499

The shapes keep swimming, shifting, blurring as soon as she looks at them. Sliding away from her gaze, like those amorphous things that float inside your eyes.

That first one is a four. Maybe. No, definitely.

But wait, it's a reflection, so it should be the other way around? Or is it? Does that mean four is the last number?

Night after night, never the same dream, always the same message - three numbers. Four and... nine? And... what?

Now they've become melting wax, now oil paint floating on a wind-driven pond, now wafting into the air like tissue paper. Or ash.

There must be a reason. She needs there to be a reason. She must be meant to remember them, that's the only explanation. The harder she tries to grasp at the memory, the quicker it slips free.

And the dream fades...

Puzzling

There must be a pattern somewhere.

Everything has a reason, right? Nothing is actually random, not when people are involved.

There's a message here, has to be.

Something about how it's arranged, how one thing flows from another.

Was it inevitable? Frozen in place, the entire picture and path predetermined?

No. There were choices made.

But there it is, the pattern laid out for all to see. All who will look.

Perhaps only him.

Why try to figure it all out? Why not jut let it be what it is?

Things without all remedy should be without regard, what's done is done?

What was done.

Nothing can be changed now - not a single item added or removed. Everything welded in place.

Perhaps the whole thing would become clear if he had just one clue, a key to unlock the puzzle.

Perhaps if she'd said something.

Watching

RECORDING DATE 2017-06-02
START TIME 13:44:40

"It's so beat up, and nobody could say it's pretty. Gawd, look at that face."

"Yes, sir, but it's still part of the protected historic architecture."

"I'm not saying to take it off, though that would be an improvement. Let's just drill out the eyes and put the cameras there."

"Sir, that would require permission just like mounting a conventional camera."

"We don't have to tell anybody! Do it at night, this street is empty after dark. The whole point is to make sure nobody notices the cameras."

"No, sir, we just can't do that. And anyway there's no need. Nobody looks for cameras any more. We have them above the doorway there, and there, plus the one on the corner. And the bank has two that cover the entire street."

"Hrmph, I suppose so. I guess I hadn't noticed the one over there before. Maybe it's enough to have three."

END TIME 13:46:03
SESSION SAVED

Yes, sir. Three cameras. Three that you can see, and all the others you don't know about, and don't even bother looking for. We'll just keep it that way.