‘So, light comes in.’ She taps the brass covering the pinhole.
‘Like a lens?’
‘Yeah, but it’s a hole, no glass. It then projects an inverted image onto the other wall. Here.’ She turns the camera round to where the hinges are. ‘You put photosensitive paper in and, there you go, you have a photo.’ She shakes it gently. ‘I think there’s already paper in there!’
My fingers itch for the camera and I take it back from Meg. I raise it to my face like an ordinary camera, but there’s a big difference. ‘How do you aim?’
Meg bites her lip. ‘I guess you point it at the vision of the past and see what happens? Anyway, what did you see? What was your dad doing?’
I glance back at the bed, hoping to see him sitting there. ‘He was writing in a notebook. Then he hid it beside the camera at the back of the wardrobe.’
‘So, if he used that camera do you think your dad could…?’
I nod. ‘See the visions too! Maybe, right?’
Meg beams. ‘I mean, why else would he have this camera? Why keep it hidden? This is amazing.’
It could be amazing. Dad and I, both having these – can I say it now? Yes, having these powers to see the past. A cold drop of sadness lands in my stomach.
But why wouldn’t he tell me?
‘Do you really think the visions are about him?’ I ask. ‘That they might have something to do with why he’s missing?’
Meg nods. ‘I do. But we need to find out more. What was he writing in that notebook?’ Her eyes widen. ‘Maybe it’s in there too!’ She reaches in and feels around the drawer space. ‘Nothing. Oh, wait. What’s this?’ She pulls out a photograph.
The temperature plummets as we stare at it.
The picture is grainy. It’s like there’s two images – one on top of the other. I can see the faint outline of a modern building and some cars on the road. Overlaid on top of it is… destruction.
In the sky is the dark outline of a plane.
Buildings are on fire. Bricks lie strewn across the road.
A body is on the ground. Slumped over, their arm bent at an impossible angle.
And right in the centre of the chaos is a woman in a black dress. She’s staring at the camera and her mouth is open in terror. No, that’s not right. It’s something more unsettling than that. She’s excited.
And she’s looking right at me.
Fear freezes on the back of my neck.
‘Who…who is that?’ Meg whispers.
‘I don’t know, but I feel like…’
‘You know her?’
‘Yes, like I’ve seen her before.’
Meg touches her necklace. ‘Me too.’
‘What?’
She clutches the necklace. ‘I have no idea. I just have this feeling, you know?’
I shudder. I do.
‘Maybe she’s your relative or something,’ she says.
