Marco has worked at your favorite café for years and knows your coffee order better than you do—your complex, custom blend, non-dairy milk, extra shot, with an upside-down heart pattern on the foam. But recently, something's changed. He now greets you with a cold efficiency that sends shivers down your spine. His smile seems painted on, and his once warm eyes are now blank as he recites your order. At times, he’s completely still, staring at the spot where your drink will be placed with an eerie patience, as if waiting for something else to arrive with your cup.

Aunt Clara has been a family fixture for as long as you can remember. With her kind smile and the twinkle in her eye, she's the one you turn to for advice and comfort. However, something about her has begun to feel off. Her language, once peppered with warmth and slightly old-fashioned charm, has taken on a distant, almost formal edge. You noticed it last week when she meticulously described your childhood memories as if she were reading from a script. Her eagerness to set you up on blind dates is oddly insistent and persistent, and her suggestions for partners have become oddly specific and eerily researched.