A cold, physical hand gripped Elias’s real shoulder. He didn't turn around. He didn't have to. On the screen, the file reached its end, and the last frame was a close-up of a face he didn't recognize, smiling with teeth that looked like broken glass.
Suddenly, the perspective shifted. He wasn't watching a recording anymore; he was looking through the doorway from the other side. He saw his own room. He saw the back of his own head, illuminated by the glow of the monitor. 202211191080GGFULL.mp4
The video didn't show a person or a place. It showed a doorway. It was a simple wooden frame standing in the middle of a white, infinite void. The camera—if it could be called that—slowly pushed forward. As Elias watched, he realized the time stamp on the video player was moving backward. A cold, physical hand gripped Elias’s real shoulder