Influencer

By Dave Temple

irene is a teenager who learns to harness the power of influence using social media. A suicide attempt lands her on the radar of the Zhuyin. They are a secret organization that use celebrities to steer human behavior for profit. Her new found sense of purpose is cut short when her influence is used to commit murder.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098377274

Book preview

15

CHAPTER 1

They were like superheroes. The kind you cant tell if they’re good or evil. Just confused. A Daddy daughter trio that could influence humanity. But who was influencing them. They all become murderers, one at a time. This wasn’t supposed to be there story. or was it?

It happened, July 25, 2018, the first related death was reported. Irene had to sit for a moment and collect herself as shock-surprise coursed through her. She’d pulled it off; she really could do anything she put her mind to.

She’d inadvertently caused a death, and no one could hold it against her. Should that power ever be put into human hands? Was she a soldier now? She wasn’t sure. In any case, there’s no going back to living a normal life or being a normal person, ever.

Irene enters the lobby of the war room and commands the audio/video. She wanted to see the victim, behold the product of her work. She catches a glimpse of herself in a glass partition as she weaves through the crowd towards the monitors. Her urge to mutilate herself had morphed into something morbid, something a little sinister.

The news cycles were repeating. A picture of the victim flashed on the screen. A young black girl around her age. Irene was silently devastated. This hadn’t been her intended result, and it wasn’t something she’d practiced for, not even just in case. It hadn’t even crossed her mind really. She’d assumed she’d be just fine having a hand in the death of an enemy. Only, this girl was no enemy.

A crescendo of ringing begins rising in Irene’s ears, quickly overpowering the cheering of the war room, drowning it out completely. It is all she can do to grab a nearby trashcan before the contents of her stomach are launched up and over her teeth. She looks up at her team members. Aside from the woman whose work-station trashcan she was defiling, no one seemed to have noticed. They were still too busy celebrating.

Our story starts in the small, well-manicured town of Guilford, MD. It is located about 30 miles west of Baltimore. It is full of large, beautiful single-family houses rounding every cul-de-sac. The somewhat bland but well-kept homes appear to contain happy couples who work in Baltimore or DC but prefer to raise their children in a safer, more comfortable environment just outside the city. For every ten of these homes, there is an apartment complex housing hundreds of families who strive to own their own home like those around them. The complexes are made up of many single mothers who have relocated there with hopes of landing a good-paying military job, or of marrying any decent man who happened to have one himself.

Irene moved there with her mother eight years ago. She’s into sneakers, hanging out at the mall with friends, binge-watching Netflix series, and sharing memes on social media.

This wasn’t her first time relocating with her mom for a fresh start. It was her sixth. Irene’s parents had given birth to her as college students. Their relationship didn’t last, and they didn’t get along once it was over. Her dad went back to his home town of Philadelphia to live. For as long as Irene could remember, she and her mother had toggled between Pittsburgh and Maryland. Her mother changed careers, personal endeavors and romantic relationships rapidly. Each time one of these changes happened in her mother’s life so did Irene’s living conditions.

Irene is in her bedroom getting ready for school.

Irene, let’s go! Felicita hollers from the kitchen. We cannot be late today!

We’re always late, Irene mutters to herself with a scoff.

She pulls her oversized hoodie over her lean body and fluffs her afro puffback up atop her head. She takes a final look at herself in the full-length mirror mounted on the back of her bedroom door. She grabs her school bag from the bed, slings it over her shoulder, and heads out into the hall. Her mother is next to the door of the apartment. Irene walks past her mother without looking up and heads straight outside. Felicita follows, locking the door behind them, and the two make their way to the car.

Irene gets in on the passenger side as her mother lumbers into the driver’s seat. They sit in silence, waiting for the vehicle to warm up. Irene ignores her mother, instead pulling out her smartphone to scroll through Instagram, Tik Tok, SnapChat, and other social media apps.

The silence is pierced by shrieks of a crowd coming from Irene’s phone speaker. The sound shocks them both, and Irene scrambles to lower the volume. Her mother peers at the screen from the corner of her eyes.

The video features a boy in a gymnasium flip-ping a half-full water bottle through a basketball hoop. The bottle lands right-side up on a chair beneath as the boy turns toward the screen’s camera with a smug expression. He doesn’t acknowledge the extraordinary reaction of his onlookers as the camera zooms out to reveal an entire gym full of observers. The screams and cheers of disbelief roar through the speaker. Felicita’s expression is one of disgust.

Irene, why do you watch that stupid stuff? Her mother whines.

Irene shrugs, chewing on her thumb-nail.

Sorry, Mom! She replies without looking up.

Felicita had achieved a master’s degree and was now working on her doctorate. She often lectured Irene on using higher quality content to feed ideas instead of the junk she consumed on YouTube and social media.

Irene is thoroughly amused by such videos. She secretly suspects that videos of this nature are purposely mindless; the performers and posters were aware that their actions are foolish, but they do it anyway because acting stupid was fun. It’s fun to disrupt the norm and to watch highly educated folks assume that society is doomed simply because nonsense is entertaining. Adults take themselves too seriously. They often miss the point, and appear far more ridiculous than the kids who are simply enjoying themselves. Adults obsess over proper media depicting outraged mobs calling for the firings of people who have made offensive statements; children are equally entertained by mobs cheering for a water bottle trick. Most adults never realize that these behaviors are actually the same.

Irene inherited her overly-analytical mind from her father Eric. A public figure, Eric made a career dissecting human behavior online. She and her father were as close as they could be, given their physical distance from one another. Philadelphia is a two-hour drive from Irene’s home in Guilford, three hours with traffic.

