The Photographer (Ignazio Boschetto Fanfiction)

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

          The quiet of the hotel room was welcoming after the long day, and I flopped sleepily onto the couch. I ran my hands over my face and sighed, hoping that the subsequent days would not be as trying as the present day had proved to be.

          I took my camera from around my neck and leaned back as I turned it on to review the photos. I sat still for a few moments on the couch, in a sort of glum trance as I looked over the pictures. I reminded myself that they were okay, that I did a good job, and then I set the camera aside, determined to cast the day’s trials away from myself. I got up and went to take a shower.

          I emerged from the bathroom feeling refreshed and more serene. I sat and worked at my wet blonde hair with the fluffy hotel towel, yawning contently.

          I put up my feet on the coffee table and leaned back, peering around at the quiet, still hotel room. I turned on the TV but turned it off again when I remembered that everything was in Spanish.

          I sat in the quiet, looking at the dark curtained windows. It was too late to go out and take pictures, but too early to go to bed. I looked at my camera and considered uploading some of the pictures to Facebook, then quickly shook my head and looked away, not wanting to think anymore about the day’s activities. I stood and picked up the camera, taking it across the room to the table and putting it into my sleek black camera bag. I stood in the quiet and looked silently around the room, searching for something to entertain myself with. 

          Finding nothing, I returned to the couch and sat cross-legged on it, staring listlessly into space and listening to the stillness of the night. I sighed just to hear the sound, and then focused on the chair across the room.

          I hesitated, then slowly stood up and moved silently to it, bending down to pick up the stack of CDs in my hand. I looked down curiously at them, then spread them out in my hands to see the covers. The one on top showed the three boys, in younger versions of themselves, smiling up at me in front of a red curtain, with large white letters proclaiming the name of the group across the top. The same picture was on another CD case, but the curtain was blue and the words “Edicion en Espanol” accompanied the title. Another case had a picture of the boys walking along a street in casual clothing. Ignazio was in the middle, with his arms slung brotherly over Piero and Gianluca, who leaned in toward him as they walked along. The CD was called “We Are Love.” Another CD had the same photo, but with the words “Mas Que Amor.”

       I studied the cases, and then set most of them back down on the chair, keeping “We Are Love” in my hand. I opened it and looked at the intricate floral designs on the CD itself, and admired Valerie’s photo of the boys walking along a different street, in different clothes. I couldn’t help but smile at the image of Ignazio, who appeared to be squinting cutely against the sun. I reached for the CD and took it from the case, holding it with my thumb and forefinger as I snapped the case closed and set it on top of the other CDs. I went quickly to my laptop and slid the CD in the drive, where I uploaded the music and then transferred it to my phone. I powered down the laptop and went back to the sofa, settling down cross-legged to prepare to listen.

          “Okay…” I sighed to myself, sliding on the headphones,

“Let’s see what this group is all about.”

          I listened as the first notes began, and soft piano sounds followed. I anticipated the singing, and it began immediately,

          “Moonlight draws your colors in the dawn…while the sound of silence in the wind feels…like an empty song…”