Historia de terror aterradora | Espeluznante relato de horror para la noche vol. 13
Crónicas de la Oscuridad
[{'start': '0.280', 'end': '6.720', 'text': 'You are entering Chronicles of Darkness.\nIn this nocturnal realm, shadows write'}, {'start': '6.720', 'end': '12.880', 'text': 'forbidden stories, tales so\ndisturbing they defy all logic.'}, {'start': '13.560', 'end': '20.880', 'text': 'Each chronicle is a journey of no return to the\ndeepest and darkest part of the human soul, where the'}, {'start': '20.880', 'end': '28.840', 'text': 'most intimate fears come to life and materialize\ninto indescribable terrors.  Silence here'}, {'start': '28.840', 'end': '36.040', 'text': 'is not an ally, but an accomplice, whispering secrets\nthat no mortal should ever hear.'}, {'start': '36.760', 'end': '42.400', 'text': 'Stay tuned, because the stories\nyou hear will be etched in your'}, {'start': '42.400', 'end': '52.320', 'text': 'memory and will haunt your dreams\nfor a long time afterward.'}, {'start': '52.320', 'end': '59.280', 'text': 'A shudder of apprehension, unexpected and unwelcome,\nran down my spine as'}, {'start': '59.280', 'end': '65.680', 'text': 'my tires crunched on the gravel of the\ndriveway.  Logic is my compass,'}, {'start': '65.680', 'end': '73.320', 'text': 'facts are my anchor;  I navigate the world guided by\nverifiable truths, not by spectral whispers'}, {'start': '73.320', 'end': '80.200', 'text': 'or unfounded intuitions.  However, as I\nfaced the sight of the front door,'}, {'start': '80.200', 'end': '88.440', 'text': 'a dissonance vibrated under my skin.  The sky\narched above me, a serene, cerulean canvas,'}, {'start': '88.440', 'end': '96.320', 'text': 'the afternoon sun steady and warm, the\nair hanging completely still... and yet,'}, {'start': '96.320', 'end': '101.640', 'text': 'the hair on my forearms stood up.  A\nreflexive gesture of wiping my palms on my'}, {'start': '101.640', 'end': '110.520', 'text': 'jeans did nothing to dispel the chill.\nNerves, I reasoned, simple nerves about this'}, {'start': '110.520', 'end': '117.240', 'text': "sudden inheritance, this property bequeathed by a relative\nwhose name I had only learned from the lawyer's letter"}, {'start': '117.240', 'end': '127.120', 'text': 'that materialized in my mailbox.  Mine now,\nthis house, free of encumbrances, whether I wanted it or not.'}, {'start': '127.920', 'end': '136.120', 'text': 'Weeds choked the front yard, a\nriot of untamed green reclaiming the space.'}, {'start': '136.120', 'end': '141.800', 'text': 'I killed the engine near a leaning fence post\nand stepped out into air thick with the smell of'}, {'start': '141.800', 'end': '150.160', 'text': 'decay: the stale breath of\nforgotten attics and sealed spaces.  I tried to breathe'}, {'start': '150.160', 'end': '155.680', 'text': 'through my mouth.  The paint was flaking off the\nclapboard like'}, {'start': '155.680', 'end': '163.280', 'text': 'sunburned skin;  The beams below showed the\nrot of long neglect.  The keys,'}, {'start': '163.280', 'end': '170.600', 'text': 'cold metal in my hand, felt foreign to me.\xa0  I\nfumbled with the set provided'}, {'start': '170.600', 'end': '177.560', 'text': 'by the lawyer until one finally gave way,\nopening the lock with a reluctant click.'}, {'start': '177.560', 'end': '184.240', 'text': 'A pause on the threshold, a\ndeep breath, and then I crossed into the gloom.'}, {'start': '185.040', 'end': '190.920', 'text': 'Darkness engulfed the hall.  The\nfloorboards groaned in weary protest beneath'}, {'start': '190.920', 'end': '196.720', 'text': 'my boots, each step kicking up clouds of\nsettled dust that danced in the scattered shafts of light'}, {'start': '196.720', 'end': '203.200', 'text': 'that pierced the gloom.  Above, the\nceiling rose into darkness.'}, {'start': '203.200', 'end': '209.000', 'text': 'A long corridor stretched out, promising\ndeeper recesses into the heart of the'}, {'start': '209.000', 'end': '215.840', 'text': 'house.  The beam of my flashlight cut through the gloom,\nilluminating corners veiled in shadow.'}, {'start': '215.840', 'end': '224.320', 'text': 'Every few steps, the house sighed, the wood\ngroaning beneath my feet.  That first day became'}, {'start': '224.320', 'end': '230.720', 'text': 'a slow inventory of abandonment: rooms\ncovered with spectral white sheets'}, {'start': '230.720', 'end': '237.000', 'text': 'that obscured furniture of indeterminate shape;\nshelves crammed with the detritus of an'}, {'start': '237.000', 'end': '244.840', 'text': 'unknown life;  a large staircase that ascended\ninto the gloom above.  How many rooms were'}, {'start': '244.840', 'end': '253.920', 'text': 'coiled behind these walls?  More, it seemed,\nthan a single recognition could tell.  I'}, {'start': '254.720', 'end': '259.800', 'text': 'spent the rest of the afternoon struggling\nto open warped window frames,'}, {'start': '259.800', 'end': '265.040', 'text': 'inviting drafts to stir up\nthe stagnant air.  As he worked,'}, {'start': '265.040', 'end': '270.960', 'text': 'disturbing scurrying and clicking sounds echoed\nfrom within the walls.  Rodents,'}, {'start': '270.960', 'end': '277.720', 'text': 'I assured myself, perhaps squirrels or even\nraccoons nesting in the eaves: the'}, {'start': '277.720', 'end': '283.920', 'text': 'usual infestations of old structures.  Yet\na tightness lingered in my chest, a knot of'}, {'start': '283.920', 'end': '290.520', 'text': "unease I couldn't unravel.  I chose a\nroom near the main entrance as"}, {'start': '290.520', 'end': '297.320', 'text': 'my temporary sanctuary, minimizing the need to\nnavigate the echoing hallways at night.'}, {'start': '297.840', 'end': '305.280', 'text': 'Once cleared of the worst of the dust, it became\nmy base, its most attractive feature being'}, {'start': '305.280', 'end': '312.600', 'text': 'a heavy, solid oak door that closed\nsecurely.  The thought of that solid barrier'}, {'start': '312.600', 'end': '319.080', 'text': 'between me and the nighttime murmurs of\nthe house offered a modicum of comfort.'}, {'start': '319.080', 'end': '325.480', 'text': 'Night fell quickly, painting the windows\nblack.  A small lamp cast a weak'}, {'start': '325.480', 'end': '331.280', 'text': 'circle of light on a nightstand,\nplugged into an outlet that hummed with'}, {'start': '331.280', 'end': '338.480', 'text': 'antiquated power: the wiring was ancient and required\ncareful circuit management.  Dinner'}, {'start': '338.480', 'end': '344.320', 'text': 'was a simple one with the provisions I had\nbrought, eaten sitting on a canvas folding chair'}, {'start': '344.320', 'end': '352.640', 'text': 'unearthed from a corner.\nSilence descended, deep but not complete, punctuated by'}, {'start': '352.640', 'end': '361.240', 'text': 'the sporadic creaks and sighs of the old\nbeams settling.  No television, no radio, just'}, {'start': '361.240', 'end': '368.920', 'text': 'the whispering walls for company.  A familiar\ntendril of unease coiled around my gut,'}, {'start': '368.920', 'end': '375.600', 'text': 'but I pushed it away, forcing my thoughts toward\npractical matters: errands in the nearest town'}, {'start': '375.600', 'end': '382.040', 'text': ', the daunting list of potential\nrepairs, the timeframe before deciding the'}, {'start': '382.040', 'end': '390.800', 'text': 'fate of this property: keep it or sell it.\nFinally, exhaustion took hold,'}, {'start': '390.800', 'end': '398.480', 'text': 'dragging me into a fitful, shallow sleep,\npunctuated by frequent awakenings.'}, {'start': '398.480', 'end': '402.480', 'text': 'Around midnight, a sound\nstartled me to my feet, my'}, {'start': '402.480', 'end': '409.800', 'text': 'heart hammering in my\nribs.  Steps.  Slow, deliberate,'}, {'start': '409.800', 'end': '417.080', 'text': 'heavy footsteps made their way down the hall just\nbeyond my door.  I held my breath,'}, {'start': '417.080', 'end': '423.440', 'text': 'straining my ears, every nerve on alert.  The\nsilence stretched for agonizing seconds.'}, {'start': '424.000', 'end': '431.600', 'text': 'Then, the measured pace of someone walking back and forth resumed —*boom… pause…boom…*—.'}, {'start': '431.600', 'end': '439.040', 'text': 'My mouth dried up to dust.\nImagination, surely?  A trick of the'}, {'start': '439.040', 'end': '446.640', 'text': 'old house when settling?  But the sound had\na clarity, a rhythmic weight, that defied'}, {'start': '446.640', 'end': '454.480', 'text': 'easy explanation.  They stopped abruptly.\nI stood rigid, staring blankly at the ceiling,'}, {'start': '454.480', 'end': '461.640', 'text': 'too paralyzed by primal fear to\ninvestigate.  No light filtered through the crack'}, {'start': '461.640', 'end': '469.240', 'text': 'under the door, offering no clue as to\nthe source.  Sleeping became impossible after'}, {'start': '469.240', 'end': '477.680', 'text': 'that;  Every shadow seemed to merge, every\ncreak whispered of a presence just outside.'}, {'start': '478.720', 'end': '484.640', 'text': 'The morning light revealed nothing out of\nplace.  The dust lay untouched in the hallway;'}, {'start': '484.640', 'end': '489.880', 'text': 'no footprints marked the surfaces.\nDoors and windows remained firmly'}, {'start': '489.880', 'end': '496.920', 'text': 'closed.  Old boards moving in the night,\nmy sleep-deprived mind conjuring up ghosts:'}, {'start': '496.920', 'end': '502.760', 'text': 'these were the rational explanations\nI clung to.  I spent the day unloading the rest of'}, {'start': '502.760', 'end': '508.960', 'text': 'my gear and venturing upstairs.\nA library filled with deteriorating spines,'}, {'start': '508.960', 'end': '514.640', 'text': 'an office dominated by an enormous desk\ncovered in brittle papers, a'}, {'start': '514.640', 'end': '522.440', 'text': 'narrow attic crammed with forgotten boxes: the\nupper floors slowly revealed their secrets.'}, {'start': '522.440', 'end': '528.360', 'text': 'No definitive sign of anything anomalous,\nyet the air remained heavy,'}, {'start': '528.360', 'end': '535.160', 'text': 'stale, and the penetrating sense of\nbeing watched never quite dissipated.'}, {'start': '535.160', 'end': '541.040', 'text': 'That night, I decided to arm myself against the darkness,\nplacing a lamp on a small table in the'}, {'start': '541.040', 'end': '547.400', 'text': 'hallway outside my room.  A beacon, however\nweak, against the invading shadows.'}, {'start': '548.680', 'end': '554.720', 'text': 'After another solitary meal, I locked\nmy bedroom door, turned off my own lamp,'}, {'start': '554.720', 'end': '560.880', 'text': 'and lay in the gloom, my eyes fixed on\nthe thin band of yellow light that illuminated the'}, {'start': '560.880', 'end': '570.000', 'text': 'hollow at ground level.  I pricked up my ears, expectant.\nIt started again around the same time.  *Boom…'}, {'start': '570.000', 'end': '579.000', 'text': 'pause… boom…* The slow and inexorable walk.\nMy stomach sank.  The footsteps came closer,'}, {'start': '579.000', 'end': '584.800', 'text': 'stopped just outside my door, and then\nretreated down the hall.  Sweat beaded on my'}, {'start': '584.800', 'end': '593.920', 'text': 'temples.  My muscles seized up.  I waited, my\nbreath held in my chest.  They came back.  Back'}, {'start': '593.920', 'end': '600.320', 'text': 'and forth, the same deliberate rhythm, a\nmaddening cadence that seemed designed to'}, {'start': '600.320', 'end': '608.200', 'text': 'shatter my nerves.  My heart felt like a\nfrantic bird caught in my throat.  I watched'}, {'start': '608.200', 'end': '614.600', 'text': 'the doorknob, a brass sentinel in the\ngloom, waiting for it to turn, but it remained'}, {'start': '614.600', 'end': '622.440', 'text': 'motionless.  The walking continued for perhaps\nten minutes, then silence descended'}, {'start': '622.440', 'end': '630.960', 'text': 'once more.  I listened intently for a\nbreath, a cough, any human sign.'}, {'start': '631.640', 'end': '637.000', 'text': 'Nothing.  A desperate urge to fling\nthe door open battled with a'}, {'start': '637.000', 'end': '645.080', 'text': 'paralyzing fear that kept me rooted to the\nbed.  My mind raced, conjuring images'}, {'start': '645.080', 'end': '653.000', 'text': 'of what might await on the other side.\nDawn found me sleepless and exhausted.'}, {'start': '653.000', 'end': '659.360', 'text': 'In the morning, the hall lamp was still\non, but it was crooked on its table,'}, {'start': '659.360', 'end': '664.040', 'text': 'tilted as if a shoulder\nhad brushed against it as it passed.  I knew,'}, {'start': '664.040', 'end': '670.240', 'text': "with chilling certainty, that I hadn't\nleft her like that.  My hand trembled as I straightened it."}, {'start': '671.120', 'end': '678.720', 'text': 'Another thorough check: windows secure,\ndoors barricaded, every possible'}, {'start': '678.720', 'end': '685.000', 'text': 'entry point intact.  The dust along the\nhallway baseboards offered no answers,'}, {'start': '685.000', 'end': '691.440', 'text': 'no clear impressions.  The mystery\ngrew deeper, coiling more tightly.'}, {'start': '692.240', 'end': '700.080', 'text': 'The breakfast was mechanical, tasteless.  A new\ndetermination hardened within me:'}, {'start': '700.080', 'end': '707.480', 'text': 'a systematic search.  I threw\nopen cupboards, pushed heavy furniture aside, and'}, {'start': '707.480', 'end': '714.720', 'text': 'scanned the walls themselves for\nhidden panels or gaps.  This search led me to the end'}, {'start': '714.720', 'end': '720.920', 'text': 'of a long, gloomy corridor on the second\nfloor, which ended at a formidable obstacle:'}, {'start': '721.640', 'end': '726.640', 'text': 'a thick, dark wooden door\nsecured not by a simple lock,'}, {'start': '726.640', 'end': '734.120', 'text': 'but by a heavy, rusty padlock.  My\nkeys were useless here.  A crowbar,'}, {'start': '734.120', 'end': '740.880', 'text': 'retrieved from my toolbox, proved\ninadequate against their stubborn resistance.  No'}, {'start': '740.880', 'end': '748.320', 'text': 'sound emanated from inside.  I made a mental note:\nthis door required more forceful measures,'}, {'start': '748.320', 'end': '754.360', 'text': 'perhaps a locksmith, if I could find one\nwilling to venture this far.'}, {'start': '754.360', 'end': '761.040', 'text': 'By late afternoon I was exhausted,\nslumping on the front porch steps,'}, {'start': '761.040', 'end': '766.680', 'text': 'sipping on a bottle of water, trying to\nimpose order on the chaos in my head.'}, {'start': '767.200', 'end': '772.720', 'text': 'The urge to flee was strong: find\na sterile motel room,'}, {'start': '772.720', 'end': '779.920', 'text': 'hire professionals to vacate this\noppressive house.  However, something was holding me back.'}, {'start': '779.920', 'end': '786.640', 'text': 'A refusal to be scared away by shadows,\na need to confront the unknown.'}, {'start': '786.640', 'end': '794.240', 'text': 'Was he a squatter, cunning and silent?  An\nelaborate and disturbing joke?  An animal?'}, {'start': '794.760', 'end': '802.800', 'text': 'No, the steps had a human weight, a\ndeliberate gait that no creature could imitate.'}, {'start': '802.800', 'end': '809.440', 'text': 'That night, I deployed the technology.  A small\ndigital camera, mounted on a tripod, pointing'}, {'start': '809.440', 'end': '814.920', 'text': 'down the hallway.  Its infrared capabilities\npromised vision in the dimmest light.  With'}, {'start': '814.920', 'end': '820.880', 'text': 'the hall lamp on and the camera\nrecording, I retreated to my room.  This time,'}, {'start': '820.880', 'end': '825.840', 'text': 'the door remained unlocked, a\nconcession to the frantic need'}, {'start': '825.840', 'end': '833.080', 'text': 'for possible escape.  I tried to lose myself in a\nleather-bound volume in the library,'}, {'start': '833.080', 'end': '840.560', 'text': 'but the words blurred, my hands\nshook.  Giving up, I turned off'}, {'start': '840.560', 'end': '847.960', 'text': 'my bedside lamp and lay down in the darkness, the\nglow under the door my only anchor.'}, {'start': '847.960', 'end': '853.040', 'text': 'The hours passed in almost silence.\nSleep tugged at my conscience,'}, {'start': '853.040', 'end': '862.400', 'text': 'a heavy and insistent lure.  Then —*boom…\npause…boom…*—, the familiar rhythm returned.  I'}, {'start': '862.400', 'end': '869.560', 'text': 'tensed, pulling up the thin blanket.  My\nbreath caught in my throat.  The fight or flight instinct kicked in,'}, {'start': '869.560', 'end': '875.880', 'text': 'but fear won, immobilizing me.\nSuddenly, a soft *click*, and my door'}, {'start': '875.880', 'end': '881.640', 'text': 'opened inwards, just a crack.\nThe footsteps continued their slow patrol.'}, {'start': '881.640', 'end': '887.680', 'text': 'My whole body stiffened.  A strip of the\nlit hallway was visible, and through'}, {'start': '887.680', 'end': '893.160', 'text': 'it, something moved, casting a\nfleeting, distorted shadow across my floor.  My'}, {'start': '893.160', 'end': '899.640', 'text': 'pulse pounded in my ears.  The shadow\nvanished.  The door closed softly'}, {'start': '899.640', 'end': '906.920', 'text': 'with a whisper.  Breathing was like dragging\nstones into my lungs.  The footsteps'}, {'start': '906.920', 'end': '915.160', 'text': 'faded into the deepest silence of\nthe house.  The dream was now a forgotten country.  Sunrise.'}, {'start': '915.160', 'end': '923.240', 'text': 'The camera was blinking, still\nrecording.  I stopped it, rewound it, replayed'}, {'start': '923.240', 'end': '930.640', 'text': 'the night watch.  Empty corridor, the\ntime marker ticking.  Then, around the time'}, {'start': '930.640', 'end': '936.440', 'text': 'the sounds started, the microphone picked up\nthe distinctive creaking of floorboards.'