Chapter 1

Julia’s Point of View

My palms were sweaty and I was trembling badly. My heart was beating faster in nervousness with me holding the mic in my shaky hands.

The whole stage was glowing with colorful laser beams pointing towards me. I was in the spotlight in a to-do or to-die situation.

“Please Sing.”

The lady who was the Judge said in annoyance for the third time but I was not able to gather the courage to sing in front of so many people ogling me like eagles.

Finally, after convincing myself, again and again, I loosened up the tightness in my chest a bit and blurted the first line of the song I prepared, in tune with the background track.

“Every night in my dreams!!” This was the moment I realized that my nervousness fucked up my dream career.

I looked sideways, at the crowd which was staring at me blankly.

My voice was as hoarse as crows.

I was breathing intensely and the worst thing was that the mic fell from my hand gathering every single person’s attention to myself.

Keeping my head down in embarrassment, I fixed my eyes on the floor.

Is this what my years of hard work result in?

Seriously?

First-hand Embarrassment?

Every participant sitting in the audition hall whose dream was the same as mine started laughing tauntingly.

“Was she here to sing?”

“She can be a comedian better than a singer. Lol.”

“Did she think that she could be a superstar with that voice? HaHa…”

Tears fell constantly from my eyes listening to their sarcastic comments.

I want to escape…

Escape from every troubling moment of my life. Does it have to be so harsh on me?

Am I not deserving of a single good thing?

Not being able to endure their contemptuous mocking I left the audition hall in haste. Wiping my tears while running I entered a lonely unknown street which was abandoned with scribblings on the wall.

I kept my pace till my legs got tired. My tears dried from the cold wind touching my bare face.

Inhaling the air around me I decided to sit on a broken bench which was just like me.

Depressed like hell, all the sad events of my life till now started replaying themselves in my mind...

I am Julia Hills, a simple girl who has liked singing since childhood and had the best parents in the world.

Singing was a dream which my papa and I saw together. He taught me how to live my life to the fullest enjoying what I had.

He was my inspiration.

Whenever I did a home concert my parents would be the only audience listening to me all night, cheering for me.

I was their cute daughter and they were my lovely parents. Though we were not that rich, I was happy because I had the best family in the world.

My father made me realize my dream and my mother always supported me. What else did I need at that time?

The best family and a beautiful dream.

Till one day, destiny decided to take one person from my perfect family. My papa…

He died due to kidney failure leaving me and my mother all alone by ourselves. Before breathing his last breaths, papa did not tell me to remember him or be a good girl.

He told me to never feel lost and achieve my dream at any cost. He said that though he will not physically exist with me, he will always come into my dream asking me about how I was each day.

From that day, I decided to put all my efforts into the singing career.

Though my papa never appeared in my dreams, I at least wanted him to see from heaven that I fulfilled our wish.

I became successful…

But, my luck was not in my favor at all.

After practicing for eight years in a singing institute using my mother’s hard-earned money, I decided to give an audition to get selected by an entertainment agency, Veronica Entertainment, at the age of twenty-one.

The dream for which I worked eight years. I failed in it. That too miserably.

My soul has lost and doesn’t have enough guts left to try again and that too when my mother is bedridden and sick.

We were living on her savings for 1 year. Now that I don’t have any job, how will I support my mamma?

How will I live?

I spent all my teenage years trying to do something that was never meant for me…

Only if I would have learned something productive back then. My whole being is exhausted and worn out.

What is the meaning of my existence? Sometimes I just want to go on a hiatus, away from this world.

It is very cruel. Fate is very cruel…

I got up from the bench and started walking with drained-out moments.

Only if I could end all the things of my life. On my way, I saw a bridge which was built on the river.

I decided to go there for some unknown reasons, maybe to get some fresh air. The trees were covered with snow. As I was walking lazily I saw the depth of the river.

If some person maybe falls from there, would he/she come back alive?

Just asking…

I rested my arms at the railing of the bridge and saw the river flowing at the speed of the current.

There were not many people here because everyone was busy spending their cold evenings with their family.

Only loners like me were here…

I could not meet my mother even if I wanted to.

She would ask me why I was in my hometown and why I was not practicing my singing and my heart doesn’t have the nerves to reply to her that it has admitted defeat.

Will I be able to end my sorrow if I jump from here? I am too tired to live even a single day.

 A warm tear fell from my eyes thinking about mummy. I stared at the river quietly while supporting my body on the railing even more.

“Are you thinking of suicide?” A husky deep tone made me bolt straight up.

In sudden shock, I lost my balance and was about to fall into the river, but a hand saved me by pulling me towards it.

Resulting in us falling with me on top of that person.

I opened my closed eyes, scared to see whether I was alive or not, only to see a boy under me, hugging me like a teddy bear.

H…he was handsome… I took a quick peek at his face.

Did someone so attractive exist in today’s world? His face was sculpted like a model’s with his nose and jaw being perfectly aligned.

The most charming thing was his eyes. Golden with a hint of lightness in the middle of the iris.

His eyes were something that a person could explore and get lost in. I was continuously staring at him while blinking like a stupid person.

He was doing the same but with a frown on his face. Our lips were so close that if I moved even a single bit, they would touch.

Better not take any risk.

“For how much time are you going to lean on me?” The boy grabbed my attention, making me realize that I was on top of him for almost five minutes on a suicidal bridge which almost got me killed.

