Follow Me!

I haven’t slept in weeks. It’s not that I can’t; I simply refuse to. Because every time I doze off, I’ll see their faces again.

I don’t know what they want or even what they are. I just know that they appear if I close my eyes for too long.

You probably think I’m crazy, but I’m writing this to warn everyone. To keep them from sharing my fate.

Like any high school girl, I wanted to be popular. While I wasn’t the most popular girl at the school, I was up there in terms of popularity. Everyone knew my name, and I had lots of friends.

But the quiet competition was accumulating followers on social media. Sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, you name it and there was always a comparison of who had more “friends.”

So each evening I would spend time before bed finding pages and accounts that would follow back, constantly trying to increase my number of followers. I knew I couldn’t beat Brittany, the head cheerleader, in terms of in-person popularity, but I could create a following on social media.

So I scrolled. And scrolled.

I followed celebrities, pages dedicated to pets, accounts about my favorite books and characters, but not all of them followed back. Which was kind of the point.

So I started following those silly pages, you know, the ones “Like for a like” or “Like for more followers!” It slowly but surely started to work. Sure, it meant that I had more nonsense on my social media feeds, but I was almost passing Brittany in terms of followers.

Then I found an Instagram account called “Follow Me!” The account really had nothing – the picture was all black, and the few posts that it actually made were shades of black and gray. It was weird, but I stopped questioning it when I saw how many other accounts it followed.

16,158. Yes, it had followed thousands of accounts. It also had 16,158 followers. Interesting.

I clicked “Follow” and within seconds I received a notification: Follow Me! has requested to follow you. Yes, even though I was trying to rack up followers, I had my settings on private so that people had to request access to follow me.

Pleased that I had achieved a follow for a follow, I clicked the “Accept” button and continued my scrolling. By the time I went to bed, I forgot all about the account.

The next morning things were a little weird.

I had multiple notifications – “Follow Me!” was requesting to follow me on ALL my social media accounts. I had only followed it on Instagram, so this was definitely weird.

I made sure to check out each of its other pages, and they were all the same. The same number of follows and people following it. The same posts too. Huh.

I shrugged it off and accepted all requests, and then I continued with my morning.

Over the next two weeks nothing remarkable happened – the usual routine of school, homework, and seeing my friends. I posted updates and pictures to my accounts like everyone did, garnering dozens of likes. Of which, Follow Me! was one. In fact, the account always liked a picture that had my face in it. Interesting but not worrisome since the account never left comments. I just chalked it up to it being an active account.

That night I was awakened by a strange sound. It sounded like lots of rustling, and it was coming from outside.

I had never heard a sound like that before, so I got up to investigate. Keeping the lights off, I crept to my window and peered through the slimmest crack in my blinds.

My stomach rose into my throat, cutting off any scream I wanted to make, and I sprinted away from the window.

Tears rolled down my face as I mentally absorbed the scariest thing I had ever seen. Outside on my lawn were hundreds of… things. Stretching as far as I could see in the darkness. Each one was exactly the same. A pale, too-thin face – really it looked like a skull – without a mouth or hair and the most horrifying red-tinted holes where their eyes should have been. They were packed too close together for me to get a good look at their clothes, if they were even wearing any.

The shuffling must have been them assembling on my lawn.

I stood quietly with my back against my bedroom door. There was no sound from outside, so I figured they were all still there. But I wouldn’t go look again. I had no idea if they saw me, but I wasn’t about to look through the window a second time.

I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to make a sound in the off chance they were waiting for a sign of life before storming the house, but I also didn’t want to tell my parents who would probably say I had a nightmare.

So I resorted to my only option: I silently slid across my wall and curled up in the corner of my closet. From here I couldn’t see the window, but I would be able to hear any sounds the creatures made.

And so I sat until the sun came up.

No sounds came from the yard for the rest of the night, so I was extremely hesitant as I left my spot in the corner. My limbs ached from being so tense, and I awkwardly shuffled to my window. Surely they wouldn’t still be there with the sun up?

I was only partially relieved. The things on my lawn were gone without leaving a sign they had been there, but they had somehow left a note on my window. It was two words written in a childlike scribble, “follow us.”

Throwing open the window, I ripped the note from where it was taped and held it for a moment. This proved that what I saw wasn’t a dream or trick of my eyes. Something had been there and had left me a note.

I shuddered and tore it up as small as I could manage. And then I went to check my phone.

Dozens, literally dozens, of notifications. All over every post I had ever made. All the same. “Follow us.”

I stared openmouthed. What the hell was this?

Unfortunately it was Saturday, so I couldn’t bury my horror talking to friends or sitting in classes. As a result I spent the whole day tense and on edge; my parents commented on it several times, but I murmured something about a bad dream and not sleeping.

That night I lay curled up under my covers. I had turned my phone off because I didn’t want to know if I got more notifications during the night. Somehow I managed to drift off into a fitful sleep filled with gaping red eyes.

More rustling woke me hours later, and I bolted for the closet without looking out the window. A sinking feeling in my gut just knew it was them, and I didn’t need to see those faces again. And so I spent my second night without sleep curled up in the closet.

The next morning the note was in the same place. Turning on my phone revealed that I had received even more “follow me” comments on my pictures and statuses. I doubted there was a post that didn’t now have the comment. I’d never been more terrified in my life.

I had followed them on all their social media accounts, so what did they mean by “follow me”?

Skipping ahead to the third night, I didn’t even try to sleep. I sat in the corner of the closet, wide awake, and listened. There was no rustling, and in the morning there was no note. No notifications either.

Part of me hoped that the nightmare had passed, but there was the lingering lack of ease. Like this wasn’t yet over. I haven’t slept since that night.

I don’t know if they’ve become invisible or moved on or if my sleepless brain has stopped noticing them if they shuffle in the middle of the night. Honestly I’m not sure what is going on any more – too many sleepless nights. I also disabled all my social media accounts. Perhaps that’s how they found my house – seeing and liking all the pictures I posted and finally figuring out where I lived.

I could probably relax now since it’s been weeks since hearing them on the lawn or finding their notes. But the memory of those human-yet-not faces still haunts me. Perhaps everything is ok. Perhaps I will try to sleep tonight. I’m still not sure.

But WHATEVER YOU DO – do NOT like any page called “Follow Me!” Since I haven’t been harmed in any way, I don’t know what they want, but I still doubt their presence meant well.

I want to sleep but I don’t want to see them again but I’m so tired… Oh god. Oh god no.

A text just came in from an unknown number.

But it’s not just two words. It’s four.

“You will follow us.”

I need to leave. Need to run away, change my name, my appearance

s h e f o l l o w e d u s

w i l l y o u

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