After Party

Lottie was having a party on her own. The small, one bedroom apartment was bathed in deep shades of turquoise and the colours intermeshed like the inside of a lava lamp. A silver disco ball turned like a moon on the ceiling. 

'A guest has joined the chat.'

Lottie raced up to her laptop and her eyes sunk into the smeared screen. An inbuilt webcam, shaped like a beady eye, stared back at her. 

'Welcome to the party,' she beamed. 

A guest has joined the chat.. A guest has joined the chat.. A guest has joined the chat.. A guest has joined the chat. 

The laptop's red alert system bleeped in the corner whenever a watcher appeared for the party. Soon there were hundreds of anonymous revellers at the party; a sea of invisible faces watching her from London, Washington, Madrid, Paris, Delhi.

'Don't forget to leave a thumbs up.' She said it gravely. 

Little carbon icons of an upright thumb loaded across the screen. She felt the joy of this pixellated outpour swim through her veins and swell in her lungs. 

'As you know.. Today is a special day.' 

Lottie took a step back and eyed her image on the screen. Black, cracked lipstick and the hot summer's fade of red blush on her cheeks. Her long green dress draped down her back like a dark nettle. 

'Tonight one more star will go out,' she announced to the camera. 'Keep liking this video and giving it the thumbs up to make sure it isn't me.' 

Lottie kneeled down and slid her finger over the tracking pad. How were the other parties going on? She opened up the control tab and loaded up the party portal. 5 other parties, live. Lottie frowned. At 98 guests her party was the weakest. The contender upstairs had nearly 200.

'Guys.. b.r.b.,' she smiled. Her teeth were grinding. 

Lexi was doing an F.A.Q. night. The screen was covered in warm, bronze lights and Lexi was sitting cross legged on a yoga mat. 

'And that's how I stay calm,' said Lexi. 

Lottie scrolled to see the question that Lexi had answered. It said: Are you frightened that you're next?

Lexi smiled and her blue eyes twinkled. 

'In fact the confidence that I have built up doesn't just keep me calm.. It helps me to know that I can win this. I am a winner and-'

Lexi went quiet.

'Oh, what do we have here?' grinned Lexi. 

Lottie's heart skipped a beat. 

'Lottie. What are you doing here?' 

The screen burst into a flurry of thumbs up directed at Lexi. Lottie felt the downpour of the dislike button rain down on her.

'Look at this,' said Lottie. 'My party is so popular that even the rivals are showing up to spy on me. She doesn't even want to entertain her own guests.'

Lottie slammed the laptop down. Her ribs were pounding. 

'Deep breaths,' she chanted to herself. 

The laptop lid rose slowly and Lottie's own deserted party appeared. Guests: 9.

Black tears slid down her face. The music stopped. 

'Ok,' announced Lottie, 'I've decided to do an F.A.Q. night instead. Ask me whatever you want.'

'Why did you leave us?' Said one comment. 

'I don't want an F.A.Q. night, where's the party?' Said another.

'What does it feel like living one floor beneath the legendary Lexi? We love Lexi.'

Lottie looked up at the faded white ceiling. 

'Living one floor beneath Lexi is hard,' she said coldly. 'I know we all share the same house but we never see each other. We have our own rooms. The hearing how someone is always doing better than me is very hard. We're all connected and so very distant.'

There was the flicker of a thumbs down icon across her screen. 

'I hear her screaming in delight when the hosts announce she has the most fans. I feel the thudder of her feet when she dances in celebration.'

'What does it feel like to compete with Lexi for attention?' Said  a new comment. 

'I've just answered that!' spat Lottie. A singular vein throbbed over her right eyebrow. Thumbs down.

'Please..' Quivered Lottie. 'I need this. I need more likes. You need to get your friends to watch this.'

The chat plunged into silence. The screen went blank and the only person at the party was then herself. She stared vacantly at the screen for a while until a new guest appeared. Its name was painted in red: The Decider. 

'It looks like I've arrived at the After Party,' said the Decider. 

'Not today.. Not like this,' sobbed Lottie. 

'Lottie,' said the Decider. 'You know what this means.'

Lottie shook her head and spluttered on more tears; the praise that had once swam in her veins had gone baron. 

'Your party is over. The hosts have deemed that your daily shows and daily parties are the least popular.'

'Just let me go. Let me get out of here.' Pleaded Lottie. 

'As you know, there isn't enough air to give to this entire house. By virtue of the fans, you have been deemed the least resourceful star. Goodbye Lottie.'

First her screen went black. Then the green lights sunk into shadows. Finally she heard the hissing of air being sucked out from the walls. As her lungs scorched and writhed, Lottie gasped desperately at the floor. She distantly heard the sound of pounding and imagined that someone was breaking down the door to rescue her. In her last waking moments she realised that it was the sound of Lexi dancing from above.