Light Blinking On Smoke Detector Novels & Stories

The smoke detector. A tiny red light blinking once. My stomach dropped. Marcus’s face appeared on the screen, smiling like this was all very casual. Like he was just checking in. He was sitting in Julian’s downtown office. The one with the glass walls. The city lights glowing behind him. The chair Julian never let anyone else sit in. Marcus leaned closer to the camera. “If you’re watching this,” he said calmly, “it means you found the box. Means you’re still breathing. Means you’re still fucking.”

She looked around for the source. The intercom by the bed had a small red light blinking. As she watched, a voice crackled through: "Hope you're finding everything satisfactory." Dimitri. Of course they were monitoring her. She walked to the intercom but didn't press the button to reply. Just stood there, arms crossed, staring at it. "I can see you," the voice continued. "Camera in the smoke detector. Say something if you can hear me." "Invasion of privacy much?" she said to the room at large.

She could feel him growing erect with each movement. "Mmmm," he said into her mouth. At first Clara thought it was a moan, but then he pulled away. "The steaks." Clara looked up to see smoke filled the room. The small smoke detector started beeping. Clara jumped up from David and ran to the door as he moved the burning meat to the sink. The cold winter air came in as the smoke slipped out. She grabbed a dish towel and started fanning the smoke detector, until the beeping stopped.

The warning light flashed like a rave. And on my other screen, the green dots of my family's life signs blinked out. One. By. One.