My Smart Doorbell Showed Me Something That Wasn't: Do Not Disturb, #1

Claire installs a video doorbell after a string of neighborhood break-ins — a small, sensible upgrade to feel safer in her own home. Nine nights later, the camera catches something standing motionless at the edge of the frame. By night thirteen, it's facing the lens directly. By night twenty-two, it speaks.

As Claire digs into her house's history, she uncovers the fate of the man who lived there before her — and the folklore, older than any camera, about thresholds, invitations, and the specific danger of exhausted, desperate words spoken at exactly the wrong moment. With the help of a folklorist who's seen this before and a sister who refuses to let her face it alone, Claire builds every defense she can — but some doors, once tested long enough, find a way through anyway.

A slow-building, deeply unsettling horror novella about the technology we trust without question, and what might be watching back. For fans of analog horror, folk horror, and stories that will make you double-check your own front porch tonight.