This Content Will Be Disturbing

“You don’t have to wait for death. We will make you memorable now. Welcome to The Dead Girl Society. We will be in touch with next steps. In the meantime, continue curating content that you wish to be remembered for. If you accept, there is no option to rescind. The full Terms and Conditions can be accessed here or on our website.”

 

I smiled when I got the invitation. I crumpled onto the sofa, my eyes trained on the app’s notification.

 

I accepted without reading the Terms and Conditions. I had glanced over them a few years back. Nothing probably had changed.

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I had been working on this for so long. It had been the focus of my entire high school online presence. By the time I had hit my freshman year of high school, I had almost given up hope that I was ever going to be selected. Not many college-aged girls were selected, but I decided to apply one more time on a whim. I’m so glad that I did.

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I sat staring at my phone, tears forming in the corner of my eyes. I read the invitation over and over again, making sure each word meant what I thought it had meant.

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I wondered which collection was the one that tipped the scale in my favor. Was it the dead girl crime scene collection that I worked on last year, that almost got me expelled? Or, perhaps the tragic-core collection from my sophomore year in high school? It didn’t matter, I had been selected!

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I touched up my makeup, some pale foundation and dark undereye shadow. I snapped a few photos of me laying on the couch, my hair splayed behind me and my arm draped off the couch. I rolled my eyes to the back of my skull. A few truly perfect photos for a Dead Girl.

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The next day, I got the promised follow-up email while I was in class. I almost dropped my phone in my haste to read it. 

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“Anna, we are so excited to be memorializing you, and it’s a pleasure to have the opportunity to review the full library of your content. You have done an excellent job of grouping your content by theme, and some of the topics you cover are very relevant and on trend. We are so glad to have the opportunity to memorialize you. We will be sending a notice of some content that we will be pushing and other content and relationships we will be de-prioritizing. Take care!”

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Memorialize me? De-prioritizing? Strange phrasing. I shrugged.

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“Hey, Anna! That was quite a lecture, wasn’t it?”

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I plastered on a smile and turned around. It was Todd, I had known him in high school and we both transferred here for a marketing major. He was in a lot of my classes and I was pretty sure he had a crush on me. 

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“Yeah, it sure was,” I said. Truth be told, I hadn’t heard a word of the lecture. My mind was still consumed with the prestige of finally being a Dead Girl. 

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“You looked a little distracted during class today. Are you doing ok?” he said, following me out of the room.

“Yeah, I’m doing really well, actually.” I debated telling him about the Society. 

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I looked at him, actually looked at him for the first time since high school. He was tall with brown hair and glasses. If he dressed better and less like a computer nerd, he would be really handsome. Maybe I should give him a shot…

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I had just broken up with Mike. He was a handsome jock type who I found making out with his roommate’s girlfriend at a party. 

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“I just got accepted into a group that I had been hoping to get into for quite some time. I’m just really excited, is all,” I said.

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“Is it that Girl Society or Dead Girls, or something like that?” he asked. “The one where they immortalize you before you die?”

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“How did you know that?” I asked.

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“I remember you had mentioned it in high school. I ran into you while you were taking selfies of you on the trail, like you had been murdered on a crime scene. You thought I was crazy for not knowing what you were talking about. Admittedly, I went home and looked it up. They are pretty legit, traded on the stock exchange and everything. I thought it was weird at the time, but you seemed really happy.”

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I laughed. “Do you think it’s still weird?”

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“A little,” he said. He gulped after saying it. “But, people think it’s weird that I play a jacked-up seven foot tall gorgon on my computer game. So, to each their own.”

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I smirked.

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Once we got outside, he said, “Hey, I’m going to an around the world party this Friday. Maybe you should come with me?” 

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“I would like that,” I tucked my hair behind my ear. “It’s a date.”

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“Sweet. Great! It’s a date! I’ll see you there,” he said. He could barely contain his smile. He tripped when he walked off.

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“Bye,” I said, smiling and walking to my dorm.

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I posted a smiling picture of me in front of the fountain with the sun behind me.

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I hummed and danced around most of the evening, even doing my marketing essay that was due tomorrow. I was cheerful and was excited when I met Todd at the party. I hadn’t had butterflies on a date since a date with my long-time high school crush.

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It was a fun party. We danced in the Sri Lanka room, chugged a beer in the Germany room, and kissed in the Canada room. 

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I snapped some photos and posted them to my social media. I was having a great time and wanted everyone to know it.

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I woke up the next morning a bit hung over, but in a good mood. 

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I pounced on my phone when it went off. It was a notification from The Dead Girl Society. 

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“Anna, we have flagged some connections and some recent posts that we don’t believe are a fit for your image. We are also going to push some posts that reinforce your curated identity. This will drastically improve the memorialization process.”

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I swallowed hard as I looked down the list of flagged images and connections. A number of my life-long friends were on the list, along with Todd. All the photos from last night were flagged for de-prioritization. Even the photo of me smiling by the fountain was flagged.

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“Oh no,” I mumbled. 

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I thumbed through the list of photos that were going to be pushed. They were posts of me as a crime scene, a few that I found funny like Mike choking me “to death,” and a lot of the ones of Mike and me at the beach. I noticed the bruise he left on my neck in a few of the photos.

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My pulse thundered in my ears.

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I didn’t want this out in the world. I didn’t want Todd seeing this, thinking that I was with Mike still, or hung up on him. I didn’t want those bruises to be seen.

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I tried to find some kind of customer support number for the Society. I couldn’t find a number or email. I replied to the last message.

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“Hello, please don’t post the photos of Mike or the ones of him choking me. I’m no longer with him and I don’t want them posted.”

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The answer came back quicker than I thought. 

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“Anna, the Terms and Conditions stated that all photos that were posted to social media were able to be pulled from to determine your image and ‘memory bank.’ The photos show you as someone fun-loving, stable, and artistic. They have already been added to the permanent image registry attached to your name and cannot be changed. I should also remind you that closing social media is against the Terms and Conditions, as well as the creation of alias social media platforms, but continued posting is encouraged to refresh and curate new material for the life highlight reel. Good day.”

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I almost threw my phone. I looked up the Terms and Conditions. I swore when I read them. 

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I tried to think of some kind of explanation I could give Todd. I just hoped that maybe he wouldn’t see the posts.

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That hope was shattered the next day. My posts went viral. The whole class looked at me when I stepped in.

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“Can you believe she’s the most recent Dead Girl?”

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“I’m so jealous. I’ve been applying for years!”

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“She really is a force to be reckoned with. So timeless.”

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“I wish my boyfriend was that hot. Damn, she was a lucky girl.”

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“How did she get selected? I would have made a better Dead Girl.”

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There were so many whispers.

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I looked around the class. Todd was not here. I watched the door to see if he was just late, but thirty minutes in, I realized he was probably not coming.

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I snuck a peek at my phone while the professor was looking at the whiteboard. My socials were on fire. I had almost quadrupled followers and had a few invitations from prospective sponsors.

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There was also a Dead Girl Society app notification. “Congratulations! You are now trending on multiple platforms. We are so excited to see how you are evolving within your established identity.”

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“Anna? I know you are the newest Dead Girl, but please put your phone away,” the professor said.

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My face burned hot. I put my phone down. I glanced at the door to see if Todd might walk through them. 

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He said I looked so happy in the photos from the party. He told me he didn’t think I looked happy in most of them, except those.

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Where was he?

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I unlocked my phone from under my desk. I reposted one of my curated photos. “Living the #DeadGirl life. #blessed #deadgirlsociety #deadgirlwalking.”

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I will never be forgotten again. And, that’s the only thing worth counting on.