Self Improvement, chapter 24

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"We just don't know what to do. She used to be so bright! Please, you have to do something!"

Holding back tears, Rachael's mother pleaded, her prayers being met with the serious and professional gaze of a psychiatrist. It had been many months since her beloved daughter's life took a turn for the worse. It hadn't been immediately apparent, starting out small with Rachael going out of her comfort zone to socialize. All good things mostly came of it in the beginning. But then her choices made a turn for the worse. She changed her entire appearance, even her speech began to shift to match her increasingly vapid persona. The young genius being buried under layers upon layers of useless impulses and obsessions.

"It's not that easy. If these are all the consequences of Rachael's wishes, these are simply circumstances you will have to accept. It's not uncommon for people her age to have these sudden shifts. The best you can do is to support her and try to guide her in a direction that's less destructive."

Unlike her parents, the psychiatrist spoke as if Rachael was actually there in the room with them, which she was. Leave it to a professional to know how to make someone feel seen.

"Like, thank you! I've been sayin' it for, like a long time! They just don't respect MY choices. Ugh~."

It took every bit of restraint in his body to hold back an outburst. Respect your choices?! Those ludicrous, hedonistic things you pursue?!?

He didn't say it out loud though, knowing it would only further sever their already quite broken bond. Not to mention the fact that the psychiatrist had repeatedly made the point that support was important, and that confrontation of such a nature was better avoided if possible.

"Besides. I've totally got a plan for the future n' stuff. People, like, tell me all the time that I could do modeling! See, I've already got lots of followers!"

The phone which had previously occupied most of her focus during their session was suddenly turned, screen towards her parents. It displayed an impressive 53,954 followers on her Instagram account, not that her parents had any idea whether that was many or not. The only thing that stood out to them was the risqué nature of her most recent posts, which were also somewhat visible at the bottom of her page.

"You meant to say that THIS is what you want to do with your life? Posting half nude photos on the internet? Is that even a real job?? What happened to helping people? You used to be so headstrong and firm on your goals, this can hardly be considered fruitful at all!"

Rachael completely neglected to inform them about her other activities of a more ..daring nature. Instagram didn't allow for full nudity, but that wasn't the case for other platforms. Subscription based models were the foundation of her day-to-day earnings, making sure she could keep up her expensive shopping and partying habits.

Yet another session ended in failure, at least as far as her parents were concerned. Rachael herself considered all of these sessions to be a complete waste of time. The only reason she was attending at all was because she was still living at home with her parents, still waiting to achieve a high enough level of income to sustain herself entirely. All she needed was a few good sponsors for her online modeling career and she'd be set. Either that, or she had to put in more effort selling her nudes online, that however was by all means her plan B. Betting on two horses the way she did was perhaps not the best strategy.

Multiple potential sponsors had lost interest when they learned about her other line of work. Not wanting to associate their brand with the likes of Onlyfans and Fansly, they dropped her before a partnership could even begin.
But she couldn't just stop doing it, either. As reliant she'd become on the income, her best hope was for a sponsor that didn't mind it. Become an ambassador for a brand that was unfaced by her side hustle. There were some clear candidates she could've reached out to if she had the insight to do so, unfortunately for Rachael, such deduction skills remained forever out of reach, always relying on exterior assistance in complicated matters, such as filing her taxes. Rebecca, who adamantly remained by her side despite of her sudden turnaround, became the pillar which Rachael could lean on. Suffice it to say; She was mildly shocked when Rachael requested help with her taxes, claiming she'd made over thirty grand selling nudes online.

While not initially motivated by money, Rachael simply wanted the attention from having her body admired by gooners all over. The words which had helped shape her into becoming the attention craving, vapid energetic gal she was today played a big part in what career decisions she made. If she wasn't in the spotlight, or actively pursuing it, she was doing something wrong. Only one thing rivaled her desire for attention. Getting to a point where she was financially stable enough to move out. Being under the constant judgemental gaze of her parents took a toll on her day-to-day life, constantly putting a dampener on her otherwise happy mood.