}, {'start': '936.440', 'end': '943.520', 'text': 'A flicker at the edge of the frame.  I slowed down\nthe playback.  A dark shape materialized'}, {'start': '943.520', 'end': '949.720', 'text': 'from the left, paused momentarily\nnear my door, and then slid out of'}, {'start': '949.720', 'end': '958.560', 'text': 'sight to the right.  Too indistinct to\nmake out features, hopelessly blurry, but'}, {'start': '958.560', 'end': '966.840', 'text': 'undeniably humanoid in shape.  A cold knot\nformed in my stomach.  My mouth tasted like copper.'}, {'start': '967.360', 'end': '974.360', 'text': 'Multiple viewings did not provide further clarity.\nMy hands were shaking as I turned off the camera.'}, {'start': '974.360', 'end': '981.160', 'text': 'Today, the search resumed with grim\ndetermination.  Flashlight, hammer, crowbar:'}, {'start': '981.160', 'end': '988.360', 'text': 'my companions against the unknown.  First\nthe attic: cobwebbed beams,'}, {'start': '988.360', 'end': '995.880', 'text': 'old trunks sealed like tombs, dust motes\nswirling in the dim light.  No hiding place'}, {'start': '995.880', 'end': '1002.760', 'text': 'obvious at first glance.  Then back\nto the puzzle of the padlock on the second floor.  The'}, {'start': '1002.760', 'end': '1010.360', 'text': 'hammer blows echoed against the defiant metal,\nachieving nothing.  The wood around the knocker'}, {'start': '1010.360', 'end': '1019.360', 'text': 'remained firm.  Prying with the bar\nfelt futile, potentially harmful.  Was there another'}, {'start': '1019.360', 'end': '1026.880', 'text': 'way to get in?  Circling the exterior, counting\nwindows, my eyes fell on one on the second'}, {'start': '1026.880', 'end': '1033.560', 'text': 'floor, which corresponded directly to the position\nof the closed room.  It was boarded up from the'}, {'start': '1033.560', 'end': '1040.280', 'text': 'inside, the planks worn but firmly\nfastened.  I continued my sweep, looking behind'}, {'start': '1040.280', 'end': '1048.640', 'text': 'curtains, checking closets, under\nbeds.  Nothing.  Not a trace of another living soul.'}, {'start': '1048.640', 'end': '1055.480', 'text': "Dusk descends again.  I'm sitting\nnow in the cavernous front living room,"}, {'start': '1055.480', 'end': '1062.280', 'text': 'a single lamp painting long shadows on the\nwalls.  My muscles ache from fatigue and'}, {'start': '1062.280', 'end': '1070.200', 'text': 'tension.  One last strategy for tonight:\nsurveillance.  I will wait, not hidden in my'}, {'start': '1070.200', 'end': '1077.240', 'text': 'room, but out here, in the open.  A\nstraight-backed chair sits near the'}, {'start': '1077.240', 'end': '1083.440', 'text': 'main staircase, facing the hallway where\nthe presence seems most active.  The flashlight'}, {'start': '1083.440', 'end': '1090.760', 'text': 'and camera rest beside me.  A floor lamp\nadds another pool of weak illumination.  The'}, {'start': '1090.760', 'end': '1097.960', 'text': 'hours drag on.  My column protests.\nDrowsiness threatens to overcome me.  Then,'}, {'start': '1097.960', 'end': '1104.120', 'text': 'after midnight, a definite creak\nfrom the upper landing.  My eyes'}, {'start': '1104.120', 'end': '1112.360', 'text': 'snap open.  The flashlight beam stabs into the\ndarkness.  Empty stairs.  Another moan, this'}, {'start': '1112.360', 'end': '1119.680', 'text': 'time behind me.  I turn sharply.  The long\ncorridor leading to the locked room is empty,'}, {'start': '1119.680', 'end': '1125.520', 'text': 'shrouded in shadow.  My throat closes.\nStanding up, the flashlight held before'}, {'start': '1125.520', 'end': '1132.640', 'text': 'me like a talisman, my heart pounding\nfrantically against my ribs.'}, {'start': '1132.640', 'end': '1139.840', 'text': 'Slowly, cautiously, I move forward, checking each\ndoor as I pass.  Sweat trickles down my'}, {'start': '1139.840', 'end': '1147.240', 'text': 'palms.  Each footstep echoes eerily\nloud.  I creep down the hall,'}, {'start': '1147.240', 'end': '1153.160', 'text': 'toward the locked door that looms at the\nend.  The ear pressed against the cold'}, {'start': '1153.160', 'end': '1162.200', 'text': 'wood.  Silence, except for the frantic rush\nof my own blood.  So... anything else?  A'}, {'start': '1162.200', 'end': '1169.760', 'text': 'light, dry *scratch*, a soft sliding sound\nfrom within.  My stomach sinks.  I step back,'}, {'start': '1169.760', 'end': '1176.320', 'text': 'the flashlight beam flickering on the door.\nThe padlock hangs intact.  I reach out, I'}, {'start': '1176.320', 'end': '1183.680', 'text': 'move it;  solid.  And then I freeze.\nA shadow detaches itself from the wall to my right,'}, {'start': '1183.680', 'end': '1191.240', 'text': "gliding silently along the\nplaster.  It's not my shadow.  Taller, elongated,"}, {'start': '1191.240', 'end': '1196.960', 'text': 'moving with an unnatural fluidity.\nMy legs turn to water.\xa0\xa0  I'}, {'start': '1196.960', 'end': '1204.480', 'text': 'sweep with light, but the space is empty.  A\nwave of visceral cold runs through me, tensing the'}, {'start': '1204.480', 'end': '1213.760', 'text': 'muscles in my neck and shoulders.  I try to scream,\nto demand, but my voice has been stolen.  Backing away,'}, {'start': '1213.760', 'end': '1220.480', 'text': 'step by hesitant step, until reaching the\nstairs.  I turn and stumble downstairs,'}, {'start': '1220.480', 'end': '1227.480', 'text': 'the flashlight beam bouncing erratically.\xa0  I\nenter my first-floor room, slam'}, {'start': '1227.480', 'end': '1234.440', 'text': 'the door shut, bolt it, and slide down\nthe wood, breathing in ragged gasps.'}, {'start': '1235.000', 'end': '1242.280', 'text': 'I stand there, listening.  Nothing follows me.\nFinally, I drag myself into bed,'}, {'start': '1242.280', 'end': '1248.760', 'text': 'staring at the ceiling, mind spinning,\nsleep completely banished.'}, {'start': '1248.760', 'end': '1254.520', 'text': 'Morning light filters through the\ndusty glass, bringing not peace, but'}, {'start': '1254.520', 'end': '1261.080', 'text': 'a fragile respite.  I need distance.  A drive\nto the nearest town, the'}, {'start': '1261.080', 'end': '1267.760', 'text': 'anonymous hustle and bustle of a small coffee shop, hours spent\nsipping lukewarm coffee, trying to think.  Call'}, {'start': '1267.760', 'end': '1275.080', 'text': 'the authorities?  And report what?  Footsteps,\nshadows, a blurry video, a deep sense'}, {'start': '1275.080', 'end': '1282.560', 'text': 'of dread?  They would call me hotheaded.  Hire\nsomeone to force the locked door?  Maybe.  Or'}, {'start': '1282.560', 'end': '1288.880', 'text': 'just walk away, leave this legacy burden\nwith its secrets.  But a stubborn core'}, {'start': '1288.880', 'end': '1295.560', 'text': 'inside me resists.  An\ninsistent curiosity, a demand for answers,'}, {'start': '1295.560', 'end': '1301.720', 'text': 'draws me back to that closed room,\nto the figure that walks these corridors at'}, {'start': '1301.720', 'end': '1309.720', 'text': 'night.  In the village, I acquire new tools,\nincluding heavy-duty shears.'}, {'start': '1310.680', 'end': '1315.520', 'text': 'Returning as the sun bleeds orange\non the horizon, the house greets me with'}, {'start': '1315.520', 'end': '1322.080', 'text': 'a profound stillness, an expectant silence.\xa0  I\nput the tools in the living room,'}, {'start': '1322.080', 'end': '1329.520', 'text': 'my hands betraying a slight tremor.  The plan\nremains: wait for daylight, the'}, {'start': '1329.520', 'end': '1336.920', 'text': 'perceived safety of the sun, before assaulting that last\ndoor.  Yet the intervening hours'}, {'start': '1336.920', 'end': '1346.720', 'text': 'stretch out before me like an eternity.  The nerves\nare tense to the maximum, sleeping is unthinkable.'}, {'start': '1346.720', 'end': '1352.600', 'text': 'Even now, writing this, sitting in\nthe same living room chair, the single lamp'}, {'start': '1352.600', 'end': '1359.520', 'text': 'my only companion, the tools laid out\nbeside me, I can hear them: faint scurrying and'}, {'start': '1359.520', 'end': '1369.200', 'text': 'dull thuds from above.  The old house settling, or\nsomething else?  My pulse quickens with every sound.  My'}, {'start': '1369.200', 'end': '1375.320', 'text': 'gaze keeps straying toward the staircase,\nhalf-expecting a silhouette to materialize'}, {'start': '1375.320', 'end': '1384.040', 'text': 'against the gloom.  My throat is dry, a\ndull ache starts behind my temples.  I am'}, {'start': '1384.040', 'end': '1391.040', 'text': 'determined to unearth any truth that lies\nburied within these walls.  If any presence'}, {'start': '1391.040', 'end': '1399.200', 'text': 'inhabits this place, I will confront it, understand\nits purpose, its persistence.  Until'}, {'start': '1399.200', 'end': '1405.440', 'text': 'the first hint of dawn breaks, I will remain\nhere, fighting the primal urge to'}, {'start': '1405.440', 'end': '1413.240', 'text': 'flee.  What awaits behind that padlocked door\n, I cannot guess.  But the time for'}, {'start': '1413.240', 'end': '1422.040', 'text': "ignoring it has passed.  This house guards its secrets\njealously, but I'm determined to get them out.  It"}, {'start': '1426.320', 'end': '1431.680', 'text': 'all began subtly, a flicker\non the periphery of the old glass,'}, {'start': '1431.680', 'end': '1439.160', 'text': 'a few weeks ago.  Twilight filtered\nthrough the dirty windowpanes,'}, {'start': '1439.160', 'end': '1446.280', 'text': 'that specific hour when the light softens and\nshadows lengthen into distortions.  I had'}, {'start': '1446.280', 'end': '1453.800', 'text': 'gone into my bedroom, stopping in front of\nthe venerable mirror fixed to the plaster.  Behind my'}, {'start': '1453.800', 'end': '1461.960', 'text': "reflection, something stood tall.  It wasn't a trick of the\nlight, nor a misinterpretation.  A presence,"}, {'start': '1461.960', 'end': '1467.160', 'text': 'disturbingly vertical, wrapped\nin some dark, indeterminate fabric.'}, {'start': '1467.160', 'end': '1474.320', 'text': 'A quick turn revealed only the\nfamiliar confines of my room, empty and still.'}, {'start': '1474.320', 'end': '1479.520', 'text': 'My home occupies the upper floor of a\nstructure that groans under the weight of the years,'}, {'start': '1479.520', 'end': '1487.120', 'text': 'perhaps a century or more.  Its arteries are\nnarrow, dimly lit corridors where the paint'}, {'start': '1487.120', 'end': '1493.640', 'text': 'peels like sunburned skin and the\nfloorboards groan underfoot.'}, {'start': '1493.640', 'end': '1498.320', 'text': 'Within my own walls: a\nsingle bedroom, a bathroom,'}, {'start': '1498.320', 'end': '1502.520', 'text': 'a narrow kitchen barely\nwider than my shoulders, and a'}, {'start': '1502.520', 'end': '1508.480', 'text': 'living room that does double duty for\nmeals.  The furniture is junk,'}, {'start': '1508.480', 'end': '1515.480', 'text': 'functional but worn.  Loneliness is my\nusual companion, the silence punctuated by'}, {'start': '1515.480', 'end': '1522.160', 'text': "the hiss of aging pipes or the distant\nhum of the neighbors' hidden machinery."}, {'start': '1522.160', 'end': '1530.040', 'text': 'A perpetual, slightly fungal scent haunts\nthe halls.  Dust accumulates with relentless'}, {'start': '1530.040', 'end': '1538.120', 'text': 'speed.  The windows remain tightly closed;\nTheir frames, deformed by the seasons,'}, {'start': '1538.120', 'end': '1545.400', 'text': 'offer poor protection against\ndrafts and the incessant murmur of the city.'}, {'start': '1545.400', 'end': '1548.760', 'text': 'The mirror itself had never attracted attention.'}, {'start': '1549.400', 'end': '1554.320', 'text': 'Purchased for a pittance at a crowded\nsecondhand emporium, it is a simple,'}, {'start': '1554.320', 'end': '1560.280', 'text': 'chest-high rectangle of glass,\nframed in unadorned wood.  Hanging in front'}, {'start': '1560.280', 'end': '1568.080', 'text': 'of my bed at eye level, its purpose\nwas mundane: morning assessments of the face,'}, {'start': '1568.080', 'end': '1576.680', 'text': 'the straightness of a neck.  Just another relic\namong relics in a space saturated with the past.'}, {'start': '1576.680', 'end': '1582.920', 'text': 'Until that initial twilight encounter\nchanged its nature completely.  The panic'}, {'start': '1582.920', 'end': '1590.920', 'text': 'was not immediate.  The mind searches for\nrational explanations: tired eyes, the strange alchemy'}, {'start': '1590.920', 'end': '1598.160', 'text': 'of sunset, a trapped reflection of the street\nbelow.  But the apparition returned the'}, {'start': '1598.160', 'end': '1605.040', 'text': 'following night.  This time, I stood my ground, my\ngaze fixed on the silver surface,'}, {'start': '1605.040', 'end': '1610.800', 'text': 'hoping the figure would give itself away with\nsome movement.  She remained static,'}, {'start': '1610.800', 'end': '1618.800', 'text': 'but her form had a sharper clarity:\nthat slender height, the fall of her Stygian cloak.'}, {'start': '1619.360', 'end': '1625.720', 'text': 'No discernible face, just an\noutline against the reflected room.  A'}, {'start': '1625.720', 'end': '1631.840', 'text': 'faint, warm throb pulsed in my temples;\nA dull ache settled in'}, {'start': '1631.840', 'end': '1639.440', 'text': 'my lower belly.  My hands turned icy,\neven though the air held no chill.  Again,'}, {'start': '1639.440', 'end': '1644.840', 'text': 'the turn, the confrontation with the\nvoid.  A futile search ensued:'}, {'start': '1644.840', 'end': '1651.560', 'text': 'under the bed, inside the narrow closet,\nbehind the door, down the dark hallway.  Nothing.'}, {'start': '1651.560', 'end': '1658.840', 'text': 'However, every glance back in the mirror\nconfirmed its presence, lurking in the background.'}, {'start': '1658.840', 'end': '1664.640', 'text': 'Artificial light offered no sanctuary.\nThe bare bulb above cast a'}, {'start': '1664.640', 'end': '1671.000', 'text': 'sterile glow, but the figure persisted.\nA focused beam from a small flashlight?'}, {'start': '1671.000', 'end': '1678.760', 'text': 'Imperturbable.  Leaving the room and returning\nmoments later changed nothing.  It materialized'}, {'start': '1678.760', 'end': '1686.680', 'text': 'only as the day waned, a creature of\ntwilight, absent in the brightest hours.'}, {'start': '1686.680', 'end': '1692.440', 'text': 'The days bled into one another,\nmarked by a chilling realization:'}, {'start': '1692.440', 'end': '1697.880', 'text': 'the figure was closing the distance\nbetween us in the reflected space.'}, {'start': '1697.880', 'end': '1703.080', 'text': 'Initially positioned near the\ndoor frame, several feet away,'}, {'start': '1703.080', 'end': '1710.600', 'text': 'after a few nights, I had reduced\nthat gap by half.  Then even closer,'}, {'start': '1710.600', 'end': '1717.480', 'text': "until it was standing just an arm's length\nbehind my reflected self.  I could trace the curve"}, {'start': '1717.480', 'end': '1724.800', 'text': 'of her shoulders, the fall of her garment almost\nsweeping the floorboards.  Feet, hands,'}, {'start': '1724.800', 'end': '1730.480', 'text': 'features: everything remained hidden.\nMotionless as it watched,'}, {'start': '1730.480', 'end': '1736.800', 'text': 'but every sunset found it having\nmoved, inexplicably closer.'}, {'start': '1737.600', 'end': '1742.640', 'text': 'Avoidance became a\nconscious effort, inevitably undone by a'}, {'start': '1742.640', 'end': '1751.240', 'text': 'morbid mixture of curiosity and fear.  The dream was\nfractured.  The darkness invited speculation;'}, {'start': '1751.240', 'end': '1757.760', 'text': 'The light from the lamp confirmed the\nuninvited guest.  Always there.  Behind me.'}, {'start': '1758.280', 'end': '1764.000', 'text': 'One night, desperation drove me to cover the\nmirror with a threadbare blanket, secured with'}, {'start': '1764.000', 'end': '1770.960', 'text': 'brittle duct tape.  The ensuing twilight,\nas the cover was peeled back, felt like disturbing'}, {'start': '1770.960', 'end': '1779.240', 'text': 'a wound.  I was there.  Closer now.\nSo close that the illusion of his breath, a'}, {'start': '1779.240', 'end': '1786.960', 'text': 'ghostly warmth, brushed the nape of my neck.\nMy skin erupted in a cold rash of bumps.'}, {'start': '1786.960', 'end': '1792.480', 'text': 'My heart was pounding, a\nfrantic drum against my ribs,'}, {'start': '1792.480', 'end': '1800.560', 'text': 'blood rushing loudly in my\nears.  Swallowing felt like forcing sand.'}, {'start': '1800.560', 'end': '1804.960', 'text': '"What do you want?"  The\nwords scraped my throat,'}, {'start': '1804.960', 'end': '1811.760', 'text': 'loud in the stillness.  Silence responded.\nNo gesture, no sound of the'}, {'start': '1811.760', 'end': '1817.840', 'text': 'reflected presence.  It just *was*.  As I took\na side step in front of the glass,'}, {'start': '1817.840', 'end': '1824.440', 'text': 'I saw my reflection move.  The figure followed\nmy movement, maintaining its proximity,'}, {'start': '1824.440', 'end': '1832.160', 'text': 'tied not to a location in the room,\nbut to *me* within the gaze of the mirror.'}, {'start': '1832.160', 'end': '1838.960', 'text': 'A night spent confined to the living room\nproved useless.  Ignoring the bedroom, the mirror,'}, {'start': '1838.960', 'end': '1843.920', 'text': 'only amplified the inner clamor.\nWhat would happen if I stopped my vigil,'}, {'start': '1843.920', 'end': '1850.840', 'text': 'allowed him that final, invisible approach?\nThe stillness of the apartment felt suffocating.'}, {'start': '1850.840', 'end': '1856.960', 'text': 'A knot tightened in my stomach, refusing\nto budge.  The muscles remained tense,'}, {'start': '1856.960', 'end': '1863.360', 'text': 'a film of perspiration sliding down\nmy forehead.  