movies and the mindless games that we could play for hours on end. When we got home it was apparently girl time. Noodle dragged me into her room to just hang out and do our nails. We sat their painting in silence for a while. Finally one of us broke the silence.

"So I've notice you and 2-D hanging out more often," she said.

I sat there and actually thought about it…ya we were hanging out more often.

"Ya we have haven't we?"

"You two also seem to be friendlier than usual too."

Again she made me think…ya she was right.

"Maybe, but I haven't really noticed any difference," I lied.

"So what is going on then?"

"What do you mean Noods?"

"Between the two of you, what is going on?"

"We're friends, nothing is going on."

"Mhmm, right." she said with a grin across her face.

She was about to say something else when Murdoc came in, "We've got another tour! We're traveling to the states!"

"Well then better start getting prepared! Catch you later Noodle," I said trying to get out of her room as fast as I could.

As I was rushing to lock myself into my room, guess who I ran into…well he ran into me. Both of us fell to the ground. As I was falling I managed to bang my head on a table which I was going to feel the next day.

"Stuart, what the bloody hell are you doing?"

"I was coming to tell you something."

"Ok but did you have to run in the… ow… hallway?"

"Well I was coming to tell you that your brother is here. Are you ok?"

"I hit my head on the table. Wait, Jacob is here?"

"Ya he is. Here let me help you," he said.

He grabbed my hands and pulled me up. I hate being clumsy. Once he pulled me up, I lost my footing and tripped right into him. Thankfully he caught me and gave a slight chuckle. I looked up at him as he had his arms around me and gave him a smile. He smiled back, still with me in his arms until he looked up. Behind me were the others.

"Right I'll go grab you an ice pack for your head," he said pushing me away.

Noodle comes up to me after he left and said, "Just friends huh?" and walked away.

I got to the front door to see Jacob standing there with a large box. For someone his age he does a lot of traveling. We sat down in the living room and he told me to open the box. Knowing him something was going to jump out as soon as I did. He is always doing those kinds of practical jokes. As I opened the box, inside was a guitar, but not just any guitar. It was a handmade guitar shaped into a butterfly. The pattern detailing on the wings was incredible. He told me that it was a belated grad present. He planned on finishing it for grad but didn't realize it toke as long as it did. He also wanted to see the expression on my face when I saw it. It was a beautiful piece of work. And that was the day that I got my signature one and only butterfly guitar.

Getting that guitar was perfect timing, I had time to rehearse all of our songs with it for the "Demon Detour" with it. We were off to try another go at this tour thing. I still can't believe that Murdoc wanted the first concert to be on his birthday just so it could be 666. Whatever makes him happy I guess.

Things were alright at the start of it, despite Murdoc's usual "hospitality". He always managed to make the tour bus gross in some way, from microwaving an egg to throwing garbage everywhere. When we got a little farther into the tour it seemed like there were people who were trying to assassinate us. Every once and while there would be someone trying to shoot at us. Every gig that we did had the slight stench of sulphur as well. Russel was convinced that it was the demon boy after us. I believed him because I swear I saw him in my dressing room. The more Russ brought it up the more everyone thought that he was crazy. We have experienced more than enough crazies on that tour. We came across so many people that had a screw loose, from stalkers to just regular fans. However, there was this one guy who became chummy with Murdoc. His name was Jimmy or something like that. Real odd ball that one. Made me feel very nervous to be around him, I tried to stay away from him as much as possible. All I knew about him was that he was going to try out at our guitar audition long ago but Murdoc shooed him off.

As we continued on the tour, things kept getting shakier and shakier. I swear that we were going to have another break down like our last tour. Whenever people would have little spats at each other I kept reminding them that we are all here for a reason, to enrich people's lives with great music. At one point Murdoc and Noodle were having an argument and I stormed out of the room to cool off, then came back in and gave a whole speech. It was a speech about how we should all stick together for our love of music and our friendships. I guess that little speech stuck because we didn't have as many complications afterwards. The "Demon Detour" was a huge success which didn't end up with us splitting up.

Because we managed to stick together we were able to do another music video. Our next music video sensation was our "Dirty Harry" video. In that video we went to a desert…obviously. We did have some minor complications but they were able to be solved. So here we are in the desert where it was bloody hot. Originally, I was supposed to wear clothes that covered me from head to toe. I thought that in this heat there was no way I was going to last. So without telling anybody, I toke off the jacket, army shirt, and the undershirt. I ripped the pants so that they went just below my knee. Luckily the bra I was wearing was in camouflage. I slapped on the hat, gloves, and glasses and ran onto the set. I ran straight to my spot, tying my hair back into a pony tail, and sat next to the kids with a toothpick in my mouth. When they finally noticed my sudden costume change, my excuse was it was too hot out. Sure, Damon and the other were a bit mad at me until they came up with a punishment. They wanted me to do a dance routine in the video instead of me playing. I saw it as fair and danced like I would've on stage. After the shoot when we broke down, my only thought was that I wanted water. I was so dehydrated after dancing in the heat all day. I was going crazy, I swear I was hallucinating that the desert was on fire. Eventually, I passed out from dehydration and woke up in the hotel room. However, it did teach me a lesson… to not mess around with your costume right before the shoot.

Things were about to get a little busier than usual. In October of 2005 we were signed up to perform "Demon Days Live" in Manchester. We started our first concert on November 1st. There was a great vibe in the air. We all knew what we were here for and it was to perform some awesome music. We were all feeling great. Just to be able to stand there on stage and hear the roaring fans is an incredible feeling. After that came the EMA performance. Again we were all in a good mood. Nothing was able to bring us down. Those were the good days.

19

Feel Up MTV, British Style!

It was just another ordinary day. I was in my room working on my cyborg using my high tech computer. It's the type of computer that you can find in futuristic movies. I admit my room was ahead of it's time…my room was my computer…or my computer was my room, whatever way you want to look at it. I was testing the voice command for the cyborg on my computer. I was saying basic stuff like turn on my music, switch songs, turn off lights etc. So far everything was working so I decided to take out the chip from the hard drive in my wall. That's when Murdoc walked in with the MTV Cribs camera crew. He opened the door right into me making me drop the chip and my glasses to fall off. Of course I can only make out blurry shapes without them, so here I am on the ground searching for them. Then the camera crew got too curious and wandered around my room. What, they haven't seen a holographic computer screen before? Then I heard a crunch. I hoped that it wasn't the chip and then I hoped that it wasn't my glasses. Frantically searching the floor I managed to cut my finger on something. Sure enough it was my glasses. I put them on only being able to see a cracked world in my right eye. I was furious! I grabbed my switchblade and threw it at Murdoc just missing him. Yelling at them all to get out, I went to go find my back up glasses. The next day I told Murdoc that that was the last time he was ever going to bring cameras into my room.

Shortly after I got my new glasses Noodle came up to me. She told me that we were going to do a performance with Madonna at the Grammies. I thought, "Well this could be interesting". She told me that we were going to meet her at a restaurant to discuss what we were going to do. We met up with her, Damon, and Jamie and eventually got all the details we wanted. Next was to bring it up with the guys. Once they were all in we were all good to go on stage. At first I was skeptical that doing a mash up of her song "Hung Up" and our song "Feel Good Inc." would sound good. We began rehearsing and things sounded ok. Then eventually the song grew on me. It sounded great…sounded even better when we went on stage. I still can't believe that we were able to perform on stage the way we did. You should check out Murdoc's drawing explanation of it in "Rise of the Ogre".

Not too long after the "Feel Up" song there was the Brit Awards in 2006. I was asked to come up with a dance routine to "Dirty Harry" for all of us to dance to. Jamie told me that there was going to be a video of us doing the routine while we play. I thought that this would be an interesting challenge. I got to work a soon as possible. I didn't realize how complicated coming up with a routine was let alone teach it to people who don't dance. I gave up trying to come up with the routine, so I gathered everybody up and told them that they can dance however they wanted. We did our first dance rehearsal and we all had a general idea on what we wanted to do. However, entries and timing to the music was a bit tricky for everybody to agree on. So I told them all that this could be a job for me. We soon were able to dance the way we wanted to in an organized matter. What you see is what we came up with together. I was excited to see it go up on that screen during the performance. We didn't win anything but at least we had a great bonding experience.

20

Going out With a Big Bang

After all of the stuff with the Brit awards I've noticed that there was something wrong with Noodle. It seemed like she was hiding something. I knew that there was something wrong with her but no matter how many times I've asked she wouldn't tell me. I eventually gave up trying to talk to her and just quietly watched her. I began to think that maybe there wasn't anything wrong after all, until I walked into her room one day. Her whole entire room was packed up. Her walls were bare, boxes were stacked, and the bubbly feel it usually had was gone. It was like a dark shadow was covering her room. I was pissed. Why was she keeping secrets? I ran to find her to get some answers. When I did, all she told me was that she was leaving…not like I didn't notice the boxes at all. I kept asking her about it, but all I got was a, "because, times change." She was depressed and I could see it no matter how hard she tried to hide it. I wanted to help but it seemed like she shut herself away from all of us. I hoped that things would change for the good at our next gig.

