Here's where I went - A Story

1

_{IMAGE
– So what do you actually do?
The young woman asked, while she dug something from one of the bags.
– Are you a photographer? Since we have all this gear here? I'll admit I'm slightly baffled. I mean, what the heck is all this?
She waived her hand towards a pile of devices.
– These look like some sort of cameras, but then again not. Perhaps measuring devices? But what are they supposed to measure?}

_{The old woman adjusted her devices on the other side of the room and answered:
– You'll see. Just put your camera here, somewhere, and when we start, take as many photographs as you can with it.}

_{IMAGE
– Well, I'm ready so I might as well start. What an awful wallpaper. And the ceiling! At least the furniture is slightly interesting.}

_{The young woman started taking photographs, not really knowing where to aim, when suddenly the old woman said, in fact she almost shouted:
– For the love of... They are early! They are coming right now and I'm not ready. Shit! Shit! Shit!}

_{She tapped her devices so they were on and continued muttering.
– Please, just one minute! Just one minute and I am ready. Almost. Almost!}

_{IMAGE
– Shit! There it was! Did you catch that?
The old woman shouted to the younger one.}

_{– Did I catch what? I wish you would tell me what to catch!}

_{The old woman snatched the camera from the young woman's hands and started to browse through the images.
– No... no... no... THERE! Here it is! My calculations were wrong by half an hour. I won't make that mistake again. I didn't get any data but at least you got a photo. Good job Gaby!}

_IMAGE

Gaby takes the camera from the old woman and looks at the image with a slight disbelief on her face. She wipes the camera screen with her sleeve, looks at the image again, looks around in the room, looks at the image, browses the other images, turns the camera in her hands, tilts her head and starts to mumble:
– This must have been here before...

– It's your camera and you brought it here. Now why do you think I made you bring YOUR camera here and empty the memory card? old woman answers to Gaby, crosses her arms and looks at Gaby's reaction smiling to her.

– I know I know, um... just let me check the image info and the numbers... no... it's... no... it can't be... it's the second last photo and the numbering is correct and the date and everything.
Gaby again looked around, searching for an answer.
– I... there's like a man in the mirror... no... a bearded man in front of the mirror and there's also something on the couch... is it a face, looking right to the camera... or something... the man might... Oh! My! God! Is he a soldier? A Russian soldier because he seems to have a blue and white striped shirt! Oh my god, oh my god... A ghost from the past! No... this has to be some kind of a gimmick or a projection...
Gaby puts the camera to the nearest table and starts waiving her hands in front of the mirror. She walks around the couch, pats it, peeks behind the mirror and tries to desperately find some explanation from the walls, it's corners and behind and under the furniture.

– I'll give you a hint. Colder, colder, COLDER! You are nowhere near the correct answer. Perhaps you should google it, the old woman answers and begins to take apart her devices.

Gaby stops what she's doing, digs out her phone from her pocket.
– A great idea! I'm sure someone has mentioned something like this before... I only have to know what to search... shadows appearing... transparent human... figure in front of a mirror... no...
Gaby searches frantically.
– Ghosts appearing... here! YouTube video of spirits!
She taps the video on.

"Let me introduce to you the special guest for today, professor Ryan Lathotep."
– No... jadajada... let's jump to the middle, Gaby mumbles.
"...in this case "spirit" refers to the representation of a being of higher consciousness into something that can be understood by the limited set of senses we have. If we were to witness the being in full-extra mode, our brains would melt by the sensory overload." ^{@nyarlathotep}

– Put that away, he's a buffoon who only likes to listen at his own voice. His specialty is populism. He gives easy answers to difficult questions when there are no easy answers. And if you don't believe me, go and look at his Twitter account. Pick any tweet and I think you know I'm right.

Gaby continues searching as the old woman unscrews a wooden box off from one stand.

"...we don’t have ... to get to the next neutral ... an other option ... head for the port ... vortau ... unpredictable behavior..." ^@gregraubart

– What?
Both Gaby and the old woman ask at the same time.
– What did you say?
Again both at the same time.
– You didn't say that?
Both Gaby and the old woman look at each other.

