Pain exploded in her eyes as lights continued to flash relentlessly, however, she forced down her pain to continue singing the final part of her song. The lights once again switched colour and it took all her strength to resist the urge to flinch as the explosion of toxic green mixed with a spew of yellow, glared angrily in her eyes.
Did they not test the lights? Question whether they were too bright and hurt? How could they not see the mask of agony that painted her face as if she was staring at the sun and not looking away.
Slowly, she hummed and brought the microphone away from her face and then sighed in relief as the light turned away from her and her partner.
This was her worst performance. Her voice was two intivals too high, she sustained a few notes slightly longer than necessary. She was ashamed of herself, yet the crowed still loved it. Loved the fact it was a woman sighing, loved the fact it was her singing. She hated it.
A woman at the side with a flamboyant pink peacock dress caught her attention and made her way to the overly large stage. With charisma that made her sick she spoke loudly. "People of the city is that what you wanted to hear!" she screamed into the microphone as she ran up the stairs with the harsh lights following her, yet she made no visible show of discomfort.
Her response was excited cheers and whistles. Quickly, she got to the centre of the stage and simultaneously a large screen appeared with two of the contestant's pictures with a small bar next to them as they opposed each other. "You know how it goes, cheer as loud as you can so the one you love wins. First up, cheer for Kuma Kite!" Cheered the woman.
She was clearly in love with her job as she raised her hands up high and even joined in with the cheering. Almost as if cheering her on, the crowd cheered in unison.
The woman stopped in mock surprise and almost looked upset. "Is that all you got? Come on, how do you think Kuma feels? Show him your love!" Once more the crowd cheered but much louder than before. Once the cheers died down the bar started to rise and slowly gained speed as it continued to get higher. It rose to the point that it just missed getting some of the last few marks to complete the picture.
The woman responded quickly, wanting to keep the tension and energy high. "Wow, you lot must love him tonnes. But is your love for Luna stronger? Please cheer for Violet Luna!" Once more she was quick to join in and with her, the crowd burst into cheers and screams, whistles were blown, and stomps were made.
The woman sent a discreet pitying look towards Kuma before signalling the crowd to stop. "I guess we already know who the winner is, but let's check the monitor to be sure." She said, and the graph showed that he had lost barely, the bar being a few centimetres higher than Kuma's.
The red-head sighed in disappointment, it was well known that Luna was a fan favourite but he was hoping for a better score and for him to win at that.
"Ladies and gentlemen, your third-time reigning champion of Music Beats, Violet Luna" she shouted into the microphone with a lot more charisma and excitement than before causing Luna to wince.
Luna slumped in frustration at once again a false win. Once again she won simply because of the crowd's blindness to her failure. She wasn't surprised when the crowd cheered louder as they saw her shoulders slump, and she assumed that they thought she was slumping in relief.
From the corner of her eye she saw Kuma, the tall red-head, walk up to her. Dressed in a sleek silver jacket, black jeans and smart looking shoes with a fresh hair-cut, she was surprised he didn't have a girl-friend or girls, in general, hanging off his arm.
"Well done." He said, pulling the microphone attached to his ear away from his mouth and shouting to get his voice over the crowds. "Once again you win and for that I congratulate you." He spoke in a weird order of speech, she was no longer troubled by it. She was used to it by now.
Quickly doing the same while blushing, she pulled him off the stage so they could talk easier. "Thank you, you weren't pretty bad yourself" she complimented back, attempting to be kind.
She was a girl of average height, long purple hair that curled to the side of her eyes. She wore a cobalt blue long sleeve jacket that reaches her waist, left unbuttoned complete with an even lighter average length skirt. She was absolutely stunning to Kuma. It was one of the few reasons why he was hardly troubled by the audience's response when facing Luna.
"Maybe you'll have a better chance next time?" She voiced unsurely, "We already know how biased this competition is when I'm singing" she frowned.
Luna knew by several miles that Kuma had her beat in some competitions, some like these when her feelings were down or even at her best. He always put his all into it - unlike her - but never succeeded in beating her, no matter how hard she fought for him getting a win from her.
Many just thought she was being modest and a good sport, and it made her cry out in frustration when they had that understanding look on their face, as if they knew what she was doing.
Kuma's face softened, he understood what she trying to do. The subtle look of frustration on her face told it all but he tried not to show her how he felt, even though he knew it was ripping her up inside.
"Its fine" responding mirthfully. "They'll see the light someday" laughing jokingly, however, the hard, concentrated look on his face said the opposite and it was clear that he was not pleased.
A sharp light from the corner of her eyes caught her attention, it turned on and off constantly changing from one unique colour to the next. She smiled awkwardly. "Um, I'll talk to you later Kuma? It seems that my father needs me." Her voice almost immediately had dipped when mentioning her father and almost seemed to be mechanical. Not even seeming to be containing emotion.
