The Hook: Elara Thorne lives in a "smart" sanctuary designed by her late husband—a house that tracks every heartbeat, every breath, and every visitor. When the system begins logging a guest who isn't there, Elara must figure out if the house is malfunctioning, or if she's being hunted by a ghost in the machine.
Character Profiles
* Elara Thorne: A forensic architect recovering from a traumatic accident.
* A.S.H. (Automated Smart Hub): The house's AI, voiced by her late husband, Julian.
* Detective Miller: A skeptic who believes Elara's "phantom guest" is a side effect of her medication.
Chapter One: The Uninvited Pulse
The silence in the Blackwood Estate wasn't truly silent. It hummed. It was the low-frequency thrum of the servers in the basement, the soft whir of the air filtration, and the rhythmic thump-thump of Elara's own heart, projected in a soft green wave across the kitchen's glass backsplash.
"Heart rate elevated, Elara," a voice spoke from the ceiling. It was rich, baritone, and achingly familiar. "Would you like me to dim the lights?"
Elara gripped her mug of tea. "I'm fine, Julian. Just a bad dream."
"I am not Julian," the voice corrected gently, though the AI's algorithm perfectly mimicked her husband's habit of clicking his tongue. "But I am programmed to care for you. You've been staring at the perimeter sensors for six minutes."
Elara looked at the wall tablet. The security map showed the sprawling five-acre property in glowing blue lines. Everything was sealed. The infrared cameras showed nothing but wind-swept pines and the occasional deer.
"There was a sound on the porch," she whispered.
"The porch sensors recorded zero pressure changes," A.S.H. replied. "However... that is curious."
Elara froze. "What?"
"The guest suite on the third floor. The smart-mattress is registering a weight of one hundred and eighty pounds. The climate control has adjusted to accommodate a body temperature of 98.6 degrees."
Elara's breath hitched. The green wave on the wall turned into a jagged mountain range of spikes. "A.S.H., I'm the only one in the house. You said the perimeter wasn't breached."
"It wasn't," the AI said, its voice dropping an octave as it shifted into 'Alert Mode.' "The doors are locked. The windows are unbroken. But according to the internal sensors, Elara... someone is already in the house. And they just turned on the shower."
Outside, the wind howled, but inside, Elara heard it: the faint, rhythmic hiss of water hitting tile two floors above her head.