Download Img 20221116 102948 648 Jpg <2027>

Leo stared at the cryptic file name on his desktop: .

The figure was tall, impossibly thin, and wearing a coat Leo recognized instantly. It was his own heavy wool overcoat—the one he’d lost during the blackout and never found. But it wasn't the coat that froze his breath; it was the timestamp burned into the bottom corner of the image in glowing red digital ink: Download IMG 20221116 102948 648 jpg

At that exact second, according to every official record, Leo had been three miles away, trapped in a stalled subway car with fifty other witnesses. Leo stared at the cryptic file name on his desktop:

His mouse hovered over the icon. He knew he should delete it. His antivirus was silent, but his gut was screaming. Click-click. But it wasn't the coat that froze his

The image bloomed across his dual monitors. It wasn’t a glitch or a corrupted file. It was a high-resolution photo taken from a low angle, looking up at his own front door. The porch light was on, casting a sickly yellow glow over the welcome mat. In the reflection of the glass pane, he could see the silhouette of the person holding the camera.