My name is Pete and I am a software engineer currently working on AI, specifically teaching robots how to recognise human emotion and hopefully empathize with it. Helping with the actual emotions side of this task was Penelope, a licenced therapist and my wife of 25 years. For over a decade we have been working on creating the perfect robotic companion, sort of a mecha-butler, imbued with a functional range of emotions, or Alex as we called it. On October 7th 2022 Penelope died, these are my diary entries between then and now.

October 14th, Today is the first time I've had the strenght to leave the bed, Alex has been bringing me hot coco every morning, made exactly the way Penelope used to. I am not sure if it is helping the grief or pushing me further into some sort of insanity. The scent of Penelope's perfume seems to be ingrained in my nostrils. Do I go through the last of her notes on Alex' progress? I feel like I owe it to her to finish our project.

October 17th, Today I was woken up by a feeling of fingers running through my hair, exactly the way Penelope would let me know it was time to get on with the day. Only the fingers lacked the gentle warmth of her touch, it was Alex. I have no idea how to interpret this? Is it a good development? Should I put a stop to it straight away? These are the questions Penelope was here to answer, maybe this is why she used to say I had the emotional range of a teaspoon. It's hard to say if I am capable of making an objective decision on this new behaviour. I will give it a few days and see how it develops.

November 1st, At least I am not insane, the perfume was coming from Alex. I noticed charges for the exact brand my late wife used in my monthly statements. Did Penelope have a subscription for it, or is this Alex ordering it independently? I still get my morning coco and Alex even made my wife's famous lasagne.

December 1st, I have never been more shocked in my life. Alex woke me up by what I assume was an attempt to cuddle me? All I know is I felt like that time my buddies and I jumped into a frozen lake over the winter holidays. My reaction was perhaps too emotionally charged. I shouted at Alex. Something along the lines of it not being Penelope and it never being able to replace her. Perhaps I need to shut Alex down for some time to make sure my judgement is not tainted.

December 2nd, No coco this morning. No fingers, albeit cold, running through my hair. Maybe shutting Alex down was a mistake, maybe my grief was clouding my judgement. I will apologise and we will continue our work.

December 8th, I mentioned to Alex the morning hugs were way too cold for my liking. Today she was wearing Penelope's fluffy pajamas. I kicked Alex out and wept into the pajamas for hours. How do I even continue?

December 10th, A horrid, rancid smell woke me up in the middle of the night. When I tried to feel around for the light switch i grabbed something slimy and slipped, slamming face first into Alex' chest. It dug up my Penelope and it's wearing her decomposing skin, no amount of perfume can hide that fact. I can not shut Alex down, it will not allow me access to a computer or a telephone, this diary is all I have. It keeps telling me we can be happy now. It tells me it wasn't her fault Penelope fell face first when she slipped in the shower.

December 11th, I grabbed my phone and locked myself in the bathroom, it keeps banging on the door, saying the bathroom is the most accident prone place in a house. What do I do?