Run: 2026-02-16-01KHM5HPWN8ZSJKSKYE1ZKTJF2

**Voice Sheet: Café Scene** **Setting:** A small, cozy café in Alborn, MN. The scent of coffee and baked goods fills the air. MELANIE (30, German, holding a camera) is sitting at a corner table, intently scrolling through photos on her camera’s display. HUNTER (35, detective, weary but focused) approaches. **Hunter:** (Pulling out a small notepad, his tone professional but direct) Excuse me. Mind if I ask you a few questions? You were at the town square last night, right? During the festival setup. We’re checking in with everyone who was in the area. **Melanie:** (She looks up, startled. Her eyes are wide, troubled. She speaks rapidly in German, her voice shaking.) *Es war schrecklich. Ich habe… ich habe etwas gesehen. Am Rand des Waldes. Es war nur eine Sekunde, auf meinem Display. Aber es war da. Und jetzt ist es weg. Das Foto ist nur noch… verschwommen.* *(Translation: It was terrible. I saw… I saw something. At the edge of the woods. It was only for a second, on my display. But it was there. And now it’s gone. The photo is just… blurred.)* **Hunter:** (He blinks, his stern expression dissolving into pure confusion. He leans in slightly.) I’m sorry, I… I don’t understand. Do you speak English? Last night. The square. **Melanie:** (She shakes her head, frustrated and distressed. She holds up her camera, pointing to the screen, then gestures vaguely toward the window and the distant tree line.) *Nein, nein. Verstehen Sie nicht? Das Bild! Da war eine Gestalt—eine Silhouette—und dann ein Licht, und dann…* (She shudders.) *…nur dieses Rauschen.* *(Translation: No, no. Don’t you understand? The picture! There was a figure—a silhouette—and then a light, and then… (She shudders.) …just this static.)* **Hunter:** (He rubs his temple, sighing. He points to her camera, then to his own eyes, trying to mime.) You. Saw. Something? In the woods? With that? **Melanie:** (She nods vigorously, a flicker of hope that he might grasp the core of it.) *Ja! Genau! Aber es ist nicht mehr auf der Speicherkarte. Wie Geister in den Bäumen. Die Stadt… sie flüstert, oder?* (Her voice drops to a fearful whisper.) *(Translation: Yes! Exactly! But it’s not on the memory card anymore. Like ghosts in the trees. The town… it whispers, doesn’t it?)* **Hunter:** (He looks completely lost, glancing around the café as if hoping for a translator to materialize. He forces his detective demeanor back on.) Look, I… I’m going to need to find someone who can… help us talk. Don’t… leave town, okay? **Melanie:** (She just stares at him, her fear now mingled with the isolation of being utterly misunderstood. She clutches her camera to her chest.) **(Hunter’s phone rings sharply in his pocket. He pulls it out, glances at the screen, and his face tightens.)** **Hunter:** (Into the phone) Hunter. …What? Where? …I’m on my way. (He snaps the phone shut, looks back at Melanie with a mix of frustration and apology.) I have to go. We’ll… we’ll circle back on this. Stay here. At the café. Please. **He gives her one last, puzzled look, then turns and strides out of the café, leaving Melanie alone at the table, staring at the blurred image on her camera screen, her hands trembling slightly.**