A Ghost Story

Lolita enjoys nootropics, especially mushrooms. Everytime she takes a dose, not only she daydreams but goes back in time.

This is how today's instance occurred...

Lolita walked in like she always does, owning the place.

She knew the essence of her presence filled the air and got everybody’s attention. She was bigger than life. 

After all, she was just made full partner and CEO of the company that employed her a short three months ago.

How did that happen?

Of course the rumours were that she slept herself to the top. That is usually the first thing people suspect. The truth never plays a part in their assumptions.

But that’s not what happened. Far from it. 

Still, she was smart enough to perceive what the room was thinking. She had decided, however, not to give them the satisfaction of knowing the dynamics of what actually took place.

She would keep her business to herself as long as she had to. They all were her subordinates. She was the boss. 

***

Let’s go back in time...

One spring day in 2009 in Philadelphia, she was busy looking for a new outfit to promote on her YouTube channel which was becoming quite popular.

She was a quick learner, so with help from her faculty friends, she put a nice product together and went on the air. 

Her looks made a huge difference as being unconventional was her forte. 

The rules she broke weren’t done on purpose, or for effect. That’s who she was. That was her persona. She had taken the attitude that this is what it is and if” they” don’t like it, then they can just “fu’koff”, British accent and all.  

She was aware that sexuality sells but more importantly, you’d have to sell something they want. New, exciting and needed. Basic rules. First, she found her target audience, young affluent girls. 

Secondly, she figured out what was up at that moment. She learned early on that. Yesterdays are blasphemies for the young. Yesterday, to them, was a century ago. 

She knew that if she could get their attention somehow, that would be the way to start. 

Meanwhile, the internet was exploding.

If she could find a  way to go viral, she would hold on to them by giving them what they want, virtually speaking. After all, most of her fans were spending all day on their phones. 

Time passed quickly and she didn't even feel it.

She opened three accounts. YouTube, Snapchat and Instagram. 

She become so obsessed with fame and profits that she didn’t have enough hours in the day.

She didn’t have enough time for anything. No food, no proper sleep, no other life, except for her social media presence.

Her days were measured by the amount of subscribers she’d get, likes and shares. 

If she had a lot, it was a good day. If she had less than the day before, don’t even look in her direction.

At 24, she started worrying she was too old for this, that maybe she missed the boat already.

That was starting to eat on her brain, slowly, irreverently, ruthlessly. 

She started to give herself deadlines.

She opened accounts to keep track of her daily stats, likes, shares and comments. She checked those constantly. She lived in a pseudo reality that was consuming her.

Faster than she could live.

Neglecting real life to that degree sooner or later will have repercussions, and she was no exception. 

But she kept on going stronger than ever. 

She grew bigger and more successful hourly. Ad agencies all wanted a slot on her channels and website. People were consuming her products as soon as she spoke about them. If she would promote a brand of makeup, or a new fold cell phone; demonstrating how and why she chose it for herself, that brand would triple their stock value. 

If she showed that a piece of lingerie was wonderfully designed and the co. even helped with charity for the spay and neuter of feral animals, they’d run out of stock in a day. 

That was success for all those immense amounts of hours she put into creating a brand for herself.

That was positive payback to the emph degree. 

Top of the cyber world. Almost everything she wanted. 

Almost.

Real life, peace of mind and mental- physical health were still seriously lacking. 

***

Everybody was gathering around her trying to help but instead being on the way until a doctor that happened to be in that store came forward and told the onlookers to move and let her breathe.

Help was here at last. 

He called EMS and she was quickly taken to a nearby hospital.

Iron deficiency Anaemia and chronic fatigue syndrome was the diagnosis.

Some docs were surprised she was still standing and walking around.

She had to stay there for at least 15 more days. Every day she was trying to escape and every day she was caught and brought back.

One morning in the cafeteria, still hooked up to her IV drip, freaking out noticing how her absence was beginning to affect her ratings, she started to see how fragile everything truly was. How flimsy and shallow and temporary her new found life actually was. 

Then, she heard a man’s voice coming from the table next to hers. 

“Excuse me, miss. Sorry to bother you, but are you Lola Selma Ray, by any chance?” 

Lola looked up, surprised and was taken aback by the sophistication this man projected. She quietly answered “yes. I am,” “Do I know you?”

“Oh, no. I don’t think you do, but my daughter is a big fan of yours and she’s always running around the house, showing me--the provider--what new trick and hack you have for the latest gadgets” he said, laughing, then adding,  “She’s 15, next month.”

“So , I saw you from a distance and I recognized you, or thought I did, especially because...” as he points at his head, hinting at her hair colour, now red-purple and blue, split down the middle.

Lola smiles broadly and politely says “Tell her, thank you for me, if you can.”

“Well, I certainly will. She’ll be shocked when I tell her I met you here, of all places” he answered.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but are you going to be ok?” he asked shyly. 

“Btw; I apologize for not introducing myself sooner. My name is Henry Steinway.”

She was somewhere else already, inside her head, thinking. 

“yes, I will”, she answered but a light bulb had already gone on in her head, seeing that this man was her escape ticket.

All she had to do was persuade him and for that, she had the utmost confidence.

When Lola switch on to charm mode, she became impossible to resist, especially for men. She knew what to do instinctively and intuitively. She immediately calculated her moves and just like a super fast AI bot, she could predict the outcomes. 

She knew what she could get away with by reading the motions and the body language and facial expressions of the person she was speaking to, male or female.

She figured, this man was her “now” passage. 

Not only Henry helped her to get out of her compromising situation earlier than what the doctors would have preferred but proposed investing in her business venture as long as his daughters could be partners, effective as soon as was legally possible. 

It was almost as if this meeting wasn't accidental at all. It looked as if he had studied her previously and provoked that encounter to install his proposition in her mind.

After all, she was the one who did all the preliminary work and by now, she had over 3 million followers. Stories were written about her and her innovative ideas in the most reputable tech magazines. 

She had become an internet sensation. She was an online star. She had "made it", and she was where she wanted to be for so long. 

Still, she was terrible commercially speaking. She was a brilliant entrepreneur, but she lack the ability to turn her huge influence into actual profits. N 

**** 

Back home, alone with a few bottles of medications she managed to take with her from the hospital, she checked her benefactor online. She was hours away from the final meeting with the lawyers to finalize the partnership with his daughter. 

***

She almost fainted when she learned a fact right out of a Black Mirror episode. 

His actual name was Henry Z. Steinway, the last son of the Stairway Pianos Dynasty , who was born on Feb, 12 th, 1915 and who died on Oct, 8th, 2015.

Which means he died 8 years before they first met at the hospital. 

~∆~

Abruptly, she startled herself off the trance and came back into reality.

She was utterly confused and the first thing she did was run out of her place to get some very much needed fresh air.