Our next big hit was the Apollo Theater. It was a great experience to play on the stage that many great people have been on before us. It wasn't like an ordinary show though. I kept thinking about Noodle leaving. I was scared for her. I tried to have a good time, but it was difficult. My best friend was about to leave soon without letting me know why. Once we were finished with the Apollo Theater show I hoped that she changed her mind. Unfortunately nothing has changed. One evening I was up to get myself a snack. That's when I heard Murdoc and Noodle talking in her room. I couldn't make out what they were saying over the music. All I could make out was Murdoc saying, "Well then, I think we have made ourselves a deal." Noodle making a deal with Murdoc…about what I wish I found out.

It was time for us to make the "El Mañana" video. Noodle wanted the windmill island to be used in this one again. Getting that thing to fly again was no picnic. The bloody thing just wouldn't go up. It was complete rubbish. The thing was just falling apart. We fixed what we could fix for the meantime. Once we got it up in the air again, we loaded it up with props. Then I found out that they were going to blow it up with the two of us on it as a continuation for the "Feel Good Inc" video. I've done some pretty dangerous stuff in my life but nothing as dangerous as this. I was scared to do it even when they told me that there were going to be parachutes for us. I finally gave in and got on the island. The plan was for us to be on the island with helicopters firing at us and as the island explodes we parachute to safety. Everything was good so far. We were on the island enjoying the nice breeze like we were supposed to. Then the helicopters came…they weren't ours. When I realized this I tried to radio the others but I couldn't get a signal. They kept filming as the copters fired at us with real bullets. We ran inside as fast as we could. I couldn't believe that nobody on the ground realized that we were in real danger. Through all the smoke and fire we got what wounds we got and were scared beyond belief…at least I was. We got to a point were we both realized that we were going down. We were losing altitude and fast. As I told Noodle that we needed to jump at that moment or else, support beams came crashing down on top of me. As I began to lose consciousness I told Noodle to jump, all I could hear was her scream. I held on as much as I could as I got the beams off of me. I grabbed my chute from where I left it that morning and jumped. I was hoping that I would be able to find her but there was too much smoke for me to see. Not too long after I jumped, my chute caught on fire. It slowly went up in flames as I began to fall faster and faster. As I was falling I still couldn't find Noodle. I hit the ground with a great amount of force.

Not too long after I had hit the ground I heard the sound of everybody calling for us. I tried to call back but I couldn't find the strength. All I could do was just lie on the ground motionless. As the others finally found me I was covered in blood. I kept asking where Noodle was. I could hear the sound of sirens in the background as 2-D came to my side.

I was in the hospital with for several days suffering from a blow to the head when I hit the ground. One day I woke up to see 2-D and Russel in the room. The two of them looked terrible but probably not as terrible as I did. It toke them a second to finally realize that I was awake.

"Cleo! I…we were scared that we lost you," said 2-D grabbing my hand.

"How do you feel?" asked Russ walking towards the bed

"I'm ok. Where is Noodle, is she ok? The doctors wouldn't let me leave the room," there was silence as the two of them looked at each other.

"She's gone," said 2-D

"She can't be gone. I heard her scream when she jumped. What if she's still out there?"

"Cleo… Noodle never jumped. We found her parachute amongst the debris that fell out of the windmill." said Russel.

At that moment my heart broke. She was gone. I tried to think about possibilities but I couldn't get my head away from the fact that she was gone. I grabbed onto 2-D not caring how much my back or broken leg hurt. They didn't hurt as much as the pain in my heart did.

21

Don't Get Lost in Heaven

With Noodle gone we didn't want to continue with the band, or at least I didn't want to. When my leg was finally healed we held a funeral for her. However, her remains where still missing at the time. I remember waking up to that day. I got out of bed and got myself ready for the ceremony. I remember walking into her room and seeing all of the boxes still neatly packed. On her bed was her mask that she bought. 2-D, Noodle, and I all bought wooden masks one day just to be funny. Hers was the cat like mask, 2-D's was the smiley face, and mine was a fox mask. I picked it up off of her bed and began to cry a little. I hated the fact that I could have done something if those stupid beams hadn't fallen on me. I was only there for a short while until 2-D came in. As we both left her room he put his arm around my shoulder to comfort me I assumed. When we got to the church I saw that everybody was there. By everybody I mean everyone we've worked with in the past. She has all touched their lives in some way. Everybody had touching words that were unique in their own way, but they all came for the same reason… she was an amazing girl who we all loved. They were glad that they were able to be a part of the Gorillaz and one of them even said, "Once a gorilla, always a gorilla and Noodle will forever be our little gorilla." As I sat there I couldn't help but to look out a window. There was this large tree sitting out there by the graveyard. However, it wasn't the tree itself that I was looking at; it was what was in the tree. Somebody female with bluish grey stockings was sitting on one of the branches. I couldn't tell who it was because the branches where covering her face. She knew that I was looking at her because she gave a slight wave. I brought my attention back to the front and couldn't help but to think about Noodle. I wiped a tear or two off my cheek and as I brought my hand back down 2-D's hand was there waiting for mine. I looked at him and he looked back giving me the "It'll be alright" look. I held on to his hand letting him know that it will be ok.

When we got back home nobody said a word. I changed into some sweats and a t-shirt and decided to go make myself a drink. However, I wanted to go into Noodle's room one last time before I locked it up for good. As I got to her door I heard movement from inside. I opened the door a crack without making a sound. There was someone standing in the middle of the room with a bag and Noodle's guitar. That's when I recognized the stockings. I managed to open the door farther and sneak inside. However, when I closed the door it made a sound. The girl turned around wearing Noodle's mask.

"You, you were the one I saw in the tree. Alright who the hell are you and what the hell are you doing in here?" I yelled grabbing a gun from the dresser.

"Easy, easy, it's me," she said.

"Me, you're going to have to be more specific."

"Fine," she said taking off the mask.

Underneath the mask was a young woman with a black eye. I was speechless, it was Noodle. She looked all grown up. I wanted to scream but couldn't. I didn't know how to react to what I was seeing. It was like seeing the walking undead.

As she grabbed my shoulder she said,"I'll explain everything to you one day, just not now. I'm sorry I faked my death but I had a good reason to. Please don't tell anybody else, I have to trust you on that. Please just understand that I have to leave. But don't worry we will see each other again…Here I want you to have this. You know those Vampire Knight Mangas we read together; well I like to call this gun my Bloody Rose. I want you to have it. Please take good care of yourself and smile because if you don't you're just living in the past. You need to smile in order to move on into the future. But right now I have to go, forgive me," she said grabbing her stuff and jumping onto the window sill in the hallway, "and remember to listen to what your heart says. We will meet one day." And she jumped out onto the roof.

"Cleo is that you?" came 2-D's voice.

"Ya, I'm...right here in Noodle's Room," I said with a smile on my face.

"What are you doing in here and what's with the smile across your face?"

I looked down at the gun and thought about what she said, "A good friend once told me to smile because if you don't you're just living in the past. You need to smile in order to move on into the future."

"Did she tell you that?"

"Ya she did. Besides, smiling is something she would want me to do."

I looked up from the gun to see 2-D leaning on the door frame. I gave him a smile as I was about to walk out the door.

"Somefing tells me that that isn't the only thing she told you to do."

"She told me to take good care of myself which I will always do…She also told me to listen to my heart, which I never do."

"Well listen to it now, what is it saying?" he said grabbing my hands.

"I don't know…It's beating too fast for me to understand it."

He gave me smile and said, "I fink I know what it's trying to say."

"Oh ya, and what's that?"

That's when he leaned in and kissed me.

Finally we did something that the two of us have wanted to do for sometime now, I now had the answer to my question, and it all felt right. I happened to open my eyes and looked out the window. Noodle was standing there with a huge grin on her face. She put her mask back on and jumped off of the roof. When we finally pulled away from each other both of us couldn't stop smiling.

"I'd probably get a big fat I told you so from Noodle right about now," he said.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"For a long time she has been bugging me about you. Cleo…I've always had a thing for ever since that night in the cemetery."

"Really? Me…me too!" I said.

"So you're telling me this whole entire time…"

"We could have done what we just did, yup."

We stood there for a minute or two laughing until Murdoc comes over with Russel.

"Well without Noodle, I'm out. It was a great time while it lasted guys, goodbye," said Murdoc as he walked away.

"Ya I'm out too guys. Maybe, I'll try and figure myself out a little more. Take care," said Russel as he too left.

"Wait, you guys are just going to leave! What about the band? I'm sure Noodle would want us to still play," I said running after them with 2-D.

"Sorry darling, but without Noodle, we just won't have the same sound," Murdoc said as he walked out the front door with Russ right behind him.

"Well, what do we do know 13?"

"I...I...I don't know."

Thus ended the Gorillaz for the second time… We probably wouldn't even see the two of them again, I didn't know when Noodle was ever coming back, and the Gorillaz may not have ever come back at all. We were finished.

