The Photographer

Here is another one! I forgot about all these short stories I did for school… ha

Anyways, enjoy!

David looked at his picture one more time, then went to put the camera in the box. He wanted Nasim to get it as soon as possible so that she would contact him. He paused, about to drop the camera in then decided that he wanted to look at the pictures one more time. He wanted to remind himself what Nasim looked like so he could keep her face in his mind. A small smile spread across his face as he saw her different pictures: her selfies, her cake, and her good luck picture. The smile became a little wider as he saw the first picture of himself. When he had first seen that picture, he knew he had to find her. The mutual attraction was there and he thought it could be more. David continued to scroll through the pictures then hit the menu button, wanting to look at the dates of these pictures, curiosity getting the better of him. He noticed that there were more pictures on the camera than he thought and hesitated before clicking on the very beginning. ‘Well... I already looked at the other ones… I might as well keep going’. David selected the first picture and started the scroll.

            The first few pictures were nothing extraordinary, just more selfies and random nature shots. David’s smile started to slip, however, as he saw his face looking back at him. ‘What the hell… I didn’t see this picture before’. David continued scrolling and saw more and more pictures of himself. There was one of him in front of his job at Suncoast bank, and then inside the branch at his desk. There was another one of him with his family during their Christmas dinner. And yet another one of him in the bathroom at the Target right down the street from his house in Culver City. The last one he saw of himself was at law school, studying at one of the tables. This Nasim girl had followed him for a while and had taken pictures of him at every aspect of his life. The smile was wiped completely from his face as this revelation came to light. He dropped the camera and backed away, as if it had turned into a bug and had stung him. David wasn’t sure what to do with what he had just seen. It’s true that he had tried to find where she had lived, but that was mostly to return the camera to her. And if they had hit it off, that would have been even better. But he hadn’t stalked her and this was before he had found out that she was a bit crazy.  Nasim had gone too far, she had stalked him.

David heard a noise and turned around, afraid it was Nasim waiting in the shadows for him. There was no one there but David felt as if one day, she would be there. He had to move and move somewhere she couldn’t find him; he couldn’t go to his parent’s place, she knew where that was. David thought of where he could go and then an idea formed: a hotel. That would be the perfect place to go. She didn’t have any pictures of him at hotels so there was no way she could find him. Looking around the room, David started packing anything that was necessary to live in a hotel: deodorant, shampoo, body wash, iPhone charger, and clothes. He looked around his small apartment again and didn’t think he needed anything else and headed for the door. She could be anywhere and David wanted to be out of his house as soon as possible. He paused when he saw the camera lying on the floor. He didn’t want to touch it but he had to get rid of it, get rid of the evidence. He picked it up by strap, touching as little of it as possible and thought of throwing it into the trash. Before he did, however, using only his fingertips, he scrolled through and deleted all the pictures of him. Once everything was deleted, he threw the camera into the trash, smiling as he heard it crack. There. Now, for sure, she wouldn’t have any more pictures of him. Satisfied, David headed for the door. Looking behind his shoulder to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything, he didn’t see Nasim standing in the doorway as he opened the door.

“Hello David…”

David screamed, whipping his head around and tried to slam the door in her face. She stopped it before he could, forcing her way into his room. She reached into her bag and he screamed again, waiting for the knife but saw it was a camera. He sighed with relief.

“Now David… Don’t be scared. I have so many more pictures of you to take…” She advanced on him and shoved him until he tripped over his own feet and fell down. She sat on top of him and pulled something else from her bag; this time it was a straight razor.

“I can paint such beautiful pictures with your blood, David… I knew it from the moment I first saw you…” The sound of the camera turning on was the last thing David heard before he fainted from the pain.