Our family group chat is called Fam ❤️. Five people. Me, Mom, Dad, my sister Zoe, my little brother Sam. Tonight my phone buzzed and the header said 6 members. The new one had no name. No profile photo. Just a gray circle. Mom: "who is this??" Three dots. Typing. Then it sent one photo. Our living room. The couch. Dad's mug on the coffee table, still steaming. Taken from inside the house.

Sam: "lol i'll just kick them" Sam removed the member. The header said 5 again. Mom typed "must be a glitch" and Zoe sent a thumbs up. For one minute it was a normal Tuesday. Then my phone buzzed. "[no name] joined the group." Nobody added them back. There's no way to add yourself. 6 members.

Dad: "open the group settings. who's the admin?" I checked member info. Me, Mom, Dad, Zoe, Sam. It said "member" next to every one of our names. Next to the gray circle it said "owner." Me: "it says they OWN the group??" Zoe: "we made this chat six years ago" The gray circle: "Longer." Then it changed the group name from Fam ❤️ to our home address.

Mom: "change the name back. right now." Nobody could. The edit button was just gone. Then a poll appeared in the chat. Question: "Who should I visit first?" Four options. Mom. Dad. Zoe. Sam. Me: "why am i not on the list" It replied to me directly, quote and everything. "Because you're the one letting me in."

My hands went cold. I opened my phone settings. Bluetooth: on. I never turn it on. Sharing: on. And under linked devices, one I'd never seen. Connected since 2:11 a.m. It was named after me — my exact name, one letter off. I hit unlink. The chat blinked back to 5 members. The poll disappeared mid-vote. But every few nights now, my phone asks to pair with something nearby. It doesn't have a name anymore. Just a gray circle where a name should be. I always hit decline. Some night, half asleep, I know I'm going to hit accept.