Beneath the Spotlight

Chapter 1

Laurel boldly stepped onto the runway before a large, rapturous audience. She was the star of the night. Finally, her dream has come to pass. She suddenly noticed a woman in the crowd, a woman who all of a sudden appeared to match the much-missed, lost face of her long-dead mother, the image in the old photo. Laurel froze, her graceful stride forgotten. At that surreal moment, time itself seemed to have stopped.

The mysterious woman started to migrate away then, in slow motion. Laurel was determined, and as she took a step to follow, had taken barely two steps when she lost focus and tumbled. The collective demeanor of the audience had changed, and their expressions were becoming a silent chorus of wide-eyed disbelief, faces went pale and the usual hum of anticipation was replaced by a heavy weight of silence. Laurel awoke from her sleep just as she was about to hit the floor, her heart was racing, sweat on her brow.

She thought to herself: what sort of dream is this?

Laurel shuddered but was strangely intrigued by the vivid vision. She reached for her phone; the time read 6:30 a.m. She exhaled with a breath and forced herself to get rid of the last vestiges of the dream. She had no time to ponder mysteries now, she had to freshen up and cook breakfast for her father, Mr. Allen before heading to Lavender Lounge, where she worked as a bar attendant.

With the early morning light creeping onto the floor, Laurel wondered the meaning of her dream, an unexplained prologue to a day full of routine and a hint of destiny.

Autumn had arrived, painting the streets of Voluntown with rich colors of cloth like amber, crimson and gold. The trees were strewn with their golden leaves as they danced, and the winds whispered secrets that the ever-present breeze carried through the street. The sound of school buses recessing far off and fallen leaves rustling made Laurel feel a sense of excitement.

She murmured to herself ... 'Today better be extraordinary.'

Usually, Monday mornings were quiet at the bar, a break from the other days of the week. Giving Laurel some unfettered, precious moments to herself, which was a stark change to her busy life. She had even just a month ago filled a form and recorded a video of her modeling skills for a top academy in New York City. The day when the results would come was today.

Despite the fact that her father disapproved of her dreams, his voice always echoed a lifetime of practicality and disappointment whenever she brought it up. She was 21, an adult, and every part of her longed to escape the Votuntown familiarity, routines and predictable friendships. The academy didn’t just serve as a means of escape, it was going to propel her into her dream career. Most importantly, she could find her mother.

With bated breath, she clutched her phone in her hand, waiting for the email which was to either shatter or fulfill her hopes.

Her lips escaped with a silent plea, 'Oh, Lord, help me.'

Mama Jane, the lounge owner and her boss, interrupted her thoughts abruptly with her commanding voice.

“Laurel, I need you on high alert today, I have a guest coming in.”

With a steady voice to her response, Laurel responded “Okay, mama Jane”, her heart pounding with anticipation.

At that moment, the quiet morning was electrified with the promise of change, and each second sounded with the promise of a new beginning.

Laurel refreshed her inbox and her eyes scanned the screen expecting something new, but she got nothing. As she dropped her phone on the desk in the lounge, the lounge door chimed softly and in walked a young man who instantly entranced her. The gentle sway of his tall frame, his confident stride and the warm glimmer in his brown eyes told him to be roughly in his mid-twenties, a striking figure with a quiet charm. Laurel’s heart skipped because this had to be the guest Mama Jane had referred to.

She could not pull her gaze away from him as he went through the room with an easy grace. Her phone rang a bell right then, her fingers trembled with excitement as she reached for the device. Her jolt was that the notification would bring the news that she wanted. Thank goodness!, a new message appeared on the screen. The screen seemed to have gone gray.

A deep baritone cut through the air, before she could open it. “Hello, I’m Andrew”. The voice declared confidently. “ I’d like to see Mama Jane”. Laurel’s eyes lifted from her phone to the speaker’s eyes, inserting itself into the gentle tinkle of conversation.

'Oh, you’re welcome to Lavender Lounge”.

'She stepped away from the counter with a warm welcoming smile, politely guiding him to a fancily decorated private lounge, ' she said, her voice gentle and professional. “Please have your seat, and she’ll be with you shortly.”

The space enveloped him in a soothing atmosphere and Andrew nodded quietly in agreement, settling into a cushy chair.

As the anticipation and reality danced together at that moment, Laurel took the weight of the morning’s promise, almost as if the air whispered destiny would occur.

Mama Jane strolled in grace into the private lounge, and there was this smile that lit up the room; her eyes fluttered with the purest affection. “My boy, how are you?” Her pride was evident as she looked at Andrew. “ You have grown so gracefully and beautifully, she exclaimed”.

