Desperate Remedies

Life was supposed to be good. She had accomplished her dream. She had traveled to exotic locations, driven fancy cars, stayed at luxurious hotels, partied at the most exclusive clubs. On top of that she was paid handsomely to wear the best clothes and use the best products. All of which had been captured and posted for her millions of followers. Her Nurv@na page was filled to the brim with smiling happy photos of herself. She wielded an ungodly amount of influence over young impressionable girls. She stole the gaze of every man. Yet, Rebecca Lowe was absolutely miserable.

She sat alone in a sparse room. Perched on a comfy, overly bloated mattress. A string of tiny lights that ran along the edge of the ceiling bathed the entire room in a muted purple glow. A circular light illuminated her face, giving her eyes an extra shine as she stared blankly at the phone mounted atop of a tripod.

Fifty thousand of Rebecca’s followers were currently tuned into her live stream. White lines of comments went across the phone so fast that they almost appeared to be a singular blur. There was no way that she could focus on them. Not like it mattered really. She knew what they were saying. It was either love, hate, or them wanting to see her naked. That was all it ever was. All it would ever be.

This was not what she had imagined back when she was just a regular waitress, living a regular life. She had hungrily consumed the content of influencers, idolized them. Everything was so perfect for them. She just wanted to be perfect too. Now she knew the truth. It was all lies. String after string of lies. Perfection didn’t exist, it was manufactured. Her imagined glamorous life was stuff full of advisors, managers and agents. All pushing her to be better. Thin, but curvy. Happy, but sexy. High fashioned, but down to Earth. Wild, but friendly.

She hated it. She hated it all.

So she turned to her secret helpers. Liquor helped her weight loss. It was easy to drink away her hunger and besides occasionally she vomited as well, all the better. Her pills gave her the energy to endure her new rigorous workout routine and they helped alleviate the soreness in her thighs from all the damn squats. Then of course there was her new favorite helper. Good old cocaine. That good friend helped her party into the night and shop away the day. It made her smile and erased her reservation.

That was her life. A jam packed blurry mess of one person pushing her this way another pushing her that. Now, as she stared at the phone in front of her she realized that she didn’t even know where she was. It was just a random bedroom, in a random house, in a random state. Her manager had dragged her there and sat her in front of this random phone and told her to live stream.

Rebecca leaned in closer to the phone. Staring into her own eyes. They were hers, but she didn’t even recognize them anymore.

She smiled.

She laughed hysterically.

She sat back.

“It’s all fake,” she said to the phone. “All of it. Nothing really matters. Nothing ever did. It’s better to dream of a world than it is to live in a world that is a dream. Does that make sense?”

She laughed.

“I don’t care if it does.”

The joy in her face quickly evaporated as she looked down in gloom.

“Y’know guys. I’m not perfect. Never was. Never will be. I’ve always been a mess. I think it started young. Like really young.”

A flash of happiness suddenly masked her face as she giggled.

“Guys, men, boys, they all need their toys. Y’now? And…and that was me.”

Of course Rebecca knew they hadn’t all been bad. There was Davey after all. He was sweet. He was innocent. He was good. He would have done anything for her. And she had discarded him in a heartbeat in order to accomplish her goal. And now…now.

She sat back. Her eyes took on a somber look.

“And now I’m your toy. All of yours. You like me, you watch me, you share and pass me around whenever you want. And I’m supposed to make you happy, or jealous, or horny, or something. I don’t know. I don’t really even care anymore. I’m…I’m just so done. Y’know? Done.”

Rebecca stared blankly at the screen. She had expected for the viewer numbers to plummet, but they only seem to be increasing. She huffed. And silently rocked about for a moment before suddenly getting up from the bed. She walked around the mounted phone and to the small dresser in the corner of the unfamiliar room.

 Snooping had always been one of Rebecca’s favorite pastimes. Out of instinct she had instantly gone through all the drawers in the strange room as soon as she had arrived. To her surprise she had actually found something interesting this time. Something very interesting. Something that just kept calling to her.

Now she held it.

It was heavier than she thought it would be.

Colder too.

She plopped back down onto the bed in front of the strange phone once more. Sitting with her legs crossed she hid her new friend in between her thighs.

The viewer numbers were soaring.

“Is it because this is real?” she asked the phone. “Is that why so many people are watching this? You just want to see something that is real?”

She waited there in silence. Blankly staring at the phone, still unable to decipher the quick white lines of comments.

“Or do you know?”

She stared at the screen again. The viewer numbers kept increasing. She chuckled.

“Y’all, are sick. Y’all are in desperate need of a remedy aren’t you? In desperate need for some truth. Well, here it is.”

Rebecca pulled the gun out from in between her thighs.

She rubbed the barrel against her bottom lip.

“You like daddy?”

She giggled.

She opened her mouth.

The phone’s screen went black.

‘Live stream ended’ read the white text that appeared.

‘Redirecting’

A new face emerged on the phone screen. A bright lively young woman with a large smile plastered across her face.

“Hey guys,” cheerfully proclaimed the young woman.

“I’m Lexi and with me is my bf Geo and today we are going to do the Kulu Onya Challenge. I hope you guys like it. And don’t forget to drop a comment and follow.”