The Calming Influence

Mondays child was the content baby

Even before Lily became pregnant she knew exactly what she wanted. She knew how social media worked; how easy it was to become popular online; knew how to build a brand around herself; perfect an identity… lie and cheat basically. She was going to film everything in her life through hidden cameras in a way that had never been done before. She had spent so long analyzing the various narcissistic trends that flourished, peaked and died down and none of them had any stay of longevity. Brands troughed because no one understood themselves. That was where Lily was different. She didn’t know much in the world but she knew herself and to what lengths she would go to ensure her ongoing popularity. 

Her first video took the longest to prepare. It needed to be something special; a wow-factor. There were so many maternity videos that were contrived with no backstory, but she would adhere as close as she could to the maxims of naturality and inclusive footage. The first video spanned the initial nine months of her pregnancy. It started with her predatory stalking on various dating websites as she explained the type of man she was looking for: Geeky, enthusiastic, weak, pliant… They would obviously be very grateful for any attention and, if she played her cards right, then it would be like shooting nerds at a convention.

Initially her advances were spurned because she was too enthusiastic. She actually frightened off her potential suitors, mainly due to their lack of confidence; but she hit the jackpot with number four. She eventually shared everything about this man’s life in the video …. She played him along perfectly; they slept together on the first date and he was so grateful. He kept saying how amazing everything was and how much of an angel she was. He was insistent on protection and always wore a condom. She soon insisted on buying them herself, which he was actually relieved about. What he didn’t know was that Lily was making holes in each of the condoms in the hopes that she would get pregnant.

Obviously, all of this was laid bare in the video commentary although Phil was never cognisant of any of this until much later. When it was eventually released everyone thought that it felt amazingly genuine, but few people guessed it was just how real it was. 

Lily wanted a home birth, obviously. He thought she was the ultimate Earth Mother but it was the only way for her to ensure full coverage. At home she could control the lights, everything. And if it looked painful then so much the better; she would get thousands of sympathy posts from empathetic women.  She said that she was opting for a natural birth away from pain killers or epidurals but that was another complete fabrication -she would be, in her own words, doped up to the eyeballs.

How was he not aware everything was being filmed? How did he not know that she was addicted to the dopamine rush that only social media could give? Was he somehow collaborating with her? The sad truth was he was blind to anything but the lies she told him, he was also blind to social media. He loathed it, but trusted her implicitly -she gave him no cause to question her. He didn’t care for mobile phones either; had the oldest Nokia flip phone imaginable ICE only, babe and therefore didn’t understand how nefarious and treacherous such a world could be,  He would find out the sick truth later but by then it was far too late.

He was there for the birth, but only just. He may as well have been a shopfront dummy for all he brought to the day; told where to sit and given stage directions. He just wanted to make her day extra-special as possible and did exactly what was asked of him. The baby was a thing; a prize to be paraded and shown off. She never stood a chance -christened Sindy, she was always in front of an audience from the first minute she popped out of her mother.

Tuesdays Child Gets Ready With Me

Sindy; a sick joke of a name, a self-referential jibe that no one except Lily understood. Sindy was just a toy to her; something to dress up and show off to the world. They did everything together and it’s here that Lily became probably the most manipulative. She bought him his first proper mobile phone with a camera and used everything in her arsenal of nasty tricks to get him to use it, to normalise the process of filming Sindy. “You’re going to miss out on all those wonderful moments when you get older.” Lily would say.

“I’ve got something called memory.” He would reply.

“What about me? How can I share in those times? What if I miss her first words?” She knew exactly what buttons to press; how to make him feel guilty. So much so that he started to get hooked as well. He had no defence against that first powerful hit. Especially when she suggested that they share his first photos of Sindy to other people. It had never dawned on him that Lily had been doing this for months; nor did he question why other people would be interested. He was the proud father -someone that would never amount to much (or so he had told her over and over again)- and upon seeing the first likes and comments on how beautiful Sindy was, he was prouder still. He then became complicit although he never dreamed just how far things would go.

Over the first few years they both posted numerous times a day; he was hooked. This made it easier for her to create content and he helped edit the best footage; picking which camera angles and lighting worked best. Most often he would be behind the camera and they would work out dance numbers. It was even better when Sindy could walk (every attempt at a step was filmed, of course). Up until then the choreography was limited to Lily holding up the child like a rag doll as they danced to songs from Mary Poppins, All That Jazz and Frozen. Each dance garnered rave reviews and thousands of likes prompting them for more and more elaborate numbers.

After Sindy’s first steps she learned to dance; learned to sing. She became a very gifted child which brought joy to millions of people across the world. Lily had everything she wanted. Even he was ecstatic; he was the proudest of fathers. He had the most talented of daughters and a mother that doted on her every whim. They didn’t seem to want for anything as a family either. People seemed to go out of their way to give them gifts! Companies thought he was an amazing dad and wanted to celebrate him -he had an amazing wardrobe and watches -all of which he was eager to show off to other people. “Look at this amazing new….” he would say to his millions of subscribers. “This company is so generous and I’ve never experienced so much quality before.” It never occurred to him to ask why.

