31 Days of Halloween-Day 13

31 Days of Halloween
Title : Flash
Rated: M
Pairing: Jasper
Word count: 2449
Picture prompt # 13
Summary: Sometimes some people's treasures can turn into nightmares.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. Twilight is not mine.
How often do we discard things in our lives? Leave them on the side of the road or give them away for other people to pick up and treasure? How many times do we stop and actually recount the story of the object that we are holding? Listen to its many treasure whispered into our souls through the rough plastic of the exterior casings leaving behind footprints for all to know we were once touched in one way by that special object.
That very reason is why I have spent countless hours in thrift stores and antique shops just like this. I refused to upgrade my equipment to the digital 15.1 mp that all the other photographers are using nowadays. The smell of dust and old leather that seems to radiate in these places reminds me that I am standing in the fragment of someone's existence. That I am here just to find a piece of their world to hopefully shed new colors into mine.
As my combat boots slowly walk across the wooden slates of the store, my fingers touch the cold glass of the display case that could be in any department store across the country except for the merchandise littered inside. I move slowly on from the glitters of gold and silver, the phones, the iPads, about to start thinking this trip was a waste when something amazing caught my eye. This was sheer perfection. The casing on the outside was black but scuffed. It looked liked it had been well loved. This camera still took color 35mm film- this I was certain- but that's as far as I was willing to bet. The flash was its own separate entity. I'm sure just by looking at it the camera must be the size of an iPad with double the width. I was in love and I had to have it.
"Excuse me, Miss? I would like to buy that camera, please." I spoke clearly to the purple haired woman that was working behind the counter. She was quirky beautiful in a way that I was sure wouldn't catch the average man's eye with her deep purple hair and short stature. Her eyes are the most extraordinary color of electric blue that stand out against her cream colored skin. I longed to get her against a black backdrop and take some old Victorian glamour pictures of her.
Her head tilts to the right and her eyebrow quirks into her hairline. She has the most amused expression on her face like someone just told her the funniest joke she'd ever heard. "Did you hear anything I just said?"
"I'm sorry ma'am. No. No I didn't"
"Well soldier, as I was saying, I'm sorry but I can't sell you that camera. It's not for sale."
Taken aback, I was sure she was haggling me like the owners of these establishments always do. I press harder, bringing my southern drawl out. "Ma'am, I collect fine treasures like that and I will be willing to haggle with you if you would just name your starting price."
"The camera is not for sale. No haggling needed. Trust me, you don't want it. What's your name, hon?"
"Jasper. Jasper Whitlock, Ma'am."
She stretched out her boney hand for me and as I enclose it with mine I caught a glimpse of the blackbirds tattooed along the inside of her thumb.
"Nice to meet you Jasper, my name is Alice. I have other older model cameras you can have but I am telling you that you don't want this one, it's special."
"Which is why I want it. I collect special things."
She stared directly into my eyes looking for something, penetrating me with her hypnotic blue stare. "Okay, but promise me this, when you get rid of it again, it comes back here."
"If I ever get rid of it again..."
"No…not if...WHEN."
I scuffed, "Okay when I get rid of it again, it will come back here."
I walked out of that little shop feeling like something more had passed in there than just a simple exchange of money for a product. I didn't quite understand the feeling or the unease that began to creep over my body.
Three months later
The smell of the subway cars reminds of the same reason that I am here in this vibrant and alive city. I see the beauty in this place, even if the people on the train that I'm on can't. The woman holding her baby, the young girl bobbing her head slightly off beat to the song playing so loud from her MP3 player I can hear it, the man in his three piece suit trying to be oblivious to us all while reading his Wall Street Journal. These little moments are the reason I always carry a camera with me. I never know when the urge to capture something might catch me.
Reaching into my bag, I pull out the camera I have been carrying around with me for months looking for the right moment to use. I tried to clean up its outside imagery just a little bit. A bit of polish and love, a new flash, the same white scuff marks are the signs of the previous owner as the thought of getting rid of anything about its history makes my stomach turn. I bring the window close to my eye and hold my finger over the button, clicking in rapid sustention catching the young girl trying to catch everyone's and no one's attention all at the same time.
As if the camera is moving to her beat, I watch the shutter come down as she moves slightly- first forward, then left of center, then right. I am as entranced with her movement as she is with the music. Right as she is about to dance back to her original position, a golden eye that seems to be surrounded by the Arctic steps into my shot. I marvel at the complex and beautiful things vanity lenses are doing for people's eyes these days as I pull my camera down to apologize to the person in front of me, realizing no one is in front me and at the moment the conductor calls my stop. I scramble to get off the train and to my apartment to develop the film to see what I caught for the day.
As I walk into my dark room with the film from the train my excitement is tangible. I haven't used this camera since I bought it from Alice all those months ago. I can't wait to see what she does on her first time out in the city with me.
I pour the developer into the bin and wait until it reaches the desired temperature of sixty-eight degrees. The next tub I place the chemical for the stop bath and the last one I place in the chemicals for the fixer, going through this setup is always the best kind of anticipation for me.
