Run: 2026-05-01-01KQHQYMRJNNG9EMR6XB6XAKWG

**Scene** The small café in Alborn, Minnesota smelled of fresh coffee and warm cinnamon rolls. Maria sat alone at a corner table near the window, her dark hair falling across her face as she scrolled through the photos on her camera. The annual Apple Festival was still two weeks away, yet the town already felt strangely quiet. Heavy footsteps approached. Hunter, tall and broad-shouldered in a worn leather jacket, stopped beside her table. His sharp eyes flicked from her camera to her face. **Voice Sheet** Maria: “Ay Dios mío… no puedo creer lo que vi esa noche… la sombra cerca del viejo granero… se llevó a esa pobre chica. Estaba temblando tanto que casi se me cae la cámara. ¿Por qué nadie me cree? Tengo miedo… tengo mucho miedo.” Hunter: “…” Maria: “¿Señor? ¿Me está escuchando? Por favor, necesito contarle a alguien. Todo pasó tan rápido… la niebla, el grito ahogado… y luego nada. Solo silencio. Creo que me vio. Creo que me vio a mí también.” Hunter: “Ma’am, I don’t speak Spanish. English? Do you speak English? I’m Detective Hunter. I’m looking into the disappearances. There was an event three nights ago behind the old mill. Did you see anything? Anything at all?” Maria: “¡No entiendo nada de lo que dice! Pero su cara… parece preocupado. Fue horrible, detective. Horrible. La chica gritó solo una vez y después… desapareció como los otros. Tengo las fotos, mire…” Maria turns the camera toward him with trembling hands, showing a blurry night shot of a dark figure dragging something through the mist. Maria: “¿Lo ve? Dígame que no estoy loca. Por favor…” Hunter: “I have no idea what you’re saying, but that picture… that might be the first real lead we’ve had. Listen, if you saw—” Hunter’s phone suddenly rings. He checks the screen, his expression hardening. Hunter: “Damn it. I’ve got to take this. Stay right here, okay? Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He gives her one last frustrated but determined look, then strides quickly out of the café, phone already pressed to his ear, leaving Maria alone with her camera and her unanswered fears.