Through The Lens

5

I sat in front of Jordan in shock. Had I really been carrying around a murderer's camera? Maybe this was the reason that you could see the dead through it. I don't know, all I knew was that the dead were taking me somewhere I just hadn't figured that out yet.

"So....um....What do we do with it?" I asked Jordan because I had no idea what to do with it anymore. I mean I was curious about why Mila said 'HURRY', but who knows maybe I'm paranoid of that Ben guy coming and killing me. Maybe it's my mind playing tricks on me.

"Well, was there anything else in the boxes?" That got me thinking, and I remembered there were also pictures in the boxes too.

"There were these pictures that were in the box. Come on I'll show you." I got up, and started walking towards the basement door, with Jordan right on my tail.

We were walking down the steps when Jordan said, "Um...Ruth, why didn't you turn the lights on?" At that exact moment we reached the bottom of the steps, and I turned the light on and said, "Because you can't turn the light on until your at the bottom." I said it in a sassy way, and put my hand on my hip.

"Well, okay sassy frass. Good to know." I walked over to the boxes, and crouched down to look at the pictures. I thought about grabbing the box and heading back upstairs, but with Jordan down here with me, I just felt safer.

"So, here are the pictures." I told Jordan. I picked up the first picture, and read the back of it. "Johnny Parker 2017." I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. I turned the picture over, and it was of a little boy. He looked so scared and helpless, with tears rolling down his cheeks. The picture was just a close up, and I wondered what kind of person would take a picture like this.

While I was looking at the first picture, Jordan had not said a word, nor looked at any pictures. He just stared at the box. Then, he slowly grabbed a picture with his hands shaking uncontrollably. He mumbled something, but I couldn't make it out.

"What is it Jordan?" He looked up at me with tears streaked along his face.

"It's a picture of...m-my sister." I scooted closer to him and looked at the picture. Sure enough, it was Mila, and she looked exactly as the little boy did.

"Do you think Ben took these after he kidnapped them?" That had to be what these pictures were right? I just wished it wasn't. I couldn't imagine how Jordan felt at this moment. This was worse than finding her grave.

Jordan didn't say anything He just kept staring at his dead sister's picture. This Ben guy had to be insane to take pictures of all the people before he killed them.

***** 

June 30, 2018 11:23am

After a while of just watching Jordan stare at his dead sister's picture, he grabbed the whole box, and just left without saying a word to me. Of course I didn't blame him though because I had no idea what he was thinking or feeling. So, I just left Jordan alone for a few days.

Today, I sent him a text message. I wanted to check up on him, and make sure he didn't think I started ignoring him or something.

Hey if you want to talk about anything, I'm here for you if you need me. (:

Jordan: I'm okay. I just needed to be alone and think.

Me: Ok

That's all I said to him, but maybe we'll just take baby steps. It seemed like he still needed some time to think.

So, since I wasn't going to spend the day with Jordan, I grabbed the old camera, and decided to see if I could see the dead. Sure enough, when I lifted the camera, I saw the dead just standing in my living room. They all slowly lifted their arms and pointed towards the basement door. So, I guess they can move through the lens too. I also thought how great it was that I would get to go in the basement by myself (sarcastic tone).

I put the camera down, and went down the steps of the basement, and turned the light on. I lifted the camera, and the dead had opened a wall. Yeah, that's what I said, there was another room in this house that I didn't know about.

So, I opened it on my own, and stepped through the doorway, the first thing I noticed was a wall filled with pictures of people. I took a closer look, and they were more pictures of the dead, except they weren't frightened or scared. One of Mila, was her smiling, and she was with Jordan. From the background of the picture, it was the cafe. So, maybe Ben was stalking them, and took pictures of the people before he even kidnapped them. My theory was proven by all the other pictures. It had the Parker family and all the other dead people I saw. They all looked happy in these pictures, I just wished I could have warned them about their indefinite future.

Then, I saw...me. I was on the wall too! What?!?! I thought that Ben guy was locked up! The picture was of me, the morning I went back to the cafe for breakfast, before I went to St.Louis. That means he had to be there, right? I decided to call Jordan, even though he might not want to be bothered, he needed to see this.

"Oh, come on, pickup, pickup." I waited impatiently for Jordan to pick up the phone, but there had already been three rings. The first phone call went to voicemail. Why wasn't he picking up? So, I called again, and again. After five calls and no pickup, I knew something was wrong. If he was by his phone, or near enough to hear it, he would have picked up by now.

I grabbed my purse and phone, and headed outside to get to my car. I had to find out what was wrong. My mind started playing scenarios in my head. The main one that stuck out, was Jordan being taken by Ben. What if Ben wanted us to think he was gone, just so he could catch us off guard.

I got in my car, and headed down the long dirt road. Jordan lived about 15 minutes away, but if I hurried I could make it in 10. I raced down the county roads, and once I got to town, ran about 2 stop lights. If the police caught me they would have to chase me all the way to Jordan's.

Finally, I arrived at Jordan's house. I jumped out of my car, and sprinted to his door. I reached for the handle to open the door, but it was already open. I knew from too many scary movies, that this was not a good sign at all.