LUMENA , A BRIGHT STAR(Francys Wagner) Lumena was walking along the poorly lit street, slightly intoxicated and seemed to float over the poorly maintained sidewalk. Her hips swayed over her high heels, this would be hard for some, but for her it didn't matter.
Her shift had ended sometime ago and she was headed home.
It was three o'clock in the morning...
She dreamed of the day when she would be a star. For while, she was shining almost anonymously working only as an amateur singer in that dubious nightclub.
It was a job she enjoyed but the money was only enough to pay the bills and survive. It didn't allow her any perk although she didn't know and didn't want to do anything else. Her business was singing.
Lumena wanted one day to be famous and rich. How nice it would be to have the money to buy what she desired, like the red dress she had seen in a store on the high street, where she liked to window shop.
It had been a long time since she bought any nice clothes. She had to settle for the thrift store.
Sometimes she found gems, but she longed for a designer outfit, unworn by anyone. To have the pleasure of entering an elegant store and being able to leave with bags in hand.
For now, she was making do with what she had. The skirts and blouses, she wore in different combinations to appear as if she was wearing something new.
Her dresses were so battered that they would almost be capable of one day walking out on their own and ending up at the bar, surprising her.
One thing was for sure, even with all the difficulties, she would not give up. She would not return to the countryside until she fulfilled her dream. If she went back, without anything to call her own, she would feel humiliated and would have to bear the inevitable reprimand from her parents.
She couldn't give up or stop believing. After all, her name was Lumena, in Latin, the luminous, the bearer of light. With that name, she was bound to shine. Her talent and voice would be recognised by some agent any day...

Walking few more steps, she saw a car ahead turning on its headlights. She recognised it and a shiver ran down her spine at the thought of the driver...
The first time she saw him, he was in the audience, sitting at one of the round tables near the small stage, holding a drink. His grey hair reflected the nuances of colour from the lights on stage, in that purposefully dimly lit room.
The regulars of the club, were widely diverse. Executives, single women, men and couples, mixed with prostitutes, gigolos and drug dealers. Blending into an anonymous whole.
Lumena was always indifferent to what happened around her. She concentrated on her work, and after three hours of singing, would return home, dreaming that the new day would fulfil her wish.
While some in the audience applauded her after each song, he remained detached, his eyes glazed over.
In her break, on the way to the bar, she passed him by. He approached her at the bar. He was good looking, probably in his forties or something, certainly not much younger than her father, although the clothes he wore gave the impression that he was younger, jeans and faded blue shirt...
Even in the dim light of the room, she could see frown lines on his rigid face. He offered to pay for her drink. She gratefully accepted. He praised her performance.
He complimented her on her beauty, and she couldn't help but smile in wonder that he thought she looked so much younger than she really was.
He quirked a smile at the corner of his mouth, and looked at her with enigmatic eyes, but Lumena couldn't define any feelings in them.
They talked for a while, and she found herself summing up her life in a few words.
"I left everything behind to come to the big city and try a singing career, but it's very difficult to establish myself."
He just watched her intently, expressionless. He asked about her family.
"My parents didn't agree, but I'm determined that one day I will come back and they will be proud of me."
He told her that he was an executive in advertising and marketing and that he had friends in the arts and he might be able to help her. In that moment, she saw in him the chance to change her life.
Good luck was finally knocking on her door.
Someone from the band waved her back on stage. She returned with a hopeful heart and smiling.
At the end of the night, when she was leaving, she found him at the door of the club. He offered her a ride. She went with him. That night began an affair between the two of them.

Weeks later, she left the tiny apartment she lived in with a friend. The first month living in his house, in an expensive part of town, felt like living in a dream. Soon after, though, he revealed another side of his personality.
The man until then, apparently affectionate, began to behave strangely, at first she thought it was jealousy, but it was control.
Lumena had to stop working at the club, by his imposition. She was still waiting for him to introduce her to someone who could make her famous, but that promise was yet to be fulfilled.
She had the basics to live, more than before, when she had survived on the little money she earned. On the other hand, he wasn't generous and she realised right away he would never give her anything expensive or special.
He wouldn't even give her any money so she could buy what she wanted. Her life before, even without money, was better than living now, with no bills to pay, but no freedom.
Soon, the sexual perversions, cursing, threats and psychological pressure began but every time he apologised as if nothing had happened. The dream was turning into a nightmare. The last straw was the day she told him that even if he didn't her want to, she would go back to work at the club.
He lunged at her, and smacked her across the face hard. She tried to fight back, and he punched her face several times, forcing her against the wall in the kitchen. She was dizzy, her face burned and her vision blurred from the blood.
When he stopped, she let her body slide down the wall. He left then.
He came back hours later saying that he loved her so much, but that he couldn't bear to see her sing in a club like that, where men would look at her with desire, just like he had the first time he saw her singing.

The next morning, before he left for work. He told her not to even think about reporting him, that it would be a waste of time. He said that he knew that when he returned she would be waiting for him, because she wouldn't have the courage to go out on the street with her face in that state.
As soon as he left, she gathered her clothes and went to her old apartment. Her friend was shocked when she saw her. He didn't look for her...
Days after, when she was better, she decided to go to the club and try to get her job back. The owners liked her a lot, after all she was a success with the crowds, and she would return to her position... on the stage again...

That was the first night she'd sung at the club after more than two months away. She sang with her soul, wanting to purge from herself, the terrible events of recent times.
Lumena was walking now to catch a taxi around the corner, but she would have to pass close to the car, with its headlights now off, and the driver outside.
The streetlamp poorly illuminated the surface of the sidewalk where she stepped. She was nervous as she approached the car.
She could cross the street, but it wouldn't do much good. He would definitely follow her. She stopped, looked back.
The movement in front of the club had slowed down, only a few passersby, but there should still be someone inside. The owners hadn't shown up that night, but the manager or someone should be there.
He followed Lumena with his eyes and saw her intention. When she thought about turning around, he was already upon her, holding her by the arm.
"What is this, what are you doing here?"
"Let's go to my car."
"No I won't. What do you want with me? Can't you just forget me!?"
"I want to talk"
"You can talk, I'm listening."
"Not here." He was pulling her to the car.
The alcohol prevented her from thinking quickly.
Before she even screamed for help, he showed her a gun and forced her to get in the car.
Lumena could still see his cold eyes, lit by the dim streetlight. She was trembling.
In an instant of despair, she still looked around in the hope that someone had seen and was coming to help her, but the street was deserted.
She still managed to utter. "Leave me alone , you bastard."
He laughed and shoved her roughly into the car.
The car took off at speed, disappearing into the black night.
The red dress would be in the store, waiting for someone to buy it...
Lumena's fate had been set.
She was not bright enough to illuminate the darkness into which she was cast.
Her voice was no longer heard.
The dream was over.
She would no longer shine on stage.
One more star, would shine in the sky...

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