Irene’s parents separated when she was eight months old. They lived in Pittsburgh then. Her father made monthly visits wherever she and her mother ended up moving. From age 2, Irene had spent nearly every summer and holiday with him in Philadelphia. When she was 6, her father married his new girlfriend Monica and her younger sister Nicole was born.

For as long as Irene could remember, her mother and father never got along. They barely acknowledged each other’s existence. The last time she say them speak to one another she was 4 years old. He had come to take her to the movies, when he arrived they began arguing. They never went to the movies that day. Instead her dad left with some police officers. Maybe he went to the movies with them instead. Serene was too young to understand what happened that day. She didn’t see of hear from her father for two years after he left with those police men. She asked a few times where he was during his absence.

Your father needed to go learn how to act right! Was the only response her mother offered.

Is he ever coming back? Will I ever see him again? Can I call him? Irene asked a few times the first month.

Her questions were always left unanswered. More often than not, her mother became furious with Irene for even asking. So she stopped. It made her very sad that her father was gone.

Sometime later that year, her mother tossed a cell phone across the room before running screaming and crying into the bedroom. Irene grabbed the phone to see what caused such a reaction from Felicita. It was facebook. Felicita had been monitoring Eric’s page. He had married his girlfriend Monica.

Felicita knew where Eric was all that time. Without being near her or yelling to her Eric invoked such a strong reaction from Felicita. Irene didn’t fully understand facebook at the time but seeing her mother hurt the way she did may have taught Irene social media could inflict pain and revenge.

Perhaps this made Irene’s mind so analytical. She’d been trying to solve some complex adult puzzles since she was young There was a period Irene felt anger towards her father for making her mother so upset. Her mother became different from that point. She worked a lot. She went back to school. She became more strict. Her ambitious goals changed frequently, and as a result, so did their living situations, a thing that continually affected Irene. negatively. That was how they ended up in Guilford.

After a few years, Eric was permitted to return to Irene’s life. He resumed picking her up for visits to his hometown of Philadelphia. But their visits were different. Eric’s lifestyle had changed drastically. He and Monica had moved into a bigger house in a nicer neighborhood. It was really a step up and sometimes made Irene uncomfortable. Nicole, her little sister had known no other lifestyle. She never felt uncomfortable with the amenity It seemed way better than anything we had before It would no longer be just her and daddy, but the new family and the idea of being a big sister was exciting. She was glad to have her father back. Her time with him was fun, and when he wasn’t introducing her to new things, Monica was.

Irene’s mom, on the other hand seemed tired a lot. School and full-time work was taking its toll. She seemed generally angry, particularly at Irene’s father and often at Irene as well. Irene stayed with family and friends often whenever her mother had to work late. The two moved about apartment complexes frequently throughout Guilford. More than once, Irene had returned from her monthly visit to find that her mother had moved them yet again.

We just need a new start, dear, her mother would offer.

Later on, Irene figured out that her mother had been behind with the rent and had jumped ship before it could catch up to her credit report. Now it made sense why Mom got so upset each time Irene asked for an explanation. After that, she learned to be quiet and just watch and listen. It was her best chance of discovering the truth without upsetting her mother. This proved to be a skill which would serve her well growing up, and it made her more alert and discerning than others her age.

What are you going to be doing in class today? Irene’s mother asks as they drive off.

Irene ignores her and offers no conversation in return. Felicita turns to see why her daughter hasn’t responded. She is sure the girl is hypnotized by a video and hadn’t even heard the question. She reaches across and gently pushes the phone down into Irene’s lap, forcing the girl to look up.

What? Irene asks.

I asked you if anything exciting is happening at school today… her mother urges.

I dunno, Irene grunts, stretching and yawning in her seat.

Felicita is taken back. She expects her daughter to have a better handle on her school day.

"Is there anything you’re not looking forward to in school today?" She tries again.

Umm, not that I can think of, Irene offers blandly.

Well how did you sleep last night? Her mom presses.

Irene rolls her eyes, fully irritated, and silently mimics her mom. Felicita catches her.

Are you mocking me? She asks Irene, her eyes darting between her daughter and the road.

Irene confesses with a notable huff.

Mom, you literally ask me the same four questions every day, she explains, but you don’t really care about the answers.

What? That’s not true! Her mother replies.

Is too, Irene argues. Next you’re gonna ask me if I got enough to eat last night. Then you’ll ask me what I dreamt about. It’s like you’re checking off some list of morning banter, but you’ll never remember any of it from day to day. Why ask me all the time?

Well obviously I care if you get enough to eat, her mother retorts. I’m sorry I can’t remember everything about your school life, honey. I have a lot going on in my schedule that I need to focus on. But I feel I’m very involved in your home life. You should be grateful that you’re blessed with a parent who cares enough to take an interest. Your father certainly doesn’t. As for ‘morning banter’ as you put it, it’s what normal people do, Irene. So you’d better get used to it.

Get used to what? Irene counters. Pretending to care by constantly asking generic questions? That’s so exhausting and distracting. I don’t mind that you can’t remember my school schedule. I’m fine with that. Just stop pretending that you do. Can’t we just ride in silence since we really don’t have anything to say to each other? She pleads.

You need to watch your tone and check your attitude, her mother barks back.

Felicita always shut down Irene’s logic with authority. But Irene was no longer a child. She could think without her mother. It was something Irene did often. The thoughts she had her mother could never comprehend. The thoughts her mother had agitated her. Felicita’s imposition of her arbitrary will left Irene resentful, and detached.

"I don’t