Standing ovations. Screams. Applause that didn’t end. But she didn’t bask in it. She only smiled shyly, curtsied, and walked off the stage — just as anonymously as she had walked on.
No one knew her name when she stepped onto the small-town talent show stage. She was just “contestant number 14” — a girl in thrifted heels and a secondhand dress that still had someone else’s name stitched inside. But from the moment she walked out under the lights, something shifted in the air. There was … Read more