The Girl in the Pictures

As I was clearing out my mom's old house, I noticed a small flower-covered shoebox under her bed. I knelt on the floor to grab it and slide it across the floor over to me, I noticed it was very heavy. I put the box on my lap and grabbed the rag I had on the nightstand to wipe off the layers of cakes dust. I opened the box to see an old camera and a bunch of photos. "Ah, this is probably going to make me cry," I thought as I took the camera out and places it on the floor next to me. Sure enough, there were a bunch of photos of my mom and me when I was a little girl. My mom raised me as a single mom, Which I know couldn't have been easy on her but from the photos, it looked like she was always happy. I smiled as I fingered through the pictures, seeing us at the park and birthday parties, and even one where my mom filled up a big bucket with water and told me it was a pool. Her passing away was really starting to hit me, sure she wasn't perfect and we fought, but we were all we had. I put the photos back in the box and picked up the camera. It looked broken but the film was still in tacked. I put it in my bag to take to a camera shop on my way home.

Loading up a few more boxes in my truck and walking back to lock up the front door, I felt a chill down my spine. I froze because I could see my breath like fog coming out of my mouth. "What the heck..." As soon as the words left my mouth the chill was gone, and It went back to being a hot August day. "Must have been the wind" I thought locking up the house. Still, a little freaked out I walked quickly to my truck and drove off. I dropped off a load at the donation store and saw a camera repair store across the street. Remembering I had the camera in my bag I walked over to see what they could do. walking in a heard a little bell ring "Hello miss, How can I help you" a sweet old man walked out from behind a curtain, which I was assuming was their darkroom. "Hello, I found this old camera at my mom's house. I think it's broken but I wanted to see if you could at least save the film." I said with a smile. "Well let's take a look" He grabbed a pair of glasses on his shop counter, once he put them in his eyes got 10 times larger. "Well this is an Ansco 1065, it was a very popular camera in the 70s. Very beautiful. Unfortunately, you are right, not only is the lens broken but it seems part of the camera has melted as well, there is so way to repair that kind of damage." "What about the film?" I was holding my breath hoping that it could be saved. "Looks to still be intact," He slowly popped it out of the camera and handed it back to me, looking closer at the film. "Let me see what I can do to develop these. Can you come back in tomorrow?" I nodding and the old man shuffled back to his darkroom. I got back into my truck and let out a deep sigh. "I really didn't think this was going to be this hard." I started up the car and drove home.

After dinner, I made some tea and sat at the table. There were boxes all over my house I still needed to go through. I took a sip of tea and looked at the mess that was in my house. Boxes everywhere but noticed the little flowery shoebox at the top of a stack to my left. I walked over and grabbed it, then sitting back down at the table, taking another sip of tea. I was just looking at the box, It was a cute little box full of memories. I opened the box again to look at the photos. Christmas morning, a day at the beach, and me standing by the grand canyon. "Wait, the grand canyon?" I grabbed the picture again and started at it. I had to have been 9 or 10 but I couldn't remember going to the grand canyon, and I knew my mom never mentioned it. I started looking closer at the picture and the more I look at the little girl the more her face started to change. "That's not me..." I gulp and dropped the picture. A chill went down my arms and I felt every hair on my body stand up. "Who is this??" I grabbed the other photos and started to look closer. Now it was plain to see this wasn't my childhood. Very similar but I never had that toy, and I've never seen this person before. "Could this be my mom's childhood?" I thought. "But she is in these pictures!" I was started to get angry. "WHO IS THIS LITTLE GIRL LIVING MY CHILDHOOD!!" I decided I was just tired and put all the photos back in the box and pushed them across the table. I grabbed my tea and poured it into the sink. I saw my reflection in the kitchen mirror. "I look terrible" My hair was frizzy and my face had dirt on it from earlier that day. "I'm just going to shower and go to bed." another chill went down my spine and I could see my breath again. I froze. I didn't feel alone. Turning around quickly to see... Nothing. Absolutely nothing there. I sighed again "I'm just really tired." and went upstairs to bed.

