Chapter 2 - The First 24 Hours — "They Tried to Starve Me Out, But I Had the Smart Home System Connected to My Phone!"
Wednesday morning arrived with an ominous quiet. I woke up at 6:00 AM in the small guest bed, my back aching from the stiff mattress, but my mind sharper than it had been in years. I could hear the muffled sounds of Jessica screaming at Matthew from the master bedroom down the hall.
"She’s bluffing, Matt! She’s an old woman, she’s not going to throw her own son out on the street! If we hold our ground, she’ll break!"
I smiled grimly to myself. They truly did not know me.
When I walked into the kitchen to brew my morning tea, I found the refrigerator door completely bare. Jessica had thrown away my organic milk, my fresh vegetables, and my artisanal honey. In their place were energy drinks, premium protein shakes, and expensive pre-prepared meals from a high-end boutique grocery store.
Even worse, the circuit breaker to the guest wing had been flipped. They had cut the power to my room, hoping the lack of heat and light would force me to capitulate.
"Childish," I murmured.
I sat down at the kitchen island, pulled out my iPad, and opened the SmartHome Control app. Two years ago, after George passed, Matthew himself had insisted on installing a top-of-the-line smart security and utility system in my house so he could "monitor" me from afar. He had forgotten that I paid for the premium subscription and that the master account was registered to my email.
With three taps on my screen, I took absolute control of the house.
First, I selected the master bedroom thermostat. I set the temperature to a biting, freezing 50°F (10°C).
Second, I turned off the hot water heater completely. If they wanted to occupy my home, they could do it while taking ice-cold showers in the dead of morning.
Third, I changed the Wi-Fi password to a complex, unguessable string of characters and hid the network SSID entirely.
Within ten minutes, the bedroom door flew open. Jessica marched into the kitchen, wrapped in a heavy winter blanket, her teeth literally chattering. Her blonde hair was damp and unwashed.
"What is wrong with the water?!" she yelled, her face twisted in fury. "And the internet is down! I have a corporate Zoom call in twenty minutes! Fix it, Eleanor!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Jessica," I said, taking a slow sip of my plain hot water. "Perhaps the house is rejecting your presence. Old houses have a way of doing that to parasites."
"You old hag!" she screamed, stepping toward me.
Matthew rushed into the kitchen behind her, shivering in his bathrobe. "Mom, please! Jess has a major presentation today! Just turn the Wi-Fi back on! Why are you doing this to us?!"
"I told you yesterday, Matthew," I said, standing up and looking him in the eye. "You have less than thirty hours left. I suggest you spend less time complaining about the Wi-Fi and more time renting a moving truck. Because at 5:00 PM tomorrow, the locks are changing, and anything left inside becomes mine to destroy."
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Matthew looked at the iPad in my hand, realization finally dawning on his face. He realized that the technology he had installed to keep me weak was now the very weapon I was using to freeze them out. He grabbed Jessica’s arm, pulling her back.
"Come on, Jess," he muttered, his spirit visibly breaking. "She’s not shifting. We need to start packing."
