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At the bottom of the photo, written in shaky ink, were five digits: .

On it was a grainy, black-and-white image of Elias, sitting at his computer, looking at a file named .

When he clicked play, the video didn’t show a person. Instead, it was a fixed shot of a digital clock in a dark room. The red numbers on the clock were frozen at .

As the time receded, the room in the video began to brighten, as if the sun were rising in reverse. Objects started appearing in the empty room: a wooden chair, a stack of sealed envelopes, and finally, a silhouette standing by the window.

Suddenly, the clock on the screen flickered. The seconds began to count backward .