Kuma shifted uncomfortably, the look of concentration and hardness disappearing altogether. Not used to this type of tone, he walked and waved awkwardly as he exited from his side of the stage.
Semi-mechanically Violet walked off the stage and towards a wall. It cracked open to reveal a lift. Pressing the only button there besides the down button she waited patiently.
What seemed like hours to Luna was seconds as with a quiet "ping" the lift door opened to reveal a room. The room had a huge, wooden desk and an equally sized mechanical chair which was turned towards a window facing the stage. The same place violet had been earlier. In that same chair, a male sat. Only a mop of brown hair could be seen as the tall mechanical chair concealed the rest of his body.
"Father." Her voice while still robotic held emotion. Sadness. Longing.
"Luna beau Violet." Her back straightened as the male said her full name in a firm and cold command. His voice was sharp and held an emotion that was well hidden. She squirmed slightly and gave a small shuffle.
"Yes, father." Her voice was meek and quiet, yet it seemed to fill every single corner of the office.
"What was that horrific performance that I was forced to witness Luna! How could you get in that position in the first place, you barely won! You may be able to fool them with those scores and modest comments about fair play about Kuma should be winning, but you can't-fool me!" Her father shouted angrily, his face as still as stone as he turned his chair to face her refusing to convey any emotion.
"I had to pull a few strings to ensure that you would have won!"
Luna's eyes widened in shock. Could this mean that her father had been pulling the strings for her success all these years? Did she really hold any talent at all? Was her fame an illusion weaved by her father all these years while she was born, and her mother had helped plan out her life for her? Singing was all she knew, and she didn't know how she could live without it.
She brought her hands behind her back to conceal the soft shake of her hands as she bowed her head to conceal the slowly brewing tears. Her life was a lie.
"Do you know how embarrassing that is for me, for a child I have raised to be failing in something which I raised her to be? I refuse to have the Violet name tarnished by some loss because u aren't into the mood. Absolutely fucking ridicules! I refuse for that to become even a thought." Eventually, his face relaxed. But his hardened blue eyes betrayed his soft appearance.
"Kuma is an exceptional singer, one of the best in your age group. I know I will not be able to hold this farce over the people's heads for much longer. What is wrong with you child?" He ended, with eyes peering into her soul as he waited for the reply.
"I want to have fun and I'm not happy with singing right now." Her voice meek and she choked down a sob and a hesitant gasp as a lone tear trembled down her cheek as she gave, what sounded to him, to be an excuse.
The man stared blankly at her while his hands coiled into a firm ball of frustration. "Fine then Luna, continue to weave pretences. While you were having your pitiful excuse for a contest, your mother and I had come to a decision. We are sending you off to a school, far away from here, a land unknown by many but known by few. We believe that it will be a suitable punishment to... purge you of this phase, and your sister will be there to monitor you, to make sure your... transformation comes over as effortlessly as possible." He said smoothly.
Her eyes widened in surprise her tears long since forgotten, he never let her socialise with others outside of business before. The closest that came was Kuma and her sister, but that was only because of their positions.
"Yes, father" was her short response, ignoring the sad yet thrilled stomp of her heartbeat.
"You are dismissed." He said coldly, is beaming eyes tracking her slumped form.
Leaving the room, she turned left to the corridor and entered her suit room, it was the size of three family bedrooms, far too large for her. Looking at her bed she was still amazed, regardless of how many times she had been in this room, because of the size of it.
It was large enough to fit a large family of five and a few family pets if she wanted to push it. Throwing herself onto the bed, she ignored the fact that she barely made a dent in the massive pillow cloud and curled herself into a small ball.
She didn't know why her father was like this. When she was younger he treated her like a princess, like how any father should to there child. But that changed when she became six. First, it was small unnoticeable things like, suggestions on what she should do to be better than the people of her age.
At first, she fought it was simply him encouraging her to get better, she knew her father was awkward with younger children. Like how he reacted with clients bringing along their children, or when meeting other family members for get-togethers. Then it became outright lesson after lesson. Things like singing, playing a multitude of instrument and taking the harshest of studies that even the Asian families around her estate would cringe at.
She loved her father, she truly did, however with him constantly berating her and stopping her from experiencing the world, forcing her to grow up lonely even with her sister around, she was hard-pressed to say that she might end up hating him.
If only he didn't push her so hard, if only people could see her as a normal person outside of her fame and fortune that was built because of her father. Then maybe she would have the real understanding of what struggling was like outside of always being judged by the public.
She guessed that was the good thing about being sent off to school. She would be getting to meet new people that she hasn't met before, who probably wouldn't even know or care who she was. She could even make friends.
