Instant.

Three.

Emily's POV

My hair swept around my head in the warm breeze, whistling through the trees. I felt it wrap around my exposed limbs, warming my bare arms and legs, and caress my cheeks. I smiled, feeling the perfect serenity of summer in the park. I was sitting on the creaky old swingset, just looking around. I found nature totally amazing; something I could go on thinking about all day. It awed me how something so simple, fragile, pure, could be so beautiful.

As the occasional person walked by, they never failed to look at me strangely. I mean, I couldn't blame them. I was wearing a loose white shirt, and a man's brown leather jacket with the sleeves pushed up to my elbows. I also had on tye-dye short shorts, and my moccasins. Not usual summer attire. Even better, not usual attire in general. But that day, that's what I felt like.

I had a loose hold on Lux, which was hanging around my neck once again. I hadn't taken any pictures yet that morning. I don't plan on what to take pictures of, a majority of the time. I go out into the world, and end up where nature takes me, which is usually some pretty extraordinary place. I always brought my camera, because I take a lot of pictures in the spur of the moment.

I heard something off in the distance. I looked towards the main road, and saw a group of teenagers walking by. There seemed to be about ten of them; both boys and girls. They all looked the same; or so to speak. They all seemed to have the same style, the same attitude, and the same general being.

I had always wondered what it felt like, being just like everyone else, belonging somewhere. People sometimes looked at me strange, or disregarded me completely. I wore the things I felt like, and I didn't act like everyone else. I tended to be excluded, and not invited places where other people went.

I had been like that even as a little kid, ever since I could remember really. uI was alone a lot of the time, never having many friends. As I said before, it didn't really bother me much. I had just wondered what it would be like to be part of a group. To feel like there were other people like me, and people who I did things with. It's like another world to me.

I looked back to the group of teenagers, who were laughing and talking on their way to wherever they were heading. I wasn't sad, or envious. I was just curious, in a way. I had never formed a close bond, with anyone. I wanted to know what it was like.

As the breeze continued to blow, and the sun continued to shine, I smiled once again. I took a deep breath, inhaling the summer air. I was quite a happy person, despite what some people might think. People tend to have the idea that because I'm alone, I must be depressed. But alone and lonely don't mean the same thing. I am perfectly happy by myself, actually that's a fraction of what made me the happy person I am.

I looked down to the camera in my hands, and ran my fingers along its lines. I really loved this machine; and that was something I couldn't say about most things. Love wasn't a word I used. I only ever use it when it was to my father. He was the only one person whom I could say it to with confidence.

I lifted the Polaroid to my face, and placed it gently against my eye. I closed the one that wasn't against the lens, so I could focus through the screen. I moved to the play structure, the one that some time ago had been condemned as 'structurally unsafe'. It was rusted, and old. No one ever went on it, for obvious reasons. But, on impulse, I snapped the button, capturing a perfect frame of the ancient forgotten structure.

I brought Lux back down from my face, and I waited a few seconds for the picture to develop. I saw it slowly slide out of the cartridge. I took it out with a gentle tug, and waved it gently through the air to make sure it dried. Once it was fully developed, I examined it closely.