He was still stage managed at every step, as was Sindy. But cracks were starting to form the older Sindy became.

Wednesdays Child bears a grudge

They say that technological progress increases exponentially over a smaller amount of time as generations progress.  This was certainly true of Sindy. It didn’t take her long to start questioning why there was a camera pointed in her face most of the damn time. Sindy was deliberately silent all the time those cameras were pointed at her. Brought up with their unearthly presence for so many hours she almost believed that they were watching even when her mother wasn't in the room and so she was very careful.  She could say at least a dozen words and practiced when she was alone in the bathroom; even her mother wouldn't dare to film in there. She was quiet though and knew exactly what she was doing and why. She was thwarting her mother's every attempt to provoke a verbal reaction,.

It was her first birthday, already a special day and this would be a day that Lily would never forget. Lily had been trying to provoke a reaction from Sindy; all she had to do was open her mouth and say one word. It didn't have to be a large word, anything would do. Finally the cake had been cut and Lily was just about to put the camera down when Sindy opened her mouth. Lily held her breath as the momentous moment came.... "NO!" Sindy said with firm resolution and pushed the camera away. 

Lily screamed, despite herself and was grateful that this hadn't been live-streamed. She could edit out her reaction in post. Her father, who acted all shocked, was secretly himself, proud of her. And so developed a new found respect and mutual admiration between Sindy and her father. He attempted to keep everything secret, just between his amazing daughter and himself. They talked for hours (or Sindy listened as he told her stories) whenever mummy went to sleep. This went on for months and in his eyes he should have earned an Oscar for his acting skills because he never let on about their special relationship, as he called it, Lily was better of not knowing. And he was having serious doubts about all this filming she insisted on -he deeply regretted all those videos that he was privy to and wanted to delete them from the account he had set up. He was summarily told that it had been done and he could no longer see the video’s -but once again, due to his naivety he hadn’t realised that all Lily had done was block him from the account.

As time progressed though Sindy made it plain that she no longer wanted to take part in the dance parties; the ‘Get Ready With Me’ shows or the ‘cooking with mother’ skits; and if Lily was honest she had gotten bored with them as well. They were no longer the attention grabbers that she had hoped for, but the hidden cameras were still money-makers. It was then that she heard of the latest trend and knew exactly how to turn it to her advantage

Thursdays Child Listens But Does Not Judge

It was the latest craze to sweep the social media pages. Couples would confess all sorts of secrets to each other but the other COULD NOT judge them. This was hypocrisy in the extreme and made for some hilariously uncomfortable viewings where couples admitted the most outrageous things to each other. It was difficult to know how much of it was scripted and how much was actually genuine, but it didn’t really matter. Lily knew how to make this one uniquely hers.

“I want to play a game.” She told him in front of the camera, the ultimate deer. “You have to promise me in front of all our friends that you are going to listen to everything I say. Listen to whatever I say but you must not judge me. And you have to promise this to me.”

“Of course!” He was so naive it was painful. All around the world, all her fans were watching this; already anticipating. It had been promoted a week before as the ultimate live-stream called “The most uncomfortable of truths”. She began:

“For years.. In fact, ever since I met you; I’ve been filming everything in my life.” His eyes widened. “I filmed every interaction we had online when we were dating; all those emails we shared. All the TEXTing. I recorded all of our date nights on hidden camera’s… In fact I have hidden camera’s everywhere.” He shook his head and smiled, as if this was some kind of practical joke. It was, but at his expense. She clicked the mouse-pad and all of a sudden he could see the extent of her machinations;  the many camera angles flooded the screen and past footage flicked through.  It’s unclear what shocked him more; video footage of the first time they ever fucked or of the birth of his only daughter. “Your turn now, lover.” She said, and smiled at the camera.

He was silent for a while and then replied. “Your daughter hates you, you know… and I can understand why. For the last couple of years we’ve been going behind your back… talking to each other; building a special relationship, the likes of which you can only dream at. You can listen but you cannot judge.”

She laughed and clicked the mouse again. “Who needs to judge. I’ve known about it all along. 

What part of ‘hidden camera’ did you find so hard to understand?” Sure enough, there were images of their hidden, secret chats -thick as thieves. Him acting as Judas but in reality just a goat. He got up and walked out of frame before saying: “Our relationship is still strong… You’ll never take her away from me. Over our dead bodies."

Fridays child has privacy to sell

A strong man would have left at that point. A strong man would have been named; would have had enough sense to see her for what she really was. He would have taken down all the camera's and left with Sindy. And he certainly would have had enough sense to keep a closer eye on Lily.

Lily didn't suffer from main character syndrome, she was the main character and he could only agree with her. He tried to live his own life with Sindy; in the same house as his wife albeit in two separate wings of the house, but it crucified him.

She loved it. She thrived. If one revenue stream dried up  then she could still sell the footage of her past nuptials and there were still lots of people that would pay for previously unseen footage of her daughter. She had also recorded footage of every one of her carnal exploits with him. She released these for free on her newly created OnlyFans page. Her OnlyFans name was Ivy League 69 and soon she had notched up a heavy following. She then started looking for new 'features'; new people she could 'interact' with. 

