The Follower Kate Doughty (general ebook reader .txt) 📖

“We’re going to keep doing the posts,” Rudy says. His parents jolt up; they hadn’t even noticed the two coming down.

“Absolutely not—”

“We need the money,” Rudy says firmly. Then his voice softens. “For Cecily.”

“I’m not risking my other two children.” Mrs. Cole looks at her husband. “I can’t do it, I’m sorry. I—”

Amber approaches her. “We don’t have to post about the house, or the renovation,” she says softly. She takes a deep breath. “We—we can see if the beauty sponsors will swap out me for Cecily. We can block the follower if he comes back. We can be smart and safe about it.”

Rudy stands next to his sister. “Please. We need to do this. Cecily needs us.”

Their parents don’t answer. Finally, Mr. Cole turns to his wife. “We do need the money, Marie,” he says, softly. “Cecily’s hospital bills alone . . .”

Mrs. Cole closes her eyes for a long second. When she speaks, her voice is a whisper. “I . . . I think that would work, Amber. It’s a good idea.” Rudy hears his sister’s breath hitch as their mother thinks. Even though Amber is clearly distraught, part of her looks . . . surprised and touched by their mother’s faith in her.

“You think the sponsors will take me?” Amber asks.

Mrs. Cole nods. “Yes. Some. But, Amber—you don’t have to do this. You know that, right?”

Amber gives her a stiff nod. “I know. But I want to. For Cecily.”

Mrs. Cole reaches out and puts a hand on Amber’s shoulder. “All right, but only the sponsored ones. For Cecily. And the minute this follower responds or says anything, you need to let me know. Understand?”

Amber and Rudy nod, but their mother turns her eyes to Rudy. “I need to hear you say it, sweetheart.”

Rudy swallows and answers. “Yes. I understand.”

CHAPTER 17

Amber

Cecily’s face is melting. Her skin is waxy, red. Amber can see the white, pale bone beneath her sister’s face, and Cecily is screaming. Bella and Jada are screaming, and when Jada turns around, she is melting, too, skin peeling off and dripping onto the turret floor like runny wax—

And then Amber is in the hospital, waiting for Cecily. Her parents walk toward her, in a horrible kind of slow motion. She stands to follow them, like she’s in a trance, and there’s Cecily—lying on the hospital bed, face in bandages.

She looks up at Amber and her remaining eye is cold. Dead. In a voice that’s not Cecily’s, she opens her mouth and says, “There. Now you’re the pretty one.”

Her sister reaches up to unwrap the bandages around her head, and when they fall away, Cecily’s face is gone.

In the dream, Amber screams.

And when she jolts awake, someone is there.

Her eyes snap open, and for a second she thinks that she’s still dreaming because in the darkness of her room, here, in the doorway, is the outline of a figure, a place of darkness that’s blacker that the rest. Her hands fly to her nightstand light, and she flicks it on, preparing herself to scream—

But there is no one there.

Not anymore.

But there was—wasn’t there? Or was it just some horrible residual terror from her nightmare?

Amber flies out of bed and into the corridor, glancing left and right, but there is no one in the hallway. She darts across to Rudy’s room, throwing his door open. Her brother bolts up in bed.

In quiet, shallow breaths, Amber explains what happened. About the dream, about waking, about how she thought someone was there. She waits for him to tell her that it was just a dream, but he doesn’t. He just moves over in bed, and she joins him under the covers. He pulls her close, but she can’t get the dream out of her head. Before long, all the tears she’d held in during the hospital visit and the police investigation are spilling out of her, all over his shirt. He strokes her back with his free hand and whispers that things are going to be all right. Things are going to be all right.

And somehow, despite her fear, she falls asleep like that.

It is still dark when she jolts awake. Rudy is still up. She imagines him alert as she slept. Staring at the door, watching for the shadow that she’d seen. For a few minutes, she just lies there, trying to process everything. And even through the visceral horror of seeing something in her room, she can’t stop thinking about dream Cecily.

Now you’re the pretty one.

It makes her feel bad, feel sick. Because it’s wrong.

At least, it is for Amber. Amber knows that Cecily is more traditionally attractive—translation: skinny—than her, but all the same, she’s never truly thought of herself as, well, ugly. In fact, there are times when she thinks that she’s really, truly beautiful, especially when she nails her outfit or wears a look with confidence. If she’s the pretty one now, it isn’t because Cecily’s injury had changed anything about Amber’s perspective.

Before she can say anything, Rudy asks her about last night. She retells the story. Awake, in the daylight, it seems so much less believable.

“And you’re sure it wasn’t a dream?” he asks.

“I—yes. No. Maybe,” Amber says. Then she swallows and chooses an answer. “I think—I think it was real.” She swallows. “Cecily said that she saw someone. What if it’s real? What if there is . . . something here?”

“A ghost?” Rudy asks, and he’s not joking.

Amber feels herself tremble as she nods.

“It could have been a dream,” Rudy says, but he doesn’t sound like he believes it.

Amber fights to calm her heartbeat. “It . . . it could have,” she admits.

As the crew begins their last day of flooring, Amber and Rudy pile into the Range Rover and head to the hospital. The drive feels eternal. Amber’s phone keeps lighting up with DMs from Bella and Jada. She’s been ignoring them since . . . it . . . happened, but she knows she can’t ignore them both forever. Besides, Jada’s last message was about a pending