In one clip, he saw himself standing by the silo. In the original file, he’d been alone. In the VideoPad preview window, a tall, blurred figure stood behind him, its hand reaching for his shoulder. Leo froze. He scrubbed the playhead back. The figure stayed.

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The program launched instantly. No "Trial Expired" nag screen. No watermark warnings. It was beautiful. He began dragging his footage—shots of the abandoned grain silo on the edge of town—onto the timeline. He applied transitions and effects, fascinated by how the "Fastest video stream processor" lived up to its name. But as he edited, the footage changed.

He tried to delete the clip, but the software locked up. A new message appeared in the subtitle track: REGISTRATION SUCCESSFUL. USER LOGGED.

Leo stared at the blinking cursor, his finger hovering over the "Download" button on a site that felt like a digital back alley. The header screamed in a font that looked like it was vibrating.