No Returns

Supernatural Stories | Dec 1, 2011 | 2 min read
36 Votes, average: 4 out of 5
It came to her in a simple box. There was no writing on the outside, no labels that hinted at the contents inside, just the traditional brown cardboard, sealed shut with the untypical silver swath of electrical tape. The return address was written in a sloppy hand that rendered it illegible, an uncanny extreme to the delicate, fine print that displayed Amber's information on the opposite end. She stared a little harder at the miniscule print underneath her zip code, trying to read it.

No Returns.

Curiosity getting the better of her, she pulled at the tape until it displayed the peanuts inside. Something black lurked within the white, spilled charcoal in a field of snow. She sat down on the soft wooden floor and pulled the camera out. A small sign dangled from it. "Capture a Soul" was written in the same careful print as her address.

Intrigued, Amber pulled the lens cover off, not noticing the way it glared from its nakedness. A tiny label on the back of the camera repeated the words "No Return". She ignored them, and opened the back, delighted to find a roll of film within. She carefully removed the roll, hoping it would be unblemished by the light.

A twisted face screamed from the first unfurled frame, a wisp of white smoke ascended, caressed her skin, tickled her neck, invaded her nostrils. Her chest heaved. Splinters embedded under her nails as the choking began. Her lips opened in a silent scream. Her eyes widened as she suffocated. The mist expelled from her mouth and was zapped into the sudden flash of the camera.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

A simple brown box sat outside his doorstep. Michael picked it up in excitement, wondering if his grandmother's present had finally arrived.

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