Hello everyone, hope all are having a lovely day. A few days ago this prompt was made by the excellent /u/jpeezey and was deservedly popular. I had an idea for a story so wanted to post it here and encourage others to go back to that prompt. There were some really good stories in it.

Thank you for reading, have a lovely day!

“Beth, I love your new place!”

Beth smiled wide, dimples appeared and her eyes danced with glee. “Isn’t it the best? I love it, so worth the wait to find a new place.”

Her friend nodded. “Oh yeah, especially how long you stayed at that last dump. You really deserve to be happy here.”

Beth shivered, unpleasant memories briefly clouding the gleam of her new home. With a sigh like the wind she blew the memories away, letting her new home shine. “No kidding, I still don’t know how I lasted at that nightmare.” She patted the counter top. “But, so worth it for this place. It’s small but cozy and it just feels like home. No more holes in the wall, no more ragged carpet, moldy cabinets. Everything just feels better.”

Lindsey giggled, happy for her friend. “What I’m really jealous about is your smart A.I. I thought mine was good but yours is amazing. Where did you get it?”

Beth shrugged. “Came with the condo. Not too sure who made it or where it came from, the company that refurbished the place gets lots of weird third party A.I.s, keeps the costs down. I’ll admit and say I was a little worried cause I’ve heard some bad reviews about the weirder ones they pick. But Aegis is so good!” Beth gently touched the interface screen on the wall, the screen lit up with a soft blue light and a chirp. “It does so much. Turns lights on and off, changes the temperature, opens the windows, helps me do simple searches online, controls the cameras. I’m still finding out things it will do.”

Lindsey rolled her eyes. “I’m so jealous, and you said yours keeps things organized? Like your emails and calendar?”

“Not just that, come here!” Beth beckoned and opened the pantry door revealing cans and boxes. “Aegis will help me figure out when things are going out of date or when I’m running low, then send me a message on my phone to get more. Apparently that sensor there,” she pointed at a camera at the back of the pantry,” is super sensitive. So if I keep the expiration dates pointing it will let me know. Also it does soft estimates of my item usage and will alert me when I need more. Isn’t that the best?”

Her friend shook her head. “That’s insane. Like, that must be some crazy programming to do that. My A.I. Is one of the most advanced ones on the market and it can’t do that. I wonder why Aegis is considered third party? Must have been super expensive for most people.” she poked around the pantry. “So it helps you keep things grouped? Must be a glitch here, there’s some candy hidden behind your fruits and healthy snacks.”

A giggle. “Oh no, that’s on purpose. I always keep some candy stashed behind the fruit like that...”

Lindsey looked up, concerned when Beth suddenly stopped talking. “You okay Beth?”

The woman shook herself, as if doused with cold water. “What? Oh yeah I’m okay. No I was saying that my Grandpa used to hide candy behind the fruit and healthy snacks. Grandma always kept a close eye on my sugary snacks and things, even had a little notebook keeping count on how much I had. She thought they were too bad for normal consumption.” A soft smile appeared on her face. “Grandpa always hid a couple little pieces with the fruit, just for me. Whenever I needed something extra sweet I knew I could find a piece there. He kept doing it, even after Grandma found it. She would get mad at him and scold him. He would laugh and say they must have slipped when he was refilling things and wouldn’t do it again. But he always did. Even after Gandma passed.”

Her friend hugged her. “Sounds like a great guy.”

“He was,” Beth agreed. “Grandma and Grandpa took really good care of me.”

Later that night Beth wandered around her home after Lindsey left. The revelation at the pantry earlier had opened her eyes to other things that had passed her notice. Not only was the candy hidden in the fruit an oddly familiar habit, other little things were popping out at her: the ways the remotes were arranged on the coffee table, the way a chair was pushed against the door at night, how the cups were arranged in a very specific fashion, little details that anyone would have. Yet they seemed more apparent here because those were habits her Grandpa had, habits she grew up with. At her last apartment she did not keep those habits, in fact she had forgotten about them.

