Photo Negative

A photographer who traps himself.

I picked up the box of negatives and climbed down the stairs of the attic. I had just found this house and couldn’t believe my luck, as a photographer I had just found a new medium. Everything in the house had to be at least fifty years old, but the house itself had centuries. I was living in heaven - at least thats what I thought at the time - it took a long time for me to realize that I actually just found hell.

    I held up the negatives to the light and tried to make out the pictures. They seemed like normal family photos from back in the fifties, but still it was an exciting find. I walked away from the window to the furniture covered in plastic and dust, and then downstairs.

    When I got home I instantly prepared the film for loading into the developing tank, and as I let it develop I went and made myself a cup of tea. Nothing could distract me from the feeling that I had to go back. The house was calling me, as lame as that sounds. But I sat patiently waiting for my photos to develop…

    When they were finally done I hung them up to dry and watched them as the pictures emerged. There was one of a family. Classically taken with the mom and dad in chairs and a baby in a white dress on the moms knee and two other kids, a boy and a girl. There were a whole lot of the house… Different corridors and rooms, taken quickly, not artistically. It didn’t make sense. Now everyone takes bullshit photos because they can with digital, but back then, why would anyone waste film on unnecessary photos? I must be missing something.

    I drove back to the woods and ran through them to the house as fast as I can. It was almost midnight and everything was dark, but I wasn’t scared, I was intrigued. There was something about this house, something different that I just couldn’t quite put my finger on. Being a photographer was about creating mysteries, and every once in a while, answering them… This one needed to be answered.

    I budged the stubborn door open and slipped inside as I turned on my torch. I scoured the downstairs and noticed something weird that I hadn’t last time. They had rolls of film up in their attic but no photographs anywhere.

    Suddenly the room had an eerie orange glow and a sudden breeze of warmth against the freezing air. I instantly turned around and saw that the fireplace, one that I hadn’t even taken note of in the dark, was a blaze. I didn’t know whether to walk closer and take a look or back away or leg it out of that house. Instead I did what made no sense at all but was natural to me. I took a photo.

    Digital this time, I was instantly able to see the results, and I don’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. By the fireplace was a dark shadow, its silhouette resembling a person. I froze up. It didn’t seem to care about me at all, it was just making a fire.

    Thats when I felt a cold icy hand coming from behind me grabbing at my throat. A scream pierces my ears. Adrenaline floods through me and I try to make a run for it but the hand is locked in place and won’t even move an inch. Three skeleton like creatures surround me. I figure the one grabbing my neck is just like them. They demand something. Pictures. The ones I stole. The one I took. I take off my back pack and throw it a few feet away from me.

    “They’re in there,” I coarsely whisper.

    They don’t reply. One of them goes to it and opens it up. He looks through all the photographs that had just been developed and I notice something I hadn’t before. The silhouette, by the fireplace. He’s in all of them. The pictures must not have fully developed by the time I rushed back to this house. I knew something was different. Wrong.

    The skeletal creature shuffling through the photos looks up at me then throws into the fire where they all burn before they even reach the fire.

    In half a second the creature is face to face with me.

    “What did you see?” it doesn’t just come from him, but from all the creatures.

    “I… Uh… Nothing…” I stutter.

    “What did you see?”

    “I don’t know… A man… A ghost… A blur…”

    Then they all disappeared. I looked for my camera to leave and saw it burning in the middle of the fireplace, flames of all colors bursting out of it. It didn’t phase me, I just went straight to the door. But it was locked. I couldn’t get through it. I went to a broken window but it was like it was boarded up just for me. Something was stopping me from leaving the house I thought was heaven.

    I was trapped in hell.

Reviews

[Michael]

This is very spooky! Of all the description in this story, you may think my favorite to be a bit silly. In the first paragraph, when you say "... the house itself had centuries.", not only is it a unique method of personification that adds depth and enigma to the house, but it is also... French! Kind of. In the French language, "I am five years old" translates to "J'ai cinq ans". I am not five years old, but I am aware that "J'ai" means "I have" - ai is the first person conjugation of 'avoir' - to have. So, I digress, but... That's cool! The writing itself is great. There are a few errors in grammar strewn about but I always consider them minute in a work of substance and mystique, of which this piece is both. Good job and thank you for this great read. :)

[Harley Sapphire]

Thank you! I like your comparison to the French language! And just love this review! I am a big fan of your work and this means a lot coming from you!

[Sydney]

I have to say, I haven't been impressed by too many people writing stories on this site.. This is an exception. The plot is strong, you have a great thing going here. My only complaint would be that almost every sentence contains "I" - I think that filling in sentences between lines in first person would really improve this piece drastically. I suggest flooding it with descriptive details of the scenes, putting distance between the lines coming from the first person POV. Over all though GREAT work, I am truly impressed, don't take that lightly. Keep it up.

[Harley Sapphire]

Thank you so much! That means a lot! I agree about putting in a lot more description and am going to rewrite it, keeping that in mind! Thank you so much!

[Sydney]

No problem :)

[Aiben Aero]

I like the progression in the story, it's simple and easy to follow. The premise and setup are good too.

But to be honest I didn't feel the scare from the start because the introduction gave it away immediately, the first arc shows the main character interacting with the house and how he immediately made a connection with it, if it was only that then you wouldn't know what the scare was, it could have been the character's own mind slowly falling to madness due to his growing obsession with the house, or it could have been the story of a posessed camera, but the introduction gave away the fact that the house was posessed so the main factor of the scare died out, we already know it's coming and what it is so it doesn't leave much for the scare.

Your writing is quite good, the use of words and indentation is good, it doesn't make the paragraphs feel cramped even though they're close to each other.

I hope I helped, and I hope you get better.

[Harley Sapphire]

Thank you! I actually wrote this a while back, like a long time ago actually, I think I was fifteen tbh. I just liked it. Your comments have inspired me to rewrite it, adding more description and suspense, as well as a bit more about the mind of the camera man. Thank you! I really love when people give me feedback like this! Much appreciated, and if you have anytime please review my other work. I'd love to hear your say :)

[Aiben Aero]

I'll try my best to review as best as I can, I have more stories myself but I only put the first one I made on here, so it's OK to put your first works don't be shy about it. I hope we all see our improvements better than other people in the future.

[Michael]

Oops, I meant to rate it. That's what this is for!

[Rachel]

Very good job on this story! Creepy!

[Harley Sapphire]

Thank you!