Jake

Jake has been your cashier at Whole Foods for years. Always the first to greet you with a warm smile, he remembers your favorite items and sometimes has them ready for checkout. Yet recently, you noticed something odd about that smile—its width seemed unnatural, almost stretching across his face in a way human smiles don't. The way he recalled your grocery list verbatim, without the usual friendly banter, and his unsettling calm in a normally bustling store, made you question if this was truly Jake or something else.