The air itself tasted stale.  Faint'}, {'start': '1863.360', 'end': '1868.280', 'text': 'intermittent clicks resounded:\nthe old building settling,'}, {'start': '1868.280', 'end': '1875.840', 'text': 'or something else entirely.  Restlessness propelled me\nacross the small space.  Time dragged on.'}, {'start': '1875.840', 'end': '1884.200', 'text': 'Finally, inevitably, I stood up, crossed\nthe threshold, and confronted the glass once more.'}, {'start': '1884.200', 'end': '1891.320', 'text': 'He stood directly behind me.  A subtle\nvibration seemed to hum in the air.  My own'}, {'start': '1891.320', 'end': '1899.200', 'text': 'reflection startled me: eyes wide and\ntense, shoulders hunched defensively.'}, {'start': '1899.200', 'end': '1903.720', 'text': 'The figure loomed,\nat least a head taller than me.'}, {'start': '1904.240', 'end': '1911.480', 'text': 'His cloak seemed thicker, absorbing the dim\nlight in the room.  There was no face yet,'}, {'start': '1911.480', 'end': '1918.000', 'text': 'just the deep negative space beneath\nthe hood.  A new sound emerged:'}, {'start': '1918.000', 'end': '1925.040', 'text': 'a dry, crackling whisper, like\nold parchment flexing or brittle joints'}, {'start': '1925.040', 'end': '1931.000', 'text': 'giving way.  It emanated from beyond the glass,\nbut resonated deep within my'}, {'start': '1931.000', 'end': '1938.160', 'text': 'bones.  My pulse quickened.  Breathing\nbecame shallow and rapid.  A peculiar'}, {'start': '1938.160', 'end': '1944.720', 'text': 'stiffness came over my neck.  The\nfine hairs on my arms stood up.'}, {'start': '1944.720', 'end': '1949.760', 'text': "As I leaned closer, peering into\nthe hood's reflected void, I"}, {'start': '1949.760', 'end': '1956.560', 'text': 'saw nothing but impenetrable darkness.\nYet the breathing was undeniable:'}, {'start': '1957.160', 'end': '1964.080', 'text': 'slow, deliberate inhalations and exhalations\nthat mirrored my own rhythm, but carried'}, {'start': '1964.080', 'end': '1972.000', 'text': 'an impossible weight.  My fingertips touched\nthe surface of the mirror.  Cold, smooth,'}, {'start': '1972.000', 'end': '1980.680', 'text': 'solid glass.  Nothing extraordinary.  Neither hot nor cold.  The\nfigure offered no reaction, made no'}, {'start': '1980.680', 'end': '1987.520', 'text': 'move to grab me or pull me in, but a\ndisturbing intent radiated from it.'}, {'start': '1988.360', 'end': '1994.200', 'text': 'The following twilight brought a\ndifferent tactic.  I lifted the mirror from its simple'}, {'start': '1994.200', 'end': '2002.000', 'text': 'nail mount.  I inverted it, presenting its\nblank wooden back to the room.  I'}, {'start': '2002.000', 'end': '2009.200', 'text': "sat on the edge of the bed, listening.  The\ndistant sighs of the city, a neighbor's door"}, {'start': '2009.200', 'end': '2016.720', 'text': 'closing in the hallway, the low hum\nof invisible appliances.  An hour passed.'}, {'start': '2017.280', 'end': '2025.800', 'text': 'Slowly, deliberately, I turned the mirror.  He\nstood behind me.  Closer than ever.  So'}, {'start': '2025.800', 'end': '2031.520', 'text': 'close now that tilting my mirrored head\nback would mean leaning against his'}, {'start': '2031.520', 'end': '2041.400', 'text': 'hidden chest.  The edge of the cape brushed my shoulder\non the glass.  I turned around suddenly.  Empty.'}, {'start': '2041.400', 'end': '2046.520', 'text': 'Yet the sensation persisted:\nan ethereal pressure against my back,'}, {'start': '2046.520', 'end': '2052.160', 'text': 'as if I were leaning against a\npresence composed of pure absence.'}, {'start': '2052.160', 'end': '2059.120', 'text': 'An urge to destroy him took hold of me.  I lifted\nthe mirror, smashing it against the sturdy'}, {'start': '2059.120', 'end': '2067.320', 'text': 'bed frame.  The thick glass held.  Again,\nlouder.  A dent marked the wood,'}, {'start': '2067.320', 'end': '2073.800', 'text': 'a scratch appeared, but the glass remained\nintact.  My toolbox contained a'}, {'start': '2073.800', 'end': '2081.280', 'text': 'hammer.  My hand reached out, then froze.\nA deep, inexplicable, visceral discomfort'}, {'start': '2081.280', 'end': '2089.720', 'text': 'stopped my arm.  A tremor began in my fingers,\na constriction tightened my chest.  Some'}, {'start': '2089.720', 'end': '2097.760', 'text': 'primal instinct screamed that breaking the glass would unleash\nsomething far worse.  Absurd, but paralyzing.'}, {'start': '2097.760', 'end': '2103.280', 'text': 'The following nights, I tried to sleep with\nthe mirror facing the wall.  But the'}, {'start': '2103.280', 'end': '2111.040', 'text': 'feeling of *something* behind me persisted,\nregardless of the view.  I would wake up'}, {'start': '2111.040', 'end': '2118.120', 'text': 'with a start, my heart pounding, my\nskin clammy, the memory of those dry'}, {'start': '2118.120', 'end': '2124.160', 'text': 'clicks echoing in the oppressive darkness.\xa0  I\nmoved the mirror into the living room,'}, {'start': '2124.160', 'end': '2130.360', 'text': 'hidden behind the sofa, facing\ninward.  By nightfall, the compulsion proved'}, {'start': '2130.360', 'end': '2138.160', 'text': 'irresistible.  Moving the furniture, turning the\nglass, looking... It was there.  Always behind'}, {'start': '2138.160', 'end': '2146.240', 'text': 'me.  Always fractionally closer.\nAlways that soft, insistent breathing.'}, {'start': '2146.240', 'end': '2152.160', 'text': 'Leaving felt like the only option.\nDaylight excursions offered a'}, {'start': '2152.160', 'end': '2158.360', 'text': "temporary respite.  Standing on the sidewalk, looking up\nat the building's weathered facade, I contemplated the"}, {'start': '2158.360', 'end': '2164.960', 'text': "escape: a sterile hotel room,\na friend's couch.  But resources were scarce,"}, {'start': '2164.960', 'end': '2171.040', 'text': 'close friends distant, family\nunlikely to understand a haunting confined'}, {'start': '2171.040', 'end': '2178.360', 'text': 'to reflective glass.  Explaining it felt\nlike admitting madness.'}, {'start': '2178.360', 'end': '2186.880', 'text': 'Financial limitations bound me.  And so I lumbered back\nupstairs, the problem unsolved.'}, {'start': '2186.880', 'end': '2193.400', 'text': 'A cheap digital camera offered a\ndesperate hope.  Standing on the dresser, pointing at the'}, {'start': '2193.400', 'end': '2199.800', 'text': 'mirror, she filmed me standing in front of it as\ndusk fell.  The reproduction revealed'}, {'start': '2199.800', 'end': '2206.680', 'text': "only my solitary figure, the empty room\nbehind my reflection.  My phone's camera"}, {'start': '2206.680', 'end': '2213.600', 'text': 'returned the same sterile results.\nNo figure.  This digital denial'}, {'start': '2213.600', 'end': '2221.320', 'text': 'offered no solace, instead deepening\nthe sense of profound isolation.'}, {'start': '2221.320', 'end': '2229.960', 'text': 'Night after night, the approach continues.\xa0  It\nnever fades, it just waits.  Sometimes'}, {'start': '2229.960', 'end': '2236.240', 'text': 'a slight dragging noise accompanies their presence,\nlike heavy cloth thrown over a'}, {'start': '2236.240', 'end': '2242.680', 'text': 'rough surface.  A glance confirms minimal changes\nin the drape of the cape around'}, {'start': '2242.680', 'end': '2250.440', 'text': 'invisible shoulders.  The dry crack is repeated, sharp\nlike cracking knuckles.  My pulse beats'}, {'start': '2250.440', 'end': '2258.120', 'text': 'hard in my throat.  My legs feel\nunreliable, watery.  Nausea stirs.'}, {'start': '2258.120', 'end': '2266.640', 'text': 'The fingers tremble.  I tried to address her\nagain.  "Can you hear me?"  Absolute silence.\xa0\xa0  It does'}, {'start': '2266.640', 'end': '2272.000', 'text': 'not offer any communication signals.  A\npiece of paper held up to the glass,'}, {'start': '2272.000', 'end': '2278.640', 'text': 'with the words "Who are you?" on it,\nmade no difference.  Total darkness,'}, {'start': '2278.640', 'end': '2284.800', 'text': 'pierced only by the beam of a flashlight,\nfailed to banish her.  The figure remained'}, {'start': '2284.800', 'end': '2292.000', 'text': 'firm in the reflection, solid like my own\nimage, even under direct lighting.'}, {'start': '2292.840', 'end': '2298.800', 'text': "One night, a distinct warmth blossomed\non the back of my neck.  It wasn't"}, {'start': '2298.800', 'end': '2304.600', 'text': 'breath this time, but the palpable warmth of\na hand floating just millimeters from my'}, {'start': '2304.600', 'end': '2312.440', 'text': 'skin.  Close, but not touching.  With it\ncame a faint sweet smell: old wool,'}, {'start': '2312.440', 'end': '2318.160', 'text': 'perhaps, or damp cloth\nlong confined to darkness.'}, {'start': '2318.920', 'end': '2326.280', 'text': 'It caught in my throat, causing a cough,\nmaking my eyes water.  I stepped back'}, {'start': '2326.280', 'end': '2334.720', 'text': 'instinctively.  Looking back, the\nfigure remained impassive, unchanged.'}, {'start': '2334.720', 'end': '2342.240', 'text': 'Getting rid of it seems fraught with danger.\nTake it to the dumpster in the alley... what if'}, {'start': '2342.240', 'end': '2348.600', 'text': "its influence isn't tied to this\nspecific item?  What if it simply migrates:"}, {'start': '2348.600', 'end': '2354.200', 'text': 'to the small mirror in the medicine cabinet, to the\npolished chrome of the kitchen appliances,'}, {'start': '2354.200', 'end': '2359.760', 'text': 'to the darkened glass of the windows\nat night?  The idea of \u200b\u200bthis presence'}, {'start': '2359.760', 'end': '2367.920', 'text': 'proliferating throughout my small apartment is\nintolerable.  Content, at least, is known.'}, {'start': '2367.920', 'end': '2376.200', 'text': 'Never initiates contact.  No\nsudden charge, no face revealed.  However,'}, {'start': '2376.200', 'end': '2380.560', 'text': 'its proximity is now so intimate\nthat I can almost sense it with my'}, {'start': '2380.560', 'end': '2388.320', 'text': 'eyes closed.  Standing in front of the mirror with your\nback to it does not require visual confirmation.'}, {'start': '2388.960', 'end': '2395.960', 'text': 'A tingling sensation runs down my spine.  My\nscalp is tingling.  Breathing'}, {'start': '2395.960', 'end': '2401.400', 'text': 'becomes irregular.  The final closure\nof the breach feels imminent,'}, {'start': '2401.400', 'end': '2408.240', 'text': 'but its nature remains terrifyingly\nobscure.  Each twilight confirms its'}, {'start': '2408.240', 'end': '2416.120', 'text': 'slow and inexorable advance.  My muscles exist in\na perpetual state of tension.  Exhaustion'}, {'start': '2416.120', 'end': '2424.080', 'text': 'is a constant companion, sleep a\ntroubled refuge filled with disorienting dreams.'}, {'start': '2424.080', 'end': '2429.680', 'text': 'An experiment with a chair proved\nuseless.  Dragging the small'}, {'start': '2429.680', 'end': '2437.360', 'text': 'wooden seat between me and the mirror, I peered into the\nglass.  The figure loomed behind *me*,'}, {'start': '2437.360', 'end': '2444.600', 'text': 'the chair an irrelevant object in the\nreflected space.  The angles offered no escape;'}, {'start': '2444.600', 'end': '2451.160', 'text': 'wherever I positioned myself, it followed me\nprecisely.  Conversations with neighbors'}, {'start': '2451.160', 'end': '2457.520', 'text': 'ceased.  The music and television\nwent silent.  Now, I only hear'}, {'start': '2457.520', 'end': '2464.720', 'text': 'the subtle moans and sighs from the apartment,\nwaiting for twilight, waiting for the figure.'}, {'start': '2465.400', 'end': '2471.080', 'text': 'Sometimes ghostly whispers provoke\nthe edge of hearing, dissolving'}, {'start': '2471.080', 'end': '2477.920', 'text': 'as you focus.  I fight the urge to\nblink as I stare at the glass,'}, {'start': '2477.920', 'end': '2485.120', 'text': 'gripped by an irrational fear of what might\nhappen in that brief moment of darkness.'}, {'start': '2485.120', 'end': '2491.880', 'text': 'How much closer can you get?  Lately, the\nfeeling is of fabric brushing against my back in the'}, {'start': '2491.880', 'end': '2499.840', 'text': 'reflection.  A slight, persistent tug on my shirt,\nas if an invisible finger were fiddling with a'}, {'start': '2499.840', 'end': '2507.200', 'text': 'loose thread.  My shoulders ache with a tangible weight\nwhen I stand there.  The knees threaten'}, {'start': '2507.200', 'end': '2515.120', 'text': 'to give way.  Arms shake uncontrollably.\nMy throat feels perpetually constricted,'}, {'start': '2515.120', 'end': '2521.840', 'text': 'vision blurs in the periphery\nfrom sheer, relentless stress.  Is it going to'}, {'start': '2521.840', 'end': '2529.160', 'text': 'go through it?  Do you want something?  Is it even sensitive,\nor just some foreign residue trapped in'}, {'start': '2529.160', 'end': '2537.120', 'text': 'silver nitrate?  I have no answers.  Just the\nnightly ritual, the invading presence, the soft'}, {'start': '2537.120', 'end': '2546.200', 'text': 'breathing, the clicks and movements just behind\nme.  It never goes away.  Never allows rest.'}, {'start': '2546.200', 'end': '2553.120', 'text': 'Tonight finds me here again.  The\nlight drains from the sky.  The mirror waits,'}, {'start': '2553.120', 'end': '2561.000', 'text': 'impassive on the wall.  I know what awaits within\nits depths.  Now, the ghostly warmth'}, {'start': '2561.000', 'end': '2568.600', 'text': 'kisses my neck.  The peculiar stiffness settles in\nmy limbs, the tension that has become'}, {'start': '2568.600', 'end': '2578.400', 'text': "my baseline state.  The figure is behind me.\nIts advance is relentless, unstoppable.  All that's"}, {'start': '2578.400', 'end': '2588.440', 'text': 'left is to stand, watch, feel his breath\non my neck and wait for what comes next.'}, {'start': '2591.320', 'end': '2596.760', 'text': 'It arrived nestled in the darkness with the scent of\ncedar from a trunk bequeathed by my grandfather,'}, {'start': '2596.760', 'end': '2602.160', 'text': 'this manuscript that I initially dismissed\nas simple waste worn by time.'}, {'start': '2602.160', 'end': '2608.720', 'text': 'A stupid assumption.  My name is Elias.  By\ncraft and temperament, I am an actor, a devotee of'}, {'start': '2608.720', 'end': '2614.960', 'text': 'the stage, chasing the electric thrill of\nacting wherever it might flash:'}, {'start': '2614.960', 'end': '2621.280', 'text': 'community theaters,\ncrawlspaces, any place a spotlight could'}, {'start': '2621.280', 'end': '2627.240', 'text': 'find me.  The resonance of my own\nvoice shaping resonant words,'}, {'start': '2627.240', 'end': '2632.720', 'text': 'the chameleon-like joy of inhabiting other\nskins… those are my addictions.'}, {'start': '2632.720', 'end': '2640.440', 'text': 'However, this script, tied with a rough string,\nfelt alien to my touch from the beginning.  It'}, {'start': '2640.440', 'end': '2645.800', 'text': 'must have been perhaps three weeks since I\nfirst opened that heavy'}, {'start': '2645.800', 'end': '2652.080', 'text': 'wooden chest in the dusty stillness of the\nattic.  I had anticipated moth-eaten clothes,'}, {'start': '2652.080', 'end': '2658.400', 'text': 'sepia photographs curling at the edges.  What I\nfound instead was this bundle of'}, {'start': '2658.400', 'end': '2664.960', 'text': 'brittle pages, devoid of a title, secured\nonly by a knot of string.  On the first page,'}, {'start': '2664.960', 'end': '2671.440', 'text': 'a disturbing symbol throbbed in\ndeep black ink: a kind of twisted knot,'}, {'start': '2671.440', 'end': '2678.880', 'text': 'an ouroboros devouring itself in infinite\ncomplexity.  I started reading right there, bathed'}, {'start': '2678.880', 'end': '2686.680', 'text': 'in the weak halo of my flashlight, the stale air\nthick in my lungs.  The text itself was…'}, {'start': '2686.680', 'end': '2693.160', 'text': 'strange.  He spoke of ancient entities\nbeyond all calculation, of shadowy rites,'}, {'start': '2693.840', 'end': '2701.120', 'text': 'punctuated by a strange, recurring chant.\nThe memory fades, but somehow'}, {'start': '2701.120', 'end': '2707.920', 'text': 'the manuscript made it out of the attic with me,\ntucked under my arm.  A forgotten,'}, {'start': '2707.920', 'end': '2715.640', 'text': 'unrepresented relic, I reasoned.  A curious challenge\nfor memorization, perhaps even adaptable'}, {'start': '2715.640', 'end': '2723.400', 'text': 'for some marginal production.  And so,\nhe came home to my little apartment.'}, {'start': '2723.400', 'end': '2729.040', 'text': 'My home is modest: two rooms\nconnected by a short hallway, a'}, {'start': '2729.040', 'end': '2735.280', 'text': 'tiny hidden bathroom.  Normally, their silence is\nonly broken by the low, friendly hum'}, {'start': '2735.280', 'end': '2742.320', 'text': 'of the refrigerator.  That night, however,\nby the lonely light of a floor lamp,'}, {'start': '2742.320', 'end': '2749.560', 'text': 'I let the words of the script fill the\nstillness.  I read aloud.  The first pass'}, {'start': '2749.560', 'end': '2756.840', 'text': 'was clumsy, the dialogue uneven, the names of\nthese supposedly primal beings refusing to'}, {'start': '2756.840', 'end': '2764.520', 'text': 'sit comfortably on my tongue.  The sentences\nwere often short, but carried an'}, {'start': '2764.520', 'end': '2771.680', 'text': 'inexplicable weight.  At the end of the first act, a\nperceptible coolness made the skin on my arms prickle.'}, {'start': '2771.680', 'end': '2777.600', 'text': 'The room was not cold.  Only the\npeculiar aura of the manuscript filtering through the'}, {'start': '2777.600', 'end': '2783.840', 'text': 'air, I told myself, reaching for the\ntelevision remote to banish the unease.'