Mom, I'm Not a Liar

The Story

Skylar’s collar flashes red, sealing her inside a suffocating room. Her mother, a top-tier pediatric surgeon, and her tech-executive father installed this experimental AI device to eradicate lying in their California home. The system targets absolute moral perfection, yet it malfunctions against their sensitive older daughter. As the family’s obsession with flawless behavior spirals out of control, a dark biological reality leaks through the sealed door. The parents’ rigid enforcement of their integrity protocol traps Skylar in a panic signal that never clears. Technology and grief collide as the device fails to distinguish truth from fear, locking the teenager away from the very people who built the cage.