At 4:07 p.m. the sky stuttered. For one second the sunset froze, then rewound, and the same orange cloud slid back over the same rooftop twice. Milo blinked. He'd seen the seam. Then pale words scrolled up along the horizon: WORLD_07 - scheduled for deletion in 71 hours. His phone buzzed. The screen showed the exact same words.

Milo tells himself he imagined it. He goes to bed early and pulls the blanket over his head. But at 4:07 a.m. his phone lights up the whole room. New text glows on the screen: BACKUP DETECTED. ARE YOU THE BACKUP? He doesn't answer. The phone asks again.

Milo types NO, just to be safe. The phone replies: WRONG. A backup that hides gets overwritten with everyone else. The deletion clock on the horizon ticks faster. He realizes lying to the system only sped things up.