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“You notice anything?” he asked curiously.
“Not really,” I shrugged. “It’s just a bunch of snapshots of their sheltered lives. They’re all formal and posed.”
“Exactly. And notice the mom,” he said. That had me glancing at her in each photo in my hand. She always had one hand on the cross hanging around her neck and her smile was completely fake.
“I wonder if she knew something was off here?”
Ben nodded at my question. “I was thinking the same thing, actually. She seems almost afraid, and look at how her eyes are never on the camera.” He tilted the picture he held my way and sure enough, same pose, same strained smile, and her eyes were glancing to the right. Actually, it was always to the right.
“Maybe she could see something?” I said as I looked through the rest with renewed focus. At the bottom was one of just her and the kids, and the moment I touched it, I was there with them on the beach. The seagulls filled the air and the ocean breeze was strong. It was a rare cloudless day and two kids were laughing as they chased each other on the shore.
“Got another good picture,” the man said in a gruff voice. He ducked out from under the covering on the old camera that was rested on a thick tripod. He approached the woman but she barely noticed.
“He’s here,” she said quietly. “What did our family do to deserve this? We have to leave this post.”
The husband frowned at her words. “You know I have a duty here. I can’t do that.”
“Your honor will be our downfall,” she sighed, but she didn’t argue further. I followed her line of sight up to the lighthouse, gasping at the sight of a dark figure standing on the balcony. As if the environment around us felt his presence, a soft rain started to fall before clouds were rolling in fast.
“We have to get inside!” The husband called as he took down his camera and ushered his family back to the safety of their home. My gaze flickered up to the man only to find him gone.
I blinked and he was directly before me, leaning in so close I could barely make out his shadowed face.
“You should leave.” It was said threateningly, and my heart stopped. His hand lurched forward and locked around my throat and I gasped for air, clawing at it to free myself.
“Brea!” Ben’s face cut through the memory and it faded. “There you are. You zoned out on me.” He was playing it off like I was distracted but it was obvious I had truly scared him.
“Sorry, the dust got to me,” I muttered with a pointed look. I’d have to update him when the viewers weren’t around.
The comm buzzed and Ryker’s voice filled our ears. “The comments are all talking about your random zoning out, Brea. There’s speculation.”
“Shit,” I cursed. Keeping it under wraps was harder than I anticipated. And even more frustrating was the fact that my hands were gloved. That shouldn’t have happened. I didn’t know if it was me or just this place, but things were escalating steadily.
“Remind me to never look at a picture again,” I muttered, but before I could drop the picture back in the box I saw the figure standing off to the side of the picture. A black silhouette of a man that definitely wasn’t there before. I pocketed it before moving on.
“Hello?” Ben called out. “Is there anyone here with us?”
The smell of fish filled the air at first before the temperature dropped.
“Oh shit, Darklings. It just got much colder in here. And I can smell the sea air, not just the saltiness but the stench of fish. That also happened our first night here,” I explained.
“What do you want? Can you tell us how there are so many of you here? How you’re so strong?” Ben continued.
“The comments said to look to your left. A mirror or something?” Ryker said in our ears. I scanned the cluttered attic until I spotted the old floor length mirror. It was half shrouded in cloth but I yanked it away, revealing the dark attic around us and the steady glow of our lights.
“What did they see?” I asked.
“A figure peeking out apparently. Let me rewind feeds,” he said before falling silent.
“Are you here still? Show yourself,” I demanded. A crash across the room had us spinning around, a stack of boxes now spilled onto the floor. My eyes were wide as I watched a wooden truck roll our way, stopping as it hit Ben’s shoes. He crouched down and picked it up, holding it out for us to inspect.
“Does that mean the little boy is here? Can you tell us where you disappeared to?” Ben called out. “The town found your house empty, abandoned.”
There was a small whisper but I couldn’t make it out.
“Ryker, make a time note, I swear I heard a whisper,” I said into the comm.
“We don’t want to hurt you, we’re here to help you,” Ben explained. “You don’t have to stay here.”
