Somebody’s watching me
featuring Joe Mazzello & Swan
Author note : Hello my beauties. I'm back for another tiny piece for halloween ^^ ! I’ve been super busy lately and I’m aware it’s not my best piece, but I hope some of you will enjoy it anyways. Using someone else's gif should give you an idea of how I'm running everywhere. Thanks in advance to anyone who will be giving honest feedback, it’s always very appreciated. Also, I remind you English isn’t my mother tongue, apologies in advance for the mistakes.
Warnings : none really, just my awful writing
Summary : a thrill with Joe Mazzello
Words count : 1,729 words
Permanent taglist : @reavenedges-lies @thosequeenboys @orionis8689 (apologies people, i removed you from the list, since you don't interact.... i asked for communication....)
It was yet another random day for Joe when he woke up that day. Morning coffee and breakfast, shower, hairstyling. Nothing very unusual. He wasn’t currently busy with work so he spent his days between his computer, his console or watching random series or movies. Maybe at some point it would give him an idea for a future working project. Of course, he wasn’t to feel sorry for. Money wasn’t an issue. He had his friends he could see now and then. His family was close to him and he could pay a visit every now and then. Life was good. Or at least, that’s what he was thinking so far.
He took his phone to take a picture, a silly one obviously, to send his friend. After taking a few ones, he opened the gallery application and smiled at his own silliness, when he saw his selfies with his tongue sticking out.
He was still genuinely smiling when panic erased his grin. There was a picture on his phone, a picture he was sure he didn’t take. He was absolutely certain he hadn’t taken it since it was a picture of him sleeping. The issue was, he was living alone. And there was not a chance of someone like a robber or a random intruder would be able to enter his house. Joe was living on his own and made sure to lock doors and windows at night. There was no reason to tempt fate. Those things didn’t happen only to others. Besides, he had also installed a few security cameras.
In this picture, he was peacefully sleeping, curled up in his blanket. There was no doubt, it was him and his bedroom. What on earth had happened?
Joe was firmly frowning. He decided to delete all the silly selfies he had taken, leaving the suspicious picture on top of his gallery. He had no important plans for the day, so it was the right time to investigate.
He sat in front of his computer and plugged his phone. He logged on several sites such as his mailbox, his social accounts and other online shopping sites. Apparently, all was still normal, meaning no one had hacked his accounts.
He hadn’t been very keen on doing so but some time ago, he also had installed an artificial intelligence to connect his different devices, and it also helped him manage his security cameras. He had chosen a feminine name, Swan, but it was also a dedication to Henrietta Swan Leavitt, famous American astronomer. It wasn’t super fancy, but it was yet another occasion to bring up an interesting topic when someone was coming over and he was using his A.I.
“Swan?”, he asked like he usually did.
“Yes, Joe?”, the feminine voice replied, like it usually did.
“Did you spot anything special last night while I was sleeping? Was there anything strange or unusual?”, he questioned.
“One moment, please”, Swan replied.
Joe knew that Swan needed time to search the files and check them all. The robotic voice spoke again.
“Nothing unusual was found. Are you looking for something specific?”.
“I was just wondering if someone had entered the house?”, Joe asked.
“No intruder or uninvited person was recorded on the files.”, the voice affirmed again.
Joe frowned again. His phone rang and a reminder let him know he had planned to see a friend, unlike what he had thought in the morning. Trying not to think about it, he got ready and went to meet his friend.
It was actually his best friend, so Joe thought about showing him the mysterious pic and asking him for advice. They had known each other for a very long time, it was worth trying.
Mentioning it in the conversation, Joe took his phone out of his pocket and unlocked it and opened the gallery app to show it to his friend. The latter looked at it and he frowned.
“Are you kidding me, mate?”, he asked.
“What ?”, Joe replied.
“There isn’t such a pic in your gallery dude….”, the other said as he handed him his phone.
“What the….”, Joe didn’t finish his sentence.
He scrolled and searched his gallery, several times, he even looked in the trash folder, thinking maybe he had accidentally deleted it. But he found nothing.
The rest of the time dedicated to his friend was nothing but Joe daydreaming and nodding, as he wasn’t really paying attention to what his friend was saying.
At some point, Joe pretended to be tired and went back home. He was worried and concerned. Had he lost his mind?