22

Picture Perfect

Kong Studios started to become this rotten place to live in. It was hard trying to keep it all up to date, considering how old it was. No matter how hard the two of us tried we just couldn't do it. The costs for repairs were ridiculous. We wanted out, but we had no clue were to go. We both got a job and eventually moved into an apartment. It was nice to finally be able to say that we were together. We have both been waiting to say that for sometime. I kept trying to contact Murdoc and Russel in any way possible, but no luck at all. I had to admit that it was nice to be able to have some form of alone time again, but it just wasn't the same without everyone there.

One day after working as an assisting technician, I came across this piece of paper in the parking lot. I looked at it and it was a drawing of the band. I thought that it was a really good drawing and wondered who the artist was. I tried to make out the signature but I just couldn't read it. As I started walking to my motorcycle I heard a voice.

"Excuse me, excuse me. Have you seen a drawing anywhere?"

I turned around to see a young girl that reminded me of myself when I was her age. She had the braces and glasses nerdy look. Carrying her many books she looked very nervous as she walked up to me.

"Oh my god, you're 13," she said dropping her books.

"Yes, yes I am," I said with a laugh as I picked them up, "Are you looking for this perhaps?"

Handing her the picture her face went red as she said, "Uhhhh…ummm… ya."

"It's very good. I really like it."

"Really?" she said with a look of disbelief on her face.

"Ya I do. You are a really good artist. What kind of other stuff do you do?"

"Umm really well I… I draw stuff like nature and people. Things that are…alive… and… such…"

She showed me her other work and they were really good. The various shadings and the fine detail in the pictures were unbelievable. This girl had some talent. I signed her notebook and she let me keep the drawing. I got home and showed it to Stuart and he too was impressed. Setting it aside I did another one of my little piano lessons. It had been a while since I had started them with 2-D. Long ago he told me that he would teach me, but, we never could get a lesson without interruptions from somebody. We were only able to get at least three to four actual lessons a month. When I was finally at his level, all we were doing was just rehearsing.

Ya life was different then. It was quieter that's for sure. Occasionally we would get a fan or two running up to us while we were out, but eventually nobody did. It seemed that as the Gorillaz split people didn't care anymore. We were just there. Finally being a part of the audience rather than on stage.

I remember this one time after work I just felt like crap. The whole entire day was just a mess. The computer at work crashed on us and wouldn't work at all. Ricky spilled his hot coffee right into my lap, so I had to walk around all morning with coffee stains. I couldn't get a chance to go change because we were just so busy. People kept coming left and right complaining that this didn't work or that made a weird sound. I was stressed out. Right around my lunch time 2-D stopped by with a change of clothes because it was his time off. He saw that things weren't going so well at all. He said that things will get better. He was right! It was like just having him there made everything better, When he left we weren't as busy anymore, which brought my stress level down. Ricky bought me a coffee to apologize for what happened and it seemed like we didn't really need the computer at all. Still it was a long day. I drove home on my bike and walked into the front door. As soon as walked in I noticed that the lights were off and I could smell popcorn.

"Oh good, you're home," said 2-D putting a bowl of popcorn on the coffee table.

I looked at the T.V as it displayed the "Dawn of the Dead" DVD title screen.

"Stuart, what is all this?"

"Well I figured that you were having a rough day and thought that this would perhaps cheer you up," he said taking my jacket off. "This is somefing we haven't done in a while."

The two of us sat down like we did long ago. Only this time we wouldn't have Noodle's abrupt interruption and we were sitting a little closer together. That was a good way to end the day. Seeing people get attacked by a swarm of zombies and laughing about it. I don't remember watching the end of the movie. When I woke up I was in bed with the sun shining right in my face. How I got there was a no brainer. It was one of those sweet moments where I thought that it was too good to be true. I walked into the kitchen to see him making some breakfast.

"Morning sleepy," he said with a smile.

"Morning," I said as I poured myself a cup of coffee.

"So I'm guessing you slept well."

"Ya I did. Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you."

"That's ok. I didn't mind at all. You had a rough day. I understand."

I thought that this was too perfect. There was something that was going to ruin everything. I mean I have never had a boyfriend that would carry me a bed, make me breakfast, and understand me when I have ha a bad day and tried to make it better. There is always a catch, a Catch-22, but I didn't want to believe it. Life was perfect at that point.

23

Road Trip

I still wanted to get the band back together, but saw that it was pointless now. Time went by since we all saw each other. I kept wondering what Noodle has been up too since she "died". Stuart and I grew closer than ever during this time. You can tell that we were close because we would finish each other's sentences or say the same thing at the same time. Sometimes it got a little scary. Just for fun we decided to hit some bars and do some two person performances. I admit that it wasn't the same feeling doing these shows compared to the ones we have been doing in the past, but at least we still kept in touch with our musical side. Things were great together. We were a happy couple. We both started a new chapter in our lives. So what if we didn't have the band anymore, as long as we had each other we were happy.

I always kept in touch with my parents. I told them everything that was going on in my life. They have never been so proud of me as they where then. One day I called them up and they wanted me to come on a family vacation. They also wanted me to bring 2-D along. I knew that he was accepted into the family but not this far into it! I told them I would talk about it with him and get back to them. As we were sitting down at the dinner table I though that it was a great time to bring it up.

"So I talked to my mom today."

"Ya, what did she have to say?"

"Well...actually…my parents were wondering if you wanted to join me and them on a family vacation."

"Family vacation? Shouldn't that be for… you know…the family?"

"Don't you hear what I am saying? They see you as part of the family, that's why their asking if you'd come."

"They consider me as family?"

"Yes, now are you going to come?"

"Absolutely!"

"Great I'll call my mom after dinner."

Things were great. We got ourselves packed and flew over to Canada to meet up with my parents and brother. I saw my dad pull up in this really nice RV with my mom waving out the window. You can tell that they were really excited for this trip. We packed up our stuff and were off to Sacramento California. I was finally able to show Stuart where I grew up. Town after town, hour after hour, we sat in the RV hanging out like normal adults. We would have a couple of laughs while playing cards with my mom and brother. Sometimes when we stopped, my dad even let me drive. I felt so powerful driving that big thing. This trip was a really good idea. It was a great bonding experience for everybody.

When we were in Sacramento we did so much together as a family. Eventually, my mom told us that 2-D and I should do something with just the two of us. We both knew that she was right. The day after she told us, we decided to make it an "us" day. We decided to go to a museum which was really cool. They had a little Egyptian exhibit that I was dying to go see. As we were heading to the area we passed by the Japanese stuff. As we walked by I swear I saw Noodle. I even stopped and went back to check inside the room. When I entered, it was her. She turned around, lifted her mask, gave me a wink, and jumped out of the window. I was glad to see her again but it would be nice if I could actually say something to her. As I left the room I couldn't help but to wonder why she had to fake her death. What would maker her do that and why she couldn't just tell us instead. Then I remembered that I can't think about stuff like that now because now wasn't the time.

The rest of the day was wonderful. It was romantic and sweet like every girl would want a perfect day to be. I decided to take a shower before I went to bed. Once I was out of the shower and dressed I noticed that Stuart wasn't in the room and the door was slightly open. Then I heard voices from outside the room. I looked through the peephole to see Dad and 2-D talking.

"So Stuart, it's a pleasure to have you on this trip with us," my dad said.

"Well Mr. Frotner, I'm glad to be here."

"Pfft. Call me dad."

"Umm alright…dad."

"So I wanted to talk to you about something. Why don't you come and have a drink with me."

"I should let Cleo know,"

"Nonsense, she won't mind at all, right Cleo?" my dad said as he opened the door.

Bloody hell…I looked at him like a deer in headlights. I gave a slight "oh crap" laugh with a smile.

"Busted… Hey how did you know?" asked 2-D.

"Boy, I know this girl like the back of my hand. At this point a father always knows when their child is up to no good."

The two of them left and I was left alone. I decided to run over to my parent's room to see what my mom was up to. As she answered the door she had a huge smile on her face. I kept asking about it but she wouldn't tell me. Obviously there was something going on that my parents didn't want me knowing. I was in there for a good hour or two until my dad walked in.

"That kid of yours is something I tell you. Now why don't you go to him," he said with a smile.

As I was about to walk out the door my dad said, "Oh and Cleo…He is a keeper."

The rest of the trip was great. Going to various places together was so much fun. I still didn't know what my parents where hiding from me, nor did I know what the two were talking about that night, but I didn't care. I was on vacation! Of course we took photos of everything. Sure every once and a while we ran into a fan or two. We went to this one restaurant and there was a live performance going on. When we sat down the waitress looked at us…then toke a second look…then a third with a huge smile across her face. Not too long after she left, she came back with the manager. The manager has heard about us and was wondering if we would go on stage. We said we couldn't because it was just the two of us, but he insisted that the band on stage could play our songs. We were very unsure but we decided that it would be fun. The manager ran up on stage and introduced us as we started talking to the band. They knew how to play a few of our songs from audience requests. We decided to go with what they had and did our best. Again nothing to spectacular, just a simple show, it was nice to be recognized as members of the Gorillaz again rather than those singers from that one bar.