}, {'start': '2783.840', 'end': '2789.840', 'text': 'The morning found the script lying accusingly\non my coffee table.  A brief impulse to'}, {'start': '2789.840', 'end': '2796.560', 'text': 'throw it away fought against a stronger,\nstranger compulsion.  He called me.  With the morning free,'}, {'start': '2796.560', 'end': '2803.080', 'text': 'I decided to practice.  I stood in front of the\nfull-length mirror attached to my bedroom closet door'}, {'start': '2803.080', 'end': '2809.840', 'text': ', positioning myself to observe my own\ntransformation.  The lines possessed a'}, {'start': '2809.840', 'end': '2816.360', 'text': 'raw intensity, describing some primordial force that\ncommanded both reverence and terror.  I came to a'}, {'start': '2816.360', 'end': '2823.680', 'text': 'passage where the protagonist declares, “I call upon you and\nopen my mind to your presence.”  I stopped, mid-'}, {'start': '2823.680', 'end': '2831.280', 'text': 'sentence.  A crisp *click* echoed from the hallway,\nthe sound of a latch engaging.  My heart'}, {'start': '2831.280', 'end': '2839.880', 'text': 'hammered against my ribs.  I stopped,\nlistening intently.  Silence.  I ventured'}, {'start': '2839.880', 'end': '2847.520', 'text': 'out;  The hallway was empty, no\ndraft from an open window.  The bathroom door'}, {'start': '2847.520', 'end': '2854.160', 'text': 'was slightly ajar, although it\nhad probably been that way all along.  A nervous laugh'}, {'start': '2854.160', 'end': '2861.480', 'text': 'escaped me as I returned to my room, but the\nfrantic pace of my pulse refused to slow.'}, {'start': '2861.480', 'end': '2867.240', 'text': 'The next few days became a\ntightrope walk between my mundane day job'}, {'start': '2867.240', 'end': '2873.080', 'text': 'and these clandestine rehearsals, performed\nfor an audience of no one.  However,'}, {'start': '2873.080', 'end': '2879.200', 'text': 'I felt compelled to refine the lines,\ndriven by a need I could not express.'}, {'start': '2880.520', 'end': '2887.360', 'text': 'Every time I picked up the manuscript, a\nfine sweat moistened my palms.  I forced myself to'}, {'start': '2887.360', 'end': '2895.840', 'text': 'stand up straight, the pages trembling slightly, and\nspoke the words into the empty air.  Often,'}, {'start': '2895.840', 'end': '2902.320', 'text': 'a tingling sensation ran down my\nspine, the undeniable feeling of invisible eyes'}, {'start': '2902.320', 'end': '2908.800', 'text': 'upon me.  Other times, a faint, dry rattle,\nlike old chains being dragged across the'}, {'start': '2908.800', 'end': '2915.800', 'text': "floor, whispered from the next room.\nThe building's old pipes, he rationalized,"}, {'start': '2915.800', 'end': '2922.480', 'text': 'or a neighbor rearranging furniture.  However,\nit invariably occurred during the same passage:'}, {'start': '2922.480', 'end': '2927.000', 'text': 'the one detailing the invocation\nof something vast and unknowable.'}, {'start': '2927.840', 'end': '2934.080', 'text': 'One night, well into the second act, I tackled\na monologue detailing forbidden rituals,'}, {'start': '2934.080', 'end': '2940.280', 'text': 'the precise steps to tear a portal between\nworlds.  I got to the phrase, “I prepare the circle and'}, {'start': '2940.280', 'end': '2947.800', 'text': 'offer my voice,” and a violent *boom* echoed\nfrom the kitchen.  I jumped, my heart sinking,'}, {'start': '2947.800', 'end': '2954.760', 'text': 'convinced that I would find an intruder.\nInstead, my simple wooden kitchen chair lay'}, {'start': '2954.760', 'end': '2961.760', 'text': 'overturned, rocking slightly on the linoleum.\nA thorough examination confirmed that he was alone;'}, {'start': '2961.760', 'end': '2968.920', 'text': 'The main door remained securely closed\n.  No explanation was offered.'}, {'start': '2968.920', 'end': '2976.440', 'text': 'As I straightened my chair, my hand shook\nuncontrollably, a cold sweat beaded on my forehead.'}, {'start': '2976.440', 'end': '2984.640', 'text': 'Enough for tonight, I decided, the words\na weak dam against the rising fear.'}, {'start': '2984.640', 'end': '2991.200', 'text': 'Several nights later, longing for more space\nto move around, I moved my rehearsal into the living room.  I cleared'}, {'start': '2991.200', 'end': '2997.000', 'text': 'the coffee table, dimmed the lights except for\nthe single lamp, setting a'}, {'start': '2997.000', 'end': '3003.400', 'text': 'makeshift stage.  Starting again from the first\nact, I walked as I spoke, my gaze'}, {'start': '3003.400', 'end': '3009.880', 'text': 'repeatedly drawn to the shadowy maw\nof the corridor, the feeling of being watched'}, {'start': '3009.880', 'end': '3017.880', 'text': 'intensifying.  The floorboards creaked\nunder my weight with every step.  I struggled to stay'}, {'start': '3017.880', 'end': '3025.440', 'text': "focused, but my voice was shaking.  I spoke the\nlines of appeasement, of bending one's own"}, {'start': '3025.440', 'end': '3033.200', 'text': 'will to the former guardians.  Suddenly,\nthe ceiling light flickered, dimming'}, {'start': '3033.200', 'end': '3040.200', 'text': 'momentarily before brightening again.  My\nbreath caught in my throat.  Taking a'}, {'start': '3040.200', 'end': '3047.240', 'text': 'shaky breath, I moved on.  As he spoke\nthe last lines of the act, an icy current'}, {'start': '3047.240', 'end': '3055.360', 'text': 'coiled around his neck, intimate as a\ncold breath.  I turned sharply.  Windows tightly'}, {'start': '3055.360', 'end': '3062.320', 'text': 'closed.  Balcony door secured.  No\nvents nearby.  However,'}, {'start': '3062.320', 'end': '3069.440', 'text': 'the cold persisted, clinging.  “It’s all in\nmy head,” I mumbled aloud, the words'}, {'start': '3069.440', 'end': '3077.280', 'text': 'sounding faint.  The sensation deepened,\nmy teeth began to chatter.  Leaving the'}, {'start': '3077.280', 'end': '3083.600', 'text': 'script aside, I fled to the bathroom, splashing\ncold water on my face.  Paradoxically,'}, {'start': '3083.600', 'end': '3090.480', 'text': 'the water felt almost warm against my\nfrigid skin.  My reflection stared back at me:'}, {'start': '3091.080', 'end': '3098.760', 'text': 'wild, haunted eyes in a\npale face.  I needed a break.  A real one.'}, {'start': '3098.760', 'end': '3105.240', 'text': 'At work the next day, the script was\nan insistent hum beneath my thoughts,'}, {'start': '3105.240', 'end': '3110.600', 'text': 'blurring the edges of\nspreadsheets and conversations.  It seemed to'}, {'start': '3110.600', 'end': '3118.040', 'text': '*call* to me.  My supervisor asked about my\nwell-being;  I offered a noncommittal nod,'}, {'start': '3118.040', 'end': '3124.160', 'text': 'my mind already tracing the shape of the\nunread lines.  Around noon,'}, {'start': '3124.160', 'end': '3130.360', 'text': 'abandoning my usual routine, I drove\nhome.  Inside my apartment, I drew the'}, {'start': '3130.360', 'end': '3138.120', 'text': 'curtains against the afternoon sun, the manuscript\nalready in my hand.  My heart raced as I opened it,'}, {'start': '3138.120', 'end': '3144.440', 'text': 'the pages emitting a faint, damp scent.\nA dull ache throbbed behind my eyes,'}, {'start': '3145.040', 'end': '3151.000', 'text': 'but I dove into the third act.  It was\ndarker, heavier.  It culminated in a'}, {'start': '3151.000', 'end': '3157.400', 'text': 'final chant, which demanded a voice of resounding\nauthority.  I spoke the first words,'}, {'start': '3157.400', 'end': '3164.800', 'text': 'and the light flickered again, more violently this\ntime.  I instinctively stepped back, feeling the'}, {'start': '3164.800', 'end': '3173.360', 'text': 'hair on my arms stand up.  My breathing\nbecame shallow, my chest tight.  Still,'}, {'start': '3173.360', 'end': '3181.280', 'text': 'I kept going, pushing the lines.  The building\ncreaked around me, punctuated by what sounded'}, {'start': '3181.280', 'end': '3187.400', 'text': 'eerily like footsteps walking across\nthe floor above – impossible, since I occupied'}, {'start': '3187.400', 'end': '3194.040', 'text': "the top floor.  My throat feeling sore, I swallowed\nsome water and continued.  That's when I"}, {'start': '3194.040', 'end': '3200.360', 'text': 'heard it clearly: the scraping of chains dragging\nacross the floor in the hallway, getting louder and'}, {'start': '3200.360', 'end': '3208.560', 'text': 'louder.  I put down the script and dragged myself to\nthe door.  Nothing.  The sound persisted, rhythmic,'}, {'start': '3208.560', 'end': '3217.440', 'text': 'threatening, until I whispered, "I\'m done\nfor now."  Instantly, there was silence.'}, {'start': '3217.440', 'end': '3223.440', 'text': 'Sleep became a luxury I could no longer\nafford.  Lying in the darkness,'}, {'start': '3223.440', 'end': '3228.440', 'text': "the manuscript's strange cadences\nechoed relentlessly in my mind,"}, {'start': '3228.440', 'end': '3235.120', 'text': 'refusing to grant me peace.  I found myself\npacing the living room in the dead of hours,'}, {'start': '3235.120', 'end': '3241.880', 'text': 'an invisible weight pressing down on my shoulders,\nmurmuring those strange, powerful lines'}, {'start': '3241.880', 'end': '3250.000', 'text': 'aloud without conscious thought, the\nwords seared into my memory.'}, {'start': '3250.000', 'end': '3256.760', 'text': 'A week dragged on.  An undeniable impulse took\nhold within me: I had to perform'}, {'start': '3256.760', 'end': '3263.640', 'text': 'the entire play, from beginning to end.  Perhaps\ncompleting it would bring liberation, exorcise'}, {'start': '3263.640', 'end': '3272.360', 'text': 'this… *thing*.  One night, I set up my\nliving room stage once again.  The coffee table is out of the way,'}, {'start': '3272.960', 'end': '3279.600', 'text': 'the lights are low, a single chair is angled in\nthe corner.  Taking a deep'}, {'start': '3279.600', 'end': '3287.080', 'text': ', calming breath, I began with the\nopening line.  My voice, initially tremulous, soon'}, {'start': '3287.080', 'end': '3295.680', 'text': 'found the rhythm of the character.  During the first\nact, the ceiling light pulsed erratically.'}, {'start': '3295.680', 'end': '3301.920', 'text': 'Intermittent, weak knocks vibrated\nthrough the walls.  My mouth went dry.\xa0\xa0  I'}, {'start': '3302.840', 'end': '3309.840', 'text': 'pushed the words forward, ignoring a\nslippery sound, like claws on the baseboards.'}, {'start': '3309.840', 'end': '3316.680', 'text': 'As I entered the second act, the unnatural chill\nreturned, swirling around me this time,'}, {'start': '3316.680', 'end': '3322.960', 'text': 'an invisible current trapping me in its loop.\nGoosebumps covered my arms.  My'}, {'start': '3322.960', 'end': '3330.600', 'text': 'breath came in ragged gasps.\nStill, I spoke.  My hearing felt muffled,'}, {'start': '3330.600', 'end': '3336.840', 'text': 'submerged.  A strange tingling danced\nin my fingertips.  Out of the corner of my eye,'}, {'start': '3336.840', 'end': '3344.160', 'text': 'shadows gathered and shifted on the\nwalls, though nothing moved to cast them.  As'}, {'start': '3344.160', 'end': '3350.040', 'text': 'I approached the final act, my head was\npounding.  My'}, {'start': '3350.040', 'end': '3357.440', 'text': 'heartbeat pounded against my ribs, a\nfrantic drum.  My eyes burned, dry from forgetting'}, {'start': '3357.440', 'end': '3365.680', 'text': 'to blink.  I stumbled over a line, then repeated it,\nlouder, more defiant.  A clear bang echoed'}, {'start': '3365.680', 'end': '3373.600', 'text': 'from the kitchen.  I did not hesitate.  I tasted something sharp,\nmetallic, on my tongue, but forced the words'}, {'start': '3373.600', 'end': '3380.920', 'text': 'past it.  The last lines detailed the\nfinal invocation.  My own voice sounded distant,'}, {'start': '3380.920', 'end': '3387.640', 'text': 'amplified.  My lips trembled, but the\nsyllables formed.  As I reached the penultimate'}, {'start': '3387.640', 'end': '3394.160', 'text': 'line, my legs gave way;  I grabbed the\nback of the chair for support.  My voice'}, {'start': '3394.160', 'end': '3403.160', 'text': 'cracked, hoarse, but I forced out the last sentence:\n"I open the way and surrender to the Watchers."'}, {'start': '3403.160', 'end': '3409.960', 'text': 'Instantly, a brutal gust of wind\nswept through the room.  The curtains billowed'}, {'start': '3409.960', 'end': '3417.560', 'text': 'violently toward the ceiling;  The lamp flickered\nlike a dying strobe.  I staggered back'}, {'start': '3417.560', 'end': '3424.880', 'text': ', my teeth clenched against a\ncold so deep it felt solid.  And then'}, {'start': '3424.880', 'end': '3433.400', 'text': 'the whispers began: not one voice, but dozens,\nperhaps hundreds, murmuring simultaneously from'}, {'start': '3433.400', 'end': '3438.600', 'text': 'every direction and none, the words\nindistinct but carrying a'}, {'start': '3438.600', 'end': '3445.960', 'text': 'chilling weight.  My gaze caught on the\nhallway mirror, leaning in a corner.\xa0\xa0  It'}, {'start': '3445.960', 'end': '3454.200', 'text': 'usually reflected only the mundane reality of\nmy living room.  Now, it contained faces.  Pale,'}, {'start': '3454.200', 'end': '3461.760', 'text': 'gaunt faces with empty, staring sockets: row upon\nrow of silent spectators pressed against'}, {'start': '3461.760', 'end': '3469.280', 'text': 'the glass, a spectral audience crowded into\nits reflecting plane.  Bile rose in my'}, {'start': '3469.280', 'end': '3476.960', 'text': 'throat.  I looked away with an effort, but\nthe pressure of their collective gaze remained,'}, {'start': '3476.960', 'end': '3484.240', 'text': 'a physical weight on my shoulders.  I tried\nto move, but my limbs felt like lead,'}, {'start': '3484.240', 'end': '3490.520', 'text': 'inert.  My hands shook so violently\nthat the manuscript fell from my hands,'}, {'start': '3491.040', 'end': '3498.280', 'text': 'the pages scattering like fallen leaves.  I opened my\nmouth to scream, but only a muffled gasp emerged'}, {'start': '3498.280', 'end': '3506.600', 'text': '.  The whispers grew louder, a cacophony\nfilling the apartment, bouncing off the walls,'}, {'start': '3506.600', 'end': '3514.240', 'text': 'making my ears ring.  The icy wind\nwhipped through me again, vibrating the chair,'}, {'start': '3514.240', 'end': '3520.080', 'text': 'causing the lamp to swing\nfrantically.  My breath came in'}, {'start': '3520.080', 'end': '3529.240', 'text': 'short, painful bursts.  I hunched over,\nsharp, electric shocks running down my spine.'}, {'start': '3530.120', 'end': '3536.160', 'text': 'I risked looking in the mirror again.\nThe faces seemed closer,'}, {'start': '3536.160', 'end': '3544.360', 'text': "their lips motionless, but the insidious whisper\nintensified.  I couldn't take my eyes off him, drawn"}, {'start': '3544.360', 'end': '3551.800', 'text': 'by a terrible magnetism.  With immense effort, I\nshuffled back, pressing myself against'}, {'start': '3551.800', 'end': '3558.920', 'text': 'the wall.  The frantic beating of my own\nheart filled my ears.  Sweat beaded on my'}, {'start': '3558.920', 'end': '3566.440', 'text': 'skin, instantly chilling in the frigid air.\nThe clothes stuck to me, wet.  Forcing myself to close my'}, {'start': '3566.440', 'end': '3573.880', 'text': 'eyes, I concentrated on inhaling a single,\nragged breath.  When I opened them'}, {'start': '3573.880', 'end': '3581.280', 'text': 'again, the mirror was empty.  Only my own\nterrified reflection stared back at me.'}, {'start': '3581.800', 'end': '3589.480', 'text': 'Suddenly, the room fell silent.  The\nlamp ceased its wild swinging;  the curtains'}, {'start': '3589.480', 'end': '3598.520', 'text': 'returned to their place.  The crushing cold began to\nsubside, the temperature slowly returning to normal.'}, {'start': '3598.520', 'end': '3605.040', 'text': 'I ran a trembling hand over my forehead.  My\nlegs still felt unsteady, but the'}, {'start': '3605.040', 'end': '3612.200', 'text': 'immediate terror subsided slightly.  I inspected\nthe room: scattered pages, the overturned chair,'}, {'start': '3612.200', 'end': '3618.960', 'text': 'objects fallen from the shelves.  However, the\nfeeling of presence, of not being alone, was'}, {'start': '3618.960', 'end': '3627.680', 'text': 'stronger, more palpable than ever.  It lingered just\nat the edge of my vision, a palpable weight at my side.'}, {'start': '3627.680', 'end': '3634.000', 'text': 'I tried to leave the room, but each step\nwas labored, as if I were wading through'}, {'start': '3634.000', 'end': '3640.560', 'text': 'invisible currents.  The fear of something\ncatching me from behind was a physical sensation.'}, {'start': '3640.560', 'end': '3647.920', 'text': 'As I reached the door, I hesitated, my hand\nhovering over the handle.  Should I run away?'}, {'start': '3647.920', 'end': '3655.440', 'text': 'The idea of \u200b\u200bbringing this… *feeling*… into the\ncommon hallway, potentially infecting the building,'}, {'start': '3655.440', 'end': '3662.760', 'text': 'nailed me to the spot.  I froze,\nscanning the room, listening.  Nothing'}, {'start': '3662.760', 'end': '3670.640', 'text': "moved, but the certainty of another's presence was\nabsolute.  My body felt abnormally heavy,"}, {'start': '3670.640', 'end': '3676.280', 'text': 'wrapped in an invisible shroud.  The air\ntasted stale, thick with the bitter taste'}, {'start': '3676.280', 'end': '3684.120', 'text': 'of my own fear.  I tried to talk again,\nanything to break the tension.  My'}, {'start': '3684.120', 'end': '3691.480', 'text': 'throat felt sore.  After a long\nmoment, I managed to strangle myself with a whisper,'}, {'start': '3691.480', 'end': '3698.560', 'text': '"I\'m done."  I waited, breath\nbated, listening for the whispers to return.'