I could feel them catching up to me. Competition scores became closer. The competitors became younger. Like hungry wolves on my trail, they were ready to pounce and eat me alive if I showed any sign of weakness. To keep my position, I practiced harder than before. I played the piano as if I stopped moving my fingers my heart will stop pumping. My mother told me on multiple occasions she heard me humming the songs and moving my fingers to it in my sleep. I would play the piano until my whole hand was numb and blood seeping out from the cracks of my fingernails. I was ready to give up my life for piano. But life had a different plan.