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THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

IS ONLY A STUBBORNLY PERSISTENT ILLUSION. ALBERT EINSTEIN

We trust that time is linear.

That it proceeds eternally, uniformly.

Into infinity.

But the distinction between past, present

and future

is nothing but an illusion.

Yesterday, today and tomorrow are not consecutive,

they are connected in a never-ending circle.

Everything is connected.

JUNE 21, 2019

DO NOT OPEN BEFORE NOVEMBER 4, 10:13 P.M.

SECRETS

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Fuck.

Mom.

Mom!

You'd think by 16, they'd know how to make toast.

Mom!

The power's out again.

Mom!

Thanks for breakfast.

Coming to the meeting tonight?

I don't know.

- Katharina will be there. - And I'll be there.

Yes, you'll be there.

That's right.

Ulrich.

I love you.

You're beautiful.

MISSING

WINDEN CAVES 0.6 MILES

How was it?

How have you been these last two months?

You don't have to talk about it if you don't want.

I read the notes from your therapy sessions.

You did pretty good, especially in the group sessions.

I still see him.

In your dreams?

Why do you think you see him?

As my therapist, shouldn't you tell me?

Are you taking your meds?

I think he's trying to tell me something.

Or maybe I just want him to tell me something.

What do you think that might be?

What do I think it might be?

Why?

Why he left?

Why like that?

Why he fucking hanged himself?

And why he didn't leave a word?

Nothing to explain this fucking crap!

DO NOT OPEN BEFORE NOVEMBER 4, 10:13 P.M.

The Winden nuclear power plant has a long history.

Plans to erect the nuclear power plant go back as far as 1953.

Construction was first authorized in 1960 after the Atomic Energy Act was passed.

As part of the government's staggered plan to phase out nuclear energy,

the Winden power plant will be taken off the grid in 2020,

making it one of Germany's power plants with the longest failure-free operation.

Mikkel, you're not going to school like that.

A good magician needs a distinctive style.

Change your clothes. Thank you.

These are my work clothes.

And school sucks!

I'm sure the great Hodini went to school.

- Houdini! It's not that hard! - Come have breakfast.

- The greatest magician ever. - Are you sure he's not adopted?

- And his name is Houdini! - Same crap every morning.

Mom, where's my black hoodie?

I don't know. Maybe with the jackets.

Magnus, stop trampling like that!

- Morning, Mikkel. - Good morning.

Ulrich! Why did it take so long?

First day of school. A huge line at the bakery.

The Apocalypse is upon us. You coming to eat?

It's not with the jackets.

Ouch!

- Then maybe it's in your gym bag. - What's going on here now? Magnus?

- Breakfast. - Mom, I'm on hunger strike.

I won't stuff my face as long as a child starves to death every ten seconds.

I will.

The damn hoodie isn't in the bag.

- Did you steal my hoodie? - No, I did not!

- Can't you stop arguing for once? - Mom, I didn't do anything.

- Where can it be? - Can I please have my lines back?

Magnus, maybe it's up in the laundry.

Martha, starving won't help anyone.

Mikkel, get changed now. Last warning!

- Or we'll be late. - Whose idea was it to have kids?

- Can you please open this? - You're in the way!

Did you understand me?

All right then, Houdini.

One last trick, then off to school.

Fine, then everyone can do as they wish.

Found it!

Okay.

There...

and there.

Amazing! How did you do that?

Dad, the question isn't how,

the question is when.

Hey!

Welcome back to the madhouse.

It was damn boring without you here.

- Hey, what the hell are you staring at? - What a freak.

What idiots.

Did you tell anyone?

I told everyone you were on a two-month school exchange in France,

playing hide-the-baguette.

Relax. Come on.

It'll be fine. Let's go.

Come on.

- What about here? - You didn't miss much.

Except for the thing with Erik.

You don't give a shit!

Why is nobody doing anything? Where is our son? Where is Erik?

Mr. Obendorf.

No one is unimportant to us here. We've done 172 interviews.

We've questioned neighbors and friends, combed the entire forest,

searched the houses and basements of nearby residents.

23 officers and over 50 volunteers

have been searching for your son for days.

We're doing our job. And we'll do it better if you calm down.

- You're not doing shit! - Hey!

Calm down! Stop. Calm down now.

Hey! Come now.

Listen.

We can't rule out the possibility that no crime has been committed.

- What's that supposed to mean? - Maybe Erik left voluntarily.

He's done it before.

But when he ran away, he always came back after two days.

- He'd sleep in the basement or wherever. - It's been 13 days.

It's been 13 days now.

We'll find your son, I promise.

Now go home. Okay?

Go home.

Franziska.

Magnus.

Shouldn't you be with the geeks?

Should the principal's son be smoking a joint on school grounds?

Especially such bad weed.

Assemblies like this are for idiots. They need to get rid of them.

Maybe you did miss something.

Hey.

Hey.

How was France?

French. How else?

What a nice welcome. Thank you.

The reason I've asked you to assemble here before class

is because I wanted to talk to you about something important.

About Erik Obendorf.

You all know Erik has been missing for almost two weeks now.

I want to tell you that if you need to talk to someone,

if you have questions or if you know anything about Erik's disappearance,

you can come to us at any time.

Come to us, talk to us.

There can be no secrets in this matter.

Okay?

No one saw him after practice. Not a trace, nothing.

- As if he vanished into thin air. - Maybe he just doesn't want to be found.

The money under the bed? His phone? You'd take that if you were running away.

Sometimes people just want to get away.

49 tire tracks on the road between the school and the residential area.

Two of them are from trucks.

There are 21,312 vehicles registered in the district of Winden alone.

- That's all we have. - So we've got nothing at all.

Erik's father drives a van.

You don't think he's involved.

Why are you so certain Erik ran away?

This is Winden.

- Nothing ever happens here. - But that hasn't always been the case.

This has nothing to do with my brother.

Not a thing.

Oh, your mother called the emergency number again this morning.

Maybe you should pay her a visit.

Do you ever wonder where you took a wrong turn?

Where your life became the exact opposite of what you always wanted it to be?

FOREST HOTEL WINDEN

Hotel Winden. Regina Tiedemann speaking. How can I help you?

I see, but surely there's something we can do.

Temporarily suspend the loan repayments, for example.

Just a slight deferment of payments until things have calmed down again here.

I have not miscalculated. Are you even listening to me?

Who wants to go on vacation in a town where a child has disappeared?

Would you want that?

I have a family suite available.

A weekend with the little ones? They'd love it, wouldn't they?

You bankers sit on your piles of money and think you can bully people.

I've built up a business here. By myself. Without any help.

My husband and I have been customers of your bank for 20 years!

And now you're pulling this? You stupid asshole!

I want to speak to your supervisor.

Hello?

Hello?

Shit, shit, shit!

A black hole forms

when the center of a star collapses into itself after a supernova explosion.

Even new neutron matter cannot prevent the collapse.

You know what I've been wondering for days?