The Vanishing Spot

As Laura goes through the photos she’s taken yesterday morning at the cafe down the street, next to the Doctor’s office, she notices something. A shadow, halfway out of the frame, looks like someone running out. “Might have been a shadow of someone rushing out of the cafe, no big deal.” Wrong, as Laura scrolls through, each photo has that same shadow, the shadow travels closer, and becomes more and more clear. Almost like someone is moving towards her, about to jump out of the camera. “What the heck is going on?” Laura says as she sits alone on her grey living room couch. She begins to get chills, looking around to make sure she is the only person in this house, locking all doors. “Who is that? Why is she here?” she says. She goes to bed that night, wondering who that woman could have been, what she was doing, and why she was moving closer and closer to Laura.

The next morning, Laura wakes up at exactly 7:15 am when her annoyingly loud alarm clock wakes her up. She brushes her teeth and gets ready, putting on a cute pair of overalls with three daisies on the back pockets, and white Converse. She makes her coffee with precisely one shot of espresso and one pump of vanilla syrup. Off she goes, another day of photography. Today, she’s photographing a beautiful lake 30 minutes away from her home in Colorado. As she turns the radio on, “BREAKING NEWS, MISSING PERSON SHARON SMITH, has been found, deceased, behind the local cafe, on 30th street, right next to Dr. James‘ office,” announces in the car. “That’s the woman in my photos, creeping up in every single one, from yesterday.” Laura thinks to herself. Laura doubts if she will even be out today. What is happening to her? Should she report this? No, people will think she’s crazy.

Laura arrives, shivering, not only from the cold weather, but from the fact that she captured a deceased missing woman in her camera. She starts clicking the button and capturing the beautiful lake, with the sun at the perfect angle. It is magical until her camera shuts off, out of nowhere. “What is happening?” Laura says as she restarts her camera. The first photo that pops up is the lake, with a mysterious figure on the side, halfway cut out. “Who is that?” she looks around for anyone. No humans, animals, anything. She’s alone. Who is that? She sprints to her car, starting the engine, stepping on the gas with all her strength, zooming off, leaving as quickly as possible. She turns the radio on, expecting some pop music to calm her down. She turns the scroll to a random station. “BREAKING NEWS, MISSING PERSON DANIEL JOHNSON, has been found, unconscious, not talking, by the lake,” announces the same voice from before. Laura turns the radio off. She makes a rushed U-turn and speeds back to that lake, the same spot where she captured the photo with the man. Not a person in sight, no soul, the sun has started to set, dark, cold, and gloomy. No police, news reporters, no Daniel Johnson, just Laura…….