Vid_20201203_134436_611mp4

He looked at the file name one last time. The numbers were just a date and time to anyone else. To Elias, they were now a coordinate to a memory he was never supposed to have—or perhaps, a warning from a version of himself that had already lived through what was coming next.

He closed his eyes and tried to remember where he was that Tuesday. He searched his old calendars and emails, but December 3rd was a blank. No appointments, no sent messages. It was as if that specific minute had been edited out of his life, leaving only this 12-second clip as evidence. VID_20201203_134436_611mp4

Elias found the file in a "Recovered" folder on an old microSD card he’d unearthed from a desk drawer. While most of the photos were of blurry lattes and forgotten sunsets, the file felt different. It was dated December 2020—a time when the world was quiet, masked, and lived mostly through screens. He looked at the file name one last time