Assign

Matthew look over the app, the first option seemed a great place to start. Once in, it asked to pick a subject. The app strangely picked up that himself and his parents were in the house. He tapped his mother’s name, and an accurate picture of her in a neutral pose appeared on screen. Even weirder, beneath her image was a text box stating ‘Mother’.

It seemed straight forward, it knew she was his mother, but what was the point of the app? He tapped the text, and it allowed him to change it. Being cautious, and going off her idea, he typed in ‘Maid’. With a confirmation suddenly a light flashes from the screen. It blinded him temporarily, and when he opened his eyes he noticed her image changed.

There was his mother, looking mostly the same, aside from having a plain outfit of a polo shirt, with khakis and sneakers. He was puzzled, and looked down at the table. Now he was eating a bowl of cereal, he lifted the spoon.

“Mom, where’s the food you made?”

“I’m sorry, are you speaking to me?”

Matthew’s mouth went agape, his mother now had the same uniform he had seen on his screen. She didn’t seem to be paying too much attention to him, as she was dutifully cleaning the kitchen.

“Uh...did you still need me to help you clean?” He asked timidly.

“Oh of course not sir, your father pays me well to clean up. I appreciate the offer.” She said as she went back to cleaning dishes.

Matthew watched her clean up a bit more, not too many things have changed around him, just more tidy than normal. That’s when he heard his father come in. He didn’t pay much mind to his wife until he spoke.

“Thank you for coming on the weekend Estefania, if I had a little more help maybe I wouldn’t have to pay for help. Who knew one boy could be so messy...” He looked over to Matthew, in a more joking manner than anything.

“Oh but I would be out of a job if everyone cleaned up after themselves!” She joked back.

This was surreal, he didn’t even kiss her on the lips like he has for years. Truly she was just a paid maid hired to clean. What did this mean? Was he without a mother now? Why don’t they notice, and how did the app do all this?!

Maybe he could get some more answers, or maybe he could experiment more...