𝑺𝐈𝐗, One Direction Sixth Member

1, ten

The quietness around her was deafening.

It was ironic how nothing but silence hung in the air around her, yet she felt as if thousands of bees were loudly buzzing in her ear.

Aviana shakily sighed as she let the hand holding the mic fall back to her side limply. Her face cast downwards in discomfort, making strands of hair fall over her eyes, illustrating shadows over her features - dark, just like emotions running through her mind.

She could feel the familiar sting behind her eyelids, bringing back a sensation she knew all too well at this point.

She didn't want to break down in front of anyone. Correction, she mustn't break down in front of anyone. She didn't want her pathetic tears captured from multiple angles by all the cameras pointed towards her fragile frame.

Call her a pick-me or ridiculous, but she didn't want to appear vulnerable in front of anyone.

Not in front of him. Not in front of anyone.

She was already humiliated enough. She couldn't bear to look up through the haven of her hair cascading down around her face, creating a shield of safeness.

"Aviana Rae" She unconsciously flinched when her name rolled out of Simon's tongue, a heavy accent prominent on every syllable as he spoke to himself.

"Aviana Rae." He repeated, nodding his head to himself lightly in recognition.

"I..." He paused as he clicked his tongue. "I remember your performance being exceptionally well during the auditions." He spoke, every word clear and straightforward.

"You sang an excellent original song with amazing lyrics and an even better voice." He stated, not knowing that with every word coming out of his mouth, the girl who stood in front of him crumbled down piece by piece. " I remember thinking - oh! this girl has an outstanding vocal range after I saw your performance that day."

The indecisiveness that came behind the said words was excruciating to her.

"So, what happened?"

Aviana wished the ground beneath her feet would open up to a portal to hell and swallow her whole, never to be seen again.

She had started the song in an alright tone. Her voice was surprisingly smooth, enunciating all the lyrics crisply and clearly. The confident and wistful tone amazingly complimented the song she was singing. She delivered her performance in a satisfactory way to the judges. But, as soon as she started with the pre-chorus, everything started going rapidly downhill.

Just as Aviana's voice started to waver unsteadily, her heart dropped to the stomach. She knew this was the aftermath of crying her heart out just before the audition she had been anticipating. Even though her voice was in the worst state she could ever imagine, she kept pushing through for her own sake. Aviana's mind was set on one thing and one thing only, and that was to finish her audition as soon as she was humanly possible. And maybe that was the reason she started to sing slightly out of tempo.

Right now, she was embarrassed to her stomach. She felt as if the solution-for-stage-fright 'imagine the audience is naked before you' trick had backfired, and she was the naked one standing in the middle of a large crowd - stripped of her dignity and pride.

"You set the bar very high at your first audition, Aviana" Simon looked her dead in the eye as he spoke. "But I'm afraid you haven't sung up to reach my expectations today."

Aviana heavily exhaled at the same time Cowell finished his commentary. Her hands lightly shook as she held on to the microphone with all her might, scared she'll drop it on the cold stage if she didn't tighten her hold around the metal. Her eyes drooped down towards her shoes as the words that escaped Simon's lips echoed back and forth in her mind over and over again.