Download Images (23) Jpeg • Ultra HD

It hadn't loaded yet. The icon was still a generic JPEG placeholder. Slowly, the progress bar underneath it crawled toward the end.

Elias froze. He didn't turn around. He couldn't. His eyes were locked on the final three files. Download images (23) jpeg

It was a photo of the desktop screen he was currently looking at, showing the folder "Download images (23) jpeg," but in this photo, the cursor was hovering over a new, twenty-fourth file. A notification chirped in the corner of his screen. New download complete: Image (24).jpeg It hadn't loaded yet

got stranger. They were photos of his own apartment building. One showed the lobby. Another showed the specific, chipped paint on his front door. His heart hammered a quick, uneven rhythm against his ribs. Images 13 through 20 were snapshots of him. Elias froze

Elias stared at the screen, his breath hitching. The gray box flickered. The image sharpened.