Photographs in the Park (Laurmani)

Chapter 1

A/N: The best way that I can describe this story is that it is sort of like a cross between Visitor and Part of You. It is a thriller/suspense with elements of horror and the supernatural.

A slim, young woman with a light tan and dark, long hair sat in front of the television in her living room dressed and ready to go somewhere. She waited anxiously swinging her feet back and forth wondering when her sister was going to wake up and drive her to school. A large cockroach crawled onto the TV screen prompting the young woman to pick up a can of bug spray that was conveniently placed on an end table and kill the vile creature. A few years ago, the sight of even a small roach would have caused the young woman to scream in terror, but she had become desensitized to the presence of pests living in her less than desirable apartment.

She looked at the clock on the wall and noticed that there were only 15 minutes left to make a 10-minute drive to her university. She resigned herself to the thought that her sister conveniently forgot to set her alarm again. Angrily, she got up from the couch and let herself inside her sister's bedroom. Not even the abrupt opening of the door stirred the slightly older woman.

"Lauren! Where are you? I'm going to be late for class," shouted the young woman.

"Jesus Christ, Camz. What's with all the yelling? Can't you see me right here in front of you?" Lauren complained. Camz was a nickname she had given her younger sister, Camila.

Camila pointed out, "Well, you're in all white sheets and all white pajamas. With your pasty skin, you're practically camouflaged."

"I see you got jokes," Lauren retorted. "I see you're also not interested in getting a ride to school. I'm going back to sleep."

Camila jumped onto her sister's bed just after she laid her head back down. The younger sister playfully pummeled on her sister trying to agitate her enough to get her out of bed. Lauren finally gave in and dragged herself out of bed to quickly run her fingers through her hair and grab her car keys without changing out of her pajamas.

"Ew, aren't you going to brush your teeth, or do I have to suffer from your morning breath throughout the car ride?" cried Camila.

Lauren huffed, "Do you want to get to class on time or not?"

Camila ceased insulting her sister and ran out the front door with Lauren following behind. Lauren got into the car first entering from the passenger side. She had gotten into an accident a year ago and never had the money to fix the driver's side door. The younger one entered the car afterward as Lauren started the engine after three attempts. She didn't know what she was going to do if the car stopped operating. They barely had enough money to pay their utility bills. Fortunately for them, spring had just begun and temperatures were warming. Paying high heating bills was something new to them.

The green, 2000 Kia Rio pulled in front of the beautiful and historic University of Chicago campus. Camila was fortunate enough to get a full scholarship to attend, but Lauren wasn't as fortunate. She, too, had the academic background to get into one of the best colleges in the country, but she made sacrifices to fulfill her duties as the oldest sibling.

"You really need to get your license," said Lauren.

"I will as soon as you teach me how to drive. You know we can't afford adult driver's ed," Camila countered.

Lauren knew she was right and said nothing else. Camila exited the vehicle with her bags, thanked her sister, and caught up with a friend on her way to her class. The older sister figured that she might as well utilize the early start to her day by searching the wanted ads.

Lauren was a fair-skinned, curvy woman in her early 20s with bright, green eyes and shoulder-length hair that bordered on being medium brown. She had gone through a phase of dying her hair black and wearing edgy clothing, but she needed to look more mainstream for her chosen line of work. Growing up, people always told her that she was beautiful and that her eyes, alone, could make her a world-class model. Being a naïve girl, she saw modeling as the answer to her financial problems.

Two weeks after graduating from high school in Florida, Lauren and Camila's parents had gotten into a car crash caused by a drunk driver and died instantly. Their parents had immigrated, alone, to the United States from Cuba, so they had no family members in the country who could help them. They weren't even capable of sending money due to being poverty-stricken.

Lauren, originally, had plans to attend the University of Miami and study journalism. But, after her parents died, she took a full-time job as a waitress at a restaurant and scrapped her plans for attending college. During one of her shifts, a customer dressed in expensive slacks and wearing a Rolex watch looked her up and down as she placed his food on the table. Lauren glanced at him, rolled her eyes, and continued with her duties. She was used to male customers checking her out, but what she didn't know was that this customer was different. The man pulled a business card out of his wallet and tried to hand it to the young waitress.

"I'm not interested," said Lauren.

"You didn't even look at it," the customer complained.

"I don't need to. I'm not interested in being your whore," Lauren scolded.

"Whore? What? I'm an agent, not a pimp or sugar daddy. I was going to ask if you would be interested in ditching this crappy job for a career as a model, but a good deed never goes unpunished." The agent slipped his business card back into his wallet.

Lauren looked up from the glass she was filling with water. "Wait. Are you really an agent?"

"Yes," the agent answered. "I work for a modeling agency in New York. I'm just here for vacation, but I'm always looking for talent."

Because Lauren couldn't talk to the agent for long, she took his business card and called him after her shift was over. After a few weeks of discussion, Lauren signed a contract with BMG Models. The problem came when she didn't consult Camila about this. She had to drag her kicking and screaming to Chicago because the girl didn't want to leave her high school in Miami.

Lauren promised Camila that the move would be good for them. She promised her that it would lead to financial security. What Lauren did not know at first was that she didn't have the look of a high fashion model. At 5'4," she was too short and too curvy. She was classified by the modeling agency as a commercial and print model. Quickly, she learned that there wasn't much money or work in this area and life in Chicago became very hard.

The model's alarm went off reminding her that it was time to pick up her sister from school. Her job search that day didn't yield much, as usual. This time, she was fully dressed, her hair was brushed, and her teeth were clean. Once again, it took a few times to get her car started, and she made her way to the university. Camila, being habitually clumsy, hit her leg with the car door and yelped in pain.

"You'd better be careful. You wouldn't want to break those toothpicks of yours." Lauren was in a mood for joking to brighten up her day. She and her sister loved to make fun of each other.

"You aren't in a position to talk about anyone," Camila responded. "You're so white, you glow in the dark."

Lauren spoke again as Camila sat inside the vehicle and shut the door. "Do you remember that time we played hide-n-seek? You were so skinny, that you hid behind a pole, and I could never find you."

"Shut up before I slap the green out your eyes," Camila threatened.

Lauren laughed lowly and pulled away from the school.