Closer

September 2, 2012 at 8:00 AM
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Rating: 6.7/10 (161 votes cast)

Like every other parent, mine had always wanted to take pictures of ‘precious’ moments. Most of them consist of me with food on my face and other cliches.

I recently found a box of these photos. They were all old Polaroids, I still have the camera that was used to take them. I took a stack of the pictures out of the box and started looking through them. About half way through the stack I noticed something, a small, black smudge. I thought it was just something on the lens. But it seemed to appear in every photo and gradually got bigger as I grew older with in the pictures.

I had finished that stack and decided to move on to the next. And there it was again, that same black spot in the corner. I quickly flipped through them, eyes barely grazing over the picture before changing into the next.

I had gone through about 8 years worth of pictures when I started to see something in the black spot. Outlines of something that was barely visible. I looked closely at each photograph, trying to find out what it was. Like always, as I progressed it got closer and closer.

I gasped as I looked at one picture, what I initially thought was just a smudge had turned into a face. It was slightly transparent, it had two large pits for eyes, a big, wide, toothy, evil looking grin. It was so close, much closer than it had ever been. The mass was hovering behind my smiling 12-year-old self. I dropped the picture back into the box. That was the last picture I had ever taken. It’s been three years since that picture.

I closed my eyes, breathed out, then got up and put the box away. I walked back to my room and steered clear of mirrors and any other reflective surfaces. I sat at my desk and opened up my desk drawer. I looked down and saw it, the camera that had taken all of those pictures. I grabbed it and held it in front of me, facing me. I took a deep breath.

One.

Two.

Three.

Click.

The picture slide up from the slit and started developing. I took it out and set it on the desk. I waited and waited. The picture slowly coming into view. I got up from the desk and walked over to my bed, grabbing my book and slowly making my way to the desk. I set the book down gently and closed my eyes. I patted around for the picture. Once found, I picked it up and held it in front of my face. I quickly opened my eyes and screamed. I didn’t see me. I saw nothing of mine. All I saw was that face.

Credit To: Quinn.

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Rate This Pasta
Rating: 6.7/10 (161 votes cast)
Closer, 6.7 out of 10 based on 161 ratings