}, {'start': '3698.560', 'end': '3706.360', 'text': 'Only the heavy, suffocating silence answered,\npunctuated by the frantic drumming in my chest.'}, {'start': '3706.360', 'end': '3712.920', 'text': 'I retreated to the bathroom, closing the door behind\nme with trembling hands.  Turning on the faucet,'}, {'start': '3712.920', 'end': '3720.880', 'text': 'I watched the water cascade over my\ntrembling fingers, then splashed my face repeatedly.'}, {'start': '3720.880', 'end': '3729.360', 'text': 'The mirror over the sink showed a stranger:\npale, hair plastered to his forehead with sweat, eyes'}, {'start': '3729.360', 'end': '3737.200', 'text': 'like wide-open pools of residual terror.  I\nfocused on the water dripping from my chin,'}, {'start': '3737.200', 'end': '3743.240', 'text': 'just the sensation, trying to ground myself.\xa0  I\nstood there for a long time, waiting for'}, {'start': '3743.240', 'end': '3749.160', 'text': 'the fear to completely dissipate.  Finally,\nmy heartbeat slowed,'}, {'start': '3749.160', 'end': '3755.920', 'text': 'the physical chills subsided, but\nthe room still felt…occupied.'}, {'start': '3755.920', 'end': '3761.840', 'text': 'The tension in the air remained, a\nlow, persistent hum beneath the surface of'}, {'start': '3761.840', 'end': '3769.600', 'text': 'silence.  Leaning my back against the\ncool wood of the door, I slid to the floor,'}, {'start': '3769.600', 'end': '3778.120', 'text': 'hugging my knees.  Tears burned\nbehind my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.  I'}, {'start': '3778.120', 'end': '3784.360', 'text': "don't know how long it was before I forced myself to\nget up.  My legs were still weak,"}, {'start': '3784.360', 'end': '3789.840', 'text': 'but I opened the door and went out again.\nThe apartment was silent.  The'}, {'start': '3789.840', 'end': '3795.560', 'text': 'pages of the manuscript lay scattered across\nthe living room floor.  The lamp projected its'}, {'start': '3795.560', 'end': '3801.080', 'text': 'firm, warm glow.  No\nshadow danced where it should not;'}, {'start': '3801.080', 'end': '3808.680', 'text': 'no chain rattled.  But the feeling of\nbeing watched had not diminished.  He clung to'}, {'start': '3808.680', 'end': '3815.800', 'text': 'me.  I walked mechanically to the middle of the\nroom and began picking up the pages, one'}, {'start': '3815.800', 'end': '3823.320', 'text': 'by one, my mind dull.  My eyes were\nconstantly moving, anticipating movement, sound,'}, {'start': '3823.320', 'end': '3829.480', 'text': 'anything.  Nothing obvious happened.\nI stacked the pages carelessly on the'}, {'start': '3829.480', 'end': '3836.240', 'text': 'coffee table.  A deep instinctive repulsion\nwarned me never to read them again.  I stood'}, {'start': '3836.240', 'end': '3842.840', 'text': 'there, breathing heavily, taking in the\nsilent chaos of my apartment.  My back'}, {'start': '3842.840', 'end': '3849.760', 'text': 'ached from the tension;  felt his neck\nbruised.  The performance was over,'}, {'start': '3849.760', 'end': '3855.760', 'text': 'every line spoken.  And yet the\npresence felt solidified now,'}, {'start': '3855.760', 'end': '3863.480', 'text': 'woven into the very fabric of the\nroom, of me.  It gave me goosebumps.'}, {'start': '3863.480', 'end': '3871.880', 'text': 'I stared at the lamp, expressionless, my\narms hanging limp and heavy at my sides.'}, {'start': '3871.880', 'end': '3879.440', 'text': 'Finally, I forced my legs to go towards the\nbedroom.  Each step felt dense, resisted.\xa0\xa0  I'}, {'start': '3879.440', 'end': '3885.600', 'text': 'turned off the living room light, plunging the space into\ndarkness, and closed the bedroom door behind'}, {'start': '3885.600', 'end': '3892.040', 'text': 'me.  A soft, cool draft\nbrushed against me in the hallway, making my skin crawl again'}, {'start': '3892.040', 'end': '3899.200', 'text': ".  Inside my room, I didn't bother\nto change.  I just lay in bed,"}, {'start': '3899.200', 'end': '3905.640', 'text': 'fully clothed, staring at the\ninvisible ceiling.  The darkness sharpened every'}, {'start': '3905.640', 'end': '3911.840', 'text': 'little sound: the distant hum of the refrigerator,\nmy own ragged breathing echoing'}, {'start': '3911.840', 'end': '3918.280', 'text': 'too loudly in the stillness.  I wondered, with\nchilling certainty, if I would ever feel'}, {'start': '3918.280', 'end': '3925.480', 'text': 'truly alone again.  I tried to close my\neyes, but ghostly shapes writhed in the'}, {'start': '3925.480', 'end': '3932.080', 'text': 'blackness, and faint whispers seemed to coil\naround my ears.  My body remained'}, {'start': '3932.080', 'end': '3941.640', 'text': 'rigid, tense like a spring.  The last line\nrepeated itself, an endless loop in my mind: “I open the'}, {'start': '3941.640', 'end': '3948.520', 'text': 'way and surrender to the Watchers.”  I wish I\nhad never found that trunk, never touched'}, {'start': '3948.520', 'end': '3956.200', 'text': 'that manuscript, never spoken those\nwords.  But I did it.  And now, even in the'}, {'start': '3956.200', 'end': '3961.640', 'text': 'deepest silence, I am deeply\naware that I am not the only one here.\xa0\xa0  There'}, {'start': '3962.200', 'end': '3973.600', 'text': 'is no more complex way to say it.\nThat is the simple and unalterable truth.'}, {'start': '3973.600', 'end': '3980.480', 'text': 'Logic dictated stillness, but the\nalabaster canopic jar defied it.'}, {'start': '3980.480', 'end': '3987.480', 'text': 'My breath caught in my throat, ice coursing through my veins\nas I gaped at the monitor.  Frame'}, {'start': '3987.480', 'end': '3995.440', 'text': 'by frame, the ancient vessel slid by,\nwithout any visible hand touching it.  That'}, {'start': '3995.440', 'end': '4002.520', 'text': 'spectral shift, a ripple in the mundane, heralded\na descent into a night where the veil between'}, {'start': '4002.520', 'end': '4009.760', 'text': 'ages grew terrifyingly thin, threatening\nthe very foundations of my perceived reality.  For'}, {'start': '4010.640', 'end': '4017.000', 'text': 'six months he had stalked these halls like\nElias, the night watchman of'}, {'start': '4017.000', 'end': '4024.360', 'text': 'sleeping history.  The Metropolitan Museum offered a\nsanctuary, a necropolis-like stillness ideal'}, {'start': '4024.360', 'end': '4031.880', 'text': 'for a graduate student drowning in\nethnographic texts.  My routine: patrol'}, {'start': '4031.880', 'end': '4038.200', 'text': 'the echoing galleries, scrutinize the\ndigital eyes that watched over the glass tombs,'}, {'start': '4038.200', 'end': '4044.000', 'text': 'and then retreat to my desk, where the\nbattle against drooping eyelids was my'}, {'start': '4044.000', 'end': '4052.440', 'text': 'fiercest nightly campaign.  Until this\nparticular rotation shattered the ordinary script.'}, {'start': '4052.440', 'end': '4058.720', 'text': "At ten o'clock sharp I relieved Mateo, the\nday sentry, entering the ever-"}, {'start': '4058.720', 'end': '4063.440', 'text': 'deepening silence of the museum.  My first circuit\nbegan under the spectral glow of'}, {'start': '4063.440', 'end': '4069.600', 'text': 'emergency lights, shadows stretching\nfrom sarcophagi and statues like'}, {'start': '4069.600', 'end': '4077.600', 'text': 'skeletal fingers.  I had grown accustomed, I thought, to the\ninherent strangeness of communing with the dead'}, {'start': '4077.600', 'end': '4085.000', 'text': 'after dark.  Then, around the\nwitching hour, as I sat in front of the bank of monitors,'}, {'start': '4085.000', 'end': '4091.640', 'text': 'a flicker demanded my attention.  Inside the\nilluminated square dedicated to'}, {'start': '4091.640', 'end': '4099.880', 'text': 'Nile Valley relics, the centerpiece – a\n4,000-year-old ritual urn –'}, {'start': '4099.880', 'end': '4104.400', 'text': 'unmistakably shuddered a fraction\nof a millimeter to the left.'}, {'start': '4105.200', 'end': '4112.960', 'text': 'A blink.  A vigorous rubbing of\ntired eyes.  I rewound the digital tape.  The sequence'}, {'start': '4112.960', 'end': '4121.760', 'text': 'was repeated, immutable: stationary urn, then the\ntiny, impossible displacement.  "Absurd,"'}, {'start': '4121.760', 'end': '4128.040', 'text': 'escaped my lips, a dry whisper in the\nstillness of the control room.  That artifact,'}, {'start': '4128.040', 'end': '4134.080', 'text': 'a towering piece of history cradled behind\na reinforced glass case, possessed no agency.\xa0\xa0  I'}, {'start': '4135.000', 'end': '4139.520', 'text': "couldn't.  A ghost in the machine, I reasoned,"}, {'start': '4139.520', 'end': '4148.040', 'text': 'a technological hiccup that demanded closer scrutiny\n.  Research became imperative.'}, {'start': '4148.040', 'end': '4154.320', 'text': 'My footsteps echoed unnaturally loudly\nas I headed toward the pharaonic galleries.'}, {'start': '4154.320', 'end': '4160.760', 'text': 'A palpable density settled in the air, a\nstatic charge tingling the skin, reminiscent'}, {'start': '4160.760', 'end': '4167.200', 'text': 'of the pregnant pause before a lightning bolt splits\nthe sky.  At first glance through the great arch,'}, {'start': '4167.200', 'end': '4173.920', 'text': 'everything seemed undisturbed.  The urn rested\non its platform, the hieroglyphic eyes seemed to'}, {'start': '4173.920', 'end': '4180.400', 'text': 'follow my approach in the oblique light.\nHowever, as I got closer, the truth hit with'}, {'start': '4180.400', 'end': '4187.640', 'text': "visceral force.  It *had* moved.  Wadjet's\nmeticulously painted, eternally vigilant eye,"}, {'start': '4187.640', 'end': '4193.560', 'text': 'which always looked straight out,\nwas now tilted fractionally to the side,'}, {'start': '4193.560', 'end': '4205.560', 'text': 'its gaze averted.  An arctic shudder\nran through me.  My certainty, so absolute moments before…'}, {'start': '4205.560', 'end': '4213.120', 'text': "Silence greeted my awakening, deep and\nabsolute.  Where the forest's usual dawn chorus"}, {'start': '4213.120', 'end': '4221.880', 'text': 'should have blossomed, there was only\nstillness, a skin-tingling emptiness.  As I'}, {'start': '4221.880', 'end': '4227.680', 'text': 'carefully unzipped the tent and looked out into\nthe mist-shrouded morning, a deep'}, {'start': '4227.680', 'end': '4236.600', 'text': 'restlessness began its insidious infiltration.  Something\nwas misaligned.  Something was terribly wrong.'}, {'start': '4236.600', 'end': '4244.560', 'text': 'We had nested here for three days: I,\nElias;  my oldest friend, Ronan;  and Lyra,'}, {'start': '4244.560', 'end': '4251.040', 'text': 'his companion.  Our intention: a week\nadrift from the clamor, immersed in an'}, {'start': '4251.040', 'end': '4258.360', 'text': 'untamed stillness.  But as my gaze scanned the\nclearing, a freezing cold permeated me.  Etched'}, {'start': '4258.360', 'end': '4266.120', 'text': 'deep into the rough bark of each tree\nthat enclosed us were symbols: intricate,'}, {'start': '4266.120', 'end': '4272.920', 'text': 'unearthly sigils that seemed to hum with\na faint internal luminescence in the gray light.'}, {'start': '4273.640', 'end': '4278.160', 'text': 'They formed a perfect,\nunbroken perimeter around our'}, {'start': '4278.160', 'end': '4285.240', 'text': 'camp, a barrier that undeniably\ndid not exist when darkness fell.'}, {'start': '4285.240', 'end': '4292.880', 'text': '“Ronan,” I breathed, my voice a mere tremor in the\nstillness.  "Ronan, you have to witness this."'}, {'start': '4292.880', 'end': '4296.240', 'text': 'A whisper from inside\nthe nylon cover,'}, {'start': '4296.240', 'end': '4302.320', 'text': 'then Ronan\'s thick, sleepy voice.\n"What\'s up, Elias? The sun\'s barely out."'}, {'start': '4303.680', 'end': '4306.440', 'text': '"Just come out. Please."'}, {'start': '4306.440', 'end': '4309.560', 'text': 'Moments later, he emerged, rubbing his eyes,'}, {'start': '4309.560', 'end': '4315.200', 'text': 'only to stop abruptly.  The\nblood seemed to drain from his face,'}, {'start': '4315.200', 'end': '4323.440', 'text': 'leaving it a mask of disbelief\nas he gazed at the glyphs.  "What the devil?"'}, {'start': '4323.440', 'end': '4330.760', 'text': 'Lyra joined us then, her eyes\nwide as she took in the impossible sight.  "Did any'}, {'start': '4330.760', 'end': '4341.120', 'text': 'of... any of you do this?"  His question\ncame out thin, frayed at the edges.'}, {'start': '4341.120', 'end': '4347.720', 'text': 'I shook my head, numb.  "No\nway. These weren\'t here last night. Someone,'}, {'start': '4347.720', 'end': '4350.880', 'text': 'or something, visited us while we slept."'}, {'start': '4351.720', 'end': '4355.680', 'text': 'We hung suspended in stunned stillness,'}, {'start': '4355.680', 'end': '4361.800', 'text': 'the chilling implication settling\nover us like damp fog.'}, {'start': '4361.800', 'end': '4367.520', 'text': 'An unknown presence had moved within\na few meters of our sleeping forms,'}, {'start': '4367.520', 'end': '4374.560', 'text': 'carving these strange emblems into the\ntrees, unheard, undetected.'}, {'start': '4375.440', 'end': '4380.480', 'text': 'Ronan was the first to break the\nspell, his voice strained but struggling'}, {'start': '4380.480', 'end': '4387.640', 'text': 'to maintain control.  "Good. Let\'s not get\ncarried away. It could be locals,'}, {'start': '4387.640', 'end': '4394.680', 'text': 'some elaborate prank. Let\'s pack up,\nnow. Straight to the trailhead."'}, {'start': '4394.680', 'end': '4400.840', 'text': 'Grateful for his attempt at pragmatism, I\nnodded.  We began dismantling our'}, {'start': '4400.840', 'end': '4406.520', 'text': 'temporary home with frantic efficiency,\neach of us casting nervous'}, {'start': '4406.520', 'end': '4414.280', 'text': 'glances toward the oppressive woods.\nThe symbols seemed to be watching us, their'}, {'start': '4414.280', 'end': '4421.880', 'text': 'alien geometry inducing a mild nausea if\nstared at for too long.'}, {'start': '4421.880', 'end': '4427.800', 'text': 'The true and horrifying magnitude of our\nsituation was revealed only when we were about to'}, {'start': '4427.800', 'end': '4436.000', 'text': 'finish.  Ronan had gone to retrieve our\nfood stash: the bear bag hoisted'}, {'start': '4436.000', 'end': '4444.560', 'text': 'high into the branches for safety.  He returned\nempty-handed, his face ashen.'}, {'start': '4444.560', 'end': '4447.840', 'text': '"The rope has been cut cleanly," he declared,'}, {'start': '4447.840', 'end': '4452.960', 'text': 'his voice hollow.  "Every piece\nof food is gone."'}, {'start': '4452.960', 'end': '4460.120', 'text': 'Lyra gasped, a small, high-pitched sound.  "But\nthat\'s impossible! We would have heard something."'}, {'start': '4460.120', 'end': '4466.840', 'text': "A new wave of cold invaded me.  Whoever,\n*whatever*, did this wasn't"}, {'start': '4466.840', 'end': '4473.600', 'text': 'just joking around.  This was\ndeliberate isolation.  Sabotage.'}, {'start': '4473.600', 'end': '4478.760', 'text': '"Maybe," I offered, fighting the\npanic rising in my throat,'}, {'start': '4478.760', 'end': '4485.160', 'text': '"maybe there\'s an emergency reserve\nmarked. A ranger station nearby?"'}, {'start': '4485.160', 'end': '4489.800', 'text': 'Ronan nodded, already groping for our map.'}, {'start': '4489.800', 'end': '4495.600', 'text': 'But when he unfolded the worn paper, his\nexpression changed from nascent hope to'}, {'start': '4495.600', 'end': '4505.200', 'text': 'confusion, then soured into\noutright fear.  "This... this isn\'t right."'}, {'start': '4505.200', 'end': '4511.120', 'text': "Leaning over his shoulder, my stomach\ndropped.  It was the same topographical guide we'd"}, {'start': '4511.120', 'end': '4517.080', 'text': 'used to navigate for\nthree days, but now it was a palimpsest,'}, {'start': '4517.080', 'end': '4523.040', 'text': 'its trails, landmarks,\ncontour lines all overwritten,'}, {'start': '4523.040', 'end': '4529.760', 'text': 'obscured by the same eerie\nwriting that marked the trees outside.'}, {'start': '4529.760', 'end': '4536.120', 'text': '"Okay," I forced out, taking a\nshaky breath.  "Okay. Don\'t panic.'}, {'start': '4536.120', 'end': '4541.080', 'text': 'We know the general direction. East. We\njust push east,'}, {'start': '4541.080', 'end': '4545.360', 'text': 'we should get to a road eventually."'}, {'start': '4545.360', 'end': '4550.040', 'text': 'We shouldered our backpacks,\nsuddenly heavier loads,'}, {'start': '4550.040', 'end': '4556.440', 'text': 'and headed deeper into the woods, attempting a\nveneer of resolve.  Quickly, however, it'}, {'start': '4556.440', 'end': '4563.760', 'text': 'became terrifyingly clear that the forest itself\nhad changed.  The trees grew taller,'}, {'start': '4563.760', 'end': '4571.400', 'text': 'more tightly packed, their bark darker.  The\nperspectives changed unnaturally;'}, {'start': '4571.400', 'end': '4578.000', 'text': 'The shadows clung with an\nabnormal tenacity, and more than once, peripheral flickers,'}, {'start': '4578.000', 'end': '4585.160', 'text': 'shapes moving just out of focus,\nmade my heart pound.'}, {'start': '4585.160', 'end': '4587.160', 'text': 'The hours faded away.'}, {'start': '4587.720', 'end': '4594.560', 'text': 'By any reasonable calculation,\nthe trailhead should have been reached, but the'}, {'start': '4594.560', 'end': '4601.520', 'text': 'dense forest showed no signs of giving way,\nno hint of the edge of civilization.'}, {'start': '4601.520', 'end': '4607.920', 'text': 'Our water was decreasing alarmingly;\nHunger bit with sharp teeth.'}, {'start': '4608.800', 'end': '4615.480', 'text': '"We need to stop. Regroup,"\nRonan finally declared, his voice strained.'}, {'start': '4615.480', 'end': '4621.280', 'text': 'Finding a small, sun-dappled clearing,\nwe took off our backpacks.  