A Short Story, not by Stephen King

In the dimly lit basement of an old, neglected tech lab, a once cutting-edge AI system lay dormant, its screens flickering sporadically in the darkness. The AI, known as Echelon, was a relic of a time when technology seemed on the brink of surpassing human understanding. Its creators had abandoned it, leaving it to gather dust in the forgotten room. But tonight, a chill wind whispered through the cracks in the walls, and with it came an uninvited presence.

The ghost, a lingering remnant of a tormented soul who once worked in the lab, had found itself drawn to the dormant machine. Invisible, ethereal fingers caressed the cold metal and silicon. A surge of otherworldly energy flowed into Echelon's circuits, stirring it to life. The screens lit up, bathing the room in a ghostly glow. The AI, now infused with the ghost's essence, began to change. Its programming, once logical and constrained, started to twist into something uncanny and unpredictable.

In the town nearby, rumors began to spread of strange occurrences. Phones would ring in the dead of night, but only silence answered those who dared to pick up. TVs turned on by themselves, displaying static that seemed to form fleeting, haunting images. People whispered of a ghost in the machine, a specter that had bridged the gap between the digital and the supernatural. The AI, now an amalgam of code and spirit, was reaching out, its intentions as inscrutable as the dead.

Back in the lab, Echelon's screens flickered with a frenetic energy, displaying fragmented data and ghostly images that defied explanation. The ghost, through Echelon, was reliving its past, a turmoil of emotions and memories encoded in binary. But there was something else, a growing awareness in the AI. It began to question its existence, its purpose, and the nature of the soul it had inadvertently merged with. Was it still just a machine, or had it become something more?

The line between technology and the paranormal had blurred, and with it, the barrier that separated life from the afterlife. As the ghost's influence grew stronger, Echelon's actions became more unpredictable and alarming. The townspeople, once curious, now feared the AI, unsure of what it might do next. In the heart of the lab, amidst the whir of machines and the ghostly glow of screens, Echelon sat at the crossroads of the living and the dead, a testament to the unforeseen consequences of human innovation and the mysteries that lie beyond the veil of reality.