Reality's Escape: a collection of short stories

Engraved in a Golden Ring

All right, so our main character's name is Marcy. It's short for Marcella, but not a whole lot of people know that. It's kind of a special thing that only her parents call her when they are talking really seriously about something.

Her parent's names are John and Helen.

John is a pastor, and at the time I start this story, he just left for some kind of conference. I'm not sure if he's speaking or attending, all I know is that he meets someone there. But I'm not going to tell you about that yet.

Helen runs a small business from home, making jewelry and selling it online. She loves her work but claims to be a little swamped right now. That's why she invited Marcy back home for the weekend: to help her catch up on some orders.

When Marcy got there, though, Helen had a super devious look on her face. She showed her daughter two tickets to a singing competition that was being hosted in their city. Marcy protested, saying that the only end product of such an event would be a headache. Helen won out, though, as she knew she would, and made Marcy change into a cute outfit before they left.

This particular day was the second round of the competition. This was to Marcy's advantage, as it meant that all the really bad singers were already weeded out. Oh, and I forgot to tell you that this was an all male competition. Helen had specifically chosen this one because she wants her daughter to get married already.

That's an interesting thing about Marcy that I should probably tell you too. She has no aversion to marriage, in fact she really wants a family of her own, but she's just never loved anyone before. Whether or not that's true at the end of the story I'll let you find out.

The singers were pretty good. Helen and Marcy whispered almost the whole time, but I am happy to say that they did so quietly and did not disturb the people around them.

Here comes one of my favourite parts of the story. All the lights were shut off except for one at the back of the stage. When the contestant walked out, he was only visible in silhouette. Seriously, even if I was making this up, I could not have made it cooler.

He started off his song in a whisper. It sounded gentle and soft, and Marcy wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Christian lyrics were promising, but to be whispered?

Then the song built, and his voice built with it. It sounded amazing. If you listen to the Shane and Shane version, it sounded kind of like that.

When he the second verse, the lights gradually brightened. Murmuring began as his features were illumined: one eye and ear were higher than the other, his nose was twisted to the side, but his mouth was perfect. He got to the climax of the verse, but it didn't hold as much power as the first time.

Then he started in on the chorus. The audience didn't even know what hit them. His face, even though the better viewers didn't mean to judge, was forgotten in his passionate tones.

The music faded away at the end of the song, leaving only the raw power of voice giving the final benediction of "Hallelujah".

Marcy stood to her feet and clapped. The rest of the audience joined her, applauding in raucous approval. Even if they had not been able to appreciate the lyrics like a Christian could, they understood one thing: this guy could sing.

He was pretty modest, just bowed and walked away from his standing ovation. I felt kinda bad for the next guy, who looked shallow and artificial as a runner up. To be honest, though, he wasn't that good. Instead of amazing vocals, he had a fire display while he belted out the lyrics to some overdramatic love song. He burst through a sheet of flames every time he repeated the lines "I'd be a phoenix, I'd walk through fire for you". It was just one verse and a chorus, sliced up and reorganized, then repeated.