Polaroid | Teen Ink

Polaroid

January 5, 2014
By Moviegeek9 BRONZE, Austin, Texas
Moviegeek9 BRONZE, Austin, Texas
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment

The deserted street was vacant of souls, except for the one that remained untouched by the tragedy. In the dead center of the street stood the Polaroid, beckoning its next victim. A filled pair of laced, tattered converse high tops brimmed with the soul of a strange girl. Skimming the ground with each inquisitive step, she gained closer and closer to the polaroid. Perched high as if it was a crown meant for a queen, the polaroid awaited the foolish presence to draw within proximity of its view.

She paused for a moment intently gawking at the tower. Knowing she had been strictly warned to not step foot within 100 feet of the tower, she felt the luring sense all around her. What is that feeling? It is so strong I can almost taste the metallic air. Magnetically, she drew nearer.

The neonate eyes observed the tower shape shift to its more approachable aura of a polaroid camera. They were wrong, there never was a tower it is just a simple camera. The sound of wooden windows locking into place and doors shutting with a thud could be heard throughout the shriveled and ruined town. Are they really afraid of a little camera? What does it do anyways?

Putting a centimeter distance between her and the camera, the girl peered into the lens of the polaroid. Blinking with a red light located in the retina of the lens focal, appeared an eye. The girl flinched backwards with an expression of pure terror. The eyelid closed. All she could remember was the color of the retina was nonexistent she could not identify anything about the eye. No words can describe what I have just witnessed. Shaking, the girl attempted to flee the odd camera but was immobilized by the invisible magnetic field surrounding the 100 foot perimeter of the camera.

The eye opened once again this time with out blinking rapidly, but a with a much more monotonous pace. The red light appeared in the center, blinking. The flashing red light increased its speed faster and faster as the girl stood firmly planted on the charred ground. Eyes open wide anxiously panicking, the girl awaited what would happen once the the red light ceased flashing.

A golden flash lit up the eyes of the girl. She envisioned from the golden light a meadow fixated in the very place where her siblings and her played hide and go seek. Walking around the meadow to find her younger brothers she stopped, finally witnessing her reflection in the meadow's pond. Another golden flash went off, she was know looking right in the water but it wasn't her. Examining the reflection she tried to remember where she had seen that person before. Without warning another flash speckled with the same golden light went off.

This time the girl lost her footing on the bank and fell in the water, through the reflection and was underneath the water's surface struggling to gain access to air. Suffocating, with the water filling every inch of her lungs, another golden flash suspended in time as the girl only went deeper towards the bottom. A blurry figure appeared into the edge of the water, staring down at her. The air pressure burst her ear drums and she lost all of her senses with only her brain as a companion. Then, as if a hand was pulling her out of the water, the girl opened her eyes and was in the same stance before the flashes went off. Confusion enveloped the mind of the girl and she began to cry but no tears welled up.

A picture came into view from the back of the Polaroid. The girl lifted her arm and found the picture within her fingers. The cool touch of the undeveloped photograph comforted the girl. Laying the photograph on the ground, the girl began to wait expectantly for it to develop and show its true colors. The picture started to come into view and grass began to pop up around the edges of the photo, the girl squinted as she tried to make out what it was. As clear as day it was the meadow, with the girl staring straight into the camera as if posed like a model, but there was something so familiar to her. That's not possible, but how?

Another image clunked out of the Polaroid and she remembered there were four flashes, so four photos. Hesitantly, she grabbed the next photograph and was scared to put it on the ground. Crouching down, the girl saw the person's reflection in the water that she had seen earlier in her vision. I have seen that before. Her breathing grew more rapidly as the next photo rolled out of the Polaroid and she waited a moment before attempting to grab it.

Laying the next to last photograph on the ground, the girl tried to closed her eyes not wanting to see the picture but as if under some enchanted spell, she only opened them wider. The picture was coming into view of her falling in the water and there was something else there, but she couldn't quite grasp what it was. The last photograph taunted her as she stood with trembling hands trying to grasp a hold of the photo. The photo fell to the floor and was rapidly developing. This time she saw herself completely submerged underwater with eyes closed and there it was…right beside her. That is-

Suddenly she lost all nerve connections and was disconnected from her brain. The only thing she was able to do was see and blink. Her eye moved quickly around its socket, up, down, and then straight forward. Her eye focused on the empty street, desolate and no one in sight except for the thousands of souls eyes swimming around her eye. Now, she awaited the next victim.


The author's comments:
Imagine a town fearful of an unknown object that looms above others, awaiting its victims that are only visible when in plain sight.

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