What next? - A Story

1 & 2

_{Part 2
Gaby takes the camera from the old woman and looks at the image with a slight disbelief on her face. She wipes the camera screen with her sleeve, looks at the image again, looks around in the room, looks at the image, browses the other images, turns the camera in her hands, tilts her head and starts to mumble:
– This must have been here before...}

_{– It's your camera and you brought it here. Now why do you think I made you bring YOUR camera here and empty the memory card? old woman answers to Gaby, crosses her arms and looks at Gaby's reaction smiling to her.}

_{– I know I know, um... just let me check the image info and the numbers... no... it's... no... it can't be... it's the second last photo and the numbering is correct and the date and everything.
Gaby again looked around, searching for an answer.
– I... there's like a man in the mirror... no... a bearded man in front of the mirror and there's also something on the couch... is it a face, looking right to the camera... or something... the man might... Oh! My! God! Is he a soldier? A Russian soldier because he seems to have a blue and white striped shirt! Oh my god, oh my god... A ghost from the past! No... this has to be some kind of a gimmick or a projection...
Gaby puts the camera to the nearest table and starts waiving her hands in front of the mirror. She walks around the couch, pats it, peeks behind the mirror and tries to desperately find some explanation from the walls, it's corners and behind and under the furniture.}

_{– I'll give you a hint. Colder, colder, COLDER! You are nowhere near the correct answer. Perhaps you should google it, the old woman answers and begins to take apart her devices.}

_{Gaby stops what she's doing, digs out her phone from her pocket.
– A great idea! I'm sure someone has mentioned something like this before... I only have to know what to search... shadows appearing... transparent human... figure in front of a mirror... no...
Gaby searches frantically.
– Ghosts appearing... here! YouTube video of spirits!
She taps the video on.}

_{"Let me introduce to you the special guest for today, professor Ryan Lathotep."
– No... jadajada... let's jump to the middle, Gaby mumbles.
"...in this case "spirit" refers to the representation of a being of higher consciousness into something that can be understood by the limited set of senses we have. If we were to witness the being in full-extra mode, our brains would melt by the sensory overload." ^{@nyarlathotep}}

_{– Put that away, he's a buffoon who only likes to listen at his own voice. His specialty is populism. He gives easy answers to difficult questions when there are no easy answers. And if you don't believe me, go and look at his Twitter account. Pick any tweet and I think you know I'm right.}

_{Gaby continues searching as the old woman unscrews a wooden box off from one stand.}

_{"...we don’t have ... to get to the next neutral ... an other option ... head for the port ... vortau ... unpredictable behavior..." ^@gregraubart}

_{– What?
Both Gaby and the old woman ask at the same time.
– What did you say?
Again both at the same time.
– You didn't say that?
Both Gaby and the old woman look at each other.}

_{– WHAT TIME IS IT?
The old woman shouts.}

_{Gaby shrouds her shoulders looking a little bit scared and says:
– Fourish. A while a go.}

_{– No I mean how much time has passed after... oh, forget it! Take your camera and go stand over there!
The old woman points at a corner where Gaby was standing earlier when photographing, starts setting her devices back again and continues shouting:
– Take a picture of yourself or me, stand in the corner, take as much pictures as you can, and don't move!}

_{– But how can I not move and still take pictures?
Gaby asks.}

_{– Just do as I said!
The old woman answers and quickly, again, assembles her gear and taps the devices on.}

_{Gaby takes a photo of the old woman and with shaking hands pulls her long sleeves up. The old woman takes her phone from her pocket, taps an app and speaks quietly:
– Life today is easy. And every step, every minute, every day, it gets easier. Because of technology. Because of gadgets like this. With this amazing invention, a smartphone, I can collect all the data together. And analyze it. With a tiny, but incredibly smart and useful app. Life is easy. So easy that it's crazy and makes me smile.}

_{Gaby shoots with her camera, not particularly targeting anything with it. She inhales as she sees goosebumps on her right arm and glances at her left, where her skin is normal. She feels a slight breeze, like air is pulled towards a hole in the room. Towards the same spot where the transparent person was standing in the photo Gaby took just half an hour ago. She hears a vague popping sound. Pop, pop, pop. Like popcorn, but far away. Like thousands of popcorn popping at the same time.}

_{"We don’t have enough power to get to the next neutral point. An other option is to head for the port on Ace Vortau. But that has risks, it is famous for its unpredictable behavior."}

_{Gaby holds her breath, the breeze gets a little bit stronger, a light, plastic vase with it's few dried and dusty flowers falls to the floor. One of the dry, dark red roses crumbling to tiny pieces. Gaby moves her finger and takes a photograph after an other. Click, click click. The popping fades out. Breeze dyes. Silence. Gaby breathes out.}

_{– I wasn't wrong!
The old woman shouts smiling widely and lifts her hands up.
– I was right! Exactly as I predicted... calculated! Yes. As I calculated. There was just an echo before the event.}

_{– An echo? Before? Grandma?
Gaby repeated.}

_{– Yes. But you are repeating what I'm saying. Please don't do that. It sounds stupid and it's totally useless in this case. And it's actually great grandma to you, but how could you know that. I prefer Helena. Look! This is what my devices recorded!
Helena shows Gaby an image from her smartphone. The lines in the image are moving, some faster, some slower, some doing curves when some are tangling and creating black spots. Dark concentrations.}

_{– Now we have a map!}

_{– A map?}

_{– Now young woman, what did I say about repeating my words?}

_{IMAGE
@nyarlathotep CC BY-SA 4.0 Source}

Part 3

Gaby stands still staring at Helena.

