Forgotten Photography ✔

The Secret Admirer

Evergreen woke up the next morning, looking out the window after opening her curtains. The sun was glistening on the puddles scattered about the road, throwing hints that it must have rained the night before. She immediately jumped up into her chair and fired up her computer, loading up the editing software for her photographs.

Having downloaded the ones she had taken yesterday to her computer just before she went to bed, she tapped her pen on the desk, waiting patiently for the loading screen to pass. As she was editing her photographs, she started noticing strange things in the background. Mess ups of the lens that were not there before appeared before her very eyes. She started to edit the weird things showing up until she got to the picture of Tom, what she saw sent chills up her spine. There was someone behind Tom in the photo. Just staggered to the right on the path was the silhouette of a woman, causing Evergreen to feel a strange tingling in her stomach. She tried to zoom in on the picture, but the more she zoomed in, the further away the lady seemed to get. This made Evergreen question every law of logic in her head as she even tried to edit the woman out, but the more she played with the woman's silhouette, the more prominent it seemed in the photo. She immediately decided the photo should not be tampered with and created a folder for it called, 'Do Not Fuck With, Investigate Later.'

"I do not like this one bit. As much as I enjoy a good spook and mystery, this is not something I expected out of my cozy town." Evergreen shook her head, shutting down the computer and throwing on her jacket, heading downstairs to the kitchen.

"Hey sweetie! How was the picture taking?" Evergreen's mother always greeted her daughter with a chipper voice and a smile on her face.

"Oh, it went great mom. Last night I got some beautiful snaps of the deer I saw playing just outside the forest the other day." Evergreen sat down at the table and her mother set down a plate of steaming pancakes in front of her, with a glass of chocolate milk; Evergreen's favorite.

"That's great, I heard you got a great snap of Tom last night. When you are done editing it, I would like to see it!" She went back to her housework, humming a tune that was from a song that was passed down from one generation to the next of the Williams family.

"Uh...Yeah. Sure. Okay, ah, well...I need to go." Evergreen finished eating, and set her plate in the sink, running upstairs; she swiped her camera from her desk and ran out the door. Halfway down the stairs her stomach lurched, and she immediately felt a pain in the right side of her head. Choosing to ignore it, she rushed out of the door, nearly stepping on a blue rose in her rush.

"What the hell?" The vibrant blue of the rose startled her, causing her to jump back a bit. Once her eyes adjusted, she picked it up gently, and examined it. This was not a normal hue of rose, in fact, blue roses never really occurred in the wild. At all.

"This should not feel this real..." Evergreen ran her hand over the petals, and she set it in the mailbox once she was done investigating it, knowing it would be safe there. There was no name, or indication of who it was from. Just a soft blue arrangement of petals with purple-red thorns and a healthy green stem.

The moment Evergreen set it in the mailbox, she felt a chill up her spine, and decided not to stay in one place for too long, setting out for the conservation office to consult her father figure. When Evergreen arrived Tom was outside, walking some local shelter dogs. He looked like he was having plenty of fun, making Evergreen feel bad about cutting his fun short.

"Tom! I need to show you something!" Evergreen ran up, adjusting the camera that was situated around her neck.

"Why? What's the rush? Is something wrong?" Tom's eyebrows furrowed.

"Maybe. I'm not quite sure yet." Evergreen rushed into the office, holding the door for Tom and the dogs. The dogs all laid on respective beds placed down for them, tails wagging happily.

"What do you mean you are not quite sure yet? That doesn't sound very reassuring at all." Tom sat down on the floor, loving on the dogs as Evergreen plugged in her camera to his desktop. She loaded up the picture, and tapped on Tom's shoulder.

"Ho-Lee-Shit. What the fuck is that?" Tom stood up, and squinted at the image on his screen.

"A woman. A sillouhette of a woman." Evergreen chewed on one of her nails, nervous.

"That looks like..." Tom's voice trailed off as his face went pale, realization dawning on him like a sunrise.

"That's the missing woman. That's Maddison."