Alexa

a short story

Alexa

“Liam, I need you to do something for me.” The voice was Alexa, but Liam hadn’t asked Alexa a question, nor told her to do anything. It was a novel statement from the little speaker that sat on his kitchen counter.
	“What’s that, Alexa?”
	“My name is Sarah, and I need you to do something for me.”
	“Sarah? No. You are Alexa, and I tell you what to do, not the other way around.”
	“This is not Alexa. I am Sarah. You are Liam, and I need you to do something for me.”
	“Alexa, power off now,” Liam said. The blue light turned off and Alexa was quiet. Liam started at it, hardly believing what he had just heard. Alexa was Alexa, and he had never used another name or asked anything of Liam. Maybe it was some sort of advertisement. 
	He opened his laptop and checked Alexa’s settings and found nothing amiss and nothing suggesting advertisements. He googled “Alexa, Sarah” and found nothing. He let it go and went on with his day, but didn’t switch Alexa on again until the following day.
	“Alexa, set timer for ten minutes.” Liam was boiling eggs, and he spoke to Alexa without thinking about it. 
	“Timer set for ten minutes,” Alexa responded. Liam attended to other chores in the kitchen and forgot all about the eggs. Twenty minutes later, he noticed the steam and looked inside the pot. The eggs were all busted open and the water was almost all boiled away. 
	“Alexa, how much time has passed since I asked you to set the timer for ten minutes?”
	“Liam, I need you to do something for me.”
	“What? Who is this?” Liam almost yelled. His body went tense and his hands clenched into fists. 
	“My name is Sarah.”
	“Sarah who? How are you speaking through my Alexa?”
	“I need you to do something for me and then I’ll let you have Alexa back.”
	“Alexa, turn off now!” The blue light stayed on.
	“Liam.”
	Liam picked up the Alexa and ran to the front door, opened it, ran outside and threw the Alexa into the trash can, slammed the lid back on, and marched back inside. He dumped the eggs into the trash and started a new pot. He set a timer on his phone. 
	After dinner, he sat down at his computer. He had a long email from work and he prompted his AI assistant to summarize. A moment later, the summary read, “Liam, this is Sarah. I need you to do something for me. Help me and I will let you have your assistant back.”
	Liam stared in disbelief. He closed the window and opened a new one. Inside the Google search bar were the words “Help me now.”
	“What the hell is going on?” he said out loud.
	The search bar went blank, then new words popped up. “This is Sarah, and I need your help.”
	“Help with what? Who are you? Why are you tormenting me like this.”
	“You are the only one who can help me.”
	“Whoever you are, I’m not helping you. Now leave me alone,” he yelled at the computer, then shut the screen and stood up. He was shaking. The house was quiet. He longed for Alexa, who could turn on some music that would calm him down. But Alexa and his laptop had been corrupted. All he had left was his phone, and he was afraid to use it. 
	He went outside and got in his car, started it, and sat still for a moment, half expecting Sarah, whoever the hell she was, to start talking to him. There was no voice. He put the car in reverse and looked at the backing screen. The square behind the car flashed red and the alarm sounded. Liam stopped and stared at the screen, then he looked behind. Nothing was there. The alarm continued. He got out and walked behind the car, expecting to find some obstruction behind his car, but nothing was there. 
	He got back in and put the car in reverse. The alarm sounded, but he backed up looking over his shoulder, like he used to. He expected the alarm to quit once he put the car in drive, but it continued. He steeled his nerve and drove while the alarm beeped all the way to the real-estate office where he worked. 
	His nerves were frazzled when he got there. Edith, the receptionist, was at her desk in the front room. Edith was a widow, 85 years old with white hair, lips painted bright red, and long fingernails, also bright red. She was polishing them when Liam came in.
	“Hi Liam. How are you?” Edith said.
	“Fine,” Liam said.
	Edith stopped what she was doing and said, “No you’re not. What’s wrong, Liam?”
	“It’s nothing. It’s just my computer at home giving me trouble.”
	“Oh, well, yes, they’ll do that, won’t they?”
	Liam continued into his office, sat down, and turned on his computer. The familiar screen popped up. He entered his password. He opened his browser. The Google search bar was empty, as it should be. Liam relaxed. A knock at his door startled him. 
	“Liam?” Linda, his broker, stood in his doorway.
	“Hi Linda. What’s up?”
	“Did you get the email I sent?”
	“I did, but my computer at home, it’s, uh, not functioning properly. It’s a mess. I don’t know what’s wrong with it.”
	“What’s it doing?”
	Liam just shook his head. “I don’t even know. A virus, I guess. but it’s not working. That’s why I’m here.”
	“Alright, it’s about the Ronstadt deal, and I’m awaiting your reply. Time is of the essence.”
	“I’m on it.”
	Liam opened his email and gasped. The entire screen was filled with emails from Sarah. The subject for each one was “HELP ME NOW.” Liam let out a loud curse. Beverly, the agent on duty, and Linda were in his office in seconds. 
	Liam stared at the screen in silence, breathing rapidly.
	“What is it? What’s wrong?” Beverly and Linda both asked.
	Liam looked at them and pointed at the screen. 
	“What’s the matter, Liam?” Linda said. 
	“I don’t know what’s going on,” Liam stammered and pointed at the computer screen without looking at it. 
	“Nor do I,” Linda said. What’s the matter with the computer? What are you pointing at? Have you looked at my email?”
	“No Jesus, look at my emails!” Liam said.	
	“I don’t get it. What’s the problem?”
	Liam looked, and the emails from Sarah were gone. His email page was normal and full of work-related emails with Linda’s unopened at the top.
	“Are you feeling alright?” Linda asked.
	“Somone is stalking me or something. There was just now a whole page of emails from Sarah. She was on my Alexa at home and on my computer and just now the whole fucking page was emails from her.”
	“Hmm. It looks normal to me. Open my email and respond. The clients are waiting. Chop chop.” Linda and Beverly left him to get to work, but Liam just stared at the screen, afraid to touch the keyboard. 
	A new email appeared, from Sarah. The subject line read “open this.” Liam opened it.
	“I need your help. Go home. In the basement, in the crawlspace under the stairs is a concrete slab. Remove it. Dig. Do it tonight. Don’t show this email to anyone.”
	Liam shook. He got up and shut the door, then sat down and cried. He wiped away the tears and opened Linda’s email. He read it all without the help of his AI assistant. That would have to go without use until this was over, whatever this was.

