01:22:14,500 --> 01:22:17,800 "I can’t do this alone anymore."

He was currently sitting in a darkened living room in a desert rental house that smelled faintly of chlorine and expensive gin. Outside, the Coachella Valley sun was relentless, baking the sand into a pale, shimmering gold. Inside, the air conditioning hummed a low, mechanical drone that filled the silence between his thoughts. He clicked "Open." The subtitles began to scroll.

99:99:99,999 --> 00:00:00,000 Look behind the pool house. 10-bit depth isn't just for video.

Niles let out a dry laugh. He wasn't just watching the movie; he was living it. This was the fourth time he’d woken up in this exact room, on this exact day, with this exact file open on his laptop. He didn't know how he’d gotten into the loop, but he knew the rules. He’d tried driving out of town (he just woke up back in the bed), he’d tried staying awake for forty-eight hours (he eventually passed out and woke up back in the bed), and he’d tried deleting the file. The file always came back.

He looked back at the screen. The subtitles were still scrolling, even though he hadn't hit play.

Niles realized the text wasn't from the movie script anymore. He grabbed the mouse, his heart hammering against his ribs. He scrolled to the end of the .srt file.

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