The Patterson Polaroids

The Origin Story

After convincing myself for quite some time that there's been something going on with this camera, i still didn't know where to begin on how to fix it. But what i did know, was that i needed to find the rest of those Polaroids. I took out a piece of paper and made a list of the people i took photos of at the campus party. Tyler was up first. Since i already had Maggie's Polaroid, his was the next one in line. But where would he have kept it? it's not like i knew where this guy lived, we weren't really friends or anything. What i did know though was that he was on the football team, i could start with his gym locker. 

After class, i snuck out to the boy's locker room near the field, waited for all the boys to leave, and then crept inside trying to find the Polaroid. Walked past dirty towels on the floor, and jersey's, as there were even shoes lying around, and used paper towels. "Disgusting" i said, as an awful musty smell wafted into my face. I gagged. looked around the locker's hoping i could figure out which one was his. Once i looked down another hallway, the locker at the end of it was built into a shrine, of flowers, pictures, and art work all dedicated to Tyler. Messages on sticky notes were posted on the locker and all around it, as they said things like: "miss you" "gone too soon" "always loved". It was sweet. 

I then felt a guilty feeling sit in the pit of my stomach, if i hadn't of taken his picture in the first place. He could of still been here, alive. And the rest of my friends. I tried to force that thought out of my mind, but it kept on coming back. I wanted to distract myself by taking a photo of the art they created, but i remembered that wasn't what i was here for. I placed my bag on the floor, and dug through his locker to see if i could find any of his belongings. But there was nothing but notes, flowers, and gifts. His parents or his friends, must of cleaned out his locker before i got here. Once i gave up and sat on the floor, i came across a flyer for Tyler's wake party. It said it was being held at his house and anyone was invited. Maybe that's where i could find the Polaroid.

The wake party wasn't for another few days, so while Taryn and i waited to go, we researched for a few hours about the Polaroid camera. Him and i were up in the attic where i originally found the camera, hoping there was something else up there, that could let us know more about it. We found ourselves looking through old photo albums of my dad's side of the family. Taryn was busy looking up all my family history on the internet, seemed weird but to be honest we needed all the information we could get. Once he told me what he found, that's when i regretted researching as a whole. "It says here, your family's history had several murder cases, and your great great grandfather who owned this place, had killed himself in this very home" he said, as he looked up at me. 

I wondered why my parents never told me this before we moved into this home, why would they wanna live here knowing my great great grandfather committed suicide here? and the several murder cases that were still open? did they even know this themselves? Taryn was helping move boxes in the attic, so we could find more photo albums, but once we moved the last box of items, a giant painting was hidden in the back, of a young man holding the same camera i had found. His facial expression was stern, his eye brows were in a slight furrow, as his outfit was very sophisticated. He wore a suit and tan beige shirt underneath with a tie. His hair was long but not too long to where it came to his shoulders, but right above his ears. His hair was a sort of chestnut brown, as his eyes were hazel brown. "Who is that?" Taryn asked, "i think it's my great great grandfather" i said, as i dusted off the painting and pulled it out of the corner. 

"What's he doing holding the camera?" he asked, "it must of been his" i said, as i ran my fingers across the painting. "Where did he find it?" he asked, "i don't know, but we're gonna find out" i said, as i got up, grabbed the Polaroid camera and walked downstairs to my parents. "Paige!" Taryn yelled after me, but no, this time i was determined to get answers. "Do you guys have something you wanna tell me?" i asked, as i hid the camera behind me. They looked at me from the living room couch and then at each other. "Honey, what are you talking about?" my mom asked, as i rolled my eyes. "I'm just asking a simple question, do you have something to tell me?" i said, tired of the games. "Paige, what is it exactly, that you think we're hiding from you?" my dad asked, "oh i don't know, this" i asked, as i placed the camera down on the dining room table. As soon as i did, so they gasped.