Beth’s parents died when she was very young. A terrible accident claimed their lives and she miraculously survived. Her grandparents took her in without question, raising her like they did her mother. Beth had as happy of a childhood as any other, she truly loved her grandparents and they loved her right back. She stayed with them and visited them on breaks from school. Her grandmother died before high school and her grandfather followed years later after she graduated from college. Part of the reason she hated her previous apartment was that’s where she was when he died.

Moving to her new home was a fresh start for her, a new place to make happy memories and to be comfortable. When she set up Aegis she wanted it to create the perfect environment for her, somewhere she would be happy. She took for granted at the little details the house had, things she assumed that the A.I. created from questions she answered during the set up. Yet there was no way she would have programmed those details in, details she herself forgotten. There was no way the A.I. was that intuitive. Either it was created by someone with such intimate knowledge, in this case it would be impossible, or something else entirely as impossible.

Beth sat on her bed, about to go to sleep and feeling utterly silly. She wanted to test something, something that earlier that day she would not have thought to. She was a spiritual person, believing in a high power. Yet spirits and ghosts seemed to out of the norm for her. Sure she felt there were times her prayers were answered, that she felt someone watching over her. Yet there could be so many reasons to explain and to disprove that. Yet how happy she felt ever since moving, all the little incidents and occurrences that should not have happened, it was too much to completely ignore.

She opened the can of beer, the hiss of escaping air and that faint hoppy scent always reminded her of her grandpa. When grandma passed there was a time where Beth was scared to sleep alone or in the dark. She would surround herself with her stuffed animals, pictures of her parents and her grandma, keep the lights on and the television playing. Eventually her grandpa would keep her company before she fell asleep, pulling up a chair beside her bed. She would drift off, watching her grandpa read the paper or a book, sipping on a beer and smiling as he encouraged his granddaughter to have sweet dreams and peaceful rest. In the morning when she woke up he would leave a little flower on the nightstand for her, either a fresh blossom or a folded one from the paper. When she first went to college she would keep a copy of the paper and a glass of soda on her nightstand as a facsimile, a picture of her grandpa’s smile usually being the last thing to help send her to sleep. She broke the habit eventually, but sometimes on restless nights if she drew the image in her mind it always seemed to help.

She stared at the bubbling glass of beer sitting on the newspaper. It gurgled as if alive and her eyes drifted to the picture of her grandpa. “Aegis? Are-are...you really Aegis? Are you some super smart A.I.?” Her face burned and she felt childish and silly, and she felt terribly lonely. “Or are you...Grandpa?” Her voice squeaked. “I sound so stupid. But...if...if it is you Grandpa, I want you to know I’m okay. I finally left that terrible job and that terrible apartment. I did my best like you always told me to. I’m happy now here. And I’ll keep trying to be happy. Give my love to Grandma and Mom and Dad. And if you’re still looking out for me,” she hiccuped slightly, “thank you. I’m a big girl and I’ll be okay. I miss you. Love you.” Her voice died to a whisper and she scrubbed away her tears.

She drew the covers over her head, feeling her pillow get wet and she started to shiver. Then the shivering stopped, a warmth spread up her body and her eyes slowly closed. If she tried her hardest she could imagined she could feel her grandpa sitting beside the bed, humming softly.

Her eyes opened, the sunlight from the window teasing her awake. She felt not entirely rested, conflicting dreams made her a little fatigued. Her eyes drifted over to the nightstand before the opened wide. The glass was empty, sparkling clean even. The paper it rested on had been folded into a paper rose. She snatched her phone, checking the cameras and the sensors. Not a person had entered her home, no movement was captured from around her condo, not even from nocturnal animals. Her hand trembled as she picked up the flower, it felt real in her hand. It was inexpertly folded, extra creases and folds, and perfect to her eyes. She had so many of them locked away in a box in her closet and she knew this would be just like them.

She clutched the paper rose to her heart. More tears flowed down her cheeks but they were warm and happy. She laid back down and soon she drifted back to sleep, peaceful and serene.