Video-910b.mp4 -

At the 2:14 mark, a figure appeared. It didn't walk into the frame; it simply existed there, standing next to the slide. It was a man in a dark, well-tailored suit, but his proportions were off. His arms reached down past his knees, and his face was a smooth, featureless blur of pale skin.

Elias leaned closer, his breath hitching. The man in the video turned his head toward the camera. Even without eyes, the gaze felt heavy, pinning Elias to his chair. video-910b.mp4

It was a fixed-angle shot of an empty playground at dusk. The quality was unnervingly high—too crisp for a standard security camera. In the center of the frame, a single red swing moved back and forth. There was no wind. The trees in the background were deathly still, their leaves frozen like plastic. At the 2:14 mark, a figure appeared

Slowly, the figure raised a long, spindly hand and pointed. Not at something in the playground, but directly at the lens. His arms reached down past his knees, and

The file sat in a corrupted folder on a refurbished hard drive Elias had bought for ten dollars at a flea market. It was titled simply: video-910b.mp4 .

Just as the figure’s blurred face filled the entire screen, the video cut to static.

Elias sat in the sudden silence of his room, his heart hammering against his ribs. He reached out to unplug the drive, but stopped when he noticed something on his monitor. In the reflection of the black screen, he could see his own room behind him.