1 She ran away

She ran, she ran and she ran. Past the trees and forest routes she had walked through so many times. Past the rocks and the small river. She kept running. Her legs were tired and her face full of sweat, but she knew that she couldn't stop. If she stopped, she would have to return again. No! She can't do that. And so she kept running. She could feel her heart thumping. She could see the forest road. It was dark, but she still knew where to go. As she got to the gate she started opening the lock. She had just learned the code. What if they knew that she knew it? could they have already changed it? She put the code in ones. An error message popped up. Maybe she had written it wrong. She tried again. She could already hear the running steps of the people behind her. Unlocked! The gate was opened. She rushed out the gate as quick as she could. At the same time the people being her opened  fire. She just ran and ran. Her vision becoming blurry. Her sence weakening. As the darkness took over her she opened her eyes.

Clap, clap, clap. The audience cheered. She saw the piano in front of her. Her fingers trembled as she stood up and bowed to the crowd.

"And this was China's new star Feng Mian. Her piano skills have only gotten better after her debuit two years ago. Thank you for performing to us today miss Mian!" The announcer said. Feng Mian only glanced at her and gave an awkward smile. Then she walked back stage. On her way to the changing room she saw a familiar figure.

"Sis Mian! It has been so long!" The girl said smiling. Mian saw right through that smile.

"Good. Let's keep it that way." Mian said as she walked right  past the girl and her friends.

"Sis Mian. What are you saying? Don't you want to catch up?" The girl said. Mian didn't even look back as she walked towards the room. "Sis Mian, can't you even listen to me play? Please! I've waited so long to hear what you have to say about my playing."

"Don't call me your sis. I don't know you." Mian said and went into the changing room.

"Sis Annie, don't be sad. Miss Mian is nothing compared to you!" One of the girls said.

"Yes Annie. Didn't you see how arrogant she just acteted. You shouldn't associate yourself unimportant people like her." Another girl said. Annie gave a helpless smile as she looked at the girls around her.

"She is still my senior and my friend. I just don't understand why she is acting this way." Annie said. Even when her face showed that helpless expression, if you looked closely, you could see the annoyance and anger in her eyes.

Inside the changing room Mian took off her performance dress and changed into jeans and a hoodie. She left the dress in her locker and send a message to her manager informing him that she would be going home for the day. Her manager didn't even look at the message. She took a taxi home and as she was sitting in the car she went to see how people reacted to her performance. Negative. All the comments were negative. Well, this should be expected. There's no way Annie and her group would let her get any fame. Even if the people watching knew of her talents, word of mouth wasn't as effective as it used to be. Now the online world dominated everything. She didn't have a strong fan base like Annie and thus couldn't get many positive comments on her performances. Soon she would be forced into quitting. There wasn't really anything she could do after that. Other then music she couldn't do anything else. She had been a performer all her life and didn't know what else she could do. She looked out of the taxi's window and thought to herself. Tomorrow she would turn twenty-two. How should she celebrate? What did she do last year? It was a blur. These two years she had only concentrated on her career. Every day was almost the same. They all blended together in her mind.

"Miss we've arrived." The driver said. Mian gave her the money and went to her apartment. It was rundown. One of the windows was replaced with cardboard, her airgondisioner wasn't working and the house was so cramped that she almost couldn't even stand up. Birthday... That wasn't really something she should be thinking about right now...