Young woman (college age) scours flea markets looking for digital cameras and the occasional memory card. She uses the more interesting photos in her art projects. She finds a little point and shoot and buys it, even though she can’t seem to call up any photos.
Later that afternoon she gets the camera to turn on and finds just two photos. One is an amazingly realistic image of the World Trade Center Towers in mid-collapse. The date and time (the following morning) appear in the lower right-hand corner.
Gruesome, but damned good Photo Shop work. She emails it to an art school friend who is equally impressed. Can’t see how it’s done and he can ALWAYS see how it’s done. Really bugs him.
The next morning the world changes forever. She goes back to her apartment and calls up the image on her laptop. The same image she see from her apartment window. Whoa.
The phone rings and it’s her friend from art school.
“What the fuck!? Where did you get that picture? Where did you get a fucking picture of something before it happened.
[later at friends apartment]
Young Woman wants to take the photo to the police. Hold on, says Friend. How can you explain having that photo. No way, have to think this through. Was that the only photo on the camera, asks Friend?
Young Woman pulls up the other image. It’s a store front with a selection of cameras displayed. One is circled in red. But nothing to indicate where the shop might be.
[We’ll fast-forward a bit and assume they see a street sign or address in the reflection or something like that]
They buy the camera and jump back in the car to take a look. Again, two photos. One a disaster (make it as big and as bad as you like) with date and time stamp for a week from that day.
In the dimly lit room, the air thick with tension, Young Woman and Friend stared at the ominous photo on the camera’s screen. The date and time ominously matched the present moment. A shiver ran down Young Woman’s spine as she tried to comprehend the surreal image.
Fear and disbelief gripped them both. Friend, usually unflappable, was pale. “We can’t let this happen,” he stammered. Determination replaced the initial shock as they scrambled to decipher the surroundings in the photo.
A street sign, a distinctive building—they analyzed every detail, racing against time to identify the location. Each attempt to avert disaster added another layer to the mystery, leaving them exhausted but determined.
In a cruel twist, the final camera held a single haunting image: Friend aiming a gun at Young Woman. The atmosphere in the room became charged with paranoia and confusion. The stark reality of their predicament sank in.
As they grappled with the unsettling revelation, a newfound urgency pushed them to break the cycle. The camera’s ominous foreshadowing compelled them to confront the inevitable. The duo faced a pivotal choice: trust each other to defy the predestined fate or succumb to the chilling prophecy.
The story reaches its climax as they confront the unsettling truth, navigating a precarious balance between fate and free will. The conclusion hangs in the delicate balance of their decisions, leaving the reader on the edge of anticipation.