He sang. Not only did he sing, he sang on live television. Not only did he sing on live television, but she watched him. He didn't know her at all. She was just another person watching television, happening to stumble upon the show with him by mistake. He was a winner of one of the many singing competitions, and he got the chance to perform his song that the audience had grown to love so much for a second time on the stage that gave him $500,000 and his own show. She was never a musical person. Yet, when she heard his voice, it was like nothing she had heard. It had caused chills to run through her whole body, and her eyes to tear up. The beauty that the young man's voice possessed could not be described in words. It was a beauty that couldn't be found anywhere else, no matter how hard and long someone searched. Yet the girl wanted to find that beauty. She wanted to find something precious in herself, something that could give even the singer a reaction similar to hers.
   Everyday she began to practice, trying to reach the level of musical perfection. She had even begged her parents to hire a voice coach. Her parents were pretty excited about this sudden change in their daughter. They had never seen her so passionate about something in their lives. So, despite their modest paychecks, they hired a voice coach, and not just any voice coach, but the best one they could find. Of course, this caused many sacrifices for the parents, like having two less meals each week, and working two more jobs. And their daughter never asked anything more from her parents. Days later, singing became her main focus. It was all she did. She woke up singing, got dressed singing, waited for the bus singing. She wrote lyrics in classes, and practiced with her vocal instructor when she arrived home. All she did was practice. And practice. And practice. If she sung one note incorrectly, she would sing the whole song ten more times. She would sing her favorite songs, along with her own creations. Her grades became lower as her singing became much more refined, and more lovely. She eventually sang in her school's talent show and won first place. Everyone loved her, and she became confident. She became so confident that she auditioned to be on the next season of the singing competition shown every year on TV. And of course, she got in. She practiced some more, and sang some more songs, and the crowd overall enjoyed. There were some people who disliked her singing, and found it unimpressive, but she didn’t mind. There would always be haters. Soon enough, she actually became one of finalists. She was very surprised that she made it this far. She had been practicing for at about 5 years straight now, and she knew that she stood a chance.
   On the day where all the finalists performed to see who wins, the producers bought back all of the previous winners to sit in one of the front rows of the audience, so they can see who will be joining them next year. She was very excited because she knew that he would be there. And that he would be watching. So when it was her turn to sing, she sang like never before. She poured her heart out when she sang, and her voice was so beautiful that the audience gave her a standing ovation when she finished. She looked around at the front row to see his reaction, but he wasn’t standing at all or clapping. In fact, he just looked at her and sneered. She couldn’t believe her eyes, and tears started forming around them. The audience thought that she was crying tears of joy, but she knew the true reason why. She thought that her hero, her role model, wasn’t impressed with her singing at all. All of the effort, all of these years that she had put into singing, and only singing, now seemed pointless to her. What was the point of singing if he wouldn’t appreciate it?  If he didn’t think her singing was any good? But he did in fact think that her singing was good. In fact, he had just heard an indescribable beauty. He sneered because that indescribable beauty didn’t come from him. And as he observed her closely, watching this passion of singing diminishing in her eyes, like a fire slowly dying, he knew that he had accomplished his mission. Why would people need to hear her beautiful voice, when they can listen to his?
   After the show, she didn’t say a word to anybody, and left as soon as she could, not even waiting to see who won the competition. It’s not like it mattered to her anymore. The ride home seemed to be one of the first times she was completely silent for a while, not a single peep coming from her. This ongoing quietness seemed unbearable after about 10 minutes, so she decided to turn on the radio, listening, but not singing along, to the current and older hits that were being played on her favorite station. As she was nearing the driveway of her house, a song came on. Not just any song, his song. Not only was it just his song, but it was the song he sang this day, 5 years ago, when he was the on the stage that she was just performing on, the one that started this whole delusion that she could actually become the best singer there is. Listening to the song, more tears started streaming down her face, her own crying almost drowning out the noise of this beautiful but life-ruining song. And once the song was over, she turned her car off, walking towards the place that she called home, knowing that she will never again sing another song.