The message was on his phone, and it was from a number he did not recognize, and it said: I know what you did in 2019. The evidence is not on your phone. It is in your memory. The memory is not as safe as you think it is. We will be in touch. The message was received at 2:47 AM on a Tuesday, and Marcus read it three times, and he deleted it, and he put his phone down, and he lay in the dark for a long time, and the lying in the dark was not because he could not sleep. It was because he was trying to remember what he had done in 2019, and because the 2019 was a year that was populated, in his memory, by ordinary things — the job, the apartment, the relationship that had ended in the fall — and because the ordinary things were not the things that someone would send a message about, and because the message had been sent, and because the sending meant that the ordinary was not the whole story, and because the whole story was what he was now afraid of, in the way that people are afraid of the parts of themselves that they have successfully refused to look at, which is a specific kind of fear, which is the fear of the thing you know is there but have chosen not to see, and the choosing was the thing he had done, in 2019, and the 2019 was the year he had buried, and the burying was the thing that had worked, until the message, and that the working had been the purpose, and the purpose was to not be found, and the not being found was what the message had undone, in the specific way that a single sentence can undo years of careful construction, which is to say completely, and without warning, and in the middle of the night, when the defenses are lowest, and when the fear is most honest, and when the person who receives the message is not the person who performs in the daylight but is instead the person who is left, in the dark, with the knowledge that the performance is over, and that the thing beneath the performance has been seen, or is about to be seen, or is being given a deadline by which it must be seen, and the deadline is not stated in the message but is implied by it, and the implication is the thing that will keep him awake, for the weeks that follow, which is that they are coming, and that they have evidence, and that the evidence is not on the phone but is in the memory, and that the memory is what will be examined, and that the examination is what they are promising, and that the promise is what the message is, and that the message is not a threat. It is a notice. And the notice is that the past is not finished, and that the past has witnesses, and that the witnesses are not in the places you put them, and that the places you put them are not safe, and that the safety was always an illusion, and that the illusion was what you paid for, in the years of silence, in the years of the ordinary life, in the years of the performance of the person you were supposed to be, and that the supposed to be is what the message is questioning, and that the questioning is what they do, and that the doing is what they came for, and that the coming is what you invited, by the thing you did in 2019, which was the thing that created the need for the burying, and that the burying created the witnesses, and that the witnesses are what the message is from, and that the from is who they are, and that the who is what you will find out, and that the finding out is what the message is preparing you for, and that the preparing is what you are doing now, in the dark, in the bed, in the 2:47 AM, and that the doing is the only response available, and that the response is to wait, and that the waiting is what they want, and that the wanting is the power, and that the power is not yours anymore, and that the not yours is the condition, and that the condition is what the message has established, and that the establishment is the beginning, and that the beginning is the end of the hiding, and that the hiding is over, and that the over is what the message says, and that the saying is what they did, and that the doing is the 2019 thing, coming back, and the coming back is what you knew would happen, in the part of you that you buried, and that the buried part is what they have found, and that the finding is what the message is, and that the message is what you are left with, in the dark, at 2:47 AM, with the phone deleted, and the deletion not mattering, because the message is not in the phone. It is in the memory. And the memory is what they are coming for. And the coming is what you cannot stop. And the stopping is what you thought you had done, in the burying, in the silence, in the years of the ordinary life, and that the ordinary life is what they are about to interrupt, and that the interrupting is what the message is the herald of, and that the heralding is what messages do, and that this message is doing it, now, at 2:47 AM, on a Tuesday, in the dark, in the bed, with the phone deleted, and the deletion not mattering, because the thing that matters is the memory, and the memory is what you cannot delete, and what they know you cannot delete, and that the cannot is the evidence, and that the evidence is what they are coming for, and that the for is what the message says, and that the saying is: we know. And the knowing is what they have. And the having is what the message is. And the message is what you cannot escape. And the escaping is what you tried. And the trying is what failed. And the failing is what the message is about. And the about is the 2019 thing. And the thing is what you did. And the did is what they know. And the know is what the message tells. And the telling is what they did. And the doing is what the message is. And the message is: we know. And the knowing is the evidence. And the evidence is the memory. And the memory is yours. And the yours is what they want. And the wanting is what they came for. And the for is the memory. And the memory is what you cannot delete. And the delete is what you tried. And the tried is what failed. And the failed is what the message is. And the message is: we know. And the knowing is the evidence. And the evidence is in the memory. And the memory is yours. And the yours is what they are coming for. And the coming is what you cannot stop. And the stopping is what you buried. And the buried is what they found. And the finding is what the message is. And the message is: we know. And the knowing is the evidence. And the evidence is in the memory. And the memory is what you cannot delete. And the deleting is what you tried. And the tried is what failed. And the failing is what the message tells. And the telling is what they did. And the doing is the evidence. And the evidence is the memory. And the memory is the past. And the past is what they have. And the having is what the message says. And the message is: we know. And the knowing is the power. And the power is not yours. And the not yours is what the message tells. And the telling is what they did. And the doing is what the message is. And the message is over. And the over is the beginning. And the beginning is: we know. And the knowing is the end.