Download- - Xxxx -18-.mov -1.1 Mb-

Leo stared at the blinking cursor. The download window was frozen at the last byte: "Download - XXXX -18-.mov -1.1 MB - Complete."

Leo slammed the spacebar. The video paused on a frozen frame of his own younger face, mouth open in a silent scream. Download- Xxxx -18-.mov -1.1 MB-

For a second, nothing. Then QuickTime player opened, black and hungry. Leo stared at the blinking cursor

The file size on his desktop blinked. It now read: 2.2 MB . For a second, nothing

The video was grainy, shot from a high corner of a room he almost recognized—his own living room, but from three apartments ago. The time stamp read 18:00:00 .

His cursor hovered over the folder. His gut said delete . But the 1.1 MB nagged at him. Too small for a movie. Too large for a text file. It was the size of a single, compressed image… or a ghost.

The file name was the problem. The "XXXX" wasn't a placeholder. It was four actual X's, like a censored curse word. The "18" suggested an age, or a number. And ".mov" meant video.