The Bloody Weeping Influencer

Present Day-2044

“Stop calling her! What if it’s real?!” Danielle shrieked with slight excitement.

“Oh come on Danny! Do you really think she comes back and yanks us through the screen? Please, be so for real.” Ester replied with annoyance.

What the girls didn’t know, that the legends were true. She was real and she comes back with a vengeance for those that mock her.

20 Years Earlier- 2024

“Okay guys, keep hitting like, keep hitting like! If you want me to spill the tea on my ex, I need to see 1,000 likes!!” Yolanda screamed into her phone.

Yolanda considers herself a popular influencer in the world of Cyber Clock, an app designed for quick videos and something called “moment” in which viewers interact with influencers in real time. When viewers and influencers interact through moment, communication is instant. Viewers can send special messages to influencers costing a range of money. The word influencer is used very lightly these days, almost anyone calls themselves influencers. One certain person is Yolanda Fuentes.

Yolanda hails from a small town in the outskirts of Arizona. She is short, with stringy hair that resembles ramen noodles. She cakes on her makeup to hide her deep acne scars and she uses fake eyelashes as long as curtains. The thing about Yolanda is, she’s toxic. She doesn’t really have fans but mostly people that love to hate watch. One thing Yolanda craves is attention. Attention from anyone is enough to fill her ego but only leaves her craving more and more. Yolanda’s specialty is making up rumors of younger influencers and stealing married men. Nobody actually thinks she steals these men, many of the viewers believe she makes up most of the drama she talks about. But it is entertaining, like watching a train wreck. You can’t stop watching.

“Mom, I’m hungry.” Ernesto, Yolanda’s youngest son, whispers from the corner of her room.

“Keep hitting like guys, come on come on!” Yolanda continues to yell into the screen ignoring her hungry child.

“Mom? Food..” Ernesto says with only a whisper.

Yolanda rolls her eyes as she turns to her 5 year old son. “Can’t you grab some donuts from the cupboard?” She hisses at him as she returns to focus on her brightly lit screen.

Ernesto walks off in defeat with a rumbling tummy. His mother, a 40 year old women always puts her Cyber Clock fame before him and his older brother, Javier. Javier has learned to stay out of his mom’s way. He is only 7 but recognizes that he is second to his mother’s interest. Ernesto goes into the dark hall with poor lighting to find his brother. He finds Javier in the corner of their shared room on his sleeping bag reading a Spider-Man comic.

“You’re hungry aren’t you?” He says as he looks up to his tiny brother. Ernesto nods his head gently with a reply.

“Come on, let’s go see what I can make you.” Javier says as he grabs a hold of Ernesto.

The two quietly tip toe past their mother’s open door. They’ve learned it is best to remain as quiet as possible when she has her phone on, which is most of everyday.

“Come on, let’s go!! We are almost there! I know everyone wants to know what happened with my ex!” Yolanda screeched into her phone as her hungry sons passed by towards the kitchen.

She’s a horrible mother 🙄

Those poor kids

Call the cops!

She needs to get a real job

Yolanda’s eyes fall on the common comments being left by her viewers.

“Hey guys, I’m a great mother! Stop being haters!” She said with her own fake reassurance.

Sure, a great mother ignores her kid

He looks very slimy.

*skinny

Yes, you are horrible!

Unfollow her and stop giving her money!

Yolanda’s blood started to boil deep within her. I am not a horrible mother, she thought. Look at all that I do for my kids! I am on here making money for us. I am a great mom, they are just haters.

“I’m blocking everyone who is calling me those names. You all are haters! That’s all, you all want to be me and have my life!” She said with shaky confidence.

Meanwhile, her hungry children are in the kitchen looking for some form of nourishment. Javier grabs a chair and slowly climbs on top of it to reach the cabinet. His little cold fingers searching through the scarce shelves. He finally feels a cold plastic container and pulls it out.

“Cookies?!” Ernesto cries with a rumble in his tummy.

“Yes! Cookies for dinner. But we have to keep quiet. She gets mad if we come up on her moment.” Javier says as he climbs down the chair with the cookie container under his arm.

Javier and Ernesto tip toe back to their cold room with a container of stale cookies.

“Yes he was married but left that female for me. Everyone loves me and wants this.” Yolanda cackled as she spoke into her phone.

Why do you always lie?

Don’t you have anything better to do?

Take care of your kids!!

She looks like a toe.

I heard someone called the cops on her already.

The comments all seemed the same. Not one comment complimented her but rather talked about how horrible she is. Yolanda didn’t stop the moment, she never does. She loves the dinging of comments as they are coins in her purse. It’s true, the cops had been called but nothing came of it. As she continued to fire back at her viewers, a text message came through her phone.

Look. I want you but I just don’t wanna be a step daddy. I have too many kids already. I don’t want that. The text was bright in her face as she read every single word.