– WHAT TIME IS IT?
The old woman shouts.

Gaby shrouds her shoulders looking a little bit scared and says:
– Fourish. A while a go.

– No I mean how much time has passed after... oh, forget it! Take your camera and go stand over there!
The old woman points at a corner where Gaby was standing earlier when photographing, starts setting her devices back again and continues shouting:
– Take a picture of yourself or me, stand in the corner, take as much pictures as you can, and don't move!

– But how can I not move and still take pictures?
Gaby asks.

– Just do as I said!
The old woman answers and quickly, again, assembles her gear and taps the devices on.

Gaby takes a photo of the old woman and with shaking hands pulls her long sleeves up. The old woman takes her phone from her pocket, taps an app and speaks quietly:
– Life today is easy. And every step, every minute, every day, it gets easier. Because of technology. Because of gadgets like this. With this amazing invention, a smartphone, I can collect all the data together. And analyze it. With a tiny, but incredibly smart and useful app. Life is easy. So easy that it's crazy and makes me smile.

Gaby shoots with her camera, not particularly targeting anything with it. She inhales as she sees goosebumps on her right arm and glances at her left, where her skin is normal. She feels a slight breeze, like air is pulled towards a hole in the room. Towards the same spot where the transparent person was standing in the photo Gaby took just half an hour ago. She hears a vague popping sound. Pop, pop, pop. Like popcorn, but far away. Like thousands of popcorn popping at the same time.

"We don’t have enough power to get to the next neutral point. An other option is to head for the port on Ace Vortau. But that has risks, it is famous for its unpredictable behavior."

Gaby holds her breath, the breeze gets a little bit stronger, a light, plastic vase with it's few dried and dusty flowers falls to the floor. One of the dry, dark red roses crumbling to tiny pieces. Gaby moves her finger and takes a photograph after an other. Click, click click. The popping fades out. Breeze dyes. Silence. Gaby breathes out.

– I wasn't wrong!
The old woman shouts smiling widely and lifts her hands up.
– I was right! Exactly as I predicted... calculated! Yes. As I calculated. There was just an echo before the event.

– An echo? Before? Grandma?
Gaby repeated.

– Yes. But you are repeating what I'm saying. Please don't do that. It sounds stupid and it's totally useless in this case. And it's actually great grandma to you, but how could you know that. I prefer Helena. Look! This is what my devices recorded!
Helena shows Gaby an image from her smartphone. The lines in the image are moving, some faster, some slower, some doing curves when some are tangling and creating black spots. Dark concentrations.

– Now we have a map!

– A map?

– Now young woman, what did I say about repeating my words?

@nyarlathotep CC BY-SA 4.0 Source

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To be continued...

This story is published under the Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0

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That's it! For now.
Now I need you.

Tell me where to go with my story. Give me a clue or a suggestion.

How?

Comment a short sentence or two. If you have no words, comment with a picture or a photograph. Or a link. Anything! Your words or someone elses. A photograph taken by you or someone else. You can comment more than once, but perhaps not more than 5 suggestions. Before 7 days has gone, I will choose one comment. Or more if I feel like it.

But I don't know what to say!

That's okay. We've all been there at some point. Interesting, but brain all empty. You can also upvote someone else who has commented this post. That may have an influence to my selection.

Important!

If you comment with someone elses words or image, please mention the source also. If you don't mention the source, I assume the words or the image is yours and I will credit you. Words: @[you], images: ©copyright @[you]. If you want to be mentioned in some other way, please attach the text and/or link.

Why?

Well, mainly for fun, but also because depending on what I like, you will be rewarded for your comment. Upvote, SBI, a little bit of STEEM or SBD.

Does the little grammarist inside you cry tears of blood when you read my text?

No worries! Feel free to correct my grammar! I encourage you to do that. You can also suggest something to be changed if you think things could be written better than I have done. Help and suggestions are appreciated. Really. Truly. :)
Why am I using – instead of " " in the dialogue? Answer.

Yours,
Insanewords