Followers

1“Can you arch your back a little more, honey?” Brady said, peering around the barrel of his lens. “I’m getting a bulge in that position.”Sidney strategically pinned herself in the base of the large, empty bathtub. She rolled her hips forward to obscure her pubic hair with her thigh and draped her forearm across her nipples. She flinched at the word bulge, wanting to contort to smooth her side. Without unraveling the meticulous pose, she strained to turn her gaze toward Brady. She felt the sharp tug as her skin held fast in place.“Uh, no, I can’t,” Sidney replied. “I’m stuck.”“Damn it,” Brady huffed, placing his camera down on the bathroom counter beside him. “Is that blood dry again?”Sidney’s bare flesh glistened in a liberal coating of fake blood. The thick, red liquid drew patterns over her naked skin in drips and spatters. Stark, crimson smears tainted the garish white tub, evidence of Sidney’s every movement.Brady snatched the small spray bottle from beside his camera

3Sidney sat in her idling car, wringing her hands around the steering wheel. The early morning sun glared through her windshield, glinting along the cracks reaching out across the glass. She squinted behind her sunglasses but kept her fingers gripped to the wheel. The minutes closed in around her, banging away in time with her throbbing heartbeat.She hated coming to Aiden’s.He still lived in the small house they had purchased when Cameron was learning how to walk—the house in which they had been a family. After all the renovations he had made over the subsequent years, he had said she would have to pry the keys from his cold, dead fingers. If only it was all of those tireless renovations that had ended their marriage.As time collapsed on her and she ran out of seconds to stall, she took a deep breath and tapped her forehead on the steering wheel. Then she yanked the door handle and forced her steps to the front porch where Cameron used to color with sidewalk chalk in the s

5“Girl, your Instagram feed is about to give me nightmares,” Kendra said as she scraped her spoon along the inside of her coffee cup. “You know I do that just for you,” Sidney replied, shuffling into the kitchen beside her.“I know you do.”“Yep. I pick a picture, and I think, this is going to get inside Kendra’s head. Then I sit up on the couch, listening for you to scream in your sleep.”“I’m not even surprised.” Kendra smirked as she sipped from the steaming cup. “Let me pour you a cup. You look like you need it.” “I woke up like this.”“Did you even sleep like this?”“Not really.” Sidney ground her knuckles into her eyes. “I had to get the rest of my reviews from Nightmare Film Fest drafted.”“You don’t have to do anything. You’re not getting paid for this.”“I’m getting paid a little. Just not enough to live on.”“Either way, it’s a side hustle.”“Yeah, and if I hustle hard enough, it can be the main hustle. So, I had to finish the reviews.”“And post creepy a

7In the late weekend sunlight, Sidney woke to an empty bed, the sheets still cooling from when Tony had vacated before dawn. She ran her palm along the mattress and arched her back until her muscles awakened. She rolled her eyes closed again to bask in the brief quiet of her mind. Before the thoughts would begin to stir again. As it registered that her son was not under her roof, she dragged herself from the comfort of her pillows. Sidney stumbled on half-conscious legs, a light ache drawing lines towards her hips. She smiled at the gentle strain in her step and placed her hands on top of her dresser. As the sleep cleared from her eyes, the miniature blue baby booties came into focus. Aiden had given them to her when they returned home from the hospital after she had Cameron. She had tossed and abandoned everything else Aiden had given her when she was forced from their home, yet she could not part with those. She was still the mother of his child. She pulled her eyes from the

9“OK, Jordan,” Brady said, leaning toward his husband with a sly smile creeping across his face. “We need the blood to look like ‘oops, I killed my one night stand’ and not ‘my maxi pad overflowed’.”“How am I supposed to know what a maxi pad blowout looks like?” Jordan asked. He planted his feet squarely and crossed his arms over his chest.“Sid?”The two men whirled around to Sidney, standing in the bright sunlight of their loft apartment. Sidney startled at their attention, still holding the spa robe wrapped around her naked body. Brady moved in wild and sweeping gestures while Jordan followed him in methodical and measured steps, gently guiding Brady back to focus.“Well, this got awkward,” she giggled.“Educate us on wayward blood flow,” Brady said, brandishing his camera over the bed.Sidney laughed again and stepped forward to join them.“OK,” she started. “Well, obviously all that blood would originate low. So maybe keep ours up more around the pillows. And lots o