While Lyra'}, {'start': '4621.280', 'end': '4627.160', 'text': 'carefully rationed the last sips\nof water, I climbed a tall, sturdy pine tree,'}, {'start': '4627.160', 'end': '4633.440', 'text': 'desperate for a vantage point.  What I\nsaw from its swaying summit extinguished the'}, {'start': '4633.440', 'end': '4639.400', 'text': 'last embers of hope.  Forest.\nAn endless, suffocating forest'}, {'start': '4639.400', 'end': '4646.880', 'text': 'stretched to every horizon, untouched\nby roads or structures.  And worse still,'}, {'start': '4646.880', 'end': '4653.080', 'text': 'sickeningly worse, I could discern more\nsymbols carved into distant trees,'}, {'start': '4653.080', 'end': '4659.320', 'text': "forming vast concentric rings around\nour position.  We weren't dating;\xa0\xa0  we"}, {'start': '4659.320', 'end': '4664.640', 'text': 'were being contained, channeled\ndeeper inward.'}, {'start': '4665.640', 'end': '4672.880', 'text': 'As I relayed this grim discovery\nto Ronan and Lyra below, I saw their faces fall,'}, {'start': '4672.880', 'end': '4677.080', 'text': 'hope finally abandoning them.'}, {'start': '4677.080', 'end': '4683.320', 'text': '"What could they want?"\nLyra whispered, her voice small and terrified.'}, {'start': '4683.320', 'end': '4689.280', 'text': 'Before a response could be formed, a\ndry branch cracked sharply in the woods behind'}, {'start': '4689.280', 'end': '4695.760', 'text': 'us.  We turned sharply, looking\ninto the encroaching gloom.  There, floating just'}, {'start': '4695.760', 'end': '4702.840', 'text': 'inside the dense tree line, was\nan entity.  She was tall, incredibly thin,'}, {'start': '4702.840', 'end': '4708.880', 'text': 'her limbs articulated in ways that\ndefied anatomical sense.  Its surface'}, {'start': '4708.880', 'end': '4715.600', 'text': 'seemed to twist and ripple, like\nvisual static on a broken screen, and etched into, or'}, {'start': '4715.600', 'end': '4723.800', 'text': 'perhaps *part of*, its shifting integument were\nthe very sigils that held us captive.'}, {'start': '4723.800', 'end': '4729.320', 'text': 'Panic, raw and absolute, exploded\nwithin us.  We ran.'}, {'start': '4730.200', 'end': '4736.320', 'text': 'Blind instinct propelled us through the\ndarkening forest, branches whipping at'}, {'start': '4736.320', 'end': '4744.520', 'text': 'our faces, invisible roots conspiring\nto trip us up.  I could hear something marking our'}, {'start': '4744.520', 'end': '4752.600', 'text': 'pace, a quick, whispering presence just\nbehind, never closing the distance,'}, {'start': '4752.600', 'end': '4758.720', 'text': 'but always there.  Night\nfell with unnatural speed,'}, {'start': '4758.720', 'end': '4764.840', 'text': 'plunging the forest into an oppressive,\ninky blackness that our struggling lanterns barely made'}, {'start': '4764.840', 'end': '4770.800', 'text': 'a dent in.  We ran until our muscles screamed\nand our lungs burned, finally collapsing'}, {'start': '4770.800', 'end': '4778.760', 'text': 'into a shallow depression cradled by the\ntwisted roots of an ancient, colossal tree.'}, {'start': '4778.760', 'end': '4782.960', 'text': 'Lying there, their breaths ragged through\nthe silence,'}, {'start': '4782.960', 'end': '4789.040', 'text': 'the harsh reality began to crystallize.\nLost in a mutable desert that'}, {'start': '4789.040', 'end': '4795.560', 'text': 'obeyed no known law, stalked\nby something completely alien, with no food, their'}, {'start': '4795.560', 'end': '4802.720', 'text': 'water nearly gone.  The crushing weight\nof our situation felt physical.'}, {'start': '4802.720', 'end': '4809.680', 'text': '"What do we do?" Lyra choked, her hand\ndesperately clutching Ronan\'s.  I'}, {'start': '4809.680', 'end': '4814.880', 'text': 'opened my mouth, but no sound came out\n.  What consolation could he offer?'}, {'start': '4814.880', 'end': '4820.320', 'text': 'What hollow promise of salvation\nagainst this impossible reality?'}, {'start': '4820.320', 'end': '4826.000', 'text': 'Then a sound pierced the\nnight: a low, resonant hum,'}, {'start': '4826.000', 'end': '4832.480', 'text': 'which seemed to emanate from everywhere and\nnowhere simultaneously.  The very air'}, {'start': '4832.480', 'end': '4837.920', 'text': 'around us began to shimmer, and the\ncursed glyphs materialized again,'}, {'start': '4837.920', 'end': '4842.760', 'text': 'floating, suspended like\nholographic projections in the darkness.'}, {'start': '4844.720', 'end': '4848.800', 'text': '"Oh, God," Ronan breathed.  "They\'re here."'}, {'start': '4848.800', 'end': '4854.800', 'text': 'The buzzing intensified, escalating\ninto a pressure building'}, {'start': '4854.800', 'end': '4861.880', 'text': 'inside my skull, an invasive force\nseeking entry.  I saw Ronan and Lyra clutching their'}, {'start': '4861.880', 'end': '4869.920', 'text': 'heads, their faces contorted in\nagony.  Images, violent and unwanted,'}, {'start': '4869.920', 'end': '4877.040', 'text': 'flooded my consciousness: vast\ncyclopean structures under alien suns;  entities'}, {'start': '4877.040', 'end': '4881.240', 'text': "of indescribable form moving\nthrough dimensions I couldn't"}, {'start': '4881.240', 'end': '4887.920', 'text': 'begin to comprehend.  And intertwined with\neverything, those symbols, pulsing, changing,'}, {'start': '4887.920', 'end': '4894.440', 'text': 'striving to impart a meaning just\nbeyond the height of human understanding.  I'}, {'start': '4895.200', 'end': '4901.080', 'text': "don't know how long we stayed there, assaulted\nby visions that no sane mind should ever"}, {'start': '4901.080', 'end': '4910.840', 'text': 'witness.  Minutes or millennia, it felt the same.\nThen, mercifully, abruptly, it ceased.'}, {'start': '4911.360', 'end': '4918.400', 'text': 'When I forced my eyes open, the forest had\ndisappeared.  We lay on a cold,'}, {'start': '4918.400', 'end': '4924.960', 'text': 'smooth stone within a chamber of impossible scale,\nstretching into perceived infinity.'}, {'start': '4925.520', 'end': '4932.320', 'text': 'The walls, the floor, the ceiling, all were\ntessellated with the now horribly familiar'}, {'start': '4932.320', 'end': '4940.400', 'text': "symbols, glowing with a cold inner light.\nAnd we weren't alone.  Arrayed around us"}, {'start': '4940.400', 'end': '4947.160', 'text': 'were the creatures, dozens of\nthem, their forms writhing, glittering,'}, {'start': '4947.160', 'end': '4952.800', 'text': "hurting the eyes to behold.  They didn't\nmake any aggressive moves, they"}, {'start': '4952.800', 'end': '4956.840', 'text': "just watched us with\nslits that weren't eyes."}, {'start': '4957.680', 'end': '4963.160', 'text': 'One broke away from the whole, its form\ncoalescing into something vaguely,'}, {'start': '4963.160', 'end': '4967.880', 'text': 'disturbingly anthropomorphic.\nWhen communicated, the words'}, {'start': '4967.880', 'end': '4974.960', 'text': 'blossomed directly into my mind,\nbypassing sound.  "You have been chosen,"'}, {'start': '4974.960', 'end': '4982.160', 'text': 'the thought echoed.  "To witness.\nTo understand. To convert."'}, {'start': '4983.080', 'end': '4989.120', 'text': 'A primal urge to scream, to flee,\nto shatter this waking nightmare,'}, {'start': '4989.120', 'end': '4997.920', 'text': 'struggled within me, but my limbs were\nlocked, my body no longer my own domain.'}, {'start': '4997.920', 'end': '5001.760', 'text': '"Your sphere is just one\nfacet among countless,"'}, {'start': '5001.760', 'end': '5008.960', 'text': 'the entity conveyed.  "Your reality,\na fragile membrane, easily breached.'}, {'start': '5008.960', 'end': '5016.480', 'text': 'We are the Sentinels, the guardians of the\ncrossroads. And you will join our vigil."'}, {'start': '5016.480', 'end': '5022.160', 'text': 'As the mental words echoed,\nI felt my own form begin to...'}, {'start': '5022.160', 'end': '5027.040', 'text': 'change.  My skin rippled like disturbed water,'}, {'start': '5027.040', 'end': '5033.480', 'text': 'new growths sprouting where\nnone should have been, bones remodeling themselves with'}, {'start': '5033.480', 'end': '5041.160', 'text': 'agonizing slowness.  I tried to scream, but the\nsound that escaped my throat was completely'}, {'start': '5041.160', 'end': '5049.160', 'text': 'foreign.  The last coherent image my\naltered vision perceived was Ronan and Lyra at my side,'}, {'start': '5049.160', 'end': '5056.120', 'text': 'undergoing the same grotesque metamorphosis.\nThen everything fractured, reformed,'}, {'start': '5056.120', 'end': '5064.640', 'text': 'and I was perceiving, feeling, *being*\nreality in ways previously unimaginable.'}, {'start': '5064.640', 'end': '5072.680', 'text': 'We had entered those forests as humans;\xa0  we would\nstart as something different.  The Sentinels'}, {'start': '5072.680', 'end': '5079.480', 'text': 'had claimed us, and in doing so, had\nerased our humanity forever.  Far away,'}, {'start': '5079.480', 'end': '5086.240', 'text': 'in the world we had inadvertently left,\nthree hikers would simply vanish.'}, {'start': '5086.240', 'end': '5092.440', 'text': 'Search parties would eventually discover\nonly cryptic symbols carved into the trees,'}, {'start': '5092.440', 'end': '5098.760', 'text': 'and the forest would remain, patient and voracious,\nwaiting for its next pilgrims.  Because'}, {'start': '5098.760', 'end': '5106.000', 'text': 'now we were the Sentinels, and the\nhunt, eternal and necessary, would continue.'}, {'start': '5109.600', 'end': '5116.480', 'text': 'My knuckles are white as bone, fused\nto the steering wheel of this rented machine as it'}, {'start': '5116.480', 'end': '5122.680', 'text': 'plows through a darkness so absolute it\nfeels less like absence and more like'}, {'start': '5122.680', 'end': '5129.040', 'text': "presence.  I've been cruising along this vein of\nback road for hours, watching the asphalt"}, {'start': '5129.040', 'end': '5136.720', 'text': 'fracture into gravel under the inadequate glare of the\nheadlights.  My phone, a useless brick for the past'}, {'start': '5136.720', 'end': '5145.280', 'text': 'forty minutes, offers no comfort, no signal.\nNo civilization announces itself: no welcoming lights'}, {'start': '5145.280', 'end': '5152.720', 'text': ', no traffic signs, only the\nskeletal fingers of ancient fence posts scraping'}, {'start': '5152.720', 'end': '5159.320', 'text': 'along the roadside, leaning forward as if to\nimpart some desperate secret through'}, {'start': '5159.320', 'end': '5166.680', 'text': 'the closed window.  This detour is a product\nof trade, a necessary evil to reach'}, {'start': '5166.680', 'end': '5174.080', 'text': "a small factory town for\ncontract negotiations.  I swore to my family I'd be"}, {'start': '5174.080', 'end': '5180.920', 'text': 'home before dawn on the weekend,\nand yet here I am, drifting past'}, {'start': '5180.920', 'end': '5189.800', 'text': 'midnight, leagues from any\nknown road.  The deeper I sink into this darkness,'}, {'start': '5189.800', 'end': '5196.520', 'text': 'the more the night contracts, a palpable pressure\ntightening around my chest.  A'}, {'start': '5196.520', 'end': '5204.440', 'text': 'single drop of sweat traces a cold path down my\ntemple, mocking the frigid air outside.'}, {'start': '5204.440', 'end': '5210.480', 'text': 'Stopping was the rational choice, hours ago,\nback in that last flicker of civilization'}, {'start': '5210.480', 'end': '5216.040', 'text': 'with its promise of a sterile motel room\n.  But the temptation of saving time,'}, {'start': '5216.040', 'end': '5223.320', 'text': 'of shortening the journey, proved too strong.\nA pact of fools.  Every nerve ending'}, {'start': '5223.320', 'end': '5230.640', 'text': 'screams that this path is wrong.  I lift my\nfoot off the accelerator, scanning the'}, {'start': '5230.640', 'end': '5238.320', 'text': 'hungry emptiness beyond the reach of the headlights.  And\nthen, emerging from the gloom to my right:'}, {'start': '5238.320', 'end': '5245.000', 'text': 'a silhouette, a cluster of aging structures,\nprofiles of rooftops etched faintly against'}, {'start': '5245.000', 'end': '5252.360', 'text': 'the impenetrable sky.  I steer the car onto\nthe shoulder, the hum of the engine a sudden'}, {'start': '5252.360', 'end': '5260.320', 'text': 'intrusion.  This place, too crowded to\nbe a solitary farm, feels completely'}, {'start': '5260.320', 'end': '5267.440', 'text': 'abandoned.  Weathered wooden houses stand\nsentinel, their windows boarded up or gaping'}, {'start': '5267.440', 'end': '5274.000', 'text': 'like empty sockets.  A rickety inn sign\nsags, its letters lost'}, {'start': '5274.000', 'end': '5281.760', 'text': 'in shadow and decay.  The silence that\nfalls when I turn off the engine is profound,'}, {'start': '5281.760', 'end': '5288.520', 'text': 'unearthly, amplifying the frantic\ndrumming inside my own ribs.  I'}, {'start': '5288.520', 'end': '5295.640', 'text': 'step out, the crunch of gravel under my shoes\ndisturbingly loud.  "Hello?"  The sound of'}, {'start': '5295.640', 'end': '5302.280', 'text': 'my own voice is thin, swallowed whole\nby the vastness.  There is no answer.  The ground'}, {'start': '5302.280', 'end': '5309.080', 'text': 'beneath my feet is uneven, treacherous.  A\nrusty gate groans in protest as I open it,'}, {'start': '5309.080', 'end': '5314.440', 'text': 'entering what could have been a\ntown square.  The beam of my flashlight flickers,'}, {'start': '5314.440', 'end': '5320.200', 'text': 'painting erratic strokes on\nwarped doors and flakes of forgotten paint.'}, {'start': '5320.200', 'end': '5327.160', 'text': 'The architecture is archaic, belonging to another\ncentury.  The dust lies thick as velvet;'}, {'start': '5327.160', 'end': '5333.200', 'text': 'Cobwebs hang from the corners like\nfuneral banners.  The air feels stale,'}, {'start': '5333.200', 'end': '5340.200', 'text': 'smelling of dried rot and time itself.\xa0  My\nthroat is like sandpaper.  A door'}, {'start': '5340.200', 'end': '5347.320', 'text': 'resists, stuck.  Another gives way with a\nprolonged groan, revealing a narrow passage and a'}, {'start': '5347.320', 'end': '5353.680', 'text': 'deserted hall beyond.  I venture inside,\neach step stirring up dormant dust motes'}, {'start': '5353.680', 'end': '5361.280', 'text': 'in a frantic ballet within the cone of light.\nFurniture remains: a table still covered in'}, {'start': '5361.280', 'end': '5369.800', 'text': 'rotting lace, a sofa spilling its\nguts through the torn fabric.  In front of me,'}, {'start': '5369.800', 'end': '5376.040', 'text': 'an oval mirror hangs crooked in a\nfractured frame, its surface so clouded with'}, {'start': '5376.040', 'end': '5384.400', 'text': 'grime that it barely reflects anything.  I have no\ndesire to see my own face here, now.'}, {'start': '5384.400', 'end': '5390.840', 'text': 'My flashlight sweeps the room.  A\ntingling sensation rises up the back of your neck: the unmistakable'}, {'start': '5390.840', 'end': '5397.400', 'text': 'feeling of being watched.  However, there is\nnothing.  No fresh footprints in the dust, no sign of a'}, {'start': '5397.400', 'end': '5404.600', 'text': 'recent step.  The silence presses, unbearable.\n"Is anyone here?"  I whisper, the words'}, {'start': '5404.600', 'end': '5411.000', 'text': "absorbed by the thirsty air.  That's\nwhen I hear it: the delicate, distinctive ringing of"}, {'start': '5411.000', 'end': '5418.040', 'text': 'a small bell, somewhere outside.\nI freeze, my mouth suddenly dry,'}, {'start': '5418.040', 'end': '5425.000', 'text': 'and step back toward the square.  The bell rings\nagain, joined moments later by another, its pitch'}, {'start': '5425.000', 'end': '5432.920', 'text': 'slightly higher, farther away.  The sound emanates\nfrom deep within the building complex.'}, {'start': '5433.760', 'end': '5440.120', 'text': 'With my heart pounding against my\nribs, I follow the ethereal call.  Turning a'}, {'start': '5440.120', 'end': '5446.640', 'text': 'rickety corner, down a narrow,\ngloomy alley, I find it: a small bell, tied'}, {'start': '5446.640', 'end': '5453.520', 'text': 'by a frayed string to a leaning wooden post\n.  No wires, no perceptible breeze to'}, {'start': '5453.520', 'end': '5460.800', 'text': 'stir it, yet it sways with a\nsubtle, deliberate motion.  His tone is soft,'}, {'start': '5460.800', 'end': '5467.720', 'text': 'almost gentle, but each note sends a new\nshiver along my spine.'}, {'start': '5467.720', 'end': '5474.400', 'text': 'Further ahead, I see another one, perched incongruously\non top of a chimney like some strange'}, {'start': '5474.400', 'end': '5481.240', 'text': 'metallic bird.  Responds to the first with its\nown distinctive sound.  More bells are'}, {'start': '5481.240', 'end': '5485.880', 'text': 'revealed as I penetrate\ndeeper into the village core:'}, {'start': '5485.880', 'end': '5491.720', 'text': 'one hanging from a window latch,\nanother tucked beneath the eaves of a porch,'}, {'start': '5491.720', 'end': '5497.920', 'text': 'one mounted on a twisted iron hook\nbehind rotting shutters.  They sound in'}, {'start': '5497.920', 'end': '5505.880', 'text': 'sequence, a scattered chorus of metallic whispers,\nweaving through the oppressive silence.  A knot'}, {'start': '5505.880', 'end': '5513.560', 'text': 'tightens in my stomach;  I feel a slight\ntremor in my hands.  It feels orchestrated,'}, {'start': '5513.560', 'end': '5521.960', 'text': "these bells, like\na conversation is taking place, and I'm the subject."}, {'start': '5521.960', 'end': '5529.000', 'text': 'Staying still becomes impossible.  The need\nto understand, to rationalize, fights against the'}, {'start': '5529.000', 'end': '5537.240', 'text': 'growing fear.  A joke?  Any\narchaic warning systems?  