The telegram

I saw a music video and it inspired me to write this story.


Just five simple words on a piece of paper brought her crashing back to reality.

Anna Petrelli-acting sensation, fabulous singer, Broadway star. She had the looks of any man’s fantasy woman. Auburn hair, falling just below her shoulders, blue-gray eyes which flashed fire when she was angry, full lips, a small button nose and a lovely tinkling laugh which reminded you of flowing water.

She knew she was born to be an actress from the time she set eyes on the stage and saw the dances, the singing, the applause, the adoration. It had been a musical she had seen with her father.

She was his pet, his Sunshine. Her mother had passed away when she was young and he was everything to her. She had a lovely singing voice and he would spend hours just listening to her talk and sing.

She loved wandering away and exploring the woods behind her house. She would listen to the birds and the springs, watch the leaves falling to the ground in the fall, watch the squirrels scampering around and would dream of her future. She would then tell her father about all this and he would smile. He knew his Sunshine was growing up, but was it too soon?

After that one musical experience she told her father that she wanted go to New York to make her dreams come true. He knew his Sunshine had grown and all too soon she was leaving. She set out for New York- the city of dreams. The only thing her father gave her was a tiny silver cross and a simple chain which he hung around her neck. It never left her neck after that.

Anna was in New York. There were struggles at first but she learnt to live. She had to knock on many doors. There was a lot of rejection. Some said her voice was too high, some said she needed voice classes, some said she didn’t have the attitude, some said that she was too plain. She took it all in her stride and inched her way to the top. She got the break she needed and suddenly the name Anna Petrelli was on everyone’s lips. She was the new sensation.

Letters from her beloved father went unanswered because she could never find the time. She won awards but the one person she wanted most by her side was not with her.

Then one day, after one of her shows, she saw that much loved face looking for her. Father had come for his Sunshine. She reached out for him but he was lost in the teeming crowds come to congratulate her. She was left grasping nothingness while his face was replaced with those of others like an eraser slowly doing its job.

He walked away disappointed as her calls were drowned out by the shouts of her fans. She was left searching for that small piece of her heart she had left behind with him.

She could not forget the hurt in his eyes. She wondered when her life had become so full that she had forgotten the sound of his laughter, the hours she used to spend in his arms and the wonderful stories he used to tell her. She wondered if she should give it all up and go after him to find the comfort and security his touch always used to give her.

The very next day just before her show, she sunk into her chair in front of the mirror. She looked at herself. A pretty face stared back at her but all that was left of her was a shell. That carefree, adventurous girl who loved climbing trees in her backyard was gone. She had become famous but was still a nobody. All she wanted was some more time, just another day to go back to being to being that carefree little girl.

The tears poured from her eyes and her heart wept as she fingered the tiny cross around her neck. She laid her head on the dressing table and a telegram fell from her limp hands. On it were written the words:
FATHER DIED. PLEASE COME HOME.