Duchess by Nikki Wilson

wall.
    “Hey, Shirley,” he said as he came to the side of her bed.
    “Shh!” was all the reply he got as she motioned to the television. He looked up and saw Duchess giving an interview. He couldn’t believe the get-up she had on. How did she manage to always look like a cartoon character? And those purple eyes! So unnerving. He set the flowers down on a nearby table, took a seat by the bed, and watched as the pop diva made a fool out of herself on national television. When the interview was over, Shirley turned off the TV and sighed.
    “Did she really just say that everyone should pretend to be someone they’re not?” Chase couldn’t believe this was the artist Amber wanted to represent her charity at a benefit concert.
    “I’m afraid so.” Shirley looked worn down, and he realized she was probably just missing Katie.
    “I guess Katie is with her ?” He pointed at the blank screen.
    “Yep.”
    He pressed his lips together and crossed his arms as his muscles tensed.
    “How did Katie ever get mixed up with someone like Duchess in the first place?”
    Shirley didn’t answer right away. For a moment, he didn’t know if she would answer him at all.
    “Katie’s always wanted to be a singer, even from the time she was a young child. I suppose it’s my fault for encouraging her, but I thought she should try to reach for her dream. What parent doesn’t want their children to succeed?”
    He thought about his own parents, who had been too strung out on drugs to care about feeding him, much less caring about his dreams.
    “When her older brother joined the Army, we all feared the worse. When he died, it shattered our whole world. Suddenly, James and I were blaming each other for everything. I told him it was his fault David signed up in the first place. Said he was trying to make his father proud of him.”
    A sob racked her body. Her lungs couldn’t handle the strain, and a coughing fit ensued.
    “Take it easy.” Chase raised the top of the bed to lift her head. “Maybe we should talk about something else.” He helped her sit up and began to pat her back. As the coughing subsided, he slowly lay her back down.
    “No. I need to say this.” She motioned to her water, and he brought the straw to her lips. After taking a small sip, she lay back on the pillows before continuing. “James couldn’t look at me without seeing the blame in my eyes. He finally left me. I thought I would feel vindicated at that moment, like I was right or he wouldn’t have left. But all I felt was emptiness.” Her eyes closed for a moment, and Chase thought maybe she’d fallen asleep. But soon her eyes blinked open, and she began again.
    “And poor Katie. Not only had she lost her brother, her biggest fan and confidant, but she lost her father as well. After he left, she worked so hard to get into Julliard and was rewarded with a full-ride scholarship. It was her dream come true. At least, that’s what she thought.”
    Shirley’s eyelids drooped, and her head rolled a bit to the side on her pillow. Chase thought about the beautiful, confident woman he knew and compared her to the girl Shirley was describing. His chest swelled with emotion as he thought about all the things Katie had gone through.
    “She soon realized that opera wasn’t what she wanted to do and dropped out of Julliard.” Shirley broke the silence as she continued. “But no matter how hard she worked, her music just wasn’t the same. She threw herself into the work part of the business—who she should know, how to market and publicize. She stayed away from the emotion of writing songs. She just sang the ones she’d written before, but the passion was no longer there. She received rejection after rejection. I watched as my vibrant, outgoing Katie withered inside. Her confidence was gone, and it didn’t matter how hard she worked or who she met—each rejection seemed to take a piece of her until there wasn’t much left. When we found out about my