Mother stands at the kitchen sink, washing dishes. Father sits at the table, staring into the distance.

Things have really changed since they plugged into The Stream.

They still look the same when you see them. The same kind eyes you've known since childhood behind the one-way glass of the Specs. But on the other side is different.

It's how they see the world now.

I could never bring myself to get my own, seemed like it would be too easy to become addicted. But curiosity got the better of me. That's why I hacked Mom and Dad's StreamSpecs. I wanted to see things from their point of view.

You know how parents always say, "If you've seen what I've seen, and knew what I know..."

I can see through their eyes from the privacy of my laptop, without the built-in algorithms of the Specs showing me what I want to see.

Poor Mom. The house always looks so much dirtier to her than it does in reality. But the way she sees Dad is a little disturbing. He looks like some hunk from a superhero movie.

There is no "little" to the amount of disturbing in how my Dad sees Mom. Every day she's a different adult video actress.

I've stopped watching Dad's feed much.

It all started innocently enough. StreamSpecs were developed to help people with body dysmorphia to see the real version of themselves. They reversed the effect to help trans people see themselves the way their minds did, before the physical transition. It was supposed to help people.

Then the plastic surgeons got a hold of them for cosmetics and started turning major profits. After that came the Hipscotch Mod boom. Ten second videos where your favorite memes come to life.

Billionaire Robert Buck and Buck News was the real windfall. That was when StreamSpecs replaced TV. Then, strange things started happening. Like maybe you're watching footage of a protest and it turns into a riot. A person throws a Molotov cocktail through a grocery store window. Maybe a second ago that person was white, and now they're black.

The real insidiousness is that you don't know that, because you subconsciously make the change yourself. Only someone watching from the outside would catch it.

Mom's video feed cuts to a black screen. I must have worn the batteries down faster with my spying. I cut over to Dad's to see her reaction.

A porn star avatar smiles down at him, saying "Who are you?" in my Mom's voice. I'm not sure how long it's been since they've seen their actual selves. She screams, "What are you doing in my house?" and plucks a butcher knife from the sink.

Dad's feed goes dark.

I run downstairs to see what's happened. Mom stands there with the butcher knife, blood along the edge, my Father's shattered Specs still stuck on the blade.

I yell, "Mom! What did you do?"

Her eyes shimmer with sadness and fear.

"Who are you?"