The Camera in Her Hands
Chapter 01 - The Camera in Her Hands
Adrian Cole was smiling at the altar when the ballroom doors flew open.
A little girl ran down the white aisle between two hundred wedding guests.
Her cream dress was wrinkled and dusty. One shoe was missing. Both hands held an old black camera against her chest as if it were the only object in the world she trusted.
The orchestra stopped.
Adrian’s bride, Vivienne Hale, turned before the child reached the front row.
For one second, fear crossed her face.
Then she stepped away from the altar.
“Security,” Vivienne said. “Remove her.”
The girl shook her head.
“I need Adrian Cole.”
Adrian descended the steps.
“What’s your name?”
“Maisie Reed.”
Vivienne reached her first.
“That camera was stolen from my family’s archive.”
Maisie pulled it closer.
“My mother said never to give it to a Hale.”
Guests began whispering.
Adrian stared at the camera. A silver crescent had been scratched beside the lens.
His younger sister Claire marked every camera she owned with the same symbol.
Claire had been declared dead seven years earlier after a ferry accident.
Adrian knelt several feet from Maisie.
“Where did you get it?”
“My mom gave it to me before they moved her.”
“Who is your mother?”
Maisie looked at Vivienne, then back at Adrian.
“Claire Cole.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Vivienne grabbed for the camera.
Maisie stepped away, but the strap slipped from her shoulder.
Adrian caught the device before it struck the marble floor.
The rear screen flickered.
A photograph appeared.
Claire stood inside a white medical room, older than she had been at the time of the ferry accident.
Beside her stood Maisie.
The image was dated six weeks earlier.
Adrian enlarged the frame.
On the wall behind them was the logo of Hale Children’s Renewal Center.
Vivienne’s family operated the facility.
Adrian looked at the woman he had been seconds away from marrying.
“You knew she was alive.”
Vivienne’s lips parted.
Before she could answer, the camera connected automatically to the ballroom’s wireless network.
A message appeared across every wedding screen.
ARCHIVE TRANSFER COMPLETE.
Claire’s recorded voice filled the room.
May you like
“Adrian, if this reaches you before the vows, do not sign the marriage register.”
The wedding ended before anyone said “I do.”
