Click. Wind the film on. Focus. Click. Repeat.
Six shots later, Dana rewound the film and popped open the back of her camera. Her fingers danced a familiar routine as she removed the film, and added another. The new film was black and white, and strictly for artwork. Not like the colour film she’d just finished.
Dana slipped the used film canister into her pocket and slung the camera over her shoulder by its moth-eaten strap. She’d develop the film when she got home.
Dana did some calculations as she walked. The film was composed of thirty six frames, so that meant she’d taken thirty six shots over a period of forty minutes. Each exposure was just 1/100th of a second long. She’d captured nearly a third of a second on film. Added to the films she’d already processed, that gave her three seconds of suspended time. She drummed her fingers against the camera. Three seconds wasn’t enough. Even just thinking about it had taken long than that.
Dana opened her front door and deposited her camera on her desk. A pile of developed photos sat beside the phone. She picked them up and leafed through them. 288 shots, all of her. 288 snapshots of time. She sat down and fished the canister out of her pocket. Would another thirty six snapshots make a difference? Three seconds of extra time didn’t feel like enough. It wasn’t enough. The doctors had given her only six months, and she could never shoot enough photos to offset that, to buy her more time.
Her gaze roved around the room and alighted on her flatmate’s video camera.
Perhaps…
Alas, such frozen moments can’t be strung together…
Oh, what a brutal twist! It explains her obsession for capturing time, though.
Cool concept with a meaty detail exposed <(heheh)just at the end AND a cliffhanger? Hope so!
Her flatmate can’t mind extending her time a little more.
oh that was a punch to the guts with that reveal. Time lapse photography for lapsing time
marc nash
Wonderful, poignant twist at the end.
I didn’t see where this was going AT ALL! So sad!
Nice twist, maybe the video would work.
At least she’ll leave behind those photos, so people will remember her in at least 324 poses.
Sad, but chilling in the same time. This finale with a twist is dubious!
I had the feeling this was leading to a tragic end. Quick note: in “Even just thinking about it had taken long than that” dud you mean “longer”?
Tragic. This put me in mind of people who are always taking pictures of things rather than doing them.
Wonderful concept, Icy. Well told, too, as usual! I actually found the ending slightly hopeful, in that the video camera could help her ‘collect'(?) more suspended time to live in?
Cool idea — goes with your other story about the woman whose hidden character got trapped in a Polaroid.