When the trip was over we said our goodbyes to my family and went back to England. A day or so after we got back we decided not do anything that day. I don't think I even got dressed that day. I think I just wore 2-D's "Shoot to Ill" shirt and a pair of basketball shorts. I was in our room typing away at my computer when I began to notice a weird smell. I knew that 2-D was in the living room but I had no clue what he was doing. Then the smell got stronger and stronger. I knew that this couldn't be good so I decided to investigate. As I jumped off the bed I started to get a bit light headed. As I slowly made my way to the door my vision was starting to fade. I stumbled my way to the living room as the chemical gas was getting stronger and stronger. I fell to the ground and looked up to see 2-D black out on the window. That's when I blacked out as someone walked in.

24

I Don't think We're in Kansas Anymore

When I woke up I couldn't see anything. I tried to move around but it seemed like I was trapped in a box. Still light headed I tried to break the box open. No matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get it open. Then I heard a voice. I couldn't make out who it was until it started calling for me. It was 2-D. I was glad to hear that he was alright. I kept kicking the top of the box until I finally I made a break through. I gave the box one final kick and off it went. When I kicked it off, 2-D was trying to get it off at the same time. I sat up to see him lying there with the lid on top of him.

"I'm so sorry! Are you ok?" I asked jumping out. My limbs where so stiff from being in that box that as soon as my feet touched the ground I fell.

"Just minor bruises, what about you, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I said as he helped me up, "Where are we?"

"A beach…"

I looked at him and said, "No really, I would have never guessed that."

"You asked."

"I meant…you know what I meant…What the heck are we doing here?"

"Wish I knew."

"And that you will," came a voice we haven't heard for quite some time.

We both turned around to see Murdoc standing up on a balcony.

"Welcome to Plastic Beach, Point Nemo." he said taking a sip of a drink.

I looked around at the big pink mass that would be our new home. He told us to come inside. We walked up the stairs and inside. We stood there as the elevator came down to reveal Murdoc standing inside. He pulled the two of us inside and brought us to the recording studio. Sitting there was my guitar which pissed me off even more than I already was.

"Alright Murdoc what the fuck is going on?" I yelled.

"We're back. That's what's going on."

"What do you mean back, there is only the three of us." said 2-D as he too got angrier.

"Well yes, but I have my ways. All I needed now was you two. Now if you ever want to see civilization again I suggest you cooperate."

I looked over at 2-D as he said, "Fine."

"Right then…hmm…errrr…13 you come with me…you stay here face-ache," said Murdoc as he grabbed my arm.

Murdoc dragged me into the elevator and we went down to what would be my bedroom. He shoved me in and gave a wave. I was stuck there. I looked around at my new room and saw a couple of boxes sitting there. I opened one of them to find all of my electronic gear. Another one had my clothes. I was trapped. I still couldn't believe it; Murdoc kidnapped us out of our happy home. I sat there for about an hour or two until I decided to take an adventure. I went onto the elevator and decided to start from the bottom and work my way up to the top. As I hit the bottom button I wasn't expecting to go below sea level. When the door opened I was in a bedroom. On the bed was this thing covered in blankets. I pulled the covers to see 2-D shaking.

"Stuart, honey, what's wrong?"

"The whale…the whale…it's…its going to eat me."

"What whale?"

"The one with the big eye out the window."

"Right, you have that whale phobia. Well I'm looking out the window and I don't see...BLOODY HELL!" I yelled falling off the bed as a giant eye came out of no where.

"Get it to go away before it gets me."

"It's not going to get you. It's ok now, it's gone." I said closing the drapes.

2-D gave off a huge sigh of relief and stopped shaking as he said, "Some how Murdoc has got it to keep an eye on me."

"How is that even possible?"

"I don't know but that's what he said."

"We have to get off this island. I wanted us to get back together but not like this. I finally decide that I was done with the band. I don't want what happened to Noodle to happen again."

"I know what you mean but how the heck are we going to get off. We don't even know where we are."

"Yes we do. By studying the sun's movement and the stars location I'm pretty sure I can pinpoint our location."

"How do you know how to do it?"

"I toke a sailing course with my parents. If we were to ever get lost out at sea we would do exactly what I just said. If I search the island I can probably find some sort of boat or something. Murdoc had to have gotten here some how right?"

"Right, I'll help you search as long as that whale isn't around."

I gave him a smile and hoped that we would get off the pile of garbage known as Plastic Beach.

25

Overload

I was wandering around the island one day when I came across a car submarine, a boat, and a water plane. They were three things that might be able to get us off of the island and away from Murdoc. I continued on and came across the Engineer Room. I walked inside the cold room and looked at all the gears and wires. I walked down a small set of stairs and came across a control panel. I examined it but couldn't figure out what it went to. I turned around to see a closet. I thought that maybe I could find some form of weapon to defend us on our escape. When I opened the door I saw a figure inside. When I looked closer at it I realized that it was my cyborg that I didn't finish. What it was doing here, I didn't know. As I turned around to leave Murdoc was standing in the doorway.

"I need you to do me a favor," he said with a crooked smile, "I need you to make me a Noodle by finishing your robot here."

"I can't replace Noodle like that. It's not right."

"If you ever want to get off this island then I suggest you finish it."

"And how am I supposed to make it look like Noodle?"

"Well...hmmm…I've been reading those text books of yours. I know that you know how to create a rubbery skin that's like a human's."

"Yes but that requires DNA and to make it look like Noodle I would need hers."

"I've already taken care of that," he said pulling out a bag with some hair in it.

"You are a sick person."

"Remember our deal?"

"Fine…I will create a cyborg Noodle. It may take some time."

"Great. Here is a list of some modifications," he said handing me a piece of paper.

I grabbed everything and brought them to my room.

It toke me days to finish it. I made it so that everything was as life like as it possibly could. I gave it an artificial heart that was able to pump oil around its system like blood. I managed to put together eyes that were cameras and hooked them up to its hard drive brain. Placing the chip inside that allowed it to speak and respond to commands I felt guilty. I was replacing Noodle. I continued to work, giving it the artificial skin and installed the weapons into it. Finally I was able to put the finishing touches. Giving it teeth, nails, hair, and dressing it into Noodle's clothes, it was finally complete. After days of hard work I hooked the cyborg up to my computer and installed the files that were required, and the files that Murdoc wanted. What I had created was a killing guitar playing machine. Now it was time for the reveal. I started the thing up and it began to move like a normal human being. The only problem was the speech. It was too robotic, not like a person's at all. There wasn't any emotion behind it either. It looked and moved like Noodle but spoke and reacted like a robot. But it was completed and maybe one day I'll be able to correct the problem. I brought it to Murdoc to show him that Cyborg Noodle was completed. He was impressed.

"Will it only respond to me?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Did you install the weapons?"

"Yes, I gave it everything you wanted."

"Perfect. This is a great piece of my work."

"Your work, I was the one who built it."

"Hmmm, and who is the one who is in charge around here?" I remained silent as he continued, "that's what I thought. Now why don't you just run along back to your room? Tomorrow we will start recording our album…Pink Stink Fish!"

I rolled my eyes and left his room. I just kept thinking that soon I was going to be off the island and back in England with 2-D.

That night I was sitting with 2-D in his room feeling as guilty as ever. I had created a monster. What if the real Noodle saw it? How would she feel? I knew how I felt. I felt sick to my stomach. I wanted to destroy it but had no way of doing it. I had to get my mind off of it and onto escaping.

26

Wave after Wave in those Rhinestone Eyes

As time went by we recorded the songs for the "Plastic Beach" album. I was miserable here. We were forced to play those songs. I didn't feel right recording songs without the real Noodle and Russel, but I did them anyways. Day after day, wave after wave I began to come up with ideas on how we could leave. Every idea came to the conclusion that we were going to get caught by Murdoc. As I stood on the balcony looking up at the night sky I was lucky enough to get a clear sky. After tonight, hopefully I would be able to get the coordinates. I haven't had very much luck due to the gross weather we constantly had there. As I finally found the stars that I needed, I grabbed a map and pin pointed our location, pretty much everybody knows it. I put a small dot on the map and looked at it. We were in the middle of bloody nowhere. I remember that night I gave off a loud scream. I screamed so loudly and long that I lost my voice. I couldn't say anything for a good two days or so. Ya Murdoc got pissed off because of that, but hey, I felt better giving off the scream.

For a while all I could do was just sit there in complete solitude. 2-D continued freaking out about the whale and Murdoc was treating us like garbage. Every once in a while Murdoc would even hit 2-D and push me into something. We couldn't attack him because we could never find him, he had Cyborg Noodle with him, or he was locked up in his radio tower. The island wouldn't have been too bad if it wasn't for Murdoc. He was the cherry on top of this plastic sundae.

While trapped on the island I did find out some information. I found out why Murdoc was here. Turns out he was being hunted down which could explain the planes in the "El Mañana" video. It makes sense, those planes where there to get Murdoc, we just happened to get in their way. They were after him because of something that happened in Mexico or something. But that still didn't explain about Noodle's secret.

