A recursive loop where the digital world bleeds into reality.

Inside were hundreds of photos. He double-clicked the first one. It was a high-resolution shot of his own front door, taken from the street. The lighting suggested it had been snapped only hours ago. He scrolled to the next.

Elias didn't breathe. He didn't turn around. He just watched the pixelated version of himself on the screen, waiting for the figure in the photo to move.

He froze. He was wearing the same grey hoodie he had on right now.

He clicked. The download bar crawled across the bottom of his screen like a digital parasite. When it finished, he dragged the .rar file to his desktop. His mouse hovered over the ‘Extract’ button. His heart hammered against his ribs, a frantic rhythm that felt like a warning. The folder unzipped.