I got up in awkwardness, shrugging my clothes clean beside his face because of which all the dust present on my clothes fell on his face.

The boy kept his hand on his face, coughing loudly as I looked at him with innocent eyes.

“Why are you making me inhale dust?” He said while getting up in an annoying tone.

“I am sorry. I didn’t mean that.” I shook my head in denial, smiling nervously after knowing what I had done.

“Are you stupid? What were you going to do?” He yelled in my ears, almost giving me Goosebumps.

“What did I do wrong?” I stuttered in confusion.

“You were freaking going to die and you don’t know what you did wrong? You were almost halfway to falling in the river right?” He came closer to me, shrugging my shoulders with his hand, almost making me feel nauseated.

I was going to die? Why didn’t I know?

I was just leaning on the railing thinking about what if I fall from here because of being too depressed. I’m not that stupid and on top of that my whole body will shiver in that ice-cold water.

Oooh. I feel cold at the thought of chilling water.

Even if I die, I at least want a good place to be buried. “Look dude,” I tried to calm his angry self.

“I was not going to…”

“What the hell made you so sad?” He shouted at me while his eyes teared up, not letting me complete my sentence. “Do you even know how many people struggle to live a life which you were so easily giving up on?” He continued with a shaky voice.

I shut my lips and looked at him worriedly. Since when did strangers care for me so much? This feeling...It’s Greek to me.

I had forgotten the feeling of love and care… There was no one to make me feel loved in this world. Even my mother was in our hometown as we could not afford money for two people in such an expensive city.

Did he go from something much darker than what I went through? I smiled bitterly.

“I was not going to die. But thanks for your concern.” I paused. “It has been ages since someone remembered that I still existed.” Giving him a sad smile, I averted my gaze from his to control the tears which were dying to fall from my eyes.

His irises widened and then formed a concerned look.

“You really were not going to die?” He asked with confusion to which I nodded my head.

“Then why were you leaning like that on the railing of the bridge?”

Seeing the need to answer him about my past in hope of finding a solution, I opened my mouth to say something about my life but then shut it.

There is no use in telling him the things that I have been through. “I was just enjoying the river view,” I said with a slight grin on my face.

He looked at me with hesitation, unable to believe my words but then eventually looked convinced by my words.

“Sorry for giving you goosebumps but leaning like that was really dangerous. I’m Blake, what’s your name?” Giving me the brightest beam of the world Blake stuck his hand out in front of me to keep mine on it.

Shaking his hands, I introduced myself. “I’m Julia.”

“Let’s talk about each other a little.” He said while walking forward and asking me to follow him. I complied with him and started walking with him to the end of the bridge.

We both were taking steps together with silence between us. Who knows where it will take us?

This was the first time I felt the warmth of someone’s hand after eight years of my father’s death.

In the past years, my mom was very busy with her work and eventually would come home late. I had to do my entire thing by myself and sleep alone at night.

Was he an angel sent by God?

Though I don’t know who Blake is, I feel great to have some stranger to give me strength at the hardest time of my life.

“What is your age, Blake?” I asked him casually, to break the silence in between us.

“Eighteen. Yours?” He asked me.

What? Blake is 3 years younger than me? I’m twenty-one and he is eighteen.

Wow, that feels weird. Pretty weird. I’m talking to a person three years younger than me and he is like a younger brother.

Hahaha. How funny…

“You didn’t tell me, Julia.” He asked me again after I tried to avoid his question. “I’m twenty-one.” I smiled nervously, thinking about his views on my age.

Will he think of me as an older sister? Wow… I really don't want to be that.

He chuckled slightly after listening to me. “What’s funny at my age?” I asked him with a pout. As I thought, he is making fun of me…

“The way you are saying it.” He chuckled while looking at me which broke all my thoughts.

So he wasn’t making fun of me.

“Very funny.” I resumed forward and he followed me.

Again a line of silence filled the air between us.

We walked and walked and walked without saying anything and Blake finally said something after a whopping five minutes.

“Julia, remember one thing. Don't ever lose your life. There will be many people who will be sad if you do so.” He said, giving me a small confusion. Did I do something to earn his concern?

“People struggle for life. Please don’t lose it when you have one.” He stared at me with sadness.

I don’t know why but I froze on my spot, sobbing after seeing his mature gaze. Should eighteen years old know what maturity is?

Just what in the world did he face at such a young age which made him so sad??

“What? Why are you crying?” He stared at me in concern, giving me a bewildered look.

“Thank you for caring so much and giving me confidence when I wanted it the most.” I cried like a crybaby, wiping my tears so as not to make him worried anymore.

“Thank you.”

He gave me a friendly punch in my arm smiling. “Silly.”

And resumed moving forward to where I don’t know. I kept following him like a lost puppy.

While we were just walking, a device started buzzing in his pocket which turned out to be his phone after he took it out.

Blake’s normal look turned into a grave one while attending a call.

“Yes…”

“What!”

“No…I am in the lane along the bridge?”

“Yes, I will come to the hospital right now…” Saying this he ran in the right direction saying the last sentence to me.

“Meet me here tomorrow.”

Seeing Blake disappear in the thin air, my internals wanted to scream loudly.

Just when I was starting to feel comfortable, God again took the relief from my life.

*****

Author's Note

Guys... Please don't forget to give this story a gem and comment. It really motivates me to write.