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

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.

A figure sat in the old blue armchair, back to the camera. It was him. Younger. He watched his past self type frantically on a laptop, then stop. Download- Xxxx -18-.mov -1.1 MB-

He hadn't ordered this download. He hadn't even clicked a link. The file name was the problem

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 . The "18" suggested an age, or a number

Then, from his current laptop's speakers—a whisper, not from the video, but from his own microphone:

The file size on his desktop blinked. It now read: 2.2 MB .