A Photographer's Downfall (short story)

The beginning of the end

The lens of the lustrous glassy camera glistened as it was raised into the air turning the perspective of the photographers into a sphere shape that astonished her. A golden hue casted over the jagged sharp peak of the hills of Cumbria showing its silky-smooth collision of reds and yellows into the serenity of the mysterious dark night. Just one look and it would even make the mightiest of Gods breathless. The wind whistled; it was a sharp sound that pierced her ears. Snap. Another photo, another moment of beauty captured. The warm sunset over the hills kissed down on her skin causing a golden hue to cover her. The lens was simply beautiful. It glistened from the reflection of the sun, giving of a ray of colours that glared so brightly. She stood up and checked over the beauty that took over her camera. She went through each photo waiting for a minute before analysing another one. But this one was different.

Oh. No.

Her peaceful smile dropped, her face paled the more she looked at the photo or more specifically what was in the photo. It can't be, it just couldn't be. The wind was hitting her more violently than ever, its cold breeze numbing the tips of her fingers as she hardly rubbed them together. Her brows furrowed as she began to stumble to get closer to this mysterious body that was drenched in blood. She began to run, picking up speed as she ran, each breath becoming more harder to breathe. Her lungs were closing in the soft harmony of the wind had long gone by now being replaced with the eerie feeling of danger that possible lurked around her. She froze to a stop and rapidly blinked rubbing her eyes to take this torment out of her mind, but she couldn't. It was real, too real. Her mind was racing, and she couldn't handle the simple task of even standing up. Her legs betrayed her, and she fell to the ground kneeling beside the dead man she softly dropped her camera carful to not cause it any damage. Her heart ached. Her lungs begged for air. Her mind begged to be pure again.

A swish. A rustle. A kicking sound in the grass that came up to her knees. It became more clearer to her that she wasn't alone, and she felt true fear for the first in forever. She turned around, violently picking up her camera that she had discarded on the mud earlier and saw an uncanny man staring at her in incredulity. But there was something in his eyes that she could tell, and his left eye was twitching. No surely not, her mind was just playing tricks on her. It wasn't the shock on his face that worried her it was that he looked rather indignant with an irritated expression on his face that frightened her. He couldn't think she did it. She wouldn't. She didn't. He slowly began to lift his arms out in front him keeping them low as he took a few steps backwards furrowing his brows as he did so.

"I swear it wasn't me." She exclaimed pausing to see how if he reacted, he didn't, and she continued.

"I didn't kill that man he was already dead please you have to believe me; I'm not lying." She said truthfully but he didn't bother listening as he staggered backwards until he was far enough to turn fully around and walk away which she thought was rather peculiar. Step after step, each one getting gradually faster than the other. But he never ran. Not once.

'Why was he calmly walking and not running?' She thought to herself. Her mind was racing, and she didn't even notice that the man was long gone until it felt like it was near impossible to breathe; to just wish that she could step into the dark black void called sleep felt ludicrous. He had disappeared into the depths of the hills, and yet she still stood there frozen like a statue not even being able to comprehend what was happening. Blink after blink. Deep breath after deep breath. Not once looking away from the crimson stained body that had burnt itself into the depths of her innocent mind. The dirt wasn't even brown, the grass wasn't even green any more it was red and black a palette of colours that screamed cruelty and evil.