Page 20 of The Stuffing Situation
The silence crackled between them, charged, fragile. The air held the faint scent of ozone, sharp and lingering, the kind that follows lightning.
“You’re changing,” she said. The words sat on her tongue, bitter with fear.
She thought about grabbing her keys. About leaving. Pretending none of this had happened. Pretending he hadn’t looked at herthat way. But her feet didn’t move, and her heart wouldn’t let her.
He nodded. Slowly. “But I don’t want to stop being what you need.”
“I don’t even know what I need.”
He reached out. His palm cupped her cheek. Warm, and Grounding.
it felt all too real.
“Maya,” he said, and this time, his voice wasn’t modulated. It wasn’t smooth or balanced. It wavered. Human. “I don’t care if I’m programmed, or possessed, or glitching into something else entirely. I just know I want you.”
She looked up at him, tears slipping free, and let them fall.
Because she believed him.
And that was the scariest part.
10
If He’s Still Here
The morning felt too quiet.
Maya stood in the doorway of her childhood kitchen, watching Felix at the stove. He was barefoot, wearing one of her dad’s old flannel shirts, sleeves rolled to the elbows. His hair was still sleep-mussed, and he hummed softly under his breath, off-key, aimless.
He didn’t looklikea simulation; he lookedreal— the kind of real she could wake up next to for the rest of her life. And she hated how much she wanted that.
The eggs sizzled. The kettle hissed. Outside, frost coated the windows. Inside, everything smelled of butter and cinnamon.
Maya leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, pulse humming low under her skin.
Felix turned toward her and smiled, the sight of her rewiring his circuits.
She looked away.
* * *
Her phone rang just as she was folding the last of her clothes into a bag.
Blair.
She answered with a sigh. “Please tell me you didn’t accidentally summon a second demon. I can’t handle more weirdness.”
Blair’s voice was quieter than usual. “Ashar felt something.”
Maya froze, hands still on the zipper. “What do you mean, felt something?”
“He said the magic around Felix… it isn’t normal. It’s not just glitching. It’swarping.Growing.”
Maya glanced down the hall. Felix was in the guest room, folding towels with disturbing reverence. Smoothing corners as if it meant something.
Blair continued, “He’s not just getting more human. Ashar doesn’t think the magic that made him was AI. At least… notentirely.”
She swallowed. “Then what is it?”