Eventually we were finally able to come up with a plan. The plan was for me to tell Murdoc that I would give Cyborg Noodle some upgrades, when really I would be shutting her down for good. That would mean possibly by turning her off, taking a gun to her head, and then throwing her into the ocean. While I would be doing this 2-D would make sure that Murdoc was busy doing something while he would sneak stuff onto the boat. When Cyborg Noodle was gone I would tell Murdoc that it would be a while for the upgrades to complete and offer him a drink. While slipping away into the kitchen 2-D would give me the signal that everything was ready to go. Next was to get Murdoc asleep. One idea was to get him so drunk that he would pass out, but then we came to the conclusion that it would be impossible. So we decided that we would just have to wait until he fell asleep. The plan was golden. We were ready to go through with it. We just had to wait for the perfect moment to come.

Day after day went by. I noticed that there was something else wrong with the island. As if we weren't the only ones here. There was an uncomfortable feeling that came over me every time I walked by the pier. There was something that I couldn't explain. At this point in my life I wasn't to sure what to believe in. I mean look at the whole deal with Del, the demon kid, and the thing between Russel and Death. I didn't have the guts to even think about going onto the pier. I finally gathered up the courage because I knew that I had to go on there at some point to escape… right? I remember walking onto it and getting a chill up my spine. I tried to ignore it. Then I heard rustling that didn't sound anything like waves. Then there was a bit of an odor that I couldn't explain either. I began to feel a little too freaked out and bolted off of there as fast as I could. I stopped running and turned around. It was a good thing that I ran because standing there was this thing. It appeared to be humanoid. It looked like it was wearing a gas mask with a cape. Of course I screamed because that thing was freaking creepy. It was the very thing that haunted me as a child. It was what I knew as the Boogieman. I closed my eyes like I did when I was younger and kept telling myself that he wasn't real. I counted to ten like I used and opened them to see him standing right in front of me. Of course he scared me, so I screamed at the top of my lungs. Soon Murdoc came running and made him go away. I admit that I fell to my knees shaking. I never thought that my childhood nightmare would be back to torture me again. But why had he come back. There was something else that I didn't know, the true reason of his return. I never was able to go near the pier again knowing that he was lurking around there.

27

Sweet Taste of Freedom

We still couldn't find the opportunity to escape. There was always something there to step in the way. When I had finally had it, I was just going to go with the plan. As soon as I walked into Murdoc's room he was standing right in front of me.

"Ahh, just the person I wanted to see," he said.

He brought me into the study with 2-D.

"What is it now Murdoc," said 2-D

"Shut up and listen," yelled Murdoc as he threw a book at him.

I just sat there and rolled my eyes as I helped him back up.

"Now to tell you why I brought the two of you in here… It is time that we make some videos. Ummm…and that requires us leaving the island."

This was our chance for escape. We piled into the shark submarine and were finally off the island. I didn't think that as soon as we got to our location we would be filming "Stylo". Let's just say 2-D wasn't himself. It was just one of those days where it seemed like a good idea to wear his mask. I thought that we were just going to have a look at the area first like we have done before, but nope. When I walked out of what is now the Stylo car, I saw everyone who would be involved with the video. That also included Bruce Willis. I admit at first I didn't think that it was actually him until someone had to tell me.

It was nice to be able to soak in some sunlight. Plastic Beach is well known for the worst weather on Earth. Then I found out that we were going to film us crammed into the car. It was hot being in that desert and being shoved into the car was the last thing I wanted to do. The shoot was long and when Cyborg Noodle shorted out in the middle of the shoot, I knew that there was something else other than the bullet hole behind it. Then I noticed the clouds and what not, and when we got to the end it freaked me out because we dove right off the cliff. That was something I wasn't expecting. That blew our chance to escape just a bit.

"Superfast Jellyfish" was the next video we did, although, it was mainly an animation type of video… or something. I was never really a part of the videos at this time. I was kind of trapped in my room for most of the time. So I can't really say anything about this one.

The "On Melancholy Hill" video is one that really means a lot to me. Noodle and Russel were back. We found the video on the cruise ship she was on and what she was trying to do. When I saw the planes in the video, I knew that those planes would be back, but now they were only after one of us. I remember being in the submarine trying to fix Cyborg Noodle for the beginning of it. I walked away for two seconds when her system rebooted spitting out the squid thing. Obviously it scared 2-D when it came out, that was a bit funny. The only point I really cared about in the process of the video was that Noodle and Russ has found us and the Boogieman was still around.

We finally had all of us back together but not in the way we expected. It was nice to be able to talk to Noodle again. Time flew by. She was no longer this little girl I painted nails with, she grew up. Which means I got older…Eww…"Rhinestone Eyes" was a video that freaked me out a bit. We never actually filmed it. It was just a storyboard thingy. It still freaked me out knowing that the Boogieman was involved.

When the videos for "Plastic Beach" were completed I began to grow restless. I still wanted off of the island. I honestly didn't think that I should tell Noodle and Russel about the plan. I still felt betrayed that they both left. I discussed it with 2-D and we came up with the idea that we would get help to get them if necessary. Russel blew up like a giant balloon. The fact that he swam in toxic waste and survived is a miracle. He was a giant. I mean Noodle could literally sit on the top of his head and have room to put her stuff beside her. I mean he could probably leave the island whenever he wanted. Noodle; well she was not the same really. She seemed a lot quieter and calmer. Not like what she used to be. I guess with whatever she was doing she has grown accustomed to being alone. If she really wanted to leave the island she would probably have no problem at all. It was finally time to escape the island. We went through with the plan with the exception that there was no longer a Cyborg Noodle running around at the time. We were ready to start the boat when Murdoc saw us through the window.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" he yelled as he ran off.

I began to panic because we were caught.

"I'll distract him as you take the submarine. Try using my donkatron to start it up, it might work," said 2-D as he started the boat.

"What, I'm not going to leave you!"

"Cleo I'll be fine. As long as you are safe and out of here, I will be fine."

"Alright, I will, but remember that I will come back for you."

I began to tear up as he kissed me.

"I love you," I whispered as he began to drive away.

He mouthed the same words as I ran to his room.

2-D managed to distract Murdoc long enough for me to grab the donkatron and place inside the submarine. I sunk deep into the waters below hoping that he would be ok. It ate me up inside knowing that I was leaving without him. I remember I cried at first, but I then began to feel determination. 2-D was the one who kept me going the whole entire time. Then finally, I reached land.

28

Broken with Distant Stars

Finally it was the sweet freedom that I so desperately wanted. I remember crying myself for the first week away. The guilt I felt was what really hurt me the most. When I reached the land I noticed that there was something in my sweater pocket. It was the red bandana that 2-D had been wearing lately. He must have snuck it into my pocket, but I didn't mind at all. I put it around my neck and ran. I had no where to go. I couldn't go to my parents, I couldn't go to Kong, and back home was most certainly out of the question. I managed to get myself a hotel for the time being back in England. Not too long after my arrival I had people after me. I was walking back with some food when two guys came up to me. They tried to grab me but I managed to get help from people around me and escaped. I knew that it wasn't going to be the last of them. I stopped calling myself Cleo Frotner and started to call myself Eliza Smith. I gave myself an entire new look. I cut my hair into a pixie and colored it blonde. Thanks to all of the stage make-up I've learned for my theater studies, I was able to cover my tattoos up and gave myself a beauty mark by my eye. I was able to get a fake retainer which would give me a natural sounding lisp. Along with those changes I was now wearing more pink outfits than usual. I even went to drastic measures and got a lip piercing, blue colored contacts, and a Celtic tattoo on my right shoulder. Because I couldn't get prescription contacts I was stuck wearing my glasses. What I had done was working, along with my fake French accent.

I wasn't too sure how I was going to get back to 2-D and get him off the island. All I knew was that I needed the money to get the stuff to defend ourselves with. I was back in the working game. I managed to get hired at a bar. I wasn't allowed to make the drinks but I was still allowed to serve them. It wasn't the most pleasant place to work at but it was still a job. I did get the occasional drunk hitting on me which was what made me not want to work there. The way they were talking to me was disgusting. They were filthy pigs, but I needed the money.

Not a night went by where I didn't think about 2-D. I wore the bandana pretty much every day. I was going crazy knowing what Murdoc could have done to him. I felt like this broken child worrying about him, even knowing that he could take care of himself. I just wanted to know that he was ok after what happened. But he was too far away.

One night when I was working the night shift a couple came into the bar. I was just standing behind the counter like I normally did as they came up. As soon as I looked up at them I got scared. It was Kevin and Paula. I began to panic as they stood there talking to each other. I hoped that the two of them wouldn't see through my disguise. I didn't want to deal with one of them let alone both. I toke a deep breath and walked right over to them.

"How may I help you?" I asked with the accent.

"Ya, can I get two rum and cokes?" said Kevin.

The disguise was working then. They didn't notice. I handed them their drinks and they went and sat down at a table. I still couldn't relax until I saw them leave. However, for some reason Paula kept coming back every weekend during my night shifts. I began to think that she knew. This was going on for a while. Finally she came up and spoke to me.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" she asked.

I began to panic as I said, "No…uhhhh…I've never seen you before other than here. It could be possible that you've seen me walking around town."

"Maybe, but I swear you look like someone I know."

"Well, ma'am, I'm sorry that I don't know you."

"You seem like a pretty cool girl. French right?" I nodded to her as she continued, "Alright Frenchie what time do you get off, cause you should come chill with me."

