Living through Lenses

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

I ignored my mum’s constant questions, walked past her and flew straight to my room. I locked the door and before I took out my camera I looked into the plastic bag. It contained a charger, extra lenses, a cloth to wipe the lenses, and this week’s photography magazine, iheartphoto; on the front page there was this month’s winner. The shot was a camera’s lenses, on the reflection of the lenses was a homeless man begging for people to let him shine their shoes with his shoe shine so he could earn some money. It was so remarkable I just held the photo to my face in wonder, how could she have taken such a shot that represented a part of our whole community.

‘Kayla? Could you please unlock this door and tell me what your doing in there?’ By the sound of my mum’s voice she was obviously not asking but demanding.

‘Yeah sure mum, just a second.’ I hid the camera right at the bottom of my bundle of clothes and flipped the magazine to the middle. I placed it on my pillow and walked up to unlock the door.

‘Hi mum’ I smiled but it probably looked more like a grimace.

‘Hi Kayla’ She inspected my room with caution and suspicion but she couldn’t find anything with her eyes. ‘Did anything, uh, good happen today?’

‘No I was just glad to get some peace and quiet.’ I emphasized the words peace and quiet so that she could leave me alone but she didn’t, instead she walked over to my bed and examined my magazine.

‘It’s good that you’ve gained an interest in something, huh?’

‘Yes, mother.’ I tried to stare her into leaving but she avoided my eye contact, until she finally decided there was nothing more for her to see.

‘Then call me if you need me honey.’

‘Yes mum.’ I sighed a sigh of relief; I locked the door and checked twice. I felt under my clothes for my camera and it took me a while to find it. I held it up close to my face and decided I wouldn’t turn it on until I found a pretty place worth seeing. Upon that thought I hid it again and went back to the magazine.

There were many competitions each month but I didn’t look into them because I wasn’t experienced enough to enter them. I looked through the stories of the now famous photographers who once were unknown and anxious like us. By night my dad had returned from his job as a salesman and we had dinner together like a normal family would but as everyday passed we treasured each dinner more as we knew that it would all soon be gone. I lay in my bed and but couldn’t get to sleep, tomorrow was Sunday and I couldn’t wait to get out of the house and find somewhere mind-blowing to take photos.

This was disappointing, very disappointing. There was actually nowhere in our entire town that was what I was looking for, something that showed colour. I was tired, this was unbelievable, I had walked around for so long and covered so much ground my legs were sore. The camera was pretty heavy and the strap that connected it to my neck was not only making my neck sweaty it also cut into the first layer of my skin. No blood, just blisters. I sat down feeling crappy; I looked in front of me and seemed to see some sort of … gap in the wall between the buildings and walked closer to it. At a closer point of view it was like an alleyway that nothing could fit in except tiny or skinny people that walked sideways, sort of like a crab. I tried and I could just barely fit through. I felt squished and definitely uncomfortable but it was worth seeing what I saw. I was actually stunned that I could find something like this.

There was a river flowing through and no one else was here. There were no other entrances to this area only the one I went through so it was like this place was completely blocked out of the real world. On the other side of the river I could barely make out two doers drinking out of the river, innocently. This almost felt like magic or maybe if I exaggerated a little, it was like heaven. I flopped down in to the long grass and crossed my legs; it took me a while to remember that I was meant to be taking photos.

I switched on my camera and looked through the lenses, once again the sensation of colour splattered across my eyes and almost blinded me. I took photos of the river, of the grass, of the walls, the sky, the other side of the river and by the time I finished I was tired but immensely satisfied with the area I had found. It was getting dark and I decided it was time to head home before my parents got suspicious and worried.

When I got out of the gap in the wall I looked back through and my eyes seemed to show me another set of gleaming eyes staring at me but when I blinked and looked again there was nothing there, so I decided to ignore it. Tomorrow was school and I trust that my brain will have troubles with keeping me on topic.

Right after school I sprinted to get home, I grabbed my camera, changed into shorts and a tee, grabbed my homework and left for my secret spot. The moment I got there I felt relaxed, my whole body slouched and I reached the floor. I dropped my stuff and stretched my legs in the grass. I placed my hands behind my head and let my upper body fall to the ground. I watched as the clouds changed with the wind and once in a while I would take a shot of an interesting shape that had been formed. I was about to fall asleep when my brain mentally slapped me and told me to do my homework and so I sat up and did it.

It took me a while to finish it and check the time. I never wanted to check the time cause even though I felt like no time has passed my brain was telling me that it was getting later then I expected, not that my brain was to be trusted. My mobile was though, and it said that it was 5:54 pm, which meant I had been here for almost 3 hours; I decided I would tell my mum that I went to hang out with some friends and then went shopping. I looked through some of my photos that I had taken and was quite impressed. Getting up was the difficult part, I never wanted to leave this place, it was just to boring back at home but I had to anyways. So I packed up all my stuff, put them in my bag and prepared to push my body up but just as I was getting up something was poked at my head. It sent shivers all the way down my back and my heart fastened when I heard a click and a low voice of a man.

‘Stay still.’