Own the scars

🐴 Knight in shiny armour ✨

~back on the living room~

E- You can put me down now Nialler.

N- Oh yeah.

E- Thanks for the ride though.

N- You're welcome.

Z- I can see you're feeling better already.

E- Yeah, I am.

H- That's good to hear.

E- Sorry about leaving like that guys.

Lou- That's alright, luv.

Z- I'm sorry for earlier, I didn't know it would have such a big impact on you.

E- That's alright, don't worry. It just brought me bad memories, but everything's fine now.

Li- Do you want to talk about it?

E- Not really but you guys deserve to know... It all started when I won the talent show 4 years ago. I had gained some recognition so I had right away some offers to perform in establishments for money. Accepting it wasn't in my plans until my mom lost her job somewhere along with the semi-final of the contest. Suddenly the money wasn't enough so I had to help.

Z- Sorry to hear about your difficulties.

E- At the beginning, I didn't mind much, I enjoyed singing to people. That wasn't the problem.

N- I don't like where this is going.

E- I wasn't even 16 years old when I started my part-time job, singing in a coffee house. At first, everything was going well, the shop was gaining more and more customers, money was arriving, we were good. But one day my boss had the brilliant idea to record it and post it on social media. Being such a success he got more and more demanding with me, forcing me to improve more and more, learn routines, sing songs more difficult... At some point I was spending more time there than studying, I couldn't get a break. It was... exhausting.

O- Yeah, it got so bad he would pick her from school earlier, and only let her go home late at night. She didn't rest, didn't eat properly, didn't sleep. Even at weekends.

N- What about your parents?

E- Well they didn't have a choice. We needed the money and he had made me sign a contract before I started so I had to obey him.

Li- But you were still a kid.

E- Yeah.

Z- Something tells me it didn't end there.

E- No. Regardless of all success, not everyone was so positive about it.

O- There was one specific person who...

E- Yeah.

Li- Cyberbullying?

E- Yeah... I eventually found out who it was but it didn't matter, no one cared. It was her word against mine. And when we talked about performing again earlier, everything memory came back... I don't know if I can do it again...

N- I'm so sorry you had to go through that. You don't have to do anything you don't want to.

E- I know, thanks. Anyway, let's not let my sad memory ruin our afternoon. What's the next test Nialler?