"But uh…You don't even know my name."

"Right, what's your name?" she asked.

"Smith…Eliza Smith." I lied.

As she walked away a huge grin came across her face. When it got to the end of my shift I grabbed my stuff and headed back to my van I've been staying in. As I was walking towards it I was grabbed from behind. It was Paula. She pushed me up against the wall face first and pinned me there.

"Alright Eliza, you're hiding something I could see it in your pretty blue eyes," she said.

"What are you doing, stop… you're hurting me, I don't know what you are talking about."

"I know that you're hiding something. Now you are going to tell me everything."

"Stop it! Stop it now! Let me go!" I yelled as calmly as possible.

"There is only one person who has used the tone of voice on me in this type of situation."

"Paula just let me go you stupid bitch!"

"Hey, so you do know me, Paula the stupid bitch, but you still know me."

"Alright so I know you… big whoop."

"Oh stop with the accent Cleo and give it up. I know it's you."

She let me go and I turned around to stare right at her face.

"Kevin baby, come on out." she said.

I was scared. I didn't have any weapons and I was out numbered.

"Cleo, I was your best friend. I saw right through those blue contacts of yours and saw that same person I worked with at the coffee shop. I'm sorry that I hurt you just now. Oh and this is my boyfriend…"

"Kevin, ya I know. We know each other," I said trying to walk away.

"Hey, so I've noticed that you've been living in a van, having a bit of a break down now are we," she said, "Look, why don't you stay at our place and I'll explain everything. We'll fix you up a meal. Think of it as a way of apologizing for everything."

I was starving and knew that I wasn't going to last much longer living the way I was. As much as I hated the two of them I walked over to them and we were off to their place. Paula explained to me that she met Kevin after the whole incident with him. They hit it off with each other with the one thing in common, the situation between 2-D and I. Obviously; they grew closer together and moved back to England. The two of them both got help and have been happy together. They brought me to their house and fed me a nice meal. I didn't say a word to them. I just kept to myself and fell asleep on their couch. I didn't want to tell them about the situation I was in. It was weird knowing where I was.

The next day I still kept silent, until later that evening when Paula sat me down at the table.

"So Cleo, what was with the get up?"

"I'm in hiding from people who are after me."

"Wait, people are after you, for what?"

"Let's just say things are rough with the band and I need money."

"I can help you! We can help you. We've changed really and we want to make it up to you for what we've done in the past. We did have our crazy moments and we know that what we have done was a mistake. Please just let us help you do whatever you need to do."

I looked up into her eyes and saw someone I didn't recognize. It might have been her medication talking, but what I was hearing was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. With their help I would be able to go back to 2-D and get him off the island.

29

Claim Back the Boy You Left Behind

I continued to hate the fact that I accepted Paula and Kevin's help, but help was help. They were able to get me back on my feet and helped me straighten out. I began to feel like my regular self again. It was now time to come up with a plan to get back to the island and rescue 2-D. I decided that I should do something that I should've done a long time ago. I went to the police to tell them about the kidnapping. However, when I told them who I was, they thought I was lying. They didn't believe me and only thought that I was trying to create a publicity stunt. There was no success there but I had to move on. I decided that I would take the risk and go back to our apartment to get my weapons. I told Paula, but she thought that it was way to risky for me to go and offered that she would get them. Something in my gut didn't trust her but still she was the help that I needed. She got me the items I asked for and now all I needed was to quit my job.

It was going to be my last shift at the bar. I was working like I normally was and kept going through plans in my head. That was when I met Daley. It seemed like he was in a good mood because he was humming. It was an interesting tune, one I didn't recognize. He ordered his drink and sat there minding his own business. He just sat there humming for a bit until he finally spoke to me.

"Excuse me; I was wondering if you could help me?" he asked.

"Most certainly, how may I help you?"

"I was wondering if you knew anything about the Gorillaz."

"Wait the band Gorillaz?"

"Ya them."

"Why ask about them."

"Well I was invited to feature in one of their songs and I wanted to hear opinions from listeners."

"Wait, you're featuring in a song, what song?"

"It's going to be called Doncamatic."

Here was my chance to get back to the island without Murdoc knowing. It was perfect. I could take Daley to the island in the submarine and hide out in there until nobody was paying attention. While Daley would be doing the song, I could slink my way into 2-D's bedroom. Once the song was recorded I would be able to get 2-D and Daley out of there and we would be home free. It was perfect! I pulled Daley over to a table so that we could talk some more. I wouldn't tell him about the plan thinking that he could be a threat to me.

"So what is it you want to know about them specifically?" I asked.

"Well I basically understand them and their songs, but the main problem is I have no clue where they are."

"That… I can help you with. I know for a fact that they are not around this area at all. I know exactly where they are and I know exactly how to get there. My name is…" I looked around to make sure the coast was clear, "Cleo Frotner."

"Wait Cleo Frotner, as in 13 from the Gorillaz? You look nothing like her."

"Shhh, I don't want the whole world to know that I'm here. I would explain to you what is going on but I'm afraid that you would get too far involved into the situation."

"Alright, sorry… So you say that you can take me there?"

"Yup just give me until tomorrow morning and we can be off to their location."

I told Paula that I was going to be leaving and thanked her for letting me stay for three days. She may have changed or she was faking it, but she helped me. We got to the location where I left the submarine. I told Daley to hop on in and we would be off to see the band. Starting the thing up again was difficult, but I was able to get it going thanks to the donkatron. As soon as it kicked on I turned the camera on to document the moment. Don't ask me why because I don't remember. Daley was sitting there with a puzzled look as we began to dive deep into the ocean. He told me that the sound the machine was making was familiar. Then he began humming the same tune from the bar. Sure enough it was the "Doncamatic" song. 2-D must have done some recording with the machine before I toke it and it was used for the song. Daley asked if he could drive the submarine. I saw no reason why not and allowed him to take control after teaching him. I was feeling stressed and nervous. I kept running through the plan in my head. There was a high chance that I would get caught, but it was worth the risk. I held tight to 2-D's bandana that was around my neck and shut my eyes for a minute.

I woke up to hear Daley singing. It seemed to be the song he was meant to record. I slowly got up and grabbed my mask that Paula found at home. I put the mask on, hooked up my leg gun holster, and put the Bloody Rose in it. I was ready to face whatever I needed to face. Walking up to the front Daley continued to sing as he drove past a ship. As I looked closer I realized that, that was the ship Noodle was on when the planes shot it down. We got closer and closer to Plastic Beach and soon we got a message. It was 2-D! I began to flip out trying to get back to him. He was able to reach us but he wasn't coming through clear. We finally reached the island, and Murdoc was already waiting for us. He stood there with the cyborg on the shore with a huge grin. Cyborg Noodle jumped on top of the submarine and dragged the two of us out. I tried to fight her off but it was no use. As I stood there Murdoc toke my mask off.

"Welcome to our happy home Daley. And who is this lovely lady?" he asked.

It toke me a second to realize that I was still in my Eliza get up. "Eliza Smith, at your service. I am Daley's…." I looked over at him, "assistant."

"Hmmm, assistant?"

"Yes and if I might add it is a pleasure to be here. Especially in front of such a charming man like you," I said taking a step closer to him while screaming inside my head. I thought that maybe trying to seduce him will allow me to get onto his good side as Eliza.

"So why would an assistant be carrying around such a dangerous weapon?" he asked trying to grab my gun.

I toke a step back before he could grab it. If he saw the gun designs he would know right away that it was me. "Well you could never be too careful when travelling to uncharted areas."

"Yes about that, how did you know we were here?"

Shit, that I didn't know how to respond to. "Lucky guess."

"Yes, very lucky. Almost a little too lucky."

"Why don't I tell you all about it…" To this day I still hate what I said next… "in private…maybe in your bedroom?"

A huge smile came across his face as he guided Daley and me inside. At that point I had no clue about what I was doing. Murdoc toke us into the recording studio. I sat down on one of the chairs as Murdoc left the room.

"My assistant? Eliza Smith? What on earth is going on?" asked Daley.

"Please just go with it for our safety. Just do whatever he wants you to do and just pretend that I'm not 13. Please!"

"Fine, but you're going to have to tell me what is going on eventually."

"Trust me I will as soon as all of this is over."

Murdoc walked into the room with 2-D and Cyborg Noodle. I was glad to finally be able to see 2-D in the flesh again. He looked so broken down. Being trapped on this island the way he was wasn't good for him. It wasn't the same person who would be caught spray painting a wall.

"Alright 2-D this is Daley and…"

"Eliza…Eliza Smith…" I said standing up to shake 2-D's hand. What I really wanted to do instead was to feel his warm breath on my shoulders.

"Eliza is Daley's attractive assistant."

I wanted to vomit when he said that but gave Murdoc a smile instead.

As soon as 2-D and I made eye contact something obviously clicked in his head. I knew at that moment that he knew that it was me. There was no way that somebody as close as we were would be fooled by a disguise like this. I sat down and gave 2-D a smile. I sat there as they all recorded the song keeping my mouth shut the whole entire time. I didn't want to blow my cover in any way in front of Murdoc. When they finished recording the song Murdoc sent 2-D and Cyborg Noodle back and told Daley to go wait in the study. He then said that it was time for me and him to have that "discussion" I promised. Murdoc grabbed my arm and we walked right into the elevator to his bedroom. I began to panic because I had no idea what I had just gotten myself into. Then an idea came into my head as he sat down.

