The Chance: A Novel (78 page)

Her mama was right about
Fifteen Minutes
. The show had been on the air a dozen years, and though other voice talent television programs competed for a share of the market, nothing compared to
Fifteen Minutes
. Between the judge’s comment and her mother’s praise, the future seemed brighter than the sun, Chandra’s potential unlimited.

Anyone could see the success ahead.

But none of them could have anticipated what happened nearly two years later. The second spring after Chandra’s win, with her first album topping the charts and her fame far surpassing fifteen minutes, an Alabama stalker stepped into the picture. He found her on Facebook and asked for a loan. Money to help him and his mother buy a house. Chandra let the comment pass.

The request quickly became harassment with the guy posting daily demands for money. His most chilling post was also his
last.
What if something happened to your parents, Chandra? Maybe that would get your attention!

Chandra blocked him from her Facebook page that day and filed a report with the Birmingham police.

“The guy’s annoying,” the Birmingham officer told her, “but anyone can make a Facebook page. We can’t prove he’s a guy or that he lives in Alabama.” He added that there wouldn’t be enough hours in the day to investigate everyone who bothered a celebrity.

Her concert schedule rolled on and Chandra tried to forget the guy’s comment.

But one warm night in late May, her parents pulled into their driveway after a church service and climbed out of their car. According to one of the neighbors outside getting her mail, Chandra’s parents were laughing and talking. Her father had just taken her mother’s hand when a spray of bullets exploded from the front porch area, ripping through their bodies and killing them instantly.

The man turned out to be crazy, a certified insane patient who had escaped from a mental hospital in Mississippi. He waited on the Olsons’ front porch until police arrived and he immediately admitted to the killings. “I wanted to get Chandra’s attention,” he told police.

It worked.

Life would forever be measured as before and after the shooting. No question, a part of Chandra was buried right here with her parents. In the wake of their murders, she took two months off and became a recluse, handling her parents’ affairs, afraid to leave the house. But eventually she had no choice but to return to the limelight.

The stage owned her now. It was where she belonged.

Questions plagued her then the way they still did here at the cemetery. What was the point of fame and celebrity? All the record sales and accolades and awards? The money and houses and vacations? None of it could take her back to that moment, to her mother’s hands on her shoulders.

Her parents’ faith had been strong and foundational, a key to Chandra’s life before
Fifteen Minutes
. But now there was only one Bible character she felt any connection with.

Solomon.

The king who had everything, but finished his days believing the most desperate of thoughts—that all of life was meaningless. Chasing after the wind. She had read the book of Ecclesiastes again on her Bible app during the flight and once more she had found her life verse, the only one that applied now. It was from Ecclesiastes 2:17, truth tucked in the midst of a host of depressing Scriptures. She could remember the verse now, word for word.

So I hated my life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Her newest album was number one on iTunes, and she’d been asked back to
Fifteen Minutes,
this time as a judge. But here in the warmth and quiet of the cemetery, she could only agree with Solomon. All of it was meaningless . . . a chasing after the wind.

All of it.

She opened her journal and began writing. The lyrics came easily, pouring from the gaping holes in her heart. The song would be a hit, she was sure. But even that was meaningless. Only one thing kept Chandra going, kept her engaged in the daily walk through celebrity and fame, through concerts and
autograph seekers. It wasn’t her new role as a judge on
Fifteen Minutes
or the countless hopefuls heading out to audition this week.

Rather it was the fifteen finalists.

The ones whose lives were about to change forever. The ones who would never be the same again . . . who could never go back to life the way it was. Just maybe among them was a singer like she used to be, someone with faith and family and a quiet, happy life.

If she could warn just one of them about the false illusion of fame, she would do it. And in the process she might find something she’d lost four years ago with the death of her parents. The one thing fame could never give her. The one thing worth chasing.

Meaning.

More Life-Changing Fiction™ by Karen Kingsbury

STAND-ALONE TITLES

Between Sundays

The Bridge

Coming Home, The Baxter Family

Divine

Like Dandelion Dust

Oceans Apart

On Every Side

Shades of Blue

This Side of Heaven (with friends from Cody Gunner Series)

Unlocked

When Joy Came to Stay

Where Yesterday Lives

E-SHORTS

The Beginning

I Can Only Imagine

REDEMPTION SERIES—BAXTERS 1

Redemption Book 1

Remember Book 2

Return Book 3

Rejoice Book 4

Reunion Book 5

FIRSTBORN SERIES—BAXTERS 2

Fame Book 1

Forgiven Book 2

Found Book 3

Family Book 4

Forever Book 5

SUNRISE SERIES—BAXTERS 3

Sunrise Book 1

Summer Book 2

Someday Book 3

Sunset Book 4

ABOVE THE LINE SERIES—BAXTERS 4

Take One Book 1

Take Two Book 2

Take Three Book 3

Take Four Book 4

BAILEY FLANIGAN SERIES—BAXTERS 5

Leaving Book 1

Learning Book 2

Longing Book 3

Loving Book 4

LOST LOVE SERIES

Even Now Book 1

Ever After Book 2

SEPTEMBER 11TH SERIES

One Tuesday Morning Book 1

Beyond Tuesday Morning Book 2

Remember Tuesday Morning Book 3

TIMELESS LOVE SERIES

A Time to Dance Book 1

A Time to Embrace Book 2

CODY GUNNER SERIES

A Thousand Tomorrows Book 1

Just Beyond the Clouds Book 2

FOREVER FAITHFUL SERIES

Waiting for Morning Book 1

Moment of Weakness Book 2

Halfway to Forever Book 3

RED GLOVE SERIES

Gideon’s Gift

Maggie’s Miracle

Sarah’s Song

Hannah’s Hope

TREASURY OF MIRACLES BOOKS

A Treasury of Christmas Miracles

A Treasury of Miracles for Women

A Treasury of Miracles for Teens

A Treasury of Miracles for Friends

A Treasury of Adoption Miracles

Miracles Devotional

CHILDREN’S BOOKS

Far Flutterby

The Brave Young Knight

The Princess and the Three Knights

Let Me Hold You Longer

We Believe in Christmas

Let’s Go on a Mommy Date

Let’s Have a Daddy Day

GIFT BOOKS

Forever Young

Be Safe Little Boy