2022-07-02 04.43.22.mov -

Then, at , the camera settles on a single point in the valley below. A lone set of headlights is winding its way up the mountain pass. The light is tiny, like a spark floating in a dark ocean. Elias remembers watching that car and wondering if the driver was running away from something, or toward something.

Outside, the sun was just beginning to touch the horizon. It was 04:43 AM. He didn't need to record it this time; he just needed to be there. 2022-07-02 04.43.22.mov

The blue light of the smartphone screen was the only thing illuminating Elias’s face as he sat on the edge of the motel bed. His thumb hovered over the thumbnail in his gallery. The timestamp was precise, clinical: Then, at , the camera settles on a