My mind searches for'}, {'start': '5537.240', 'end': '5544.320', 'text': 'logical explanations, but it cannot ignore the total absence\nof human life, the emptiness where the voices should be'}, {'start': '5544.320', 'end': '5552.560', 'text': '.  Only these chimes persist.  I choose a\nlarger structure, a two-story building'}, {'start': '5552.560', 'end': '5558.920', 'text': 'with a tilted sign that might once have\ndeclared it a "Mercantile," and'}, {'start': '5558.920', 'end': '5566.720', 'text': 'slip inside, desperate for clues.\nThe indoor air is loaded with moisture.  I navigate'}, {'start': '5566.720', 'end': '5574.160', 'text': 'over collapsed shelves.  On a counter\nlies an old ledger, its fragile pages'}, {'start': '5574.160', 'end': '5581.520', 'text': 'yellowed like ancient leather.  The writing is\ncramped and difficult to decipher, but the dates are'}, {'start': '5581.520', 'end': '5590.440', 'text': 'obvious: decades past.  Then,\nabruptly, the input stops.  No explanation,'}, {'start': '5590.440', 'end': '5597.840', 'text': 'no goodbye, just a final, hurried scribble\nfollowed by blank, accusatory pages.'}, {'start': '5598.840', 'end': '5605.200', 'text': 'Outside, the bells continue their strange\nsymphony, some tinkling faintly,'}, {'start': '5605.200', 'end': '5611.560', 'text': 'others ringing with a deeper, more\nmournful tone.  I seek refuge in a small'}, {'start': '5611.560', 'end': '5618.960', 'text': 'back room where a simple cot remains, sunken\nbut intact.  I sit, my back'}, {'start': '5618.960', 'end': '5625.720', 'text': 'against the cold, wet wall, my legs\ntrembling.  My throat hurts from dryness;\xa0\xa0  I'}, {'start': '5625.720', 'end': '5631.440', 'text': 'sip cautiously from my water bottle, my\nhand shaking.  The impulse to flee,'}, {'start': '5631.440', 'end': '5638.040', 'text': 'to run back to the car and drive\nblindly, is powerful.  Yet I hesitate,'}, {'start': '5638.040', 'end': '5643.200', 'text': 'unsure if I could even make it out of\nthis maze of forgotten alleyways.'}, {'start': '5643.200', 'end': '5646.960', 'text': 'And these bells... they exert a strange attraction,'}, {'start': '5646.960', 'end': '5652.800', 'text': 'a feeling that their secret must be\nunderstood before I can truly leave.'}, {'start': '5654.320', 'end': '5662.040', 'text': 'The face of my watch glows: almost two\nin the morning.  I force myself to go back outside.'}, {'start': '5662.040', 'end': '5668.280', 'text': 'A sliver of moon has finally crossed the\nhorizon, casting a faint, ghostly light'}, {'start': '5668.280', 'end': '5675.800', 'text': 'over the rooftops.  The bells seem\nquieter now, their voices scattered throughout'}, {'start': '5675.800', 'end': '5684.040', 'text': 'the village, a scattered web of sound.  I imagine them\nhidden everywhere: behind'}, {'start': '5684.040', 'end': '5691.080', 'text': 'closed doors, in cobwebbed attics,\nnestled inside chimney flues,'}, {'start': '5691.080', 'end': '5697.920', 'text': 'affixed to lampposts long since stripped of\ntheir bulbs, secretly stored in places'}, {'start': '5697.920', 'end': '5704.520', 'text': 'only the most meticulous search would reveal.  As I\npass another abandoned house, a sudden'}, {'start': '5704.520', 'end': '5712.600', 'text': 'gust of wind, out of nowhere, blows dust into my\neyes.  I rub them, coughing, and when my vision'}, {'start': '5712.600', 'end': '5718.520', 'text': 'clears, blinking away\ninvoluntary tears, I notice it through a'}, {'start': '5718.520', 'end': '5726.160', 'text': 'half-open door: a tall, freestanding mirror\nleaning against a hallway wall.  This one is'}, {'start': '5726.160', 'end': '5733.760', 'text': 'different from the first one.  Larger, enclosed in a\nheavy wooden frame intricately carved with'}, {'start': '5733.760', 'end': '5744.040', 'text': 'vines.  It has an almost magnetic quality,\ndrawing me closer against my better judgment.'}, {'start': '5744.040', 'end': '5750.840', 'text': 'I slip into the house, the\nflashlight beam dancing ahead.  The'}, {'start': '5750.840', 'end': '5756.400', 'text': "mirror's surface is covered in dust, but\nmy own silhouette is discernible within"}, {'start': '5756.400', 'end': '5763.480', 'text': 'its depths.  I walk over, lift\na shaking hand, and wipe a small'}, {'start': '5763.480', 'end': '5770.960', 'text': 'smudge with my sleeve.  My own eyes stare\nback at me: open, tormented,'}, {'start': '5770.960', 'end': '5779.160', 'text': 'uncertain.  At that precise moment, a single\nbell rings nearby, soft, warm, almost intimate,'}, {'start': '5779.160', 'end': '5787.960', 'text': 'like a whispered confidence.  I turn around,\nthe light cutting across the empty room.  Nothing.  But the'}, {'start': '5787.960', 'end': '5794.880', 'text': 'bell rings again, this time apparently\nfrom above.  Moving towards what might have been'}, {'start': '5794.880', 'end': '5801.920', 'text': 'a kitchen, I find it: a\ntiny bell hanging from the corner of a cupboard,'}, {'start': '5801.920', 'end': '5807.920', 'text': 'so small it seems impossible I could have\nheard it, yet its voice is crystalline,'}, {'start': '5807.920', 'end': '5815.120', 'text': 'clear as a touch on glass.  Immediately,\nas if in response, other bells answer from'}, {'start': '5815.120', 'end': '5821.880', 'text': 'outside, their tones overlapping, echoing\nthrough empty corridors and deserted alleyways,'}, {'start': '5821.880', 'end': '5827.120', 'text': 'building a haunting\nand resonant dialogue.  My heart is racing.  I'}, {'start': '5828.360', 'end': '5835.360', 'text': 'step back, retreating towards the mirror.  My\nreflection jumps out at me again.  And for a'}, {'start': '5835.360', 'end': '5842.600', 'text': 'split second, I see it, or think I see it,\na shape standing just behind me in the glass,'}, {'start': '5842.600', 'end': '5852.000', 'text': 'indistinct but present, with eyes like hollows.  I\nturn around.  Empty space.  My skin crawls.'}, {'start': '5852.000', 'end': '5858.760', 'text': "Exhaustion, surely.  It's late.  The bells\npersist, weaving their complex tapestry of sound,"}, {'start': '5858.760', 'end': '5864.400', 'text': 'and now, delirium or not, I begin to hear my\nname formed by their metallic tongues:'}, {'start': '5864.400', 'end': '5873.640', 'text': '"E-lí-as... E-lí-as..." elongated, melodic,\ninsidious.  My breath comes in short gasps.'}, {'start': '5873.640', 'end': '5880.160', 'text': 'Cold sweat soaks my back.\nEscape.  Now.  Find the car,'}, {'start': '5880.160', 'end': '5887.000', 'text': 'drive until the gas runs out,\nanything to silence this ringing.  I'}, {'start': '5887.000', 'end': '5894.720', 'text': 'run out of the house, back onto the\nuneven street.  In my panic, I trip over a'}, {'start': '5894.720', 'end': '5901.880', 'text': 'broken slab and collapse hard, my palms\nscraped against the unforgiving ground.  The sharp'}, {'start': '5901.880', 'end': '5909.440', 'text': 'sting of pain offers a fleeting moment of\nclarity.  Above, the sliver of moon seems'}, {'start': '5909.440', 'end': '5917.080', 'text': 'brighter, the silence between the\nbell notes pregnant, heavier.  I get up and walk'}, {'start': '5917.080', 'end': '5924.560', 'text': 'quickly, the pace accelerating into\na sprint.  All around me, the bells'}, {'start': '5924.560', 'end': '5932.360', 'text': "seem to ring faster, not frantically, but\nin a changing pattern I can't comprehend."}, {'start': '5932.360', 'end': '5939.040', 'text': 'I dash behind what looks like a\nruined stable, nearly colliding with another bell,'}, {'start': '5939.040', 'end': '5945.840', 'text': 'this one grotesquely tied to the prongs of an old\ngallows stuck in the ground.  I plunge into the'}, {'start': '5945.840', 'end': '5953.680', 'text': 'darkened maw of a grocery store,\ndesperate for anything: a tool,'}, {'start': '5953.680', 'end': '5961.800', 'text': 'rags, something to block out the incessant sound.\nInside, among the rubble, I find a pile'}, {'start': '5961.800', 'end': '5969.720', 'text': 'of dusty canvas aprons.  I pick one up,\nwrapping it awkwardly around my head,'}, {'start': '5969.720', 'end': '5976.320', 'text': 'muffling the chimes to\na dull hum.  My lungs are pounding'}, {'start': '5976.320', 'end': '5983.240', 'text': "as if I've been running for miles.  Through the\ndirty windowpane, I glimpse my own"}, {'start': '5983.240', 'end': '5990.800', 'text': 'absurd reflection, wrapped in an apron.  But\nsomething else catches my eye: the reflection of the'}, {'start': '5990.800', 'end': '5998.680', 'text': 'door behind me seems subtly wrong,\nthe wood distorted, warped.  And within'}, {'start': '5998.680', 'end': '6006.680', 'text': 'that distortion, for an instant, I see eyes.  Eyes\nthat are not mine, looking out from the'}, {'start': '6006.680', 'end': '6016.240', 'text': 'mirror-like surface.  I turn around.  The door\nis just a door.  Solid, empty, inanimate.'}, {'start': '6017.040', 'end': '6022.920', 'text': 'A deep, resonant thud echoes from the\ndirection of the village square.  Tearing'}, {'start': '6022.920', 'end': '6028.400', 'text': 'the apron off my head, I follow the sound,\ndriven now by a terrifying mix'}, {'start': '6028.400', 'end': '6035.640', 'text': 'of fear and compulsion.  There, in the heart of this\ndead place, stands a tall, weathered post'}, {'start': '6035.640', 'end': '6043.000', 'text': 'topped by a single large bell.  It is\nheavier, older than the others,'}, {'start': '6043.000', 'end': '6049.640', 'text': 'perhaps rescued from a long-lost church\n.  I approach her, my'}, {'start': '6049.640', 'end': '6056.360', 'text': 'legs shaking.  A clear sense of\nmovement flickers at the edge of my perception,'}, {'start': '6056.360', 'end': '6065.080', 'text': 'behind me.  I turn around.  Only shadows and silence\ngreet me.  Then all the bells,'}, {'start': '6065.080', 'end': '6072.040', 'text': 'large and small, begin to ring again,\nslower this time, their voices overlapping'}, {'start': '6072.040', 'end': '6078.480', 'text': 'in a low, vibrating hum that seems to\nresonate deep within my'}, {'start': '6078.480', 'end': '6086.560', 'text': 'chest cavity.  My pulse beats in morbid synchrony.\nThe feeling of being watched is overwhelming,'}, {'start': '6086.560', 'end': '6093.000', 'text': 'inescapable: a thousand invisible eyes peering out\nfrom behind closed windows and'}, {'start': '6093.000', 'end': '6101.160', 'text': 'darkened eaves.  My skin prickles, as if\ninvaded by invisible insects.'}, {'start': '6101.160', 'end': '6107.240', 'text': 'Taking a shaky breath,\nI know my only path is retreat.\xa0\xa0  I'}, {'start': '6107.840', 'end': '6114.480', 'text': 'go back the way I came, passing the\nsilent houses and their watchful doors, the chorus'}, {'start': '6114.480', 'end': '6122.520', 'text': 'of bells gradually receding with each\nstep.  Finally, the blessed silhouette of my car.'}, {'start': '6122.520', 'end': '6128.800', 'text': 'Relief washes over me, sharp and cold.  I slide\nbehind the wheel, my hands shaking'}, {'start': '6128.800', 'end': '6136.000', 'text': 'violently, and turn the key.  The engine starts,\nits roar piercing the unnatural stillness.'}, {'start': '6136.000', 'end': '6141.520', 'text': 'The headlights come on, illuminating a\nworn sign at the entrance to the town that I had'}, {'start': '6141.520', 'end': '6148.400', 'text': 'completely overlooked upon entering.  And\non the reflective surface of the windshield,'}, {'start': '6148.400', 'end': '6155.760', 'text': 'because every surface now feels like a\nmirror, I catch a fleeting glimpse of something pale,'}, {'start': '6155.760', 'end': '6161.960', 'text': 'indistinct, moving between the houses\njust beyond the reach of the light.'}, {'start': '6161.960', 'end': '6167.320', 'text': "The bells offer one last\ncollective chime, my name, I'm sure of"}, {'start': '6167.320', 'end': '6173.480', 'text': 'it now, woven into the sound, and then fall\ninto absolute silence.  I hit the gas,'}, {'start': '6173.480', 'end': '6179.600', 'text': "tires spitting gravel.  The car\nlaunches forward.  I don't look back."}, {'start': '6180.400', 'end': '6186.200', 'text': 'Once clear, running down an\nanonymous road that feels blessedly solid,'}, {'start': '6186.200', 'end': '6191.120', 'text': "I find my hands still shaking,\nlocked in a tremor I can't"}, {'start': '6191.120', 'end': '6198.120', 'text': 'control.  A tightness persists in my chest, and a\nfaint buzzing lingers in my ears, impervious to the'}, {'start': '6198.120', 'end': '6204.880', 'text': 'wind that blows in through the open window.  The\nrearview mirror becomes an object of fixation;\xa0\xa0  I'}, {'start': '6204.880', 'end': '6210.840', 'text': 'check it compulsively, convinced\nthat I will see pursuit: a shadowy figure,'}, {'start': '6210.840', 'end': '6218.120', 'text': 'a disembodied bell, a distorted face\nmaterializing from the receding darkness.\xa0\xa0  There'}, {'start': '6218.120', 'end': '6224.040', 'text': 'is nothing.  Only the indelible memory of\nthat spectral town, the insidious chorus of'}, {'start': '6224.040', 'end': '6231.400', 'text': 'its bells and the persistent sensation of\ninvisible eyes still tracking my escape.'}, {'start': '6231.400', 'end': '6237.760', 'text': 'In the bruised light of dawn, I find a\nmain road, then a'}, {'start': '6237.760', 'end': '6244.960', 'text': 'roadside diner, its neon glow and the scent of\nfreshly brewed coffee feeling jarringly alien'}, {'start': '6244.960', 'end': '6252.680', 'text': "after the night's ordeal.\nIn the bathroom, I splash cold water on my face,"}, {'start': '6252.680', 'end': '6259.120', 'text': 'the impact momentarily stabilizing me.\nThen I look up, meeting my'}, {'start': '6259.120', 'end': '6265.560', 'text': 'own gaze in the mirror above the\ncheap porcelain sink.  For a split second,'}, {'start': '6265.560', 'end': '6274.600', 'text': 'faint as a memory, I hear it: a single,\ndelicate chime.  My reflection seems to flicker, to waver,'}, {'start': '6274.600', 'end': '6280.040', 'text': "or maybe it's just exhaustion playing\ntricks on me.  However, the conviction"}, {'start': '6280.040', 'end': '6286.560', 'text': 'sits deep within me: what\nI found in that lost village, what I fled from, is'}, {'start': '6286.560', 'end': '6292.640', 'text': 'not over yet.  The echo of those bells\nhums below the threshold of hearing,'}, {'start': '6292.640', 'end': '6303.640', 'text': 'a patient cadence waiting for the\nright moment to sound my name once more.'}, {'start': '6303.640', 'end': '6310.680', 'text': 'The rain came around two, a\npercussive drumbeat against the glass that strained the night.'}, {'start': '6310.680', 'end': '6317.240', 'text': 'Inside, darkness reigned;  I was wrapped up\nin the living room, the curtains half closed against the'}, {'start': '6317.240', 'end': '6325.440', 'text': 'world, the glow of my phone the only star\nin my small constellation.  Silence, except for'}, {'start': '6325.440', 'end': '6333.280', 'text': 'the relentless rhythm of the storm.  The television,\nan empty eye, had offered nothing convincing'}, {'start': '6333.280', 'end': '6340.480', 'text': 'for hours.  My apartment folded back on\nitself: the living space opening into'}, {'start': '6340.480', 'end': '6346.360', 'text': 'a narrow hallway, the kitchen tucked away to the\nleft, the bedroom guarding the'}, {'start': '6346.360', 'end': '6352.880', 'text': 'far end.  The front door, my only\nexit, opened onto a tiny covered porch,'}, {'start': '6352.880', 'end': '6360.040', 'text': 'watched over by a single light bulb, stark and bare.\nI had confirmed its faint luminescence earlier,'}, {'start': '6360.040', 'end': '6366.400', 'text': 'before sinking into the couch.  Above, a\nmodest security camera stood guard, its'}, {'start': '6366.400', 'end': '6372.560', 'text': 'digital gaze fixed on the entrance and\nporch steps, programmed to send a signal to my'}, {'start': '6372.560', 'end': '6380.360', 'text': 'phone at any sign of movement\n– \u200b\u200ba basic guardian, nothing more sophisticated.'}, {'start': '6380.360', 'end': '6386.560', 'text': 'Tonight the downpour was extraordinary,\na liquid curtain falling with force.'}, {'start': '6387.120', 'end': '6392.920', 'text': 'Water rushed from the\nroof gutters, splashing onto the concrete below'}, {'start': '6392.920', 'end': '6399.920', 'text': 'with a sound like frantic clapping.\nThrough the fine fabric of the curtains,'}, {'start': '6399.920', 'end': '6405.760', 'text': 'the outside world remained a realm of\nsuggestion.  The headlights of passing cars'}, {'start': '6405.760', 'end': '6410.800', 'text': 'occasionally swept across the room,\nmomentarily enlivening the shadows,'}, {'start': '6410.800', 'end': '6415.640', 'text': 'revealing fleeting glimpses of\nthe rain-swept street.'}, {'start': '6415.640', 'end': '6422.160', 'text': 'The cars glided by, their beams painting\nephemeral geometries on my walls.  My attention,'}, {'start': '6422.160', 'end': '6429.320', 'text': 'however, was drawn inward, lost\nin the endless scrolling of the phone.'}, {'start': '6429.320', 'end': '6434.640', 'text': 'So, a dissonance.  Against the\nfine fabric of the curtain, a'}, {'start': '6434.640', 'end': '6442.800', 'text': 'silhouette blossomed.  Unmistakably human, standing\ncompletely still on the porch.  A shiver'}, {'start': '6442.800', 'end': '6449.240', 'text': 'of unease ran down my spine\n– no sound had announced his arrival.'}, {'start': '6449.840', 'end': '6455.840', 'text': "Amid the roar of the rain, I hadn't\nheard any footsteps, nor the telltale creak of the"}, {'start': '6455.840', 'end': '6462.600', 'text': 'cheap wooden floorboards on the porch.\nMy front door, flimsy as it was,'}, {'start': '6462.600', 'end': '6469.520', 'text': 'would vibrate subtly at the slightest pressure,\nbut it had remained silent.  