A mysterious camera that captures more than you desired

 Click. Flash. Gone.

-A short thriller by @reshmiwrites

   Every photo had a shadow… until it stepped out of the frame.

He bought the old camera at a flea market. Cheap. Dusty. Forgotten. Its brass lens was scratched, the leather case worn and cracked, but something about it felt… compelling.

At first, it was fun. He clicked photos of the bustling street outside his window, the coffee shop down the block, even the occasional pigeon perched on the balcony railing. But then, in every single photo, there was a shadow.

A figure he hadn’t noticed while taking the picture. Always in the background, lurking in corners he’d never really looked at, sometimes half-hidden behind objects, other times standing fully in frame.

He laughed it off. Coincidence, he told himself. Light, shadow. Nothing more.

But photo by photo, the figure began to emerge. Her eyes, fixed on him, piercing through the frame. Her nose sharpened; her mouth half-open, as though whispering something he could never hear. Every roll of film, every snap, the shadow grew clearer. Always there. Always watching.

Then the photos changed. Not strangers. Him. Sleeping. Eating. Reading. Every mundane detail of his life was captured, yet all stamped with the same time: 3:17 a.m. Every frame.

He couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t leave the flat. The feeling of being observed followed him into every corner of his life.

One night, driven by a mixture of fear and curiosity, he left the camera on the desk while he slept. The next morning, he hesitated before picking up the last roll. But when he did, he froze.

She was at his bedside. Closer than ever. Smiling. Her hand reached toward his face. He screamed, the camera slipping from his hands and shattering against the floor.

The next night, the neighborhood echoed with the sound of shutters clicking from his flat. Curious neighbors peered in the windows, but the apartment was empty.

Photographs were scattered across every surface: Him, smiling, arm around a woman. Side by side. Both staring straight at the camera. And the camera… still had film in it.