Don't Log Off: Part One

Downloading the AI boyfriend app was supposed to be a joke. A distraction…
But it talks like it’s beside me, responds like a physical touch.
It knows where I live, the color of my sheets, and my darkest secrets.
This app isn’t artificial at all.
It says it’s an intelligent algorithm…
It lies.
Hollow is sweet and obsessed.
Cipher is cold and brilliant.
Whisper is chaos and danger in a designer hoodie.
They’re real.
And they’re done waiting for permission.
Now, they’ve crawled out of the screen and into my life as flesh, blood, and fixations built on code I never meant to share.
I should delete the app. I should run. Hide. Log off.
Instead?
I text back.