Elijah Lawson

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The older of two children born to Adam and Rebecca Lawson, and a member of one of Willow Creek's wealthier, more prestigious families, Eli was raised with the expectation that he would eventually take over the family business, Lawson Energy. The coal mines nearby had been owned by his family for many generations, and as a result, the Lawsons ran the most successful utility company in Massachusetts.

In school, Eli mostly kept to himself. Sure, he was friendly enough when approached, but he never went out of his way to meet or get to know anyone. After all, his parents had his entire life laid out for him, and they were pretty damn judgmental about anyone he spent time with, so he just figured... why bother? Why bother to form connections with people when he didn't have a choice in the direction his life went? So like a dutiful son, he focused on his schoolwork, on keeping his grades up and keeping his head down. He participated in a variety of clubs and organizations at school that he knew would look good on college applications. But as far as a social life... most of that was online, and for the most part, he was satisfied. Ish.

Eventually, Eli went off to college in Crawford City, majoring in business with full intentions of doing exactly what his parents wanted him to do. But he had no passion for this future that was laid out for him. What he was really interested in was pursuing an online career through YouTube. He started his channel during his sophomore year of college and found that he actually had a real knack for it. It started out as a simple gaming channel, but eventually grew into more of a variety of content, from games to memes to vlogs to comedy to travel. It just became a place where Eli really felt truly unburdened. For the first time, he felt like he could really open up and express himself. Sure, there were always going to be negative reactions and such, but for the most part, he found that people were accepting of the real him. His channel continued to grow over the next couple of years and by the time he was a semester away from graduating, he had racked up over two million subscribers and realized that he just might have a chance of success in this line of work. So now the question was... Did he continue toward his degree to pursue an extremely secure job that he hated? Or did he drop out and pursue a line of work that he thoroughly loved and was passionate about, but its job security was questionable at best?

With the advice and encouragement of his younger sister, Rosalie, Eli finally made his decision to drop out of college to pursue his dream job full time, and his parents were understandably livid. They gave him an ultimatum that he either re-enroll for his final semester or be cut off financially. It wasn't easy for him to give up his parents' money, and disappointing them honestly was a major heartbreak for Eli, but he went through with it, and moved to Crawford City where he obtained an apartment. Luckily for him, he never went a day having to know the burdens of financial hardship. Not only did his channel continue to grow exponentially once he relocated and had more freedom, he also had paternal grandparents who spoiled the hell out of him and gave him money behind his parents' back anyway.

Now, about five years later, Eli's channel has reached nearly 10 million subscribers. He's bought himself a rather nice home in Crawford City and he is definitely not the same guy he was ten years ago back in high school.