The Follower by Kate Doughty (ebook reader with built in dictionary TXT) 📕

behind the camera. Despite the day’s events, he’s never felt so . . . relaxed before a livestream. It takes him a minute to realize that it’s probably because he’s not in it, because he’s not preparing himself to be “on” for everyone.

He waits for his sisters to get into position and then begins the countdown. “All right! And we’re live in five, four, three, two—” Cecily yanks Amber closer to her, into the center of the shot. The camera flicks on. Rudy presses Live.

There is a beat of silence.

Of course there is. Rudy is the one who usually says the intro. He gestures at his sisters from behind the camera, and Amber recovers first. “What’s up, Cole Patrol!” she says, giving the camera a shaky smile. As she speaks, her voice gets louder, more confident. “As promised, your favorite haunted home renovators are coming to you live from, uh, the very spooky murder room, a.k.a. the turret room.”

“A.k.a. my makeup studio,” Cecily chimes in, laughing. “But, yeah, makeup video coming soon, lovelies—stay tuned for that! Sorry I haven’t been posting—it’s just been so busy moving in and getting settled in a new place. Oh, and huge shout-out to Bella and her friends for welcoming us to town. I’ll link to her account below; definitely show her some love. Today, Rudy is taking a break from the camera, so you’re getting a lot more Amber!” Amber gives a thumbs-up. “But that’s enough from us! Let’s hear from you! This is a Q and A, after all.”

Amber leans toward the computer and begins reading out questions from the chat. There is the usual—sponsor deals, makeup comments for Cecily, questions about their routines and the renovation. Behind the camera, Rudy reads the comments, as well. He notices questions rolling in over and over again from the same account: @S_ODon.

Does Cecily have a boyfriend?

Who’s Cecily’s boyfriend?

I don’t see a boyfriend on your account.

Does she have a boyfriend or is she a liar?

I KNOW YOU CAN SEE THESE DOES SHE HAVE A BOYFRIEND ANSWER ME

Rudy pauses. Could this be that guy from the bonfire who was hitting on Cecily? Steve, right? He ignores the comments and gives Amber a thumbs-up as she reads through the rest, watching his sister’s nerves fade away as she and Cecily joke with their audience. It had been way too long since Amber had been featured like this. He feels a pang as he realizes that’s something he’s never really thought much about until now. Does it bother Amber to not be featured? he wonders.

Most of the comments ask about the ghost girl and the story behind the haunted house. What had happened? Do they think the house was haunted? Have they seen anything? The girls explain that they haven’t seen a ghost. They don’t mention the turret vandalism or the bunny, but Amber goes into excruciating detail about the sounds she’s been hearing at night. Cecily looks spooked on camera, and they play up the drama to great effect.

“And that’s why,” Amber says, drawing out the words, “we’ve decided to do a séance to contact this ghost!”

The commenters are thrilled. Rudy gives his sisters a double thumbs-up. Amber grins at the camera. “Yeah,” she says. “I think that can be arranged.” She steps off camera for a few moments, and Cecily recounts for their audience what her sister is doing—fetching the candles she has stashed in her bedroom.

Rudy can tell that Cecily is nervous about doing a séance, but she’s being a good sport.

Amber returns standing next to Cecily. She’s brought more than just candles. She’d also grabbed the old doll. Cecily feigns surprise at seeing the creepy doll, and Rudy smirks. The viewers are eating it up. Of course, the entire routine had been preplanned and Mom-approved.

I’m already pissing myself.

Oh my god, did it MOVE?

Aside from the stray comment about respecting the ghost, the response they’re receiving is overwhelmingly positive.

Amber kills the lights. It’s totally dark outside; the only light in the room comes from the blinking of the camera display and the blue light of the laptop, presenting the endless list of comments in front of them and bathing their faces a pallid blue-gray glow.

Amber lights the candles. Rudy watches their flames cast strange shadows across the mural on the wall behind them. It’s out of camera frame, but he can see it just fine.

Amber looks to Cecily to start the séance, but she shakes her head.

“All right guys,” Amber says. “Are there any ghosts here? Knock once if you’re a ghost. We invite you to possess this doll, uh, Clarabell”—she winks at the camera—“and communicate any wishes that you have had from your past life.”

There is a second of spooky silence. Rudy imagines that their livestream audience is holding their breath; the comments have slowed. Nothing.

Then, as planned, Rudy makes a bang, off camera. Amber shrieks. “I thought I saw something!” she says. “A shadow—right, right over there.” But of course, there’s nothing. When they’d huddled that afternoon, they had carefully planned every shriek, jump scare, and “ghost” appearance they were going to do in their livestream. Fake, sure. Entertaining? Absolutely. A few theatrics never hurt anyone.

“Is there anything you want to tell us?” Amber asks. “We invite the ghost to speak! Uh, make a noise if you can hear us! Or touch one of us.”

Now it’s Cecily’s turn. “Did you—did you feel that?” she asks, her voice shaky. Rudy is impressed. He knows that Cecily isn’t exactly pro–ghost content, but his sister’s still pretty good at acting. “I felt something cold, I know I did . . .”

Rudy checks on the post. Their livestream is blowing up; cash is flowing in. Apparently, they’d been tweeted about by a couple commentary channels, other influencers, and e-news outlets—a whole new wave of viewers had just joined, causing their attendance to skyrocket. Along with one follower in particular. He waves