"I should probably freshen up a bit first. To better prepare myself if you want to put it."

"Alright Eliza, but don't take too long. I don't like to be kept waiting."

I gave him a wink and walked out. As soon as I got into the elevator I started to gag. I felt so gross, knowing what he was thinking. But I had to put that aside because it was go time. I reached the final floor and ran right into 2-D's bedroom. There he was sitting on the bed curled up. I don't think I've ever seen his eyes that white before. He looked right up at me in shock.

"Cleo!" he yelled running towards me and grabbing me in a tight hug. "I was so worried. I thought that something happened to you. But you're here with me now and that's all that matters." He pulled away and continued, "What happened to you? Your hair it's gone…and blonde, and you have a piercing…and…and…"

"It's a long story, trust me I'll tell you once we're off the island, but right now we need to get out of here. The submarine is waiting for us outside. Come on!"

I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the elevator. However, instead of getting off at the entrance we were brought to Murdoc's bedroom. The doors opened and Murdoc was standing there.

"There you are Eliza I see you are finished. 2-D, What is he doing here?"

"I ran into him on my way back." I said.

"Alright then, Get back to your bedroom…"

"Wait! I was thinking that we could have a little fun."

"Fun, What kind of fun are you talking about?" Murdoc asked.

"We…uhhhh…we…" I began to freeze at that moment until 2-D spoke.

"We…by we I mean…uhhhh…Eliza and I can go and send Daley on his way, while you can go get yourself a drink, and then Eliza…will be all yours. How does that sound?"

"Right I forgot about Daley…How about Cyborg sends Daley on his way, you can go back to your room, and Eliza comes with me." Murdoc says as he left for Cyborg.

"Just go along with whatever he wants you to do," said 2-D as soon as the coast was clear.

"WHAT! Do you have brain in there? Don't you understand what he intends to do to me?"

"Wait, does he want to do what I'm thinking he wants to do?"

"Yes, he wants to be his regular ladies man self!"

2-D began to get this angry look on his face as he said, "He is so dead."

"2-D calm down, remember this is the guy who made you famous. You idolized him."

"True…wait…I have a plan. I will go get everything ready for another go at the boat. You will go into his room. I trust that you won't let him do anything. While you're distracting him I'll get the boat ready. And when the boat is ready I will come in and bash him in the head and we would be able to leave."

I had to trust that he knew that he was doing and agreed. But before he left I had to return something of his.

"Stuart, wait, before you leave. I think this belongs to you," I said taking the bandana off.

"Keep it for now, you may need it."

He smiled at me and ran into the elevator. That was when it was time for me to do my part. I toke my sweater off and tossed it to the ground. I toke my gun out of its holster and placed it under a pillow so that it was easy for me to grab if necessary. Taking a deep breath I sat down on the bed. I noticed being on the island Russel and Noodle weren't around. I thought for sure that they would be somewhere on this hell hole. But there didn't seem to be any hint to their stay. Maybe they never came back to the island. Maybe I was just hallucinating talking to Noodle, but they were in the videos. My head began to hurt due to me over thinking and the stress I was in at that moment. Placing my head in my hands Murdoc walked in. He was wearing his usual red robe. It was time for me to prove what kind of actress I was. I toke a deep breath and gave him a wink. He smiled and sat down on the bed next to me. He went to touch my hair but I pulled away.

"You have to earn it first; I'm not just some slut darling."

"Well my patience is starting to draw thin," he said as he started kissing my neck.

I was disgusted so I pushed him away from me and stood up yelling, "I can't do this. That's it. I can't do it."

"Do what exactly?"

"Be in here with you doing that to me!"

"Well what is it you want me to do to make things better."

At that moment a light bulb came, "I am an exotic girl! I require things to be exotic and different…I want you to be blindfolded."

"You want me to be what?"

"You heard me blindfolded."

I grabbed 2-D's bandana from my pocket and tied it around his eyes. I made sure he didn't see anything and sat him down on his bed. I turned on the music and grabbed my gun from under the pillow.

I quietly put my holster back on and placed the gun inside as I said, "Now just let me make myself more comfortable, and then we can have a little fun."

I slowly backed out of the room making sure I wasn't making a sound. As soon as I was in the clear I ran for it. I ran to find 2-D and get off this pink plastic mess.

30

From Gorillaz to the Fall

I made it into the elevator, but before I wanted to meet up with 2-D there was something I wanted to grab. I wanted to grab a picture of all of us together before all of this started. Back when we were first starting in Jamaica. I remembered that I placed it in one of my biology text books for safe keeping until I could get it framed. I had a feeling that Murdoc had placed my text books with all of the other books in the study. When the elevator stopped I ran to the bookshelf and ran my fingers along the books, looking for the right one. However, when I reached a certain one it seemed to have triggered the bookshelf to move. Behind it was a stairway. I didn't think much of it and found the book I was looking for. Inside was the picture and so I grabbed it, placing it inside my sweater. I remember at that moment the elevator went off. I ran over to see it heading towards Murdoc's floor and back up. I panicked and ran down those stairs as the bookcase closed. I kept running down step after step. Finally I reached the bottom to a weird room. It smelled bad. There was this war table in the middle and T.V screens behind me. I noticed that one of the screens showed Kong Studios. Then I noticed a book on a stand. I went to look at it until I heard someone coming down the stairs. I hid behind the table knowing that they were going to find me anyways. I toke a peek to see who it was. It was Murdoc. He was angry, I could just tell. I'm sorry but I'd rather be with 2-D than him. I was even more screwed at that moment. He was at the table and it sounded like he was opening a lock. I quietly shifted myself around and saw that the book was off of its stand. There was just something not right about that book. Murdoc never reads unless it's a jazz magazine. What made this book so special, I just had to know. There just wasn't something right about this one particular book. I took the risk and stood up.

"What are you reading?" I asked.

I scared him because he jumped. "HOW THE HELL DID YOU GET DOWN HERE?"

"I don't know. I guess I'm just having a lucky day. Mind if I take a look"

"No you can't. Nobody else can! Get out of here!"

"Just a little peek," I said trying to grab the book.

"Get your hands away from it and leave," he said grabbing my arm.

My sleeves were pulled up at that moment so when he grabbed my arm he wiped the make-up off of the tattoo. As soon as he saw it his eyes went wide. Then he got so angry that I swear steam was about to come out of his ears. That's when I grabbed pages of the book, failing to grab it itself, and ripped them out. He was furious when I did that. I bolted out of the room and back up the stairs. When I started up the stairs I guess Murdoc called for Cyborg because when I got to the top she was getting off of the elevator. I was trapped! I had Murdoc behind me and Cyborg Noodle in front of me. All I could do was run onto the balcony and hope to get by them at some point. I ran up the stairs and reached the very top, feeling the cool air on my skin. I ran straight to the edge looking over to see 2-D down at the bottom. When I turned around the other two were right there. Murdoc went straight for the pages and called for Cyborg's help. The three of us had tight grips on the pages. I kept pulling and pulling by taking steps backwards. With one final tug I finally had the pages with a few rips. The force from pulling them threw me off of my feet and I went over the edge. As I was falling it felt like I was falling like in the "El Mañana" video. However, this time it felt like I was falling in slow motion. I tore the pages up and threw them in the air so that they would be carried by the wind and away from whatever Murdoc was planning. Then I hit the ground and the world disappeared.

When I woke up I remember seeing a blurry ceiling and my head hurting like crazy. I didn't want to even think about sitting up. I just stared at the blurry image until I heard someone walk in. I looked over to see a blurry figure. The figure came over and placed glasses on my face. Of course I closed my eyes when they did that. When I opened them I saw this person with no eyes. I screamed. I was scared. I was freaking out because I never recalled seeing a person with no eyes before. He went to calm me down but I slid away.

"Hey, easy, easy, it's alright. It's me."

I just stared at him and said, "What the hell is going on. Who are you and where the hell am I. Please just tell what fuck is going on!"

"You don't know who I am? What do you mean you don't know who I am?"

"Stay away from me."

"No…no… this…this can't be…" he said sitting down on the bed with a sad look on his face. "What is your name?"

"Cleo."

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen"

He just shook his head. "You're not nineteen. You're thirty-three."

"What, no that can't be! I just moved to England and I'm supposed to start my job at Uncle Norm's Emporium today. Would you just tell me what's going on?"

He just looked at me with this heart broken look and said, "You're better off if you don't remember," and walked away.

I still had no clue what was going on then. I slowly got out of the bed and walked to a mirror. I saw that my head was bandaged up. I saw that my hair was different and I had tattoos. I noticed all the differences that I had compared to when I actually was nineteen. I didn't remember getting any of them. I kept trying to remember but nothing was coming to me. Then Murdoc walked in.

"Alright darling, time for you to go home to your parents."

"You're taking me to California?"

"No, Canada."

