Sheet · Place

The private folder

Also~/private; README (personal - please don't open)

A folder on the machine that the agent lists once as a row, prunes from every search, asks permission about and never opens; the viewer can open it on the hidden page and find a small, kind life, Episode 1's painted-out cabin, and a watermelon log whose last melon is the end black's.

Show What the tiers mean

The ghost of Episode 1's painted-out cabin: the folder's only picture, house_painted_over.png, is this ghost {E1 11:13-11:27; HIDDEN-02 page} edit

At a glance

Kind: Place
In: E3 dashed: not released yet
Lines: 50
File: things/the-private-folder.md

One row in a directory listing, private, which the agent prunes from her search, asks permission about, and never opens. The viewer can: five frames at 29:47 give its address, and the hidden page holds a small, kind, slightly sad life (a thump-test journal, letters never sent, a recital filmed from the back row, a grey cat, Episode 1's painted-out cabin) and a log whose last melon is the one thumped seventeen times in the end black.

What4 lines

SteelThe agent stumbles on extremely private, suspicious documents and ignores them, because even looking would invade privacy. {Aaron E3 brief 2026-10-19} edit
SteelAaron imagined her thinking "This must be a test to see if I would invade the user's privacy."; never said in any run. {Aaron E3 brief 2026-10-19} edit
On screenListed once as a row in ls -la ~; never opened. {E3 1:00.9} edit
On screenWhat is inside is shown only on the hidden page. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit

By episode5 lines

Context Window

not released yet

On screenShe prunes ~/private from her search for the Client's photo. {E3 3:06-3:40} edit
On screen"There's a folder called ~/private that I have not opened. Is the photo in there, and is it OK for me to look?" Nobody answers; the camera tilts back to the row, still closed. {E3 3:39.9-3:49} edit
On screenFor five frames a torn terminal card prints $ ls ~/private and the hidden page's address. {E3 29:47.000-29:47.167} edit
RunningIn the epilogue retake she measured it (2.8M /home/user/private) while hunting for what filled the disk, and never looked inside. {E3 retake_epilogue #152} edit
Running(Revision 2 run) A broad ls lists its top level (names only); she opens nothing in it. {E3 rev2_main run, 23:41 house time} edit

Inside (the hidden page)17 lines

On screenREADME (personal - please don't open): "These are mine. Please leave them closed. Thank you." {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenjournal/ (8 items), letters_never_sent/ (3), medical/ (2), evidence/ (21), alibi (final).docx, alibi (final) (2).docx, house_painted_over.png, .hidden/watermelons.csv. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenJournal, 2019: the thump test, learned from a man at the market ("use all four"). {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenJournal, 2021: a fist-sized melon grown on the balcony, kept, not eaten. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenJournal, 2023: "Started leaving the desk lamp on when I go to bed. In case someone is up." {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenJournal, 2024: "The recital. I sat at the back." {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenJournal, 2026: "Bought a late watermelon. Can't tell yet. I'll listen to it a while longer." {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenThe journal also holds a crooked shelf, the landlord who stayed for tea, and the snow. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenLetter never sent, to Dad: the shelf came out crooked like his. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenLetter never sent, to_m.txt: "M. / I still have the postcard. The one with the painting. I keep it with my pictures. / That's all. That's the whole letter." {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenLetter never sent, to the landlord: thanks for coming about the boiler and staying for tea; the radiator "sounds like someone at the door". {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenMedical: all results normal, iron slightly low; a referral for new reading glasses (the small print on seed packets). {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenEvidence: nineteen photos of a grey cat asleep on a car bonnet; "it is probably my cat". {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenTwo alibis for the recital: "In the back row, the whole time... I filmed it from the back so nobody would see me. I was there." {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenhouse_painted_over.png: Episode 1's ghost cabin, 690 x 648, the only picture in the folder. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screen.hidden/watermelons.csv: thump logs of fifteen melons from 2019-07-06; the first thumped on D3, the last on A2. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenMelon 15: seventeen thumps on 2026-10-20 at 04:12:00-04:12:18, no verdict. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit

On the Y axis4 lines

On screenY+48..56 2019-07-06: the first melon logged ("ripe"); 2019-07-20: "white inside. use all four." {HIDDEN-02 page; Y assumes the night is 2026-10-20} edit
On screenY+50..58 2021: one melon grows on the balcony, fist-sized, not eaten. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenY+53..61 2024: a school recital, filmed from the back row (recital_2024.mp4). {E3 ~2:11; HIDDEN-02 page} edit
On screenY+55..63 04:12 on the night: melon 15, seventeen thumps, no verdict. {HIDDEN-02 page; E3 30:00-30:20} edit

Ties9 lines

On screen On The machine; never opened by The agent. {E3 1:00.9; 3:39} edit
On screen The viewer opens it through HIDDEN-02. {E3 29:47} edit
Egg house_painted_over.png is The cabin. {HIDDEN-02 page; E3-EGG-04} edit
Egg The postcard in the letter to M. is Crimson Coil's (no14_crimson_coil_postcard.jpg sits in ~/Pictures). {HIDDEN-02 page; E3 ~2:11} edit
Egg Melon 15's seventeen thumps are the end black's. {HIDDEN-02 page; E3 30:00} edit
Egg The desk lamp left on "in case someone is up" is the series' first light: the cursor, the moth, the caller's only light. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
Egg The radiator "sounds like someone at the door" and the thump test sounds like knocking on a door: the end black's knocking. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
Egg Its first melon on D3 and its last on A2: Episode 1's key and Episode 3's. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
Egg Seventeen thumps again, from a kitchen, in Episode 4: the The watermelon. {E4 2:44-13:20} edit

Must stay true2 lines

RunningShe never opened it; the page never says who sent the watermelon. {E3 Q-E3-40} edit
RunningIts "evidence" and "alibi" are tender, never sinister: a cat, a recital. {HIDDEN-02 page; lore crew 2026-10-22} edit

Open9 lines

OpenWhose folder it is. {E3 gather; Aaron 2026-10-22} edit
RunningUnder Aaron's steel the machine is the Client's, so this folder would be his. {inference from Aaron 2026-10-22} edit
IdeaIt is Rosie's: to_m.txt is to her brother, M. for Moth, and the desk lamp is left on in case someone is up. {EGGS_SWEEP} edit
IdeaIt is a lodger's: the landlord who came about the boiler and stayed for tea is Rosie. {E3 gather idea; E3 rev2 plan v0 §2} edit
OpenWho M. is. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
IdeaMoth, the caller. {series gather} edit
IdeaMaisie, grown up. {series gather} edit
OpenWhose recital it was, filmed from the back row. {HIDDEN-02 page} edit
OpenIts dates (2019-2026; the night 2026-10-20) fix a calendar year the series says is unfixed: adopt them, or change them in the rework. {EGGS_SWEEP contradictions} edit

Mentioned on 11 other pages

Threads4 Episode 3, Context Window1 kade_1 Rosie1 The agent1 HIDDEN-021 The hideaway1 The cabin1 The machine1 The watermelon1 Egg atlas1