Unfinished Fanfics and Original Stories/ideas

The Hauntings We See in Photographs

This was more from a writing exercise from my 11th grade Humane Letters teachers. Underlined sentence(s) was the prompt.

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As I approached the dark figure, he turned to me and said:

"I've been expecting you."

A cold wind passes between us as I stare at him. The voice sounded very familiar to me, but my mind was blank with fear. The figure took a step forward and I took a step back. The moonlight illuminated his face. I gasp silently. I was my friend and neighbor from my childhood; it's been 13 years since I had last seen him. As I looked at him, something felt off about the situation.

"What's wrong, my friend?" He asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost. Do you remember me?"

"I do..." I replied hesitantly. "But..." I stopped. I didn't know what else to say. I still couldn't place what made me uneasy, but he mentioned seeing a ghost. I lifted my camera, which was hanging around my neck, and snapped a picture. Apparently, I left the flash on from my last photoshoot because he yelped in surprise and covered his eyes. I hugged my camera close and ran. I burst out onto the sidewalk, the city bustling with life. Some people, who passed by, looked at me weirdly but continued with their night. I could hear my friend yelling for me to come back, but I ran down the sidewalk with my camera bouncing lightly against my chest. I wasn't paying attention to the building I ran into, but it could have been worse.

I opened the door to a convenience store. The few people inside shot me annoyed looks. I tried to look like nothing was wrong and made my way to the single-stalled bathroom, locking the door behind me. I leaned against the door and slid down, trying to catch my breath. I lifted my camera with my adrenaline-shaking hands and looked at the screen. I tapped a button at the top of the camera to look at my recently taken photos. There was nothing there.

"Impossible," I whispered. I let the camera dangle around my neck again and stared at the opposite bathroom wall.

'My camera was not faulty last I checked, ' I thought. 'And I did take that picture of him, not a...' My thoughts trailed off. I gulped thickly and my throat ran dry. It's completely impossible... Right? I slowly stood up and took my camera in my hand. I unlocked the bathroom door and opened it slightly, enough for my camera lens to peek through. I could see about 4 people, all perusing through the aisles. I made sure that the flash wasn't on this time and snapped a picture. I, then, quickly closed the door and locked it again.

"Now, let's test out my theory... or whatever it is." I thought aloud. I leaned the door again and took a deep breath before I clicked to view the picture. Only one person showed up in the picture. I could feel my face pale a little. Ghosts. In the living world. How?

Questions flooded my mind; I shook my head to clear them, only for a little while. I definitely needed answers about this. Why am I seeing the dead? Am I dead? I pinched myself. Yeah, not dead. But who could I talk to about this? My family would say I'm high again, which, honestly, I feel like I am. Not like I can call my girlfriend about this, either; she was out of state, plus it was really late. 2:30 am maybe. I could possibly... I sighed at the recurring thought. My nerves were getting to me already.

I stepped out of the bathroom and looked around the convenience store. The one living man and a ghost glanced at me for a few seconds as I came out. Then, the living man grabbed what he needed and walked through the ghost, who had wandered back to browsing at the shelves. I suppressed another shiver that was climbing up my spine. I made my way out of the store, keeping my gaze down. I exited the store and let out the breath I was supposedly holding. I looked around to see if he was around. I walked back the way I came, searching down the sidewalk.

"Luke?" I called out, like I was looking for my dog or kid, and definitely not a dead man. "W-where are ya, buddy?" I couldn't see him anywhere, which made me a bit relieved.

"Marcy? Marcy!" I heard Luke yell frantically. I ran down the street a bit further down. I saw him looking around on the other side, panic etched in some of his features. He was asking other ghosts if they had seen me pass by.

"Luke, I'm over here!" I yelled, waving my arms to get his attention. He looked over and relief washed over him. He ran? Floated? Over to me, the cars passing through his body. Once he crossed, he hugged me. I tensed up against his cold touch. He pulled away when he noticed my discomfort.

(I stopped writing here)