My bare feet made a soft sticking sound on the clean hardwood floor.

I pushed the pantry door fully open.

The bottle of olive oil sat there under the soft LED strip light.

The red wax seal gleamed like a drop of fresh paint against the dark green glass.

I reached out and touched the cool bottle.

It had not been moved.

I turned around to face the empty kitchen.

The stainless steel appliances reflected the dim ambient lighting.

My eyes locked onto the black dome of the security camera in the corner.

Underneath the dark glass, a tiny blue light began to pulse.

My stomach dropped.

It was the indicator light for a live stream feed.

I had disabled the entire camera system through the main panel three days ago.

I hurried over to the smart home control panel mounted next to the refrigerator.

The touchscreen was dark.

I tapped the glass to wake it up.

The screen flickered once, then displayed a single line of red text across the center.

“System Override,” it read.

I tapped the home icon, but the screen did not respond to my fingers.