The Ladies of Horror
Picture-Prompt Writing Challenge!

Sepia
by Angela Yuriko Smith

Finding the camera was the key.

They came across it inside a dysfunctional metal box, all aluminum angles and twisted array. Inside were two golden discs they discarded immediately. The shining platters were reminiscent of an imploding sun—something they were too familiar with. The camera was what they needed.

Scientists pulled it apart, exploring the primitive gears and pulleys that made it function. The long, celluloid strip provided them with all they needed to communicate. From it, they put together welcome ambassadors to make first contact.

***

Mary Ann was sitting in her recently deceased mother’s room feeling a mixture of guilt and relief. The cruel woman was gone—Mary Ann was now free of her damaging words forever. She was her own woman now, with a small inheritance to begin again.

On the side of the bed, a glowing orb winked into existence. Mary Ann watched as the sepia light stained the shadow, elongating into the smudged and distorted figure of a woman. It was her mother, waving one transparent hand in greeting. Her face broke into a shimmering grin.

Mary Ann would never be free. She screamed.

***

The initiative to contact the alien species was put down as a failure and discontinued. The humanoid species were deemed too temperamental. There was a 100% rejection to the projections of their own kind. The technicians tried several ways to make contact with no success. Whether the communication was visual, audible or simple environmental manipulation, the reaction was always fear. The species was put on the galactic do-not-call list.

All further attempts for further contact were postponed indefinitely.

Fiction © Copyright Angela Yuriko Smith
Image courtesy of Pixabay.com

More from Angela Yuriko Smith:

The Bitter Suites

Book a stay at the Bitter Suites, a hotel that specializes in renewable death experiences. Whether you schedule your demise as therapy, to bond with a loved one or for pure recreation, your death is sure to give you a new lease on life. Renewable death is always beneficial… at least to someone.

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