Undocumented

Girls decided to exchange their media with each other. Everyone was excited to see the beautiful pictures and share them with the world on their social media. They had made plans of how and when they are going to post them. Finally, they had made enough plans and they all started exchanging their pictures.

The photos at the university campus and bus journey were crisp and chaotic. Someone's eyes were shut; someone's mouth was wide open; some evidence of someone losing the balance in the bus - these pictures where funny and looking at them all the girls had been laughing.

The pictures at the restaurant during the breakfast were equally fun. A friend looking through the dosa like binculars; someone pointing at an empty mug at another friend as if she was going to pour tea on her; a close up shot of the clay mug; a photo with the restaurant owner all were action packed as well as calming.

Then came of scary surprise wrapped in the digital media. The photos where the girls had gotten of from the bus clearly visible. The snap they have captured of the milestone at the river bank too was sharp. Then they moved to the photo at the river. They were surprised to see that it was completely black - no faces or the background. They moved to the next photo it was showing the same characteristics - just a black canvas. As they moved further all the photos were exactly the same a pitch black image without anything - as if the lens was covered with a black coloured object.

Then they saw the videos. The videos too had been the same. Just black screen without any visuals or audio. All the photos and the videos that had been taken in the span of 6 hours were exactly the same - plain black screen.

At first the girls thought that the device had malfunctioned. They decided to look at the photos taken from the digital camera. The digital camera did not give the results that were different from the device that they had seen earlier. It too showed the same story - clear pictures till the time the reached the river bank; black photos and videos at the river bank; and again pictures in technicolor from their bus journey till the university.

Each phone digital camera and DSLR shared the same story. The glitch did not spare a single lens. Nisha and her friends felt like it was a message from the nature. The thought they were the only ones at the river bank but maybe they were not alone. Somebody had been with them the entire time. Somebody had been keeping a close eye on them.

In the chilling silence girls understood the truth: something had been watching them from the shadows and they had been guarding the secrets that were never meant for the camera lenses. In determination to keep those mysteries locked away from the world, this unseen force had intervened and erased every trace of their presence. The lesson was written on the walls of their mind - The haunting beauty of nature hides dark secrets and ancient forces protect them. If you dare to capture that beauty then the evidence will not see that light of the day.

- The end-