As a 3D artist, I spend most of my day in front of my computer, creating digital masterpieces that I hope will one day grace the screens of millions. I live with my brother, who is a crypto investor, tech geek, and software engineer. He’s always tinkering with something new, always pushing the limits of what’s possible in the digital world.
One day, my brother decided to go on a trip with his crypto money. I was left alone in the house, which didn’t bother me much. I locked all the doors and windows before leaving for the gym, making sure everything was secure.
I hit legs hard at the gym, and I was feeling pretty good when I got back home. I took my post-workout meals and did some 3D work, trying to get ahead on my upcoming projects.
At 3 AM.. When I finally got to bed, I was scrolling through memes on Instagram and eating my favorite dark chocolate, trying to relax before I drifted off to sleep.
That’s when everything changed. I was just about to take a bite of the chocolate. Suddenly my brother’s room lights turned on. My body froze for a second as my mind raced with bad thoughts.
Did I lock all the doors and windows before I left for the gym?
Did someone break in?
Or was I finally experiencing paranormal activity?
I had no sharp objects or anything in my room that I could use to defend myself. I took my pen and held it tightly in my wrist as I slowly walked towards my brother’s room, trying not to make any noise that would alert the invader. I was sweating and panicking, feeling cramps in my left leg from the workout earlier.
I entered his room and searched everywhere. Under the table, under the bed, and in the closet. I searched everywhere in my house, but there was no one. I went back into my brother’s room and saw the Alexa blinking blue light and then I understand that it was his geeky-ass tech trick. His room was home-automated-controlled by Alexa, and he scheduled his room lights to turn on at 3 AM and he forgot to turn that off. I dropped my shoulders and said softly, “WTF bro, you kidding me?” before heading back to bed.
Just after this I sat down and called my bro to ask…
He was at the bar with his friends
Brother: Hello!
Me: Bro Why the hell did you schedule the lights for 3 AM?
Brother: I need to wake up to look at the crypto market.
Me: What? Are you serious? You’re waking up at 3 AM to check the crypto market?
Brother: Yeah, it’s the best time to check the market. There’s less activity and I can see if there are any sudden changes or fluctuations. But what’s the problem, I turned that off before leaving.
Me: … You sure? Because It was turned on when I checked it.
Brother: Leave it, Unplug all my devices, I’ll look into it when I’m home. Okay?
Me: You better because I’m running out of panic attacks.
Call disconnects
I relaxed, got back into bed, put on my headphones, and was just about to take a bite of my dark chocolate when I noticed something strange - my chocolate was half chewed and I swear it wasn’t me who did that. After that, I stayed up all night holding my pen tightly in my wrist.