Songs of Praise (The Ink Well prompt #86

Photo by Dazzle Jam from Pexels

“Purchase your form fast! the music contest is in two weeks and this might be a life changing opportunity for you! Purchase your form fast…..” a good-looking tall man holding a stack of flyers stuttered as he shared them. Tracy, who was late for a lecture ran in the direction of the lecture hall and suddenly, collided with the man who was distributing the flyers. “I’m deeply sorry sir.” she uttered as she bent down to assist the man with picking and stacking the flyers.

“What are the flyers for?” she asked as they stood up after. “Oh dear! they’re for a music contest, the winner would be awarded a multi-million dollar record deal and other nice things” he replied. “Oh really! Can I have a flyer please?” Tracy asked as he handed one to her.

Tracy wasn’t late to lecture because she woke up late, rather she spent more time in the bathroom singing in the shower as she took her bath. She has always loved music.

After she collected the flyer, while rushing to the lecture hall, she halted and tried to find out more information about the music contest. “Wow! this is a great opportunity for me to finally achieve my music dream” she whispered slowly before continuing her journey.

Just after the lecture, Tracy logged in to the music contest website as she purchased the form with the money she painstakingly saved for a new iPhone. “I pray I win this.” she said in a low voice.

Weeks passed and it was finally time for the audition. It was an open audition which in attendance were the students. The people that will be picked for the contest would be selected based on the acceptance of the crowd. This was the day Tracy had prepared for but the only issue she had was her strained vocal chords which emanated from the consistent vocal practice for the contest.

Other contestants performed, some were accepted into the contest while others were rejected and finally it was time for Tracy to take the stage. She knew she had a great voice even after the sore throat she suffered from. So with boldness she climbed the stage, grabbed the mic after greeting the audience and judges and started singing, her voice sounded horrible that the audience got aggravated as they started shouting“boooo!”. In order to calm the situation, she was ushered out to the backstage.

Tracy cried a river at the backstage as she felt she had just ruined her life changing opportunity.
She went for treatment and eventually her vocal chord became better but she had given up on her music dreams. One thing didn’t change, she never stopped singing while taking her bath like it was a ritual thing.

Months passed as Tracy studies went well but she still went late for lectures as usual.
One morning while she was rushing to the lecture hall she bumped into a man sharing flyers, it was the same man six months ago. They spoke at the same time “Hey, I remember you!” as they laughed together. “Is it the music contest again?” Tracy asked. “Oh yes! it is, it holds every six months, so you still have more opportunity to apply again.” He replied. “I’m not interested” she responded as she walked away after helping him arrange the flyers.

She got to the lecture hall then sat down, immediately she opened her note to write, the music contest flyer was in between, she looked at it for few minutes and picked interest in auditioning again.

She bought the form but this time around she practiced with caution. The audition day came, she was outstanding, she got into the contest and won! The multi-million dollar deal was awarded to her, she became famous, had more songs which became popular, travelled round the world to perform. She was basically leaving her dream.

After many successful years, she was in a gathering where she addressed and advised young people about not giving up on their dreams as she talked about her first audition and how she was booed yet she picked herself up and tried again.