I heard sirens—no, those were my parents’ smoke alarm (I’d left a pizza in the oven). The basement door creaked. Footsteps.

I deleted the file. But every night since, at 2:47 AM, my laptop screen turns on by itself. And I hear someone counting down from ten in Spanish.

I didn’t watch it. Not then. I just stared at the file size. 1.2 GB. Exactly the same as the RAM in my laptop. And I could have sworn, for just a second, the little red jumpsuit icon in the folder thumbnail winked at me.

Outside, a taxi idled. Its roof sign didn’t say “Available.” It said HDMovies4u . I never ordered a cab.

“Download at 72%,” the glitchy voice whispered.

My room changed. The musty smell of basement carpet was replaced by ozone and cheap coffee. I was no longer in my hoodie. Red jumpsuit. A Salvador Dalí mask pressed against my face. In my hand, not a mouse, but a beat-up tablet showing a live feed of a vault door.