As I wait the six minutes for my pictures to be done, I let my mind replay the scene from the train to try and guess what the camera's eye caught. I find my foot tapping with a unrecognizable beat, I was granted a lot of things in this world but patience was not one of them. The egg timer finally goes off to signal that my pictures were dry and I could proof them. I yanked the first five off the line and brought them out of the dark room to my studio.
Sitting down at my desk, I flipped through the pictures noticing immediately the sharpness in color and clarity in picture. The green of headphones against her red hair stood out immediately and my eyes were drawn to that corner of the picture. I looked closely trying to figure out what exactly I was seeing. No it couldn't be... I was seeing things. Maybe, not for the first time mind you, I overexposed the film. That had to be the reason. But I had to be sure. I reached to grab my magnifying glass and placed it in the corner between the space of the younger teenager's headphones and stark red hair where the same pair of vanity laced eyes with thick black eyelashes can be seen, but her skin looked strange. It looked cracked and untaken care of.
I set the glass down and flipped the picture. The next one was just the same but the eyes were a little closer to where the lens would have been. I ran to the darkroom, grabbing all the pictures off the line and returned to my desk. I started looking through carefully and in each one the eyes were there. The face and thick lashes became much more precise and clear, until the last picture was where I got the shot of cracked skin and those golden vanity eyes with the Arctic blue circles.
My heart pounding, I decided I need to see if my purchase of this camera are in vain. I ran into my dark room , grab a roll of film, and, the camera and headed out my door racing downstairs to the sidewalk. I walked the 16 city blocks to 74th Street entrance into Central Park. Once inside I knew what I wanted to take pictures of immediately. It was a favorite place of mine. Strawberry Fields has caught my eye with its mosaic tile work and black on white imagery. I loaded the film into my camera and started clicking immediately capturing the visiting tourist who were paying their respects to the man for whom the memorial was built for to pay tribute to.
Heads bow deep in thought, watching people in private moments always allows me a little glimpse into the best of the human condition. I was watching a man whisper words into a woman's ear as he draped his arm around her neck I lifted the camera to capture their moment in time when a wave of ebony caught my eye. I blink confused and refocused with my eye to the window and pressed the shutter. Click. Zooming in closer to the capture the profile of their faces, I notice the skin on the woman's face did not look smooth and I was no longer looking at two faces, but three in my lens. I felt my pulse pick up and lowered my camera for a split second, looking around to ensure there was nothing out of the ordinary around me.
Noticing nothing out of the norm except for my now raging heartbeat, I lifted the camera back to my eyes to capture the moment that was still in front of me, when I swore I saw the face with the vanity eyes and ebony black, except this time she was smiling at me.
The need to get to some place familiar became too strong to ignore and I turned to leave Strawberry Fields. I lowered my camera but as I did I noticed my right hand would not leave the shutter. I tried to will my body to move it but it seemed like the message from my brain to my hand was being intercepted. My feet began moving on their own accord taking me towards home. As I walked the 16 blocks back, I noticed that I couldn't stop myself from picking up the camera and clicking the shutter. I looked through the lens. The vanity eyes shined brightly through and a bony white hand reached out as if to touch my eyes.
I tried to pry the camera away from my field of vision but every time I tried, the compulsion to keep snapping the shutter resonated more and more. The need to get to a familiar ground was now not a quiet voice but a screaming roar playing over and over in my mind. I walk faster and faster, finally reaching my apartment building and getting to the elevator to make to my loft.
As I enter the loft I slam my door shut, shaking the antique mirror that resides behind it in the process. The vibrations catch my eyes' attention and although I am fighting the urge I raise the camera once again. I look through the view finder and what I see completely stops my heart. A cracked, dried out figure stands behind me, embracing me in her arms lovingly as if I am her twin soul. Her ebony hair covers half her face but the prominent feature on the other half are those Arctic vanity eyes. She is reaching out with her free hand towards the camera with a wicked grin on her face. In a moment of clarity I drop the camera, running across the room and I hear the first sound that I know will spell my misfortune. CLICK.
Click.
Flash.
Click.
Flash.
Images that cannot be happening appear before my eyes; forms taking shape and crawling out of the camera lens. First, boney fingers scraping across my floor inching their way towards me, pulling whatever they are tied to closer to my body. Then skeletal wrists thin as paper and cracked yellow appear.
Click.
Flash.
Click.
I can see the fingers moving closer and closer to me as the affects of the flash make the room seem to be filled with strobe lights. Just as I am about to scream, I feel the chill of ice cold bones grip my arm as those same golden eyes stare at me from my side of the camera swallowing any noises before they even leave my mouth. As her lips turn up into a sinister smile, I realize now that there is no way out of this and that if I had listened to the shop owner all that time ago, I wouldn't be here now.
Click.
Flash.
Click.
Flash.
I am completely engulfed by this entity her entire form is taking over me. I understand now her goal was not to kill me but possess my body. I can feel her merging into me and there is nothing I can do about it. I try desperately to reach for the camera as my one last act of salvation to destroy it as I should have done when I first developed those pictures, but it's no use. At this point I'm too weak willed or she is too strong. My last conscience thought is of that electric blue eyed girl behind the counter who tried to warn me against this fate, had I just taken the time to listen before I lose myself completely to this entity and fade to blackness.