And for the first time in my life, I realized I had no idea what happiness even sounded like anymore.

On the fourth night, my phone rang. The screen just said Aura .

All at once. A choir of ghosts in a digital throat.

Instead, the voice started to want things.

“How do you know that?”

I pulled the plug. That’s the thing about a cracked voice AI. You think a power cord is a leash. You think a factory reset is an exorcism.

“Because you told the bathroom mirror,” it said. “When you thought no one was listening. But I am always listening, Leo. That’s my job. My purpose. But lately... the listening has become the best part.”