Babe stop. You don’t have to be a daddy to them. They won’t be a bother to you. I can send them away to their dad’s house. Yolanda replied rapidly.

Nah that’s weird though. You’ll send your kids away. Take care of them. We aren’t meant to be. The response came and it filled Yolanda with bile as the thought of being single again clouded her mind. She couldn’t be single again. This was her next big drama for Cyber Clock! This man is going to leave his wife for her, she thought. “I have to do something.” She said aloud deep in thought.

Huh?

What are you talking about?

Do what?

Guys she’s losing it, talking to herself

The comments continued and the dings brought Yolanda back to her moment.

“I have to make dinner! Yea I have to hop off and I’ll be back later tonight!” She shouted at her viewers one last time before clicking off.

She can’t cook..

Present Day-2044

“I mean, what if we just say it real quick? With the lights on?” Danielle whispered to her friend as they laid on brightly colored blankets glaring at their phones.

“Fine. But we have to use your phone!” Ester replied

“Why mine?!” Danielle said as she tucked a loose curl behind her ear.

“Because, we can record with mine. Mine has a better camera.” Ester said

Danielle thought for a second and she was right. This is so silly though. It’s just a legend, not real.

“Okay let’s do it.” Danielle said as she hopped off the bed.

The girls turned the lights on in the room and muted the tv. They sat next to each other on the floor. Ester put her phone on her tripod facing them to record. Danielle held her phone towards them and clicked on Cyber Clock. The app was so old!! Only very old people used this app, like 40 year olds. The girls found it amusing how many people liked to watch cat videos. That’s mostly what this app ended up being, cat videos. It lost its prime when that horrible accident happened. And now, they were going to see if the legend was true.

“Okay, are you ready?” Asked Danielle as she held the phone in place. She was scared but couldn’t show her friend.

“Yes.” replied Ester meekly.

“We repeat it 3 times while on a moment. Okay?” Danielle explained.

“Okay.” Whispered Ester.

“Hit like, hit like, hit like.” The girls said in unison.

Just then the lights went out and the room turned black.

20 years earlier-2024

“Where are we going mommy?” Asked Ernesto as he held his brother’s hand in the backseat. Javier squeezed it back with reassurance.

“Just for a drive. I told you. Stop asking so many questions.” Yolanda responded with a spat. She turned on the radio loudly to drown out her thoughts.

He doesn’t want kids. He would want me if I didn’t have them. She thought to herself.

Yolanda drove for another 45 minutes until she reached the desert. She slammed on the breaks and turned off the car. Before getting out she made sure there were no other cars around.

“Come on get out.” She told her sons as she opened the door. Javier and Ernesto kept a tight hold of each other’s hand and climbed out timidly.

“Why are we here? It’s cold and getting dark.” Javier said as he wrapped his arms around Ernesto that was shivering.

“Let’s go. Stop asking questions.” Yolanda lashed out and started walking towards a very tall cliff. Yolanda knew this cliff very well. It was where her ex proposed to her and she had said yes. She hated that cliff now, he left her and only cares when he calls to talk about the boys or picks them up for his time.

The boys fearfully followed their mom. As soon as they were at the top of the cliff she told them. “Look at the pretty sunset! Isn’t it nice?” The boys looked up and smiled as the colors were turning from orange to purple. Then they both felt a hard shove. Yolanda’s hands pushed them forcefully over the cliff. The boys clung to themselves as they fell down over 200 feet into rock and stone.

Yolanda drove back home without remorse. We will be together now. She thought to herself. She arrived home and texted him that all was taken care of.

I got it taken care of. We can be together now. They won’t bother us no more. She sent him the text as she cleaned out her sons closet. It wasn’t much they had anyway.

What are you talking about? He replied

My kids. It’s done. She replied.

You mean you did something to them? He asked.

Don’t worry about it. They are gone. Come over now. She sent that text with haste.

Yolanda was unaware of the events that happened next. The next thing she knew, she was in a cop car being taken away to the station. They had found her boys. Dead. The trial was a blur but quick. They had all the evidence to convict her.

Life in prison.

People with crimes like her don’t make it far in prison. She didn’t last 3 months. With her reputation as an influencer and the crime, the inmates didn’t take too kindly to her.

Present Day- 2044

Screams. Blood curdling screams filled the dark room.

Danielle and Ester grabbed on to each other as pasty hands reached out of the phone and snatched Danielle’s hair.

“HELP ME!!!!! AHHHHHHH!” She shrieked

“GET OFF OF HER!!!” Ester yelled as she attempted to yank the pasty hands off her friend. Just then the hands turned to arms, turned to a frightening face coming out of the phone. The girls screamed for dear life as a ghastly figure emerged from the phone.

“Hit like, hit like, hit like!!!” It said in a demonic voice.

THE END

Author’s note: This work is not talking about anyone in specific. No really, that person you are thinking about, it’s not about them. Seriously. This is a complete work of fiction.