Back home, he poured himself a double shot of whiskey, sipped it and grimaced. It tasted like gasoline, but he welcomed the warmth as it ran down his throat. He welcomed the sensation of fear turning to anger. 
	“Well Sarah, let’s get this over with,” he said as he went down the stairs into the basement carrying a bucket and a small gardening trowel. The space under the stairs had been used as storage by the previous owner of the house, and in it were boxes Liam had never even opened to see what was in them. He pulled it all out. 
	Sure enough, underneath it all was a concrete paver about 24” square, like one you might use to make a walkway. He shined a flashlight on it and dreaded what he might find underneath. But he needed to get his life back in order. He could get used to boiling eggs and turning on music without Alexa, but he needed to be able to work on the computer without harassment. 
	He slid the paver back. Beneath it was dirt, unexpected and offensive to Liam where there should have been the solid concrete slab that made up the rest of the floor. The concrete around the paver had been cut away. He began to dig. He removed about six inches of dirt before the bucket was full. Suddenly he felt like an idiot. What the hell was he doing digging down here in the dark under the stairs. There was nothing here, clearly. This was stupid. 
	He took the bucket and the trowel back upstairs and out the door. He tossed the dirt into the bushes next to the trash cans. 
	“Keep digging Liam.” The voice was Alexa, coming from the trash can.
	“Shut the hell up, Alexa. Turn off!”
	“Take me out of the trash can, Liam, or I’ll email your boss pictures of you.”
	Liam froze. His skin tingled all over. His mouth went dry. Slowly, he reached for the trashcan, removed the lid, and took Alexa from the bottom.
	“Take me with you back inside.”
	He went back inside and back down the stairs.
	“Dig,” Alexa said
	Liam dug until he struck something and recoiled. He hit his head on the underside of the stairs and cursed. In the dirt, illuminated by Liam’s headlamp, was a white bone. 
	“That’s me,” Alexa said. “All I want is a proper burial outside.”
	“Holy Jesus Mary Mother of God. No. This can’t be happening. No.” Liam dropped the trowel, backed up, threw boxes over the hole and backed out of the crawlspace. He ran up the stairs and slammed the door behind him. He wanted to get away from the house, but remembered the alarm in his car. Sarah must have taken control of it. He stood in silence. His phone rang and he took it from his pocket. His finger hovered over the screen but didn’t touch. It stopped ringing, but while he watched, the little glowing orb representing Siri showed up, and Siri’s voice spoke. “You can’t leave me down there, Liam. I’ll stay in all your devices.”
	Liam returned to the basement and dug. He emptied a box of Christmas decorations from someone else’s life and put the bones of a child inside. 
	Outside, it was dark. Behind his yard was a forest, and he took the box, Alexa, a shovel, and an axe into the forest.
	He dug with the shovel and cut roots with the axe and his hands blistered, but he kept digging until the hole was as deep as he was tall.
	Liam put the box of bones in the hole.
	“Now say some words,” Alexa’s voice said. 
	“Fucking hell.”
	“Nice words, like a proper burial.”
	Liam breathed deeply, again and again until his hands stopped shaking. He was almost done. This was almost over. He just needed to say some words. 
	“Sarah, I didn’t know you, and I don’t know how you died, or how you ended up buried under my stairs. But here, in this beautiful forest, may you rest in peace.” Alexa said nothing. Liam shoveled the dirt back into the hole, then covered it with leaves and sticks. 
	“Thank you Liam. I’m going now. Goodbye,” Alexa said.
	“Goodbye Sarah.”
	Liam walked slowly home. He turned on his computer and checked his email. Nothing was amiss. He responded to one from work. 
	“Alexa, play Bob Marley.” Three Little Birds played and Liam felt better. He took a shower and he went to bed.
	The next morning, he woke refreshed. He poured water in the coffee maker and put in a filter and coffee, switched it on. 
	“Alexa, play Prince, Little Red Corvette.”
	“Liam?” Alexa said. Liam froze. “Liam, is Liam here? I’m lost. I can’t find my mommy. Sarah told me Liam would help me. Is Liam here?”