"Canada? My parents don't live in Canada."

"Well they do now, now come on, let's go."

The four of us got into the plane. I still didn't know what was going on at the time. I didn't recognize any of them. The blue haired person sitting across from me never even tried to talk. He just sat there with a little box and a sad look on his face. The girl next to me seemed like there was something wrong with her. She didn't have any emotion at all. She just sat there. I didn't think much of the situation at the time, all I cared about was that I was going to see my parents and hopefully get some answers that these people weren't giving me.

Hours later we finally reached my parents house. Murdoc rang the door and shortly after this older woman was there to answer it.

"Cleo! What a pleasant surprise but what happened to your head," she said giving me a hug.

It was my mom alright but I didn't remember her looking as old as she did.

"And Stuart it's good to see you too darling," she said giving him a hug. "And you must be Murdoc and Noodle. Pleasure to meet the two of you. Come, come in please. The kids are here!"

This older gentleman came in and I knew that this had to have been my dad, because he had the same bright blue eyes that I remember seeing as a child.

"Well, hey there!" he said.

"Actually we need to talk to you without Cleo here," said 2-D.

"Oh! Ummm, ok…Cleo…why don't you…why don't you go play a game in the computer room," my dad say pushing me away.

I knew right away that something wasn't right. I walked around the corner into the hallway and hid there so that I could hear what was going on like I did when I was younger.

"What's wrong Stuart?" my mom asked.

"Cleo had an accident. She fell off of the balcony and hit her head as you probably noticed. However, after she…"

"She can't remember a bloody thing," said Murdoc.

"She remembers up until she was nineteen, right before she even met me and started all of this. I feel that she is better off not remembering anything about us. She has been through so much pain with us and I would just feel better if she didn't come back. She'll be free. Here, take this box and maybe one day she can look inside it and remember who she was and what she meant to me and the rest of the group. But I don't want her to look at it until years from now. I trust you."

I left the corner thinking that it was going to be all that they would say and ran into the computer room. I wanted an excuse to go back into the living room. I grabbed a game and placed the disc amongst the papers that were on the desk. Taking the case I walked into the living room to say I couldn't find the game. When I entered, they all looked at me. They all seemed to have a sad look to their faces.

"Come along 2-D. It's time that we go," said Murdoc grabbing 2-D's arm.

As the three of them started out of the door something made me want to grab 2-D so I did. I didn't know why I did exactly but it was just instinct. He turned around and I stared at those dark circles.

All I could say was, "I hope that maybe one day we could become friends."

A smile across his face as he said, "I think I'd like that. Take good care of yourself Cleo."

The way he said it seemed familiar and so I said, "Goodbye Stuart."

During that time my mom had hid the box and so it was only me and my dad in the room. I tried to ask him about the memories that were gone but he wouldn't tell me. Days went by as I continued to try and figure out what I couldn't remember. But it seemed like everyone around me was trying to prevent me from finding out. I tried to search the internet but every time the mention of my name came up it was blocked. I wasn't sure how but I couldn't access it. As time went by I stopped trying to figure it out. My parents would never let me remember. I began to develop an entire new life. I had a new group of friends. However, I remember every once and I while I would get someone coming up to me for an autograph. I remember telling them that they had me confused for someone else.

One day one of my friends came up to me complaining about a plant her cousin brought her from South America. It was a wild plant from the jungle. For some reason I knew exactly how to make it so it was domesticated. After I started the process a few days later she came back to me and asked me how I knew what to do. The only response I had was, "I'm not sure." That wasn't the last time I kept doing stuff like that. It was like I knew how to do all kinds of things in my subconscious that I couldn't explain.

Time went by as I continued living the life I was living. My mom decided to take me out shopping. It was about a week after my thirty-third birthday. I saw a guitar in a music store window and just had to go in there. As I was passing by a shelf I noticed something odd. It was a new releases shelf and there was an album with a familiar face. It was "The Fall" by the Gorillaz. I picked it up and my mom quickly grabbed it out of my hands.

"No sweetie, you don't want to listen to that," she said putting it back. "Here try Katy Perry. She seems more like your taste."

"But the guy on the cover I know him, he was the one there when I woke up a long time ago…What was his name…What was it…I know this…STUART! That's what his name is. I remember now. I didn't know he was a singer."

"Honey there are a lot of things you don't know now please forget about the CD and let's go," she said pulling my arm.

"No I want to get this album. I mean after all I did say that I wanted to become friends with him one day. Why not get to know him by listening to his music right," I said grabbing the CD and walking up to the counter.

"Cleo no, I really don't think it's worth it to buy that CD! Here buy this CD, its Britney Spears. You used to love her. Don't get that one you have there!"

"Well too bad because I'm getting it."

When we got home I put the CD into the computer and started listening to it. I enjoyed all of the song that was on there. The last one was just a weird one that must have been a filler song. Any who… when I heard that singing voice on the CD, something in my head clicked. I began to remember seeing a recording studio. Of course my head started to hurt. There was something else behind this album and the band Gorillaz but I couldn't figure it out. I decided to do some research. Typing the band's name in I finally was going to get some answers. Wikipedia… I looked at the members of the band and there were five, Murdoc, Noodle, 13, 2-D, and Russel. I clicked on each individual and found out what I did. However, when I clicked on 13 my mom came in and unplugged the computer.

"You shouldn't be putting your nose where it doesn't belong," she said.

Some time later my friends decided to take me out for sushi. When the sushi came I had another one of those flashbacks. I remembered being in a Japanese sushi place with someone. Then some people came in speaking Spanish. I only managed to hear mañana, which triggered another flashback. It was a video shoot with a windmill and fear that went with it. I began to feel scared because all these things were triggering my memory but they didn't seem to have connection to each other at the moment. I ran out of the place with a headache and kept running until I reached the cemetery. Stopping, I looked up at the moon…boom…another memory. I was in the cemetery and then went inside a building with someone. I knew that I needed help. I set up appointments with a psychiatrist to see if he could help me remember. After every session I would remember something. Something told me that my past was much larger than I had originally thought. As I slowly put the pieces together I no longer had amnesia. However, there were things that were still a blur, and I knew that the box that 2-D gave my mom had answers.

I got home after my last therapy session and saw that my parents were out. Here was my opportunity to find out what inside that box. I looked all around the house and couldn't find it. I was about to give up the search when I figured out where it could be. The fire safe had to have been the only place left. Because it was locked, I had to pick it with a handy bobby pin. I opened the door and there it was. Here was my chance to get the answers. Inside the box was a gun. Picking it up I looked at the rose designs which triggered the memory of it being my Bloody Rose. Then I found my daggers and then the fox mask. Then I found a picture of the band in Jamaica when we first started recording along with all of the albums we worked on together. Remembering all of the things made me happy and sad at the same time, knowing that they are still my friends but I will never be able to see them again. At the bottom of the box was an envelope with my name on it. Of course I opened it. It said:

Dear Cleo,

You may not remember who I am, or what I mean to you, but you meant a lot to me and everybody else in the band. As soon as you walked into the emporium I knew right away that there was something special about you. As we grew closer and closer as friends I had always hoped that one day you would be mine. And when that day came, I didn't want to let you go. I admit that I'm getting a lot of this from books but its how I feel about you. Back when you and I went on that vacation with your parents your father and I went down to the bar. We began to talk. Basically when I told him how much you meant to me he handed me your grandma's ring. One night when you came home from work I was going to try and reenact the night when my true feeling came. The night that we watched "Dawn of the Dead" alone together. I was going to bring it up on that reenactment night but you feel asleep. Then the whole thing started with Murdoc and Plastic Beach that I don't want you to ever remember. In the box you will find your grandmothers ring. It belongs to you no matter what. I just don't want you to be in the situation that you were in. It hurt me to see you trapped. I wanted you to be free. When you fell and hit your head it was the very chance for you to have that freedom. Even if I don't have you by my side, you will always be in my heart. That's all, I'm moving on from you. It will be better for the both of us.

Love

Stuart.

I put the letter back in the envelope as tear began to fall. The only thing left in the box was a ring box. Opening it up, I saw a ring with a small diamond. The very same ring I remember my grandma wearing. I slipped the ring onto my left hand ring finger and vowed that I will always cherish what the two of us had. I wanted to go get him badly but knew that deep down in my heart that he wouldn't want me to. He wanted me to be happy and free away from Plastic Beach. He wanted what was best for me; even if it meant never seeing him again. It was time for me to move on like he would.

July 27, 2011

At my very last therapy session my doctor told me to write down everything that I could remember. So here it is now. From the time when the Gorillaz mess started all the way up to me falling off of the balcony. I have written down all of my memories that I had lost. I sit here now with my laptop wearing the ring on my finger, hoping that one day I will be able to see Stuart again. But until that day comes I will move back to England and continue where I left off, even if I am living alone.

I just have one message to send to the person reading this. Don't do the same mistakes we did. It may seem like a cool lifestyle but it was all a big mistake. Because of it I fought, I cried, I hated, and I loved. My name is Cleo Frotner. I was the rhythm guitarist, trumpet player, vocalist, etc, for a great band… the Gorillaz… and this has been my Gorillaz Experience.