– My grandmammy always said I should close my mouth or my soul would fly out. And without a soul, one would go straight to hell where the devil would close your mouth permanently. She was a cruel woman and I was a afraid of her for many years. Gaby, get your camera up here!
Helena puts the phone on one of the nearby tables, takes the camera from Gaby and browses through the last set of photos that Gaby took from the corner.^@macoolette
– This is the photo you took of me.

Helena hands the camera back to Gaby, but before Gaby gets a chance to look at it, her right arm suddenly starts burning and she notices a strange red pattern emerging just below her elbow. ^{@youhavewings}
– What the... Gradma!
Gaby looks at her arm and back to Helena with panicky eyes.

Helena takes the camera from Gaby and puts it to the table where her phone is, takes Gabys arm into her hands and looks at the mark. Helenas phone beeps, but she ignores it.
– It's okay Gaby, everything is okay. It will go away in few days. Few weeks at the latest. And there will be no visible scar on your skin. It's just a whiplash.
Helena moves herself in front of Gaby, puts her hands on Gabys shoulders, looks at her and speaks to her reassuringly.
– I know this must be frighting to you, but I assure, everything is and will be alright. I thought these markings would't come on the first time, but I was wrong and for that I apologize. I am sorry I didn't get a change to explain this to you.
Helena takes a small metal can out of her pocket.
– This is just Vaseline and curcumin. It's a natural pain killer.
Helena applies the mixture to Gabys skin.

– I don't understand, Gaby says with a voice that Helena can barely hear, but continues with a distressed voice and eyes wondering around the room.
– Was the man in the picture a ghost? From a different world? What is this mark on my hand? What was the picture you took with your phone? What do you mean a map? How... Who... There's nobody else in this room. You said that this is an abandoned building! Why did you say that you are my great grandma? You should be... I don't know, well over 100 years old. I thought that you are 70 years old, but now, I don't know, you do look younger. 60? Or are you even that old? 50 years old? I mean, that could be possible, my mom was in her 20's when she got me and if you were in your 20s when you got my mom, but if you say that you are my great grandma and you were young when... I don't know! This just freaks me out! All these echos before anything happens and whiplashes... I... I... I need more time to squeeze my brain around this.^@macoolette

– Although it sounds very nice that I look like a 50 year old, I am older. I think my body is about 60 years old. I'm not sure and I have no way of counting it precisely because I lost my diary some time ago. But at my best days I feel like I'm 30 years old, so I think it doesn't matter how old my body really is. Age is just a number!
Helena gently guides Gaby to sit down on one of the chairs and goes to her phone. She quickly reads the message on her phone: "Curie project and associates trail is on. Valuing the variable on the basis of its relationship with the fallangies. Estimated result in 2 hours 50 minutes." ^{@curie, @nyarlathotep}

Gaby continues talking:
– This is... I have... Did you get a message? Who is it? My... Where did I put my camera?

Helena puts down the phone and goes to Gaby.
– Breathe slowly Gaby. Don't think about the camera now. The code in my equipment gathers all the data and informs me automatically when it starts processing info. I realize that I have to explain the... few elephants in the room. And be absolutely truthful to you. So actually, I'm not your great grandma. We are related and you can call me grandma, but now that we are speaking the truth all the time, there actually should be couple of greats before the grandma, but who's counting!
Helena laughs at her own joke, but doesn't get the reaction from Gaby that she wants, so she stops and sits on the chair in front of Gaby. On the table, the camera screen shuts itself off and at the same time the phones screen starts to process the image. The image is dark and blurry. The app starts to adjust it. Figures begin to emerge, one being Helena and the other one a bearded man with a blue-white striped shirt.

Helena takes Gabys hands to hers, takes a deep breath and says:
– Let me start from the beginning. I was born in the year 1789.

---

To be continued...

This story is published under the Creative Commons license CC BY-SA 4.0

---

That's it! For now.
Now I need you.

Tell me where to go with my story. Give me a clue or a suggestion.

How?

Comment a short sentence or two. If you have no words, comment with a picture or a photograph. Or a link. Anything! Your words or someone elses. A photograph taken by you or someone else. You can comment more than once, but perhaps not more than 5 suggestions. Before 7 days has gone, I will choose one comment. Or more if I feel like it.

But I don't know what to say!

That's okay. We've all been there at some point. Interesting, but brain all empty. You can also upvote someone else who has commented this post. That may have an influence to my selection.

Important!

If you comment with someone elses words or image, please mention the source also. If you don't mention the source, I assume the words or the image is yours and I will credit you. Words: @[you], images: ©copyright @[you]. If you want to be mentioned in some other way, please attach the text and/or link.

Why?

Well, mainly for fun, but also because depending on what I like, you will be rewarded for your comment. Upvote, SBI, a little bit of STEEM or SBD.

Does the little grammarist inside you cry tears of blood when you read my text?

No worries! Feel free to correct my grammar! I encourage you to do that. You can also suggest something to be changed if you think things could be written better than I have done. Help and suggestions are appreciated. Really. Truly. :)
Why am I using – instead of " " in the dialogue? Answer. _{Because I want to and because I'm stubborn.}

Yours,
Insanewords