Beth pointed at the browser window. “I don’t know how he got there.” She shook her head, teeth mangling her bottom lip. She wasn’t sure what she wanted Dave to do about it but it felt good to tell someone, even if it was just the guy from down the hall.
“You must have added him,” said Dave. “People can’t just add themselves to your friends.” He had knocked on the door to ask if she’d spare some milk. One look at her stainedred eyes and he’d asked what was wrong, why was she crying, what could he do to help. In desperation, she showed him the Facebook page.
“Yeah, I guess I must have.” She didn’t look convinced. “Maybe I wasn’t paying attention. I sure didn’t notice when he got added to my friends.”
“What did you notice?” His eyes were full of sympathy.
Beth got up and paced the room.
“His status updates. Originally it was something ineffectual, “Darren is going out,” or something like that. But it was at 2 AM, I was just looking at Facebook before bed. And I thought, who do I know who goes out at two in the morning? That’s when I saw his name.”
Dave’s eyes followed her. “You could have removed him at that point.”
“Could I? Is that even possible?” Beth shrugged. “I don’t know. Anyway, I didn’t even try. I thought, hey, Darren Miller probably isn’t that rare a name, right? So it’s coincidence.”
She stopped at the desk and fingered the faded piece of newspaper, as if trying to rub out the headline.
“I mean, it just seemed so paranoid. It couldn’t possibly be THAT Miller, right?” She resumed her pacing.
Dave stood up and walked over to the cabinet. “Do you mind?” he said, not bothering to wait for a response before getting out a bottle of brandy. He poured them both a measure of the amber liquid and then sat back down at the computer. “So how do you know it is him? You’ve never seen this guy, right?”
“No, just the descriptions from the paper. They never showed his face because there was never a case, everything was circumstantial.” She took a sip of the brandy and then gulped the rest. “And he doesn’t use a photo on the site anyway, just some black and white cartoon face. But his status updates were all about my sister. They were sort of vague at first, Darren is thinking about Susan, that sort of thing. I wrote it off as coincidence.”
Dave nodded. “There are lots of Susans in the world.”
“Well, yeah. But then they got more specific. Darren is dreaming about Susan’s auburn hair. Darren is looking at his photographs of Susan. Darren is remembering how Susan used to look straight through him. And then it got really freaky: Darren can still hear her screams.
Dave got up and refilled her glass. “But you still didn’t say anything.” It wasn’t a question.
“Like what? Beth thinks the psychopath who murdered her sister is on Facebook? I couldn’t really think of what to say. But I started watching his profile page and he was adding links to news story about the case. I couldn’t really call it coincidence anymore. And then, today, that’s when he mentioned me.
“Are you sure it was you?”
“I don’t know.” She took a deep breath to repress the whine. “Here, let me show you, see what you think.”
She strode over to the computer and clicked at the Facebook page. “Oh, wait, it’s changed again.”
Her face went pale as she read the words.
Darren is going over to Beth’s to ask for some milk.
Sylvia Spruck Wrigley is a German-American living in Spain who writes about things she sees in a room which isn’t there.
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32 Responses to “DARREN IS UPDATING HIS FACEBOOK STATUS • by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley”
Comments
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October 28th, 2008 at 2:39 am
I got the end before I got there but it’s still scarey.
October 28th, 2008 at 2:42 am
Creepy, Sylvia; very creepy.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:05 am
Excellent. The ending was a nice surprise and made me laugh in a ‘gotcha’ sorta way.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:30 am
I’m not a great fan of the twist ending in general, but this one works very very nicely. Extremely effective short.
October 28th, 2008 at 3:31 am
oooh creepy. Great twist.
October 28th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Great start to my day. Very good work!
October 28th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Halloween freaky-good. I like the whole facebook concept so part of today’s world…thanks.
October 28th, 2008 at 4:37 am
I’m with Oonah. I suspected the end, but it was still creepy and it gave me the shivers. Well done!
October 28th, 2008 at 5:23 am
I wondered if Dave might be Darren, just because they had the same initial, but the ending still totally creeped me out. Really well done, Sylvia. I loved it!
October 28th, 2008 at 5:29 am
[...] you want to be creeped out, go read the story of the day at Every Day Fiction today, “Darren Is Updating His Facebook Status” by Sylvia Wrigley. I love the title… it’s so innocuous, especially when compared to [...]
October 28th, 2008 at 6:17 am
Sylvia, this is a classic horror story. Five stars. Congratulations on getting it right, even for a technophobe like me.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:00 am
Wow, I loved it! I actually had to go back to the begining to see if Darren was Dave. I couldn’t remember if he’d borrowed milk or not. I love the way you worked that little detail. Five out of five.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:05 am
this guy spends way too much time on facebook
October 28th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Actual goosebumps. I mean it.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:12 am
It’s been a long time since a story sent a shiver down my spine like that.
October 28th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Now, what if there’s a real Darren who is setting Dave up? Or if Beth is a psycho who doesn’t realise she did those things herself, and is projecting on Dave (who is about to get it in “self defence”)?
October 28th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
I can’t help it, but I keep wondering just why did Sylvia sprike Wrigley?
October 28th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
FIVE FIVE FIVE FIVE FIVE.
That is an awesome story. I want to see a movie of it. I’m going to go read it again, even though I know the end now.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
Too tired right now to think of anything more witty than what Kevin said – but all that, from me too. Wonderful.
October 28th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
This was creepy, glad I didn’t read it last night! Good read! -:)
October 29th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Oh my God! I still can’t believe that ending, it was just awesome!
October 30th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Thank you so much for all the wonderful comments. I was unexpectedly called away and it was great to come back and read the great response from EDF readers.
I knew some people would get it before the end but it’s a bit of a tightrope and I didn’t want to actively mislead. I’m pleased that those who did enjoyed it anyway.
“This guy spends way too much time on Facebook” made me laugh aloud. And a quick note to PM Lawrence – I’m not sure on your conjugation! Sprick Sprike Spruck? Thus Spruck Zarahustra….
Thanks again, this made my day.
I guess I better write something else, now…
October 30th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Strike, struck, stricken.
October 31st, 2008 at 5:14 am
Of course. Funny how I didn’t see the correlation because I was still looking at it as a name.
October 31st, 2008 at 9:40 am
Oh, that’s excellent. Really neat story.
November 3rd, 2008 at 5:41 am
Somehow that one gave me shivers up the spine not once but twice whilst reading it. Superb.
November 5th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Thanks for the kind comments.
I wish those who have recently voted this down had also left comments.
November 5th, 2008 at 9:09 am
People voted this *down?* Some people have no taste, I guess.
March 5th, 2009 at 12:47 am
5 stars for a GREAT piece of flash fiction! MORE, MORE, MORE!
August 22nd, 2009 at 11:33 am
This is really good!
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:08 am
That’s very creepy! (In a good way.)
January 3rd, 2010 at 9:36 am
Thanks