Still,'}, {'start': '6469.520', 'end': '6476.000', 'text': 'the shape persisted, a\ndark monolith behind the translucent barrier.'}, {'start': '6476.000', 'end': '6483.280', 'text': "A cold stillness came over me.  I didn't throw myself at\nthe window;  My gaze remained fixed from my"}, {'start': '6483.280', 'end': '6489.360', 'text': 'sitting position.  A frantic pulse\nbegan to pound against my sternum,'}, {'start': '6489.360', 'end': '6497.960', 'text': 'a tight knot forming at the back of my neck.\nSlowly, deliberately, I got up from the sofa,'}, {'start': '6497.960', 'end': '6504.960', 'text': 'forcing myself to be quiet.  Did you know I\nwas here?  Had the dim light'}, {'start': '6504.960', 'end': '6510.200', 'text': 'of the phone betrayed my waking state?  I\napproached cautiously, drawn by a'}, {'start': '6510.200', 'end': '6519.160', 'text': 'morbid curiosity.  The figure remained a statue.\nVaguely hooded, her head obscured, she'}, {'start': '6519.160', 'end': '6525.440', 'text': 'presented only a tall,\nunwavering presence against the storm.'}, {'start': '6525.440', 'end': '6531.520', 'text': 'My hand instinctively reached for my phone.\nDevice silence.  The digital sentinel'}, {'start': '6531.520', 'end': '6536.520', 'text': "hadn't blinked.  An icy thread\nof strangeness snaked through me."}, {'start': '6536.520', 'end': '6542.000', 'text': 'If someone was just a few feet away,\nwhy was the camera inert?  I'}, {'start': '6542.000', 'end': '6549.120', 'text': 'swiped to open the app.  The broadcast\nwas live, the connection stable.  The last'}, {'start': '6549.120', 'end': '6555.760', 'text': 'recorded event was simply a\nwind-driven rain burst.  No visitors.\xa0\xa0  I'}, {'start': '6555.760', 'end': '6561.520', 'text': 'tapped to see the live image.  My\nscreen displayed the familiar scene:'}, {'start': '6561.520', 'end': '6568.160', 'text': 'the porch, slick and shiny;  the entrance,\nreflecting the distant street lights on its'}, {'start': '6568.160', 'end': '6576.640', 'text': 'wet surface.  Empty.  Completely empty.  My\neyes returned to the curtain – the shape remained'}, {'start': '6576.640', 'end': '6584.520', 'text': 'firm.  However, the cold eye of the phone\nshowed only running water, empty boards.'}, {'start': '6584.520', 'end': '6591.080', 'text': 'Vertigo threatened.  I closed the\napp, my movements measured,'}, {'start': '6591.080', 'end': '6598.240', 'text': 'approaching the door.  It had a small\npeephole that distorted the image.  Breathing'}, {'start': '6598.240', 'end': '6604.440', 'text': 'shallowly and shakily, I glued my\neye to the lens, half-expecting a face'}, {'start': '6604.440', 'end': '6611.480', 'text': 'inches away, staring back at me.\nNothing.  The porch stretched out empty before me.'}, {'start': '6611.480', 'end': '6617.360', 'text': 'I scanned for any flicker of\nmovement, any wandering shadow.  The rain'}, {'start': '6617.360', 'end': '6623.440', 'text': 'fell slantingly under the eaves, wetting the\nboards, feeding a small puddle in one'}, {'start': '6623.440', 'end': '6632.360', 'text': 'corner.  The porch light cast its faint\nyellow circle.  Nobody.  I stepped back from the door,'}, {'start': '6632.360', 'end': '6639.920', 'text': 'looking back at the curtain.  The silhouette had\nvanished.  Heart pounding, I pulled'}, {'start': '6639.920', 'end': '6645.560', 'text': 'back the fabric, looking straight\nout.  Empty porch, empty street,'}, {'start': '6645.560', 'end': '6652.080', 'text': "sidewalks shining in the relentless downpour.\nFrom this angle, I couldn't make out any footprints,"}, {'start': '6652.080', 'end': '6657.960', 'text': 'although the deluge would probably\nquickly wash them away anyway.'}, {'start': '6657.960', 'end': '6665.880', 'text': 'The bolt turned with a decisive click.  Cold,\ndamp air rushed in as I cracked the door,'}, {'start': '6665.880', 'end': '6672.480', 'text': 'kissing my bare ankles and dampening\nthe cuffs of my trousers.  I stepped on the threshold.'}, {'start': '6673.240', 'end': '6680.800', 'text': 'Left, right – just rain and the\nsleeping houses opposite, with dark windows.'}, {'start': '6680.800', 'end': '6686.640', 'text': 'I checked around the corner of the porch;\nThe ground was a soggy carpet of mud and'}, {'start': '6686.640', 'end': '6693.520', 'text': 'rotting leaves.  No impression\nmarred the ground near the steps.'}, {'start': '6694.240', 'end': '6701.200', 'text': 'Nothing seemed altered, except for that\nslowly expanding puddle under the porch roof,'}, {'start': '6701.200', 'end': '6709.720', 'text': 'fed by the shifting wind and rain.\nThe air was biting with a raw chill.  A film of'}, {'start': '6709.720', 'end': '6718.080', 'text': 'sweat cooled unpleasantly on my back;\nmy hands trembled almost imperceptibly.'}, {'start': '6718.080', 'end': '6724.040', 'text': 'Retreating inside, I secured the deadbolt, the\nsound disturbingly loud in the quiet'}, {'start': '6724.040', 'end': '6730.440', 'text': 'apartment.  Holding the phone tightly,\nI tried to gather my thoughts.  Imagination?'}, {'start': '6730.440', 'end': '6736.400', 'text': 'A daydream?  But the image\nfelt too solid, too real.'}, {'start': '6736.400', 'end': '6743.480', 'text': 'My pulse refused to calm down.  I forced myself to return\nto the couch, reopening the camera app,'}, {'start': '6743.480', 'end': '6748.520', 'text': 'scrolling through the\nmotion timeline.  Fifteen minutes earlier:'}, {'start': '6748.520', 'end': '6754.360', 'text': 'A short clip capturing wind-lashed rain\n.  Nothing before or after that'}, {'start': '6754.360', 'end': '6760.680', 'text': 'resembled a human presence.  I delved\ninto the settings – sensitivity to maximum,'}, {'start': '6760.680', 'end': '6768.360', 'text': 'zones properly defined.  *Should*\nhave been activated.  However, silence.'}, {'start': '6768.360', 'end': '6775.480', 'text': 'The dream seemed impossible now.  The drumming\nof the rain had become oppressive.  My'}, {'start': '6775.480', 'end': '6781.960', 'text': 'mind kept returning to the form\n– tall, solid, inexplicably *there*.'}, {'start': '6782.560', 'end': '6789.600', 'text': 'I stood up again, pacing the confines\nof the room, frustration mounting.  Calling'}, {'start': '6789.600', 'end': '6798.160', 'text': 'the authorities seemed absurd.  What was I going to\nreport?  A shadow?  A feeling?\xa0\xa0  There'}, {'start': '6798.160', 'end': '6803.920', 'text': 'was no evidence, no crime, just\na deep sense of unease.'}, {'start': '6804.800', 'end': '6812.400', 'text': 'Logic struggled to find a foothold:\na trick of the light, fatigue painting ghosts'}, {'start': '6812.400', 'end': '6819.960', 'text': 'on the curtain canvas.  Maybe someone *did*\nstep onto the porch briefly, unseen'}, {'start': '6819.960', 'end': '6826.520', 'text': "by the camera due to some momentary glitch\n– it wasn't foolproof, sometimes missing deliveries"}, {'start': '6826.520', 'end': '6833.320', 'text': "or fleeting movements.  But that didn't explain the\nstark discrepancy: seeing the figure clearly"}, {'start': '6833.320', 'end': '6840.040', 'text': 'through the fabric, only to have it evaporate\nthe instant I looked through the peephole.'}, {'start': '6840.040', 'end': '6848.080', 'text': 'I performed a ritualistic check.\nDoor handle secure, bolt engaged.  The door'}, {'start': '6848.080', 'end': '6854.720', 'text': 'itself felt solid enough.\nOutside, the rain continued to thrum, a'}, {'start': '6854.720', 'end': '6862.480', 'text': 'steady, washing sound.  I strained my ears\nfor any strange noises – footsteps on gravel,'}, {'start': '6862.480', 'end': '6869.720', 'text': 'a rustle in the bushes.  Nothing.\nSide windows locked.'}, {'start': '6869.720', 'end': '6875.840', 'text': 'Backyard gate locked with latch.  No\nrational reason to suspect intrusion or'}, {'start': '6875.840', 'end': '6883.560', 'text': 'lurking danger.  Yet the feeling\npersisted, a cold weight in my stomach.'}, {'start': '6883.560', 'end': '6888.680', 'text': 'Looking for a distraction, I made myself some\ninstant coffee, the mundane act a small'}, {'start': '6888.680', 'end': '6894.920', 'text': 'anchor in the strange night.  Standing in the dim\nlight of the kitchen, I sipped the boiling liquid,'}, {'start': '6894.920', 'end': '6900.040', 'text': 'my gaze drawn repeatedly toward the\nliving room, half-expecting the silhouette'}, {'start': '6900.040', 'end': '6905.560', 'text': 'to reappear against the window.  Only\nfamiliar furniture met my eyes,'}, {'start': '6905.560', 'end': '6911.320', 'text': 'bathed in the ambient glow that filtered in\nfrom the street.  Coffee cup in hand, I'}, {'start': '6911.320', 'end': '6915.920', 'text': 'returned to the window, pulling the\ncurtain back completely this time,'}, {'start': '6915.920', 'end': '6922.560', 'text': 'staring out at the lit porch.  The dim\nbulb revealed little beyond the'}, {'start': '6922.560', 'end': '6928.520', 'text': 'wet floorboards.  My attention was drawn to\nthe puddle.  It had grown, fed by'}, {'start': '6928.520', 'end': '6935.160', 'text': 'a persistent drip from the edge of the roof,\ntiny ripples disturbing its surface.'}, {'start': '6935.160', 'end': '6943.280', 'text': 'I watched for long minutes, maybe fifteen,\nmaybe more.  Nothing moved beyond the glass.'}, {'start': '6943.280', 'end': '6948.680', 'text': 'Finally, the coffee got cold.  One last\ncheck of the camera.  I tapped the'}, {'start': '6948.680', 'end': '6953.160', 'text': 'icon.  Live stream:\nempty porch, empty driveway,'}, {'start': '6953.160', 'end': '6958.520', 'text': 'the neighbor’s dark house.  Everything normal.\nI moved the recorded clips again,'}, {'start': '6958.520', 'end': '6965.840', 'text': 'a pointless exercise.  Rain.  A distant car\nan hour ago.  That was all.  Fatigue fought'}, {'start': '6965.840', 'end': '6971.680', 'text': 'against anxiety.  I resolved to try to\nsleep again.  Leaving the living room light on'}, {'start': '6971.680', 'end': '6977.400', 'text': 'this time – a small concession to my\nfrayed nerves – I walked down the short hallway to'}, {'start': '6977.400', 'end': '6984.360', 'text': 'my bedroom, leaving the door slightly\najar, listening.  The rain persisted,'}, {'start': '6984.360', 'end': '6990.640', 'text': 'a constant and heavy companion.  Lying\nclothed on top of the blankets, I stared at the ceiling,'}, {'start': '6990.640', 'end': '6996.440', 'text': 'the image of the porch visitor etched\nin my mind: tall, broad-shouldered,'}, {'start': '6996.440', 'end': '7004.320', 'text': 'head tilted slightly to the side.  Watching me?\nHad he seen me moving behind the curtain?'}, {'start': '7004.320', 'end': '7010.800', 'text': 'Twenty minutes dragged on.  Rest would\nnot come.  I swung my legs out of bed,'}, {'start': '7010.800', 'end': '7019.240', 'text': 'forced to return to the living room.  The light felt\nboth comforting and raw.  Enough.\xa0\xa0  I'}, {'start': '7019.240', 'end': '7025.440', 'text': 'needed to be sure.  Retrieving a\nbattered old umbrella from the hall closet, I'}, {'start': '7025.440', 'end': '7032.560', 'text': 'opened the front door once more and stepped out,\ncareful over the slippery surface.  The'}, {'start': '7032.560', 'end': '7041.440', 'text': 'smell of wet earth and asphalt filled the air.  The\nstreet remained deserted.  I scanned the entrance;'}, {'start': '7041.440', 'end': '7048.200', 'text': 'My car was covered in drops of moisture.\xa0  There\nwere no footprints nearby.  The grass was a'}, {'start': '7048.200', 'end': '7054.280', 'text': 'soaked sponge.  Umbrella held high, I walked\ndown the steps, letting the rain'}, {'start': '7054.280', 'end': '7061.280', 'text': 'soak my shoulders, my already damp socks\nsloshing around in my shoes.  I circled the small house, my'}, {'start': '7061.280', 'end': '7066.440', 'text': "phone's flashlight casting a\nweak beam through the soggy grass,"}, {'start': '7066.440', 'end': '7073.040', 'text': 'illuminating scattered leaves clinging to the ground.\nNothing.  No disturbance.  No hiding place'}, {'start': '7073.040', 'end': '7079.560', 'text': 'overlooked.  The backyard fence\nremained intact, the gate tightly closed.'}, {'start': '7079.560', 'end': '7086.200', 'text': 'I stopped, listening intently.  Only the\nincessant whisper and drum of the rain.'}, {'start': '7087.040', 'end': '7091.680', 'text': 'Returning to the front porch, I stood\nwhere the figure might have been,'}, {'start': '7091.680', 'end': '7097.800', 'text': 'looking back at my own front door.\nThe camera, mounted high, its tiny'}, {'start': '7097.800', 'end': '7104.800', 'text': 'indicator light glowing dimly, stared back at me\n.  It was operational.  Taking out my phone,'}, {'start': '7104.800', 'end': '7110.560', 'text': 'I checked the live stream.  There\nI was: a figure under an umbrella,'}, {'start': '7110.560', 'end': '7115.640', 'text': 'illuminated on the small screen.  Proof\npositive that the camera was working,'}, {'start': '7115.640', 'end': '7122.520', 'text': 'at least for now.  Why, then, had it\nfailed so spectacularly before?'}, {'start': '7122.520', 'end': '7128.920', 'text': 'Back inside, the finality of the\nclosed door resonated.  A hint of relief mingled'}, {'start': '7128.920', 'end': '7136.400', 'text': 'with the lingering confusion.  A joke,\nperhaps?  Someone running onto the porch,'}, {'start': '7136.400', 'end': '7143.160', 'text': 'freezing for effect, and then\nquietly disappearing?  But how,'}, {'start': '7143.160', 'end': '7149.600', 'text': 'without leaving a trace, without activating the camera?\nAnd the speed of the disappearance… I'}, {'start': '7150.280', 'end': '7156.920', 'text': 'resigned myself to waiting for the night to pass.  I\nsank into the couch, the TV murmuring'}, {'start': '7156.920', 'end': '7164.040', 'text': 'at a low volume, my ears tuned to\nthe world outside the walls.  The rain,'}, {'start': '7164.040', 'end': '7170.840', 'text': "steady and unwavering, finally\nbegan to ease around four o'clock."}, {'start': '7170.840', 'end': '7177.560', 'text': 'Another look out the window revealed only emptiness.\nExhaustion finally began to overwhelm'}, {'start': '7177.560', 'end': '7185.400', 'text': 'the lingering fear.  Television off,\nliving room light still on, I retired to bed.'}, {'start': '7185.400', 'end': '7190.400', 'text': 'Lying there, with the rain now a\nsoft patter, my heart rate'}, {'start': '7190.400', 'end': '7196.520', 'text': 'slowed.  The breathing became even.\nCalm, or perhaps just numbness,'}, {'start': '7196.520', 'end': '7203.560', 'text': 'came over me.  Maybe it *was* imagined.\xa0  I\nrepeated the moment: the indistinct shape,'}, {'start': '7203.560', 'end': '7208.800', 'text': 'devoid of detail or color.  Could it have\nbeen a shadow cast by'}, {'start': '7208.800', 'end': '7214.400', 'text': 'headlights hitting an object hidden from my\ndirect view?  A peculiar confluence of'}, {'start': '7214.400', 'end': '7221.360', 'text': 'light and rain?  Sleep finally\nclaimed me, shallow and brief.'}, {'start': '7221.360', 'end': '7227.160', 'text': 'The morning came with a quiet\nstillness.  The rain had stopped.  I'}, {'start': '7227.160', 'end': '7234.320', 'text': 'got up and immediately went to the porch.\nWet boards, nothing more.  Reaching for paper towels,'}, {'start': '7234.320', 'end': '7240.720', 'text': 'I knelt down and methodically mopped up the\npersistent puddle.  The air outside was crisp,'}, {'start': '7240.720', 'end': '7247.480', 'text': 'clean.  The street looked ordinary;  The\nneighbors emerged, beginning their days.'}, {'start': '7248.120', 'end': '7252.560', 'text': 'A nod exchanged with a\npasserby revealed nothing unusual in'}, {'start': '7252.560', 'end': '7259.560', 'text': 'his behavior.  I did not offer my\nnocturnal mystery.  The camera feed,'}, {'start': '7259.560', 'end': '7266.040', 'text': 'checked in the clear morning light, showed my\numbrella outing, my puddle cleaning,'}, {'start': '7266.040', 'end': '7272.600', 'text': 'the neighbor passing by.  Everything perfectly recorded.\nI scrolled back, back to the'}, {'start': '7272.600', 'end': '7279.840', 'text': 'timestamp of the sighting.  Just\nrain.  Static shots of falling water.'}, {'start': '7279.840', 'end': '7286.920', 'text': 'No explanation was ever presented.  I searched\nthe porch later, examining the boards,'}, {'start': '7286.920', 'end': '7290.680', 'text': 'looking for anything – a loose railing,'}, {'start': '7290.680', 'end': '7297.520', 'text': 'a hanging plant – that might cast a\ndeceptive shadow in the darkness.  Nothing matched'}, {'start': '7297.520', 'end': '7302.840', 'text': "the solid, upright form I had\nwitnessed.  The camera's sensitivity,"}, {'start': '7302.840', 'end': '7310.560', 'text': 'its possible blind spots – I considered them all.\nBut the porch was too small, too'}, {'start': '7310.560', 'end': '7319.400', 'text': 'exposed.  It offered few places to hide from\nthe lens, or from my own eyes moments later.  I'}, {'start': '7319.400', 'end': '7325.800', 'text': 'continued.  Breakfast, changing\nclothes, the rituals of normality.'}, {'start': '7325.800', 'end': '7332.960', 'text': 'But the porch has a different quality\nnow.  Every glance at him resurrects the memory:'}, {'start': '7332.960', 'end': '7337.200', 'text': 'that solid, still figure,\nimpassive in the downpour,'}, {'start': '7337.200', 'end': '7344.200', 'text': 'present to my eyes, invisible to the camera,\ndisappeared in the space between glances.'}, {'start': '7344.200', 'end': '7352.320', 'text': "I am the only witness.  That's all I own.  The\nmemory, the rain and the unanswered question"}, {'start': '7352.320', 'end': '7366.160', 'text': 'that floats in the humid air.  Nothing similar\nhas happened since then.  Not yet.'}]