Part Three
Madeline tugged at the weighty gowns until they reluctantly peeled away from the trunk. The wood was a yellow-brown, aged and blemished but still solid. Thin metal straps ran from back to front and over the lip, joining with two metal latches. Madeline opened the latches and slowly lifted the lid. Inside, resting on a tarp, she found heavy tripod of wood and metal and what she believed to be an old camera. The camera was large and boxy with odd appendages, coils, dials, antennae and, for what reason she could not conceive, a small mirror. Next the camera, in a disorganized pile, were 12 photographs. Madeline wondered if these were what her great, great grandmother wanted her to find. She picked them up and examined each carefully. The images were of people, but these photographs weren't like the old family portraits that decorated her great, great grandmother's parlour. The people in these portraits were as alive as anyone standing right in front of her. It was as if the camera had drawn from them their emotional essence and captured their soul. Madeline wondered who were these people and what had happened to them?
Madeline now felt oddly compelled. With all her strength she hoisted the tripod from the trunk and stood it up facing away from the window. Then she placed the old camera, with its odd inscription, "Meccanica Obscura," securely on the tripod. She closed the lid of the trunk and sat on top of it, wrestling in her mind as what to do with all the knobs and dials. Finally, she reached out and twisted one of the knobs. The Meccanica Obscura emitted a whirring noise as dials came alive, seeming to set themselves of their own accord. Mesmerized by the device, Madeline stood up and pressed the shutter button and sat back down on the trunk. The mirror angled itself toward Madeline, gradually bringing her reflection into view.
And then...it happened....
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