He tried to delete the file, but the trash bin icon was gone. He tried to unplug the computer, but the screen stayed lit, powered by a battery that shouldn't have been there. A text file opened itself: Readme_First.txt .

"This archive is not a collection of data. It is a backup of the consciousness of the person who lived in this apartment before you. You didn't download a file, Elias. You invited him back in."

It was hosted on a site that hadn't been updated since 2004, hidden behind a transparent 1x1 pixel anchor tag. The file size was impossible—0 bytes on the server, yet it took three hours to download.

On the screen, a map of his own apartment appeared, rendered in crude, low-poly graphics. A small red dot stood in the center of the living room. Elias looked over his shoulder. The room was empty. He looked back at the screen. The red dot was now standing right behind the avatar representing him.