On the Edge of Life

VII.

The only present he ever received was a camera.

His father lived below his means. He took a nice wife and moved to the city to start a family. This family was poor, but they were happy. Their son never once got a gift in all his ten years of life, until the corner store was advertising a new and improved gadget. And the father saw how his son ogled it and decided to buy it for him. Little did he know the impact it would have.

The boy continued to take pictures of the world around him. It made him stronger. He observed reality and the world around him, and the more he did this the more realized how flawed it was. And this affected him deeply.

As the boy got older, he quickly realized he wasn't like the other kids. So much so that he needed a professional input into his state of mind. But the grown ups didn't listen as he explained what his mind saw that no one else could. They didn't understand him. And he didn't understand them. He found himself drifting further and further away from what people were telling him "normal" was. This escalated when his mother became devastatingly ill. And he didn't know if he was dreaming the destruction or if it was real and he was dying too.

He didn't like to look at her grave. Because when he did the voices would tell him it was all his fault. And he feared if he listened to them any more he would believe them.

And his soul was no longer made up of photographs. Because reality won.