RING RING RING!! I jolted awake and grabbed my phone. "unknown number?" I was annoyed that a telemarketer woke me up at 6 am, but I sat up anyways. Walking downstairs my phone started buzzing in my hand again "UNKNOWN AGAIN AHH GO AWAY" I hung up again and walked into the kitchen. Wiping the grog from my eyes I put on some coffee, I took a deep breath, and then heard my phone start buzzing again on the counter. I grabbed it pissed at this point "WHO THE HELL CALLS THIS EARLY??" I gritted the words between my teeth. "Good morning, I apologize for calling this early miss." it was the nice old man from the camera store. "oh I'm sorry I didn't know it was you. I don't normally get calls this early." I talked in a very quiet tone, feeling bad for snapping at the old guy. "It's alright miss. I apologize again for calling so early but this is an emergency. I developed those photos and I need you to come in now." He sounded scared, which caused me to be concerned. "Okay, I can be there in 30min." "Hurry miss" click. "What could be on my mom's camera?" I thought as I rushed to get dressed.

I parked in front of the camera store and tried to open the door but it was locked. The old man must have heard because he quickly shuffled out of the darkroom and unlocked the door. I walked in and he locked the door behind me. "Thank you for coming in so quickly miss, please come this way." I followed him into the darkroom. There were photos everywhere, I couldn't help but look around. Lots of beautiful photos but that didn't stop me from feeling uneasy. He grabbed his keys and unlocked a backdoor that led to his workshop. Camera pieces and parts were everywhere, but on his desk was a stack of photos. "please sit" he said as pulling out a stool. I sat down, still had no idea what I was about to see. "I know it is rude to ask but, How old are you miss?" his question caught me off guard. "I'm 28, why do you ask?" "And your mother raised you alone?" another question that I was hoping had a point. "yes... what's going on?" I sounded more firm now. "I have to tell you, miss. What you are going to see is going to be a shock." He handed me the first picture on the stack. It was a little girl with her parents, she couldn't have been older than 3. They looked happy. "I'm sorry, what am I looking for exactly?" my tone was a bit ruder than I intended. "Look at the photo again. Pay attention to where it was taken." I looked again. Happy family with a baby but I noticed something off. It was taken through a window looking in. "It's was taken by someone looking in?" "Yes miss, now look on the back." there was some writing like a shopping checklist.

2yrs old, girl, healthy, parents are blonde, single child - Won't work, they won't stop looking

"What the Hell! What does that mean!" The man handed me the next photo taken the same way and on the back same check list. photo, after photo, checklist after checklist, all of them ending with Won't work and a reason why. What does that even mean? what won't work? what was my mom doing? We finally came to the last picture, I was shaking at this point. Another little girl, two parents watching tv and not paying attention to the baby, and in the background at least 4 other kids. I swallowed but my throat was still dry. I slowly flipped over the photo to see the list.

2yrs old, girl, blonde, healthy enough, no parents currently in the foster house - Perfect replacement

A chill went down my spine. "Perfect replacement?" I whispered under my breath. "I hope you don't mind miss but I was confused and curious about what all this meant." He grabbed a stack of papers from his desk and handed them to me. The first page was a newspaper article.

HOUSE FIRE KILLS 10YEAR OLD GIRL (Dated 28 years ago)

I kept reading and saw my mom's name as the only survivor. The mother of the girl who died. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS??" I threw the paper on the ground to see another article.

2-YEAR-OLD FOSTER GOES MISSING IN FOSTER PARENTS CARE (Dated 26 years ago)

The picture underneath made me drop all the papers. It showed the parents in the picture and the baby. I wanted to throw up. My head was spinning and my heart was racing. "I'm sorry miss. If there is anything I can do." "No no thank you. This is more than enough" I stood up and started to walk out. "miss here" He handed me the photos and articles. I walked out to my truck and put the stack in the passenger seat and just sat there.

I was a replacement... She stole me to replace her daughter... all of those photos of the little girl in the shoebox... I was the one who stole her childhood and my mom was the one who stole mine...