Dreaming Seed

The small fragile seed would laugh at you if you told it, one day it would be a tall and strong oak tree. Sure, it knows it's going to be an oak tree but it doesn't know if it's going to be tall and/or thick. That's mostly out of its control.

Now, what if you gave that seed the ability to dream...?

Then it would dream about being the tallest and strongest tree ever. But, still, how tall and thick the seed grows to be is out of its control.

Would the seed be justified in feeling sad if it grew crooked and thin?

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There's nothing unusual about two teenage girls dancing and singing to themselves in the bedroom.

They had pulled down the blinders to make the room as dark as possible, and Cindy had brought what she called the funky-globe— it was a black ball with coloured lights along route which flashed rhythmically to simulate the club.

They both sang along to a one direction song wobbling their heads up and down. Below Emily's room, her mom was in the kitchen, making dinner. She'd been trying to ignore the girls' noise for hours but now they had started jumping and stomping.

"That's it!"

Emily stared at the TV in her room streaming a One Direction concert singing the songs they were dancing along to.

The speakers were so loud, the girls could barely hear themselves sing.

Emily's mom unplugged the speaker and, suddenly, the music stopped. Cindy stopped singing but Emily was so into the song that she didn't realise that the music cut off. Cindy and her mother watched as she sang a difficult part of the song in which the lead singer of the group hit a particularly high note.

"Wait, what did you do?"

"Oh my god!!! How did you do that?"

"Why did you stop the music mom?"

"You two are making too much noise. Can't you watch a movie or something?"

Emily wined.

"But Mom…"

"'But Mom...' nothing. You girls should be studying instead of listening to boybands..."

Emily's mom left the room, taking the speaker with her.

Cindy was still left with her mouth open. When Emily noticed she said.

"What is it?"

"I didn't know you could do that…! Why didn't you tell me you had such a nice voice?"

"I don't know… Do I have a nice voice?"

"You are definitely going to be a singer when you grow up."

"Yeah, as if… My parents wants me to go to college."

Emily walked to the window and pulled the blinders back up, letting light in the room. Cindy was about to say something else but she stopped herself when she realised that the matter really upset Emily.

That same night, Emily wrote in a diary…

Dear diary,

I will not be talking about boys today, I'm not in the mood. You know, I've been telling you about the dream I had, the one about me singing on stage...?

I had that same dream today but I wasn't sleeping. I was singing with Cindy, and I spaced out so much that I started see myself singing the song in front of a large crowd. Like the songs I was singing were mine and the people at the concert were there for me.

(A teardrop on the diary page)

They are just dreams though, they are never going to become real. Cindy thinks I can sing, but I am not as good as Adele, Beyoncé, or any of the major singers...

I just wish that going after my dreams was easier.

Sincerely,

Emily xoxo

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Age 20. Emily was in her boyfriend's car.

"Derek, I am tired of listening to AC/DC, can't I put on something more… Normal?"

He looked at her and back at the road.

"I don't…"

He looked at her and back at the road, again.

"Come on… Pleeeeeeeeaaaaaase…"

She made the face that always made him do whatever she wanted him to do.

This time he looked at her and is gaze lingered a little bit longer until he shrugged and said.

"Ah... whatever..."

"Yeah!" Emily connected the Bluetooth speakers of the car to her phone and opened a Spotify playlist.

A song started and immediately Derek said.

"I hate this song…"

It was Demi Lovato's Stone Cold.

Emily had been obsessed with it for the past couple days. To direct his attention somewhere else, Derek began counting the amount of supercars he saw as they drove into Los Angeles.

There is a specific part of the song which is very hard to perform unless highly vocally prepared. Emily was so deep into singing that she didn't realise and sang that part so well Derek turned with a shocked look.

"Woah! Dude! That's crazy! You are like, better than her at singing her own song…"

"What are you talking about?"

"You literally just sang that song better than Demi Lovato!"

"No way…"

"If this law degree doesn't work out, you could start singing, you know... Like, professionally."

"There's no way the law degree doesn't work out."

Derek chuckled.

"You don't sound so sure about that."

"Just, shut up…"

"You're only going to the school to make your parents happy…"

"Yes, I am! Do you have a problem with that?"

Derek shrugged.

Emily now stared out the window on the passenger side, looking at the campus brimming with students.

"They pay my tuition. I have no other option."

Derek stopped the car in the parking lot.

"There's always an option."

"...says you…"

"Wait, what does that mean?"

Emily went out to open the trunk. There was one heavy travel bag that she struggled to pull out.

Derek came out of the car and gently pushed her away to take the travel bag out himself. He was 6 foot 3 with a muscular build, dark brown hair and green eyes.

