Page 51 of Someone Just Followed You

Maple: You know, I do think she ran away, but I don’t know what’s happened since then. Maybe she’s happy somewhere, enjoying her privacy. But she was eighteen. She doesn’t seem to have any friends or family to rely on. Naked images of her were probably on the dark web back then, and they’re still there now. How much more vulnerable can you get?

Dylan: Which is why we still want to find her.

Maple: She shouldn’t have to hide away from the world; none of this is her fault.

Dylan: GemmaPopsicle55 wants to know who took the photos, suggesting the obvious answer is one of her parents. While RickyDetroit18 takes it one step further, saying he thinks Bodi sold those photos of Ella on the dark web, and that’s why Selena was so mad.

Maple: I hope not, because that’s pure evil.

Dylan: Well, however they got there, we’ve reported it to the ICAC Taskforce via the NCMEC cyber tipline, so hopefully someone will be working to take them down. And yeah, Jeffersondopeski, we know they pop back up as quickly as they’re taken down, but we’ve got to do something.

Maple: And we’re doing something else tonight. Giving you another way to find Ella. I was sent a post that @Tellatttale made on TikTok yesterday. Her actual name is Tamsin, and she’s a tattoo artist in Austin. Maybe she’s online now, so hi Tamsin if you are. Tamsin inked a tattoo for Ella on her eighteenth birthday, just two weeks before she disappeared, and she’s posted a picture of the design. So here it is for you guys too. A lotus flower, inked right in the center of Ella’s upper back.

Dylan: If you don’t already know, lotus flowers are a symbol of overcoming adversity, because they begin life in mud but grow on the top of the water.

Maple: Which is beautiful symbolism, but we need to find Ella before she drowns.

Chapter 59

Him

He clicks out of YouTube. Brandoninthesky, loud and clear out of Dylan’s mouth. Fuck. Unreal. He wonders about the message he sent. Whether now’s the time to send another. It’s hard to decide; the stakes are so high.

He pushes his laptop away in frustration and scans the photos spread across the table instead. Ghosted for a week was all it took for that woman to fold like limp linen. What a terrible mom she is. And he feels bad about that, the crap hand Maple has been dealt. But also, good. Because maybe there’s hope there too.

Except she’s still not willing to bring Maple to Vegas.

He feels an urge to pick the photos up, but he doesn’t want them spoiled by his sweaty hands. Not after the stress he went through getting them developed. He should have sent them off somewhere, kept it anonymous, but he went to PhotoShack instead, stood at the machine, listened to it drone and whir. It only took a minute to print the thirteen photos – five original, plus eight new – but he spent every second thinking that someone was going to look over his shoulder, accuse him of something terrible.

But no one even noticed him. Which shouldn’t be a surprise because it’s a skill of his, being invisible. There was a time when it bothered him, made him feel worthless. But then he discovered its advantages, and he’s not sure he’d change it now.

He rubs his hands on his jeans and collects the photos up. Maple in a swimsuit as a little kid, splashing around in a river, then a little older in a two-piece, looking more pensive. At first, he wondered whether he had a favorite age, but he likes her in all the photos; it’s too hard to pick.

His mind floats back to their YouTube show. Fuck it. He should throw caution to the wind.

Hopefully she’s so desperate to find this missing girl that her guard will be down, like the mom’s seems to be permanently. Maple did seem different tonight, both wound up and wounded. Maybe if he puts in more effort with his wording this time, more than comes natural to him, he’ll convince her to come.

It’ll be seeing that girl Ella all over the dark web that’s got to her. He imagines Maple sinking, click by trembling click, into the murky depths of those underground websites. Seeing the face of another child, a girl she recognizes but more than that, who shares so many parallels with her. Of course that would scar her.

Then a new thought hits him. He leans back in his chair. Balls his fists. Grimaces.

Because maybe Maple saw more than she’s letting on.

There’s so much AI-generated porn these days; that’s what he’s heard anyway – real faces on AI bodies. And Maple is all over the legit internet. What’s the betting she’s on the dark side too? His jaw aches with tension as he reaches for his laptop again and opens the Tor browser.

He needs to know. To see for himself.

Chapter 60

Maple

@DebsfromDetroit, TikTok

OMG that sick and twisted motherfucker. How could Bodi put photos of his own daughter on the dark web? He was a shitty singer and now we know he’s a disgusting human #findElla

I lean against the crinkly bark and close my eyes. It’s weird. When I’m here, halfway up a maple tree, sunshine sneaking through, I can do this. Close my eyes without that image of Ella appearing. So why can’t I do it in my bed at night?

But I know why. It’s because the darkness seeps into my imagination. And then it’s not Ella on that gross website, it’s me. My photos being dribbled over by disgusting men.