I clicked Piece-5.avi .

Piece-7 . The room was darker. A second chair, empty. Valya looked at the empty chair for seventeen seconds. Then: “Love is the name of the person you’d kill to keep alive. I don’t say that name anymore.”

I opened Piece-1.avi .

The final file. Only three seconds long.

I looked back at the hard drive.

She was leaving a trail.

It was a warning.

She laughed. Actual laughter. “Pain is the only honest language. But you knew that. You’re the one who taught me.”

And then Piece-5 .

Piece-9 . The chair beside her was no longer empty. Someone sat there, face blurred beyond recognition. Valya’s posture changed. Straighter. Colder. She didn’t look at the blurred figure. “Betrayal is when the person who taught you the rules breaks them and calls it a lesson.”

Curiosity outweighed logic. I plugged it in.

She said: “Trust is knowing the other person will lie to you the same way every time.”