Shona had been born into a wealthy family. She thought she could just cruise through life. She wanted for nothing and always got everything she asked for. Pre-teenage, her mansion bedroom was like a retail store, overstocked with toys, books, gadgets and jewellery. Many items hadn’t been touched since delivery. Shona had little interest in the stuff. She just liked to own as much as possible and, rather than sprinkle her affluence humbly, she flaunted it haughtily to the few awestruck friends she had. She would stamp her feet and scream if she was denied anything. She could rely on her soft parents to give in to her endless demands.
As she blossomed into an attractive young woman, Shona set her sights on expensive holidays, flashy cars, haute-couture and playboys. She lived the high life and the greed gene continued to drive her endless obsession with glitz and ostentation. This was the only life she knew. She was rich and she made sure everyone knew it even just by her appearance. On the rare occasions when she walked the streets, albeit with a bodyguard, she would physically turn her nose up at beggars and give them nothing. The beggars were probably well aware that Shona, bedecked in designer gear, was a heartless snob. She ignored them and they reciprocated.
At twenty-three, keen to grab a slice of celebrity fame, Shona married a famous rock singer and embarked on even greater and more expensive adventures. She dabbled in cosmetic surgery, frightened that she would lose her beauty, worried that her youth was ebbing away, aware that money could not control time. The rock and roll life suited her and she joined her husband in all the before-and-after gig activities associated with fame and stardom. He taught her about drugs and booze, and she scored and got drunk with abandon. In this heady phase of her life, there was no off-switch.
She toured the world with her husband, believing in her own celebrity but unaware that she was nothing but arm-candy for a sex symbol. As the months evaporated, she felt more and more isolated as media and fan interest were increasingly directed at the band and its music. She was not used to being ignored and here she was being ignored in public. It hurt. She grew tired of life on the road. The relationship began to crumble. There were arguments and tantrums on both sides. But, for reasons she could not explain, she stuck by her man.
About a year into the marriage she saw photographs of herself in a gossip magazine and they horrified her. The images were not the same as looking in the mirror where she could tilt her head and pull attractive poses. These photographs showed a haggard woman, stoned and wasted. Shona realised something that had never occurred to her before. She was the girl who had everything up to that moment. The only thing she had never possessed was any sense of remorse.
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