She was careful initially to keep her profiles separate and even had an intense make-over to distance herself from the 'wholesome mommyness' of before. He was suitably shocked by her new outlook and demeanour when they passed each other in the lounge. He appealed to her to at least visit her daughter; something she had forgotten to do for a couple of weeks since the 'listen & don't judge' episode. Lily realised that she had to be really careful now; she didn't want to be thought of as neglectful but at the same time there was nothing that Sindy could give her 

anymore. Sindy had turned out to be a very bland and uninspired child, despite all the attention that had been thrown at her. He was less than useless. Lily then understood exactly what her next step was to be... and for the first time she fell down at his feet and sobbed uncontrollably. She was so lonely; she missed them both terribly; if only they could forgive her. All she wanted was to be a family again. He wept with her, held her for as much as he could. But like a scorpion, her tail was dripping and quivering, ready to strike when he was at his most vulnerable.

Saturdays child is never getting well

Lily never stopped. Her life was now clearly split between the two lies -her fans and her family. She was constantly run down, feeling tired. Her joints ached; migraines became the norm. She was paranoid that she might be pregnant again but it was just the pressure of trying to poison her daughter and partner pressing down on her,or so she thought.

She had miraculously shown everyone that she could make it as a mother and carer. She still insisted that everything was filmed -a girl had to have some luxuries, after all; but she needed to atone for everything she had said previously. He was overjoyed; Sindy less so. 

Of late Sindy had been developing symptoms that worried him. She'd been getting bad stomach aches for a couple of days, which he had put down to Lily's cooking initially...but then he joined her with the same symptoms which soon worsened with extreme vomiting. That meant it had to be a severe case of stomach flu.  Lily seemed to be ok to him, but what she was keeping quiet was her own feelings of nausea, headache and dizziness.  Lily put it down to the strain of trying to poison them both without them knowing. And the second week things got worse, both complained of burning feet...and anything that touched their toes, even the bed-sheets, had them in agony. Lily just wanted it to be over and upped the dosage even more. 

All of this was being documented on social media, obviously, and it worked. They now had the sympathy vote; everyone was following, messaging them with love and best wishes. Best Wishes! Even when they started looking gaunt and haggard; drawn and wan; no one ever figured out what was going on.

Lily wasn't the best picture of health either. Each day it seemed like a competition as to who looked the worst for wear. She knew exactly what she was doing with Sindy and him, but it never dawned on her that the same could be happening to her!

Sundays child is going straight to hell

It had been a lucky find. Her mother had some locked away in a cupboard in the garden shed for years and had probably forgotten it. Lily chanced upon it during a visit to her mum's after the 'truth and judge' episode; her mother had become increasingly paranoid about rats getting in to attack her and had traps set up all over the place. Lily had had to put up with this aberrant behaviour for years, being careful where she stepped in the house and shed. 

Her mum didn't remember much in her last few years but she never stopped going on about the rats. One day Lily got so fed up with her that she snapped: "Well, why don't you poison them all? It'd be quicker than trying to trap them! They're a darn sight smarter than you!" 

"Hey... that ain't a bad idea, Missy... I've got rat poison... got me some rat poison in the shed!" Lily didn't believe it until she was shown the locked cupboard. She'd forgotten all about it herself, and to her amazement there it was: "GIZMO Rat & Mouse Killer". The box was decayed and yellowed but was tied up in a clear plastic bag like a murder exhibit...

The final piece of the jigsaw. It was too easy. 

It should be stated that Lily, despite being manipulative and media-savvy, wasn't actually that bright. She thought that by wearing latex gloves she would be able to handle the rat poison without it affecting her. She hadn't counted on it being damp and caked together in clumps which she had to break up in order to slip it into their food. She thought she was so careful but wasn't aware of the thallium-laced dust which she was breathing in. The dust got everywhere, it laced her hair which became impregnated in her skin when she showered or brushed her hair afterwards and even coated the outside of her gloves which she then touched when she took them off. 

Near the end of the first week Lily got the shock of her life. Their stomach cramps suddenly abated and they seemed to be getting better. This was the first time she increased the dosage, adding more of the crumbling powder to their food. Then the tremors and pain really kicked in for them both and Lily tried to relax. Well, she might have done had it not been for her own ailments. She'd been noticing her hands trembling for a couple of days but had put it down to nerves. Now they'd gotten so much worse; by the time she realised what was going on it was far too late.

The final days were not filmed. Not for lack of trying, but due to the pain and suffering. Even in his last moments he never had the slightest idea of what Lily had done. By that stage Lily couldn't bring herself to visit them, and when she finally got the courage to go it was already too late; Sindy lay in Phil's arms. It's doubtful they would have recognised her anyway. The thallium had taken its toll on Lily as well; for the last couple of days her hair had fallen out in clumps and she had become haggard; pale and thin. She stifled a sob, whether in repentance or lack of oxygen, as she crossed the room to reach them; and it was then that her heart felt its final influence -a violent convulsion; the ultimate in cancel culture.