But it wasn't the movie that held Elias’s attention. It was the text at the bottom of the screen.

Elias frowned, leaning forward. He hadn't seen the first twelve subtitles. In fact, there had been no dialogue at all, no music, just the rhythmic whir-clack of a projector that shouldn't have been there.

He reached for the remote to toggle the settings, but the plastic felt freezing, almost wet. As his thumb hovered over the button, the text changed.

Elias felt the bedframe vibrate. A soft, wet scraping sound rose from the floorboards. Every instinct screamed at him to run, to jump, to scream. But his muscles were lead. He kept his eyes locked on the television, watching his own reflection on the screen slowly turn its head toward the edge of the mattress.

The film on the screen shifted. The characters were gone. Now, it was a grainy, high-angle shot of a motel room. This motel room. Elias saw the back of his own head on the screen. He saw himself staring at the door.