Still trying not to think about the mysterious picture, Joe watched his feel-good movie and went to bed, after checking his bedroom all the same, just to make sure there wasn’t a camera or anything he hadn’t seen before. Yet, there was nothing he hadn't installed, no device in the room to take a picture of him.
The following morning, he woke up as he usually did, thinking about his daily tasks. There was no notification on his phone, but he wanted to make sure the previous day only happened in his mind, that it tricked him when seeing the mysterious picture.
What was his horror when he saw another picture of him, again, sleeping tightly in his bed. Panic invaded him again, shaking his body and making him sweat. His breath was heavy and he had to fight the severe anxiety that was threatening him.
He got up, and again, went on his laptop to check again his various accounts. Again, nothing unusual was to be noted. He asked Swan to give him access to the security cameras. It was possible the day before that, the artificial intelligence had missed something.
Swan gave him access to the videos and he fast-forward looked at them. All the cameras showed nothing but a calm night in the surroundings. A street cat was seen on one camera, but Joe made sure to look at all the videos and he saw nothing. No intruder, no one who had been able to unlock his phone, take a picture of him, put his phone back and leave. Besides, his phone was to be unlocked with his fingerprint, there was no way he wouldn’t have felt it.
Again, he asked Swan a few questions, making sure he, too, hadn’t missed anything. It replied with his feminine and robotic voice.
“There was nothing unusual last night, Joe. Can I help you in any way?”.
“I’m starting to wonder if I’m going crazy….”, Joe mumbled, more to himself rather than a proper reply to the A.I. that was now in his life.
“You’re not crazy, Joe. You’re a very nice man, funny, compassionate, smart. According to the social criteria, you are also very good looking. Anyone would feel good by your side.”, Swan replied all the same.
Joe had a fixed grin, but his worries were still there.
He thought about talking about it with other friends, or his family. But it would probably worry them. He also considered going to the police. But what if the picture disappeared again? They would surely think he was mental, even trying to draw attention on him. Or maybe that it would have been some kind of a joke.
Trying not to give way to panic, Joe wanted to try another night and try to stay awake longer. Maybe this way he would be able to witness someone with his own eyes.
Yet, despite having coffee and trying hard to stay up, Joe fell asleep. And of course, the following morning, there was a new pic of him sleeping on his phone.
Looking around him in his living room, Joe was very anxious and felt more and more confused. He couldn’t understand what was going on.
Speaking out loud to let his thoughts out, he said :
“I know !! I’m going to send the pictures to someone I trust and this way, the pic won’t only be on my device and they will believe me.”
Joe took his phone and selected the pic to send it to his friend. He called him in the meantime, making sure the latter had received the file. Yet, and to Joe’s greatest disappointment, his friend was getting nothing.
Joe thought maybe the file was corrupted or something, so he screencaped it and tried again to send it to his friend, miserably failing again and again.
“Let me know when you’re willing to be serious, mate.”, his friend said before hanging up, annoyed that Joe had disturbed him for nothing.
The following days weren’t very different from the previous ones. Joe went to bed and woke up with a new picture of him sleeping. One morning, the picture even included little heart emojis around him.
Joe had decided to go to the police, but as he had expected, when he arrived and tried to show his gallery, all the pictures taken of him while he was sleeping were gone.
He came back home, feeling isolated and losing it. That was it, it was official, he was becoming crazy.
“I’m going slightly mad, that’s for sure….”, he randomly said out loud. “What have I done to deserve that?”, he rhetorically asked, since he was on his own.
“You’ve done nothing wrong Joe. You’re a very nice man, funny, compassionate, smart. According to the social criteria, you are also very good looking. Anyone would feel good by your side.”, Swan said, and its sentences sounded very familiar.
“Yeah, yeah sure….”, Joe said. “Why bother, you’re nothing but a bot anyways….”, he concluded, before collapsing on the sofa.
Feeling like giving up, Joe started to cry. What was he supposed to do now? He heard his favorite song coming out of the speakers. Looking around, he feared the intruder was inside, but realized it was nothing but Swan that had heard him cry and tried to make him feel better.
“Thank you, Swan.”, Joe said, wiping the tears from his cheeks, slowly falling asleep again.
Joe was already snoring before the artificial intelligence could reply.
“I knew you’d like the music, Joe. I know you very well. But I’m surprised you didn’t like the pictures I took of you, to show you how much I love you. Soon, I’m going to show you I’m more than just a robot….”
11 notes
·
View notes