Albtraum

The young detective must have removed his finger from the fast forward button because the tape resumed to its normal speed. Now I could see myself walking into the alley, sitting down on the crate, burying my face in my hands and sobbing. "Bad day?" asked the senior detective. I didn't say anything. Fast forward again. It was about 12 minutes of me sobbing, according to the time code on the screen. Then back to normal speed. The two skinheads walking, spotting me, going directly to me. The first punch. Me, falling on the ground. The first kick from the second guy. Then from the bottom corner of the screen, a tall skinny man, black shoes, black pants, black gloves, black hoodie hiding his face, arriving from behind them. Pause. Freeze frame. The senior detective gave me his arrogant smile again. "This guy, you know him?" He could tell my attitude had changed. I was looking at the first physical evidence that Albtraum existed. The camera was a witness that couldn't lie, exaggerate, change its story or get the details wrong. Albtraum was there, on tape, and I had no idea how to proceed with this.