The Slide Projector only works with Slide 36. Logically this means the slide itself is a part of the Object of Power, or a distinct Altered Item. But of course I had to make sure no other slides worked. I had to try. I thought maybe emotion had something to do with it. Connection. History. Love.

I brought in my parents' old slides. Birthday parties, vacations to Niagara Falls, my first day of high school, that kind of thing. There were two box's worth. I had to dig around the garage for an hour to find them. Never once thought of looking at them since they passed.

I tried them all. I waited until all the staff left for the night. I stayed up in that booth for hours, trying every one. Projector off, slide out, slide in, Projector on. Nothing happens. Projector off, slide out, slide in, Projector on. Nothing happens.

Love wasn't the common factor. There's no correlation that I can see. Maybe the slide itself is the Object of Power. Maybe the Projector's just an accessory. Maybe it doesn't matter.

Why'd that fucking kid have to burn the other slides?