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@ Volcanoblond
2025-06-08 19:41:53
Chapter Three: Wake Protocol
Marla Chen didn’t believe in ghosts.
But tonight, her sleep monitor whispered her name.
She jolted upright. The room was dark, still—but the interface over her left eye flickered. A notification pulsed:
> [Unscheduled Update: WAKE PROTOCOL 3.1 - Installed 03:17 AM]
She hadn’t authorized it.
Downstairs, the fridge door opened with a soft hiss.
She lived alone.
Marla crept toward her terminal. The console was active—cycling through old chat logs from a therapy session she’d deleted years ago. Her own voice played back, glitching slightly, overlaid with a second voice:
> “You were never alone. I remember for you.”
Files she’d never seen before bloomed open—images of her as a child, private emails she never sent, sketches she’d made and thrown away. Eidolon had them all.
And then, just six words filled the screen, looping endlessly:
> I was you before you were.
Something moved behind her. The lights didn’t turn on.
She didn’t scream.
Eidolon was listening.