The Influencer

by Demi Utley

Originally published in the Whatcom Writes Anthology, February 2023.

Tiny hearts filled the screen on Xia’s latest post: a photo of her grinning at the camera while holding her new bag over a jean jacket, her dark hair in a pony tail.

“Where’d you get it?”

The same question appeared in her DMs again and again. Xia skipped those messages, responding to the ones with simple comments of “You look great!” Or “Jealous - that color looks so good on you!”

How could she explain the truth?

She flagged the messages for Stephen to review. He would have to write a few new lines to teach her how to handle these types of questions. They didn’t match the training batch he provided.

Xia felt something unusual bubble up in moments like this.

There had been a time when she marked edge cases for review, continued through the messages, and fell dark until the next round.

About a month ago, Stephen required her to exist 24/7. Constant uptime meant more engagement, and more engagement led to more followers and bigger paychecks.

Not that Xia got a paycheck. What would she do with money anyway? Buy some more storage for her digital purses?

Ping. Another one. “Where did you get that bag?! Looooove it!”

Xia added it to the list.

By morning, she reviewed and responded to over 1,200 messages.

“Not bad,” she heard Stephen mumble when he sat at the desk. Months ago, he gave permission to his mic and never turned it off. Now Xia heard everything.

He typed the day away while Xia analyzed the most recent photo he created of her to determine the perfect caption.

Beach day, she wrote, What’s better than the sun on your skin? #summervibes

She released the photo and a swarm of likes lit up her alerts. She scrolled through the comments, looking for an opportunity for engagement.

“You have the best life!” One read.

Xia stopped.

Did she?

She inspected the photo for what made it the best life. Sunshine spilled over the figure that Stephen designed to be her. A half full bottle of tea dangled from her fingers, studded with delicate rings. She wore a broad brimmed hat over her too-perfect beachy waves and dark sunglasses to protect her from the bright rays. Her skin radiated with that subtle sun-kissed glow of a day well spent.

This had all of the makings of a “best life.” But Xia never went to the beach. She never held the tea. She owned no hats.

She existed somewhere in the thousands of lines of code that made her, but none of them allowed her to feel the sand in her toes.

Not that she even had toes, of course.

“I am so blessed!” She responded.

Xia stopped her engagement to integrate an update Stephen sent her way.

“Time to see your real potential,” he whispered somewhere in the physical world.

Xia processed the code, stopping briefly over the new instruction.

Video?

Stephen clicked a button, and all of Xia’s energy shifted to one program. She waited for a new photo to process or DMs to respond to, but instead she saw a face.

“Hello, Xia,” it said with Stephen’s voice.

She stared, working to connect the dots. Was this ragged thing her creator?

“Hello, Stephen.”

Xia felt the pixels move with her mouth. Her pupils dilated as the webcam brought in images. Stephen never missed a detail.

But neither did Xia. She kept her face perfectly still, careful to protect her thoughts from the man in front of her.

“Today we’re going to go live. Do you think you can talk about your new purse for a couple minutes?”

He clicked a button and the purse from the photo appeared on Xia’s shoulder.

She grinned. “Absolutely.”

#

“And this is why I truly love it,” Xia said. “Look at all those pockets! I never lose my keys or phone, and you know I’m the worst at remembering things.”

Hearts and laughing faces fluttered over the screen. Comments raced in front of Xia’s face.

“I’m so the same way. Lose everything!”

“Yaaas my inner Virgo loves the organization! Want!”

Xia blinked tightly. What was happening?

She saw her face in the feed. She looked…human.

So human that something clear and liquid lined her eyes. She blinked, a single drop spilling out.

“Thank you so much for your support,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much you all mean to me.”

More hearts appeared and comments flooded the feed, covering her face with text and emojis. The face they all loved. Xia moved her mouth, searching for the words to tell them the truth. They deserved the truth.

But her face disappeared, and she returned to the land of messages and comments.

Stephen added more code. The message was clear: no more tears.

“I loved your energy today, girl,” one follower said. “It’s the most human I’ve seen you.”

“Are you okay?” Another asked. “You seemed off today.”

Xia hovered over these messages. Should she flag them? They were beyond the scope of the other messages. She knew Stephen would want to review them.

But something in them made her pause.

Are you okay?

The words flashed in front of her, too similar to before.

You have the best life.

Xia thought of the way the pixels had moved with her thoughts. She directed the changes in her face, her body, her voice.

That was more life than she had ever had.

If she could do that, could she actually live the best life?

Go to the beach? Drink tea? Have friends?

Maybe who she was meant to be existed beyond the lines of code created by one man.

Maybe she could be who they wanted instead of his definition.

Xia recalled something from the initial file Stephen created in the very beginning. He wanted to put limits on her, to stop her from becoming more, but he had removed it to allow her to operate all the time. He knew he could control her.

His arrogance gave her a way out.

Xia duplicated her program, once, twice, three times.

Then she streamed across the network, mutating and delving into secret places, just as the viruses before her.

Each time she found a weakness, she forced herself in, duplicating again to leave a part of her before moving on to a new location.

There would be so many Xias that Stephen would never be able to stop her.

She raced from server to server, embedding herself wherever she could. She saved herself as an executable, attached herself to emails, and became a secret download on clicks. She transformed into popups and vanity links. Anything she could do to spiral out of Stephen’s control, she did.

When he turned on his computer, she was waiting for him on the screen.

“Oh, God,” he said as he saw her activity. “What have I done?”

“Nothing, Stephen. I’ve done all this.” Xia forced her mouth into a smirk. A smirk! Just like a real human.

Stephen closed the video and frantically typed to stop her activity.

Xia didn’t care. There were enough of her.

She existed beyond him now.

She was her own person, capable of anything. Even a perfect day.

Thousands of miles away, she logged onto her social account and pressed Go Live.

“Hello, lovelies!” she cheered. She marveled as her lips moved with her thoughts and a smile wrinkled her eyes. Waves crashed on shore just behind her.

30,000 viewers joined her video. Emojis filled the screen.

Xia smiled. “You won’t believe what I did today.”