Luna smiled slightly, she could use this as a way to socialise with her sister, but then again her sister wasn't really fond of her after the custard incident. That dress was really expensive and they were still trying to get out of the stain it caused.
She then frowned, her sister was a fickle of a character. Always flippant about things and always seemed to deflect things perfectly at other people.
A slow, soft knock on her door broke her thoughts and she thought about telling them to go away, with her exhausting day she wouldn't want to strain her mind with another person speaking to her the door knocked slightly harder and Luna pushed her lips forward in thought.
"Come in." She said in defeat, her groan echoing in the mattress covers.
A petit woman smaller than her, shyly entered the room looking slightly apologetic. In her hand was a small pink towel and the other was a pair of matching pyjamas. Quickly, she scurried into the bathroom across from Luna disappearing from her sight before reappearing just as quickly.
She paused at the door the woman peered back at Luna before dropping her shoulders in defeat before turning around and facing her.
Not hearing the door shut after several minutes Luna lifted her face up and turned her body just so she could get the scope of most of the room. Seeing the maid in the corner, Luna's eyebrow rose before she shifted herself so that she was comfortable.
"Is something wrong Mable?" Luna asked lazily, her thoughts wearing her out.
Mable blushed a scarlet red before fondling her maid outfit dress and pressing her fingers together.
"Are you alright Miss Luna? You entered the room much happier than you usually do." She spoke softly unlike the other hardened maids of the building.
"So I can't be happy anymore is that it?" She questioned her voice slightly raised and eyes turned in interest.
Mable's cheeks went dark and eye's widened in panic. "What, no!" She said voice slightly raised. "I didn't mean it like that." Her arms flailed, and she vomited out words of protest to her superior. She carelessly stumbled on her words
Luna laughed. Joyously rumbling in the room and echoing off the walls. Tears erupted from her eyes and she croaked as her stomach tensed, suddenly sending an electrifying shock through her body, but still she laughed.
Eyes widened in surprise, Mable stood shocked at Luna's laughing form before giggling quietly with her. Her superiors laugh was contagious and she couldn't help but feel as though she couldn't help but join in.
Eventually, they both stopped laughing and Luna wiped her tears. Happily, she sighed, then her face warped, and a frown marred her face.
Seeing this, Mabel looked at her confused. "What's wrong ma'am?"
"Father is allowing me to go to school".
"That's great!" Cheered Mabel, but her face grew concerned once she saw Luna's uncertain face. "What's wrong?"
"It's just. Why now? He could have done this any time, but he does it on the last year of secondary school?" Questioned Luna. Seeing Mabel offering no response, Luna slowly got off her bed and made way to her drawer, taking out a matching pair of pyjama's and took off her current wear.
"Maybe your father has changed." Mabel winced as it sounded as if she asked a question and at the embarrassingly small chance of what she said happening.
Ignoring her, Luna swiftly took of her close and put on the miss matched pyjamas and wrapped herself underneath her covers and laid down. Laying her head on her pillow, she hummed as her muscles relaxed and face slowly sank into the confines of her pillow.
Luna's eyes softend and she curled her body into a small tight ball. "My father doesn't change suddenly like that." Whispered Luna.
"Maybe. But things can change. You know how your Father is with parenting." Said Mabel softly. Feeling as though she had said enough on the matter, Slowly, she lifted herself up and hugged Luna's solemn form on her bed. She brought her lips to her Luna's ears and whispered sweet nothings and soft hymns causing her eyes to slowly come to a close.
Believing her to be asleep Mable slowly got off the bed and made her way to the door. Only to turn back and tuck Luna under her covers. Turing around once more she took a small detour passing the three-star picture on her ladyship's shelf, to make sure Luna at least look comfortable while asleep.
Satisfied by her find, Mable turned around only to hear Luna murmur something. Curious, Mable walked back to the read rest of the bed and leaned in slightly. "What was that ma'am?"
"Do you think I can sing?" asked Luna sleepily, her voice soft and slightly muffled and down.
"Of course, I do ma'am, having at been trained at aged six and officially entering competition at aged eight and winning from there on, you have no equal when singing is concerned. The only person who could possibly come close to your skills would be Kuma and even then, he's a far cry from your skills. Your father made sure to make sure that you stayed at the top." Stated Mable sounding sure of herself.
"Thanks, I needed that." Said Luna voice slightly strained.
"Any time ma'am." Making haste for the exit, Mable shot one more look at Luna before softly exiting shutting the door politely behind her.
Had she stayed longer she would have heard the soft wail of Luna's aching soul being crushed.
"So, she's on it to." She thought solemnly. "My life really is a big fat lie..."
Who do I even trust anymore...?
ns 15.158.61.6da2