"What did you mean?"

Emily was already on her way to the campus. She turned and said.

"What?"

"So you don't think I am going to make it big in La Crosse?"

"I didn't say that…"

"But you thought it."

He grabbed Emily's shoulder and stopped her from walking away from him.

"What are you doing, Derek? Let's not make a scene right now."

There were plenty other students walking up and down the path to words the campus.

Derek raised his voice.

"I am going to make a scene. If you don't tell me what you meant… What? You don't think I have options?"

Without realising Emily's screamed back.

"I think... Your La Crosse career will be short lived at best. And what will you do after that?"

"I've told you! I'll start investing in the stock market and become a millionaire!"

Emily shook her head.

"How can you say that with such a straight face...?"

Some students had stopped walking and stared at them.

"What are you looking at?!" Barked Derek.

Emily came close and kissed him softly on the cheek.

"Please leave now. I'll call you, ok?"

Derek nodded and stood there, watching her drag the heavy travel bag.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A long while later…

"Thank you so much! Phil and I will be eternally grateful to you and your firm!"

A middleaged lady was brought to tears as she spoke with Emily—now sat in an office with her nametag on the door and, below the nametag, was written N1 TRIAL LAWYER IN AUSTIN, TEXAS.

"I guess, it's just what I do Mrs Spencer."

Emily stood up so she could walk across to hug the crying woman. They hugged for what felt like an eternity.

"My oh my, I must leave."

Mrs spencer took long steps to the door, while trying to put her coat back on, while holding her handbag.

"And give my regards to Phil."

"I will!"

As soon as Mrs Spencer opened the door, she was met with a woman no older than 25, holding a piece of paper.

"Thank you so much for everything, Anita!"

The lady embraced Anita. When she finally let go, Anita fixed her horn rimmed glasses and entered the office with a smile.

"I don't like how much you're smiling. What is it?"

"You will not believe this. Look at who just got in touch with us…"

She dropped the paperwok on the desk. It was a printed email which said that the agent of a really famous singer was looking to find her a lawyer for an upcoming lawsuit and that Emily was first on the list.

"I have already booked an appointment for you next Tuesday at 4 PM"

"Okay, well done."

The day came soon enough and Emily are submitters of that she felt a little nervous. After all, the agent had been so secretive about who the musician was that she felt it was someone big.

Now, Emily is not allowed to share details of the client but the conversation she had was life changing…

The celebrity and her agent came in with the utmost profesionalism.

Emily mostly spoke with the agent, and the celebrity only intervened when speaking about personal preferences on the case. At the end of the consultation, they became more cnversational and Emily couldn't help but ask...

"How did you start making music?"

The star spent a few seconds thinking.

"When I was about 14 years old I found out that I was good at singing and I felt comfortable performing on stage. After that, all I wanted in life was to become a singer. I admit, it took a lot of sacrifice and hard work but that it was worth it, after all.

"You know, if you have natural talent for something, and like doing it, I think you should do it… I'm sure you can understand, you seem to have a natural talent for winning court cases."

Emily nodded and faked a smile. 

The agent stood up and spoke to the celebrity.

"Alright, if that's all, we should get going..."

"Where?"

"Our appointment at 6..."

Facing Emily, he said.

"All the required details and paperwork would be sent over to Emily's office within the week."

While Anita walked the celebrity and agent out of the office building, Emily started thinking.

She looked around at office walls filled with awards and qualifications. Next to them, pictures of her two kids and husband, Derek.

In the family picture, they smiled in front of their brand-new home in Austin. Thanks to Derek's success in the stock market, they were able to afford a very good lifestyle. Yet she wasn't happy…

She didn't love him.

Her desk was stacked with paperwork, she was dressed in a business suit she hated and her job consisted of getting rich criminals out of trouble.

She had settled for a life she didn't want.

A knock at the door.

"Oh. My. God! I can't believe it! My mum is going to freak out! No, wait… We can't tell anyone she's our client just yet… Can we?"

Anita stopped speaking when she realised Emily was standing in the corner of the office room, staring outside the window, sobbing…

"Is everything okay?"

Emily shook her head without saying a word.

"Should I cancel your next appointment?"

Emily nodded and Anita darted out of the room.

"Anita!"

The young woman ran back to the room promptly.

"Cancel ALL of my appointments."

"For tomorrow? For the week...?"

Emily wiped the tears of her face with her palm.

"ALL of my appointments."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Most people think they're just like a dreaming seed...

They dream for a better future but feel victims to their cirmcumstances without realising that, unlike seeds, they can always choose to rise above their circumstances.