The Photographer

Josh stared at the screen.

The breath had been stolen from him.

He wanted to scream but could just look in disbelief.

The job was nothing out of the ordinary, a wedding , maybe the 20th this year so far.

He’d grown a reputation with the Asian community and the jobs kept coming, booked for the next year to come.

He had doubled his rates and life was turning around after his divorce.

But this moment, made him question everything.

The wedding was a Korean/American fusion, with the traditional Korean hanbok but a more western setting and traditional Christian theme.

But as he looked at the files from the shoot.

Nothing was right.

The smiling faces, laughs, tears of joy… were nowhere to be found.

What he saw was the utter opposite.

Blood…

Covering everyone.

Torn flesh.

Lifeless eyes.

The moment he so vividly recalled being filled with the joy of the union of families and hopes and dreams of a newly blooming generation, were captured in images of death.

He turn violently and vomited onto the floor, falling to his knees and bursting into tears.

No no no no no no no!

This is not real!

His mind was a fog, sanity had left him and he struggled to find a foothold in this new existence where his mind was at war with itself.

The wedding was not exceptional, lots of couples were doing fusion style weddings these days.

The drunk brother-in-law’s speech was almost cliche.

Nothing had made this job any different than another until he opened that folder.

588 photos he took that day, about average.

Typically 100 would be useful, he’d touch up a couple more, and then nothing left to do but swim in the praises of the family.

This would not be the case this time.

Josh picked himself up , closed his eyes, and breathed deeply.

There has to be an explanation, there has to be something to this.

He walked over to the restroom, washed himself up, and grabbed a rag to clean up the floor beside his computer, ever so careful to not look at his screen.

He stood in his kitchen with a bottle of sparkling water and worked his mind into a state of preparedness to go back and try to understand what was happening

As much as he didn't want it, the truth sunk in . He was in fact looking at the photos of the wedding shoot.

And all the people in them were dead.

He held himself together this time, taking an “artistic” perspective that allowed him to digest the images without falling apart.

He sat down and began scanning over the photos, one by one. The images now started to tell a story.

The wounds were violent with large pieces of flesh missing.

Limbs were missing or hanging by threads of muscle tissue.

Faces were completely gone or disfigured beyond recognition.

But they stood in the poses that were held during the moment he captured them.

What was this? How could these things exist?

The images reminded him of photos he had once seen from ISIS and Mexican cartel executions where large caliber automatic weapons were used.

Photo after photo, the family was torn to pieces, until

One smiling guest stood, surrounded by death, but he was immaculate in health and presentation.

His suit was pressed, unblemished by any of the blood-soaked bodies around him.

His smile was wide and oblivious of the scene around him.

Why?

Why did this man not show the same fate as all the other guests?

Who was he?

He jumped out of his chair and ran to his phone. Opening his history he tapped on the last number he had called.

The mother of the bride answered.

Josh, Hi! How are things? Didn't expect to hear from you so soon. The photos come out ok?

Josh paused giving his heart a moment to settle and then jumped into character, the charming sales guy all the moms want their daughter to marry persona he had mastered on the phone.

Oh, great! Yes, coming together just fine. Lots of photos to go over, but too many are just too good! I must admit, most of those have you in them.

He paused to allow her to giggle and feel the charm, she did.

What you accomplished putting that together was amazing and I was honored to be part of it.

Oh, you are so sweet. Martha’s daughter is getting wed next summer and I won’t let them use anyone else. Was there something you need?

The charm slipped away as the reality of why he was calling crept up his spine.

Oh, no, no… or actually. Yes. I was wondering… There was a guest, a young man, early 20s who was in a few pictures who I...

Oh… Brian… did he do something?

Hu? Brian… who is that? Why would think…

He’s Yuri’s ex, I don’t know why she keeps him around. It was a mistake inviting him but she insisted. Did he do something?

No, no… I was just wondering…

We don’t need anything with him in them. If he messed up any of the photos you can just do away with those, don’t worry about it.

Oh, ok, thank you… I think that should… uh, how is everyone doing?

Hm? Uh, we are fine, getting ready for the party tomorrow… you sound concerned, is something wrong?

Oh, no… It’s nothing really, so sorry to have bothered you.

To be continued...