Andrew rose from his seat at the sound of his name. His tall, relaxed frame moved towards her in an easy, graceful way. In an instant, he held her in a heartfelt embrace and cheered her up. The hug was warm and familiar, and it revealed a silent conversation of years, shared cherished memories. Laurel stood behind the counter and couldn’t help but smile when she saw that. Her heart lightened by seeing the tender reunion happen before her eyes.

Still holding Andrew in her arms, Mama Jane pulled back slightly. She asked him, in a caring but expectant tone, “what I would like to eat Andrew”.

A soft chuckle of unspoken understanding and quiet delight escaped Andrew. She knew at that moment what he would like. What he had always wanted when he lived with her. His favorite treat.

“Laurel!” called Mama Jane, out of the gentle hum of the lounge, “bring a bowl of grilled chicken strips and some iced coffee.” Laurel walked into the lounge with a tray containing mama Jane’s order.

Andrew salivated on seeing the delicacy. She watched him with admiration because she knew how much Andrew loved those chicken wings. Those were his favorite when he lived with her during his teen years, before New York called him away.

At that moment, amidst the regular banter and warmth that filled the room, Laurel remembered the buzzing notification on her phone. How could she have forgotten on this important day?

With a quick, apologetic glance at the joyful reunion, she hurried back to the counter and tapped open her email.

There, on the screen, glowed her long-awaited result, her acceptance letter, staring back at her in bold, promising letters. A thrill of excitement shot through her, mingling with the warmth of the morning and the comforting familiarity of family. In that instant, everything felt possible. The gateway to a future she had long imagined is now opened.

Excitement surged through Laurel, spilling over in a burst of unbridled joy. She didn’t realize just how loud her delight had become until Mama Jane’s voice rang out, interrupting the moment:

"Laurel, tone it down, please!"

Startled, Laurel's smile faltered, and she quickly smoothed down her hair and adjusted her posture. With a composed nod, she picked up the tray containing the iced coffee and chicken stripes and placed it in front of Andrew, then she excused herself from the lounge, retreating into a quiet corner to regain her balance.

In the solitude of that moment, her thoughts turned inward. The idea of calling her father, a man whose disapproval of her dreams was as familiar as the back of her hand now loomed before her. Though she knew well that he would never understand or support her pursuit of a modeling career, she felt an undeniable need to share the news with him.

As her heart still raced from the earlier thrill, a familiar weight of doubt began to settle. What if her father's caution was right? What if she didn’t belong in the dazzling world she so desperately longed for? The modest earnings from her job as a bar attendant were a far cry from the funds required to propel her to New York, and her father's meager teacher’s salary offered little hope for realizing her dreams.

Despite her father's constant disapproval, he remained her only family member, a solitary figure in a life marked by absence and longing. Laurel had never known a mother’s gentle guidance; she was told that her mother had vanished when she was barely two years old. All she possessed were faded photographs and blurry, half-remembered moments that she wasn’t even sure were real.

In the years that followed, their modest home was filled with the warm care of Ms. Rachel, their neighbor, who became a caregiver and comfort to both Laurel and her father. Ms. Rachel's kindness was a soft counterpoint to the hard realities of their life, nurturing them with love and a stability that Laurel desperately needed.

The mystery of her mother haunted Laurel. When she was just ten, her father embarked on a desperate journey to search for the woman who had abandoned them. He traveled far, his eyes hopeful for reunion, but when he returned, the topic of her mother was sealed away like a painful secret.

Now, as Laurel sat quietly reflecting on those years, memories from long ago stirred a deep, aching sorrow. The fruitless journey her father once embarked on, a desperate search for the mother who had vanished when she was barely two, had sown the seeds of his disdain for modeling or anything that meant her leaving him. That bitterness had cast a long, dark shadow over her own dreams, leaving her with a heart both fragile and fiercely determined, forever marked by the absence of a nurturing figure.

Yet, amid the swirling uncertainty and lingering pain, a small, insistent voice whispered within her, "Take the leap... just tell him. Maybe, just maybe, you can change everything." With that quiet command echoing in her mind, Laurel steadied herself. She reached for her phone, her fingers trembling with a mix of hope and trepidation, ready to bridge the chasm between her fervent dreams and the harsh reality waiting at home.

The inevitable phone call shattered the fragile calm. Her father's voice, heavy with practical resignation, cut through the silence. "No, Laurel. "I can't support this," he said firmly. "Modeling? It's risky, unstable. And even if I agreed, where would we get the money for this academy?"

As she ended the call, a bitter mix of sorrow and defiance swirled within her. But then, amid the lingering doubts, a question emerged, one that ignited a spark of rebellion deep inside: What if this rejection wasn't the end at all, but the beginning of a journey that would force her to redefine everything she thought she knew about her destiny?

She was going to fund her dreams….. She just didn’t know how.