Elias didn't reach for the mouse. He just watched the red "record" light on his webcam turn on, glowing like a small, unblinking eye in the dark.
Driven by a morbid curiosity, he hit play again. The camera in the video turned around, and for a split second, the person holding it caught their reflection in a dusty mirror. It was Elias. He looked older, his hair graying, his face etched with a level of terror he hadn't yet known. Ajb00004 mp4
Elias paused the video. His room felt suddenly cold. He checked the file metadata. The creation date read: September 14, 2029 . He froze. That date was three years into the future. Elias didn't reach for the mouse
At that moment, the thrumming audio in the video synced perfectly with a sound coming from the hallway of Elias's actual apartment. He looked toward his bedroom door. It was slightly ajar. The camera in the video turned around, and
In the video, the "future" Elias whispered to the lens, "It doesn't want the data. It wants the observer."