Patricia approached Maya when there was a brief lull. "Thank you," she said simply. "You saved us tonight. If there's anything I can ever do for you, please let me know."
Maya nodded, accepting the thanks, but her mind was elsewhere. She was thinking about the piano in her tiny apartment, the old upright that had been her mother's, the one she hadn't touched in 2 years. She was thinking about the pieces she used to love playing, the composers who'd spoken to her soul. She was thinking about the conservatory, about the degree she'd been so close to finishing.
Maya woke up the next morning to the sound of her phone buzzing incessantly on her nightstand. She'd gotten home around 2:00 in the morning, exhausted and emotionally drained from the events at the gala. Her fingers still ached slightly from playing—a good ache, the kind she'd forgotten existed. She'd fallen asleep almost immediately, her uniform still draped over the chair where she'd tossed it.
The buzzing continued, not just one notification, but a constant stream of them, like her phone was having some kind of seizure. Groggily, she reached for it, squinting at the bright screen in the darkness of her bedroom.
The first thing she saw made her sit up straight, suddenly wide awake. Her phone showed 47 missed calls, 63 text messages, and her social media notifications had stopped counting at 99+.
With shaking hands, she opened her messages.
The first one was from her mother: Maya, you need to call me right now. You're on the internet. Everyone is calling me.
The next was from her former roommate from the conservatory: OMG, Maya, I just saw you playing at that gala. The video has 500,000 views already. Call me!
Video? What video?
Maya's stomach dropped as she opened her social media app. The first thing she saw was her own face looking back at her. Someone had posted a video from last night with the caption: "Mystery waitress stuns wealthy guests with incredible piano performance after they mocked her."
The video had been posted by someone named Jennifer Chen, one of the guests at the gala. Maya clicked on it with trembling fingers.