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Followers 1
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
Followers 2
2Sidney pulled abeer from the bottom shelf of her fridge. She cracked the bottle open, leaving the cap on the counter. Bringing the bottle to her lips, she reached for the bowl of chips with her free hand. She gathered her snacks and migrated to her favorite corner of the couch. As the opening credits of the horror movie flashed over the room, she took another swig and pulled her computer into her lap. The opening death of the movie screamed through the shifting shadows of her living room as she opened Brady’s email and launched the gallery from their photoshoot. Her naked form consumed the screen. Brady had cranked up the contrast, saturation, and clarity on the image, which paled Sidney’s skin and sharpened the lines. Her body lay unnervingly contorted in the base of the white tub, her eyes wild and face grimaced. He had enhanced the blood until it almost glimmered.The blood was the subject, and she was the landscape.She felt her eyes wander the curves of her own image,
Followers 3
3Sidney sat inher 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
Followers 4
4“Mom, I’m so hungry!”Cameron whined from the couch. “Baby, the food is finally here. I just have to unbag it,” Sidney said, unpacking the steaming boxes onto the coffee table.“Can we watch a scary movie?”Sidney hesitated, stalling by continuing to arrange the food on the table and extracting chopsticks and condiments from the brown paper sack. She kept her eyes down on her hands.“Mom! Can we watch a scary movie?” Cameron repeated, louder and with an edge.“Your daddy doesn’t like it when I show you scary movies,” Sidney finally replied.“Daddy just doesn’t like scary movies.”“Also true.”“Please!” Cameron sat up straight and opened his eyes wide at his mother.Sidney smiled, helpless.“OK, bud,” she said, “but not a really scary one.”“Yes!” Cameron threw his fists into the air.He popped up from the couch and moved to snatch a box of lo meinand a set of chopsticks. He nestled back on the couch cushion as Sidney summoned the movie on the flatscreen.“Wh
Followers 5
5“Girl, your Instagramfeed 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
Followers 6
6“We need to talk,”Aiden said. He opened the screen door for Sidney without looking at her. “Hi Dad!” Cameron beamed, hoisting his backpack and baseball bag.“Hey, buddy. Welcome back,” Aiden said. He smiled broadly and patted Cameron’s shoulder.Sidney’s body seized. Anxiety flared over her nerves, knotting up every muscle her time on the yoga mat had unwound. Her glance flitted as her heart pounded loud and relentless in her ears, avoiding Aiden and the way he refused to look at her. He stood frozen, held the door ajar, and stared at the ground.As many times as she had wanted to walk back into her former home, as many times as she had fantasized about returning to her former life, the threshold felt electric and menacing now. She pressed her teeth into her lips and forced herself to step past Aiden and into the house.Her heart broke with the sound of the screen settling back into the frame. She had not set foot on these floorboards in months. Aiden had taken down all
Followers 7
7In the lateweekend 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
Followers 8
8The baseball crackedagainst the metal bat in a resounding tingSidney almost felt vibrating down her own fingers. The tiny white dot careened into the clear blue sky, arching high above the uniformed children spread out over the diamond. Cameron stood stunned for a split second, staring in amazement at the ball’s flight, before the yelling of his coaches stirred him. He flung the bat as he leaned into his sprint toward first base. Before she realized it, Sidney was on her feet, clapping her hands hard and shrieking her son’s name. She yelped excitedly as he slid into second base. Safe.Still throbbing with pride, Sidney sat back down on the bleachers. She turned and caught Aiden’s glance. He sat a couple rows down and away from her, peering out from beneath his baseball cap. Out of habit, he smiled back at her, mingled in the parental moment. Then he caught himself and snapped his eyes back to the field. Sidney felt the smile turn heavily and fall from her cheeks.“Si
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