George Fallows was a fairly average student. Fairly handsome with short black hair he tended to excel more in the sports then the academics. Some might say this made him a bit of a Jock though in truth he didn’t fit into that label. People saw him associate with ‘nerds’ and indeed his was best friends with one.
His friend Simon was shorter and perhaps indeed fit into the whole ‘nerd’ look. Glasses and freckles with slightly greasy blonde hair. He wasn’t unfit but he was a little stocky. His parents always believed he would grow out of it eventually. Perhaps Simon’s main issue was how lazy he was when it came to work. He was able to get an average grade with minimal effort, and it didn’t take much form him to push it higher. Perhaps a little arrogant in his own beliefs but not entirely without merit. He had a very good memory.
The two were walking down a park where they had often grown up together as kids. It was a day of change for the both of them but especially for George. He was looking at a text message on his phone anxiously texting his various and admittedly small circle of friends. “Birthday coming up,” he said.
“Oh yeah you’re going to be seventeen- happy birthday!” Simon grinned. “You gonna get a cake?”
That was the ritual wasn’t it? “I think I’m too old now for cakes and that stuff. My mom is still treating me like I’m some little kid.” George groaned though was good natured about it. Perhaps part of him did like it but it was so embarrassing! His father seemed to get though that he was growing up and wanted to celebrate his birthday in his own way. “I figure we could go to a club. We could do the real thing for once! Get some drinks.” He had never had a real big birthday bash before. He regretted not doing it when he was sixteen.. and technically it was supposed to happen when eighteen right? Though if he waited at that point all his friends would have drifted off!
“Soft drinks?” Simon asked cautiously. “I mean- I don’t know about drinking.” He rubbed his hands nervously.
George tilted his head. “Well- I wouldn’t force you into it but come on we’re old enough now!” He patted his friend’s shoulder. “It’ll be great. We just go, dance, maybe even meet a few girls…”
Simon laughed at that. “Me with a girl? I’ve tried.. it’s impossible.”
“Hey it’s not impossible! Just need to make an effort- girls don’t just come to you, you need to do a little fishing. I mean nerd girls like you don’t they?”
“What nerd girls? I’ve never met a girl that’s also a nerd. I’m pretty sure they only exist in comics.” Simon retorted though it was light hearted. It was just… they were quite rare were they not?
The two took another turn when Simon saw something in the bushes. “Hey- is that someone’s bag?”
George looked at what seemed to be a girl’s handbag lying on its side. It was of a rather strange design that he had not seen before with a metallic clasp. The pattern on it were of wavy blue lines that looked more then a little dizzy to stare at too long, There didn’t seem to be any branding on it. Something like a leather strap was on it though silken white. It felt like plastic but not… quite.
“Maybe we should have a look inside so we can find if it has a card or something.” George thought. He picked it up feeling something inside. Someone must have lost it.
Delicately George opened the case up as a curious looking camera revealed itself, the lens glinting in the daylight. It kind of looked like a very old style camera with a large lens. However it was made from modern looking materials… almost too modern with sleek white and secondary hues of a light metallic blue. A sort of retro future gadget like if someone from the 80s imagined what a future camera would look like. The lens itself seemed to extend slightly, its center obscured by the deep black. A very tiny apature at the center drew light in like a black hole. The front of it seemed to have some kind of screen like a computer, though the way it shimmered it kind of looked like the text was under some kind of ‘water’ layer. Pressing at this screen warped the screen where it was pressed yet didn’t change the colors.
“It’s Some kind of camera?” Simon asked as he held it up. “Maybe we can find out who it belongs to by looking at its memory.”
Weird… nobody these days even used cameras. They tended to just use mobile phones which were as good if not better then something that could only take pictures and videos. George looked it over in his hand at the surprisingly light machine. “I’ve never seen a camera like that. Is it from Japan?”
“Maybe,” Simon was pretty good with technology but this thing looked very strange. “Here let me have a look.” George handed it over to him. Simon pushed a button that he hoped was its memory. He seemed to get lucky as he saw what looked like a normal person standing- though not anyone they recognized. Short blonde hair, standing with a smile. “That’s the mall isn’t it?”
George nodded. “Yeah… maybe we can print the picture. Any others?”
Simon started to press at an arrow button and another picture appeared. It was of a pretty girl with… significantly large breasts in a cheerleader uniform. “That’s Cheryl!” he gasped. “Didn’t she leave the school last year?”
“Yeah… weird too. I heard she had some weird issues- I mean I dunno. Come to think of it that other guy could have been her brother.”
“I’m pretty sure she didn’t have a brother,” Simon mused. “I mean- I did know her for a while before we lost contact.” It was a bit surreal now that he thought of it. The girl literally just upped and left without a word and the whole family moved away.
George sighed. “Well, we should probably try to get the camera to her. It looks expensive.”
“Yeah- look at these features...” Simon started to examine it more and was very curious at the lens. Why did a camera this advanced had a lens that looked so.. 80s? He pushed a button and the lens seem to extend outward… but it folded out in ways that seem to defy normal physics with a sound like gears were moving in sync. Where did it all just pop out from? It was like a weird black box. He pushed the extension button a few times making it go in and out like it was a weird toy. “Ha- I could do this all day.”
George shook his head. “Dude, come on don’t play with it. Not in public anyway- ah!” George blinked as a flash of light from the camera made him rub his eyes. “Wow- what kind of flash was that.” It still dazed him…
“Sorry- I didn’t know that took a picture.” The image appeared on the screen very slowly, almost like it was being developed in a non-digital way- yet somehow expressed digitally. The image showed George blinking in surprise as he was moments ago- however there was something weird with the light. “Huh, it looks like there’s some weird aura around me.”
Simon looked the picture. Sure enough he could see an odd looking white-like thing behind George's head. It almost looked like a set of bunny ears. “Must be some motion distortion,” simon thought.
“Weird,” George thought as he looked at it.
“It must be some kind of weird photo manipulation program. It’s so cool!” Simon smiled. “Maybe there’s another button on the front- AH!” There was yet another flash as somehow Simon had put the thing on a timer. He blinked as now his own picture was taken. “Urgh.. what the heck happened...”
That flash was so strong and it was right next to his eyes! He blinked a few times dizzily.
Yet another picture appeared of him but the eyes looked wrong. Perhaps it was the way the flash had lit it but- instead of red eye the flash gave an odd gleam of green. It was actually quite freaky to look at.
“Well, let’s just take it to the party. Maybe someone there will know who it belongs to...”
