The Film Student

Carol was a young film student. She was recently engaged to a nice boy she

had been dating for three years. She liked hanging out with her friends,

going to the movies and listening to music. Really, she was quite typical

for a girl her age.

Every once in a while, Carol liked to take her camera, drive out to her

parents summer home in the woods, and film the wildlife. She entered the

footage in wildlife photography and video competitions, hoping to make a

name for herself.

One spring day, Carol loaded up her car with her camera equipment. She said

told her roommate she would be back in a couple of days, and asked the

roommate to feed her fish. She called her fiancé and let him know she would

be at her parent’s summer home this weekend. She let him know her cell didn’t

get signal out there, and that they didn’t keep a landline. She told him she

would be out of touch for the entire weekend.

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The drive up to the summer home was pleasant enough. She got there with no

problems. Her parents were not due to the summer home for another couple

weeks, so she had the place to herself. By the time she got unpacked, it

was getting late so she went to bed deciding she would start shooting in

the morning.

At sunrise the next morning, she gathered her camera equipment and went out

to shoot some wildlife. It was a tiring but productive day. She got some

great footage of an eagle catching a mouse. At one point she nodded off while

waiting for a deer to come to a pond she knew the animals frequented. When

she woke up, she found a pair of young deer drinking the water. She spent a

little bit of time filming a humming bird darting from flower to flower. She

caught footage of a huge rattlesnake resting on a rock. Then she took a long

hike up a hill to try and catch some footage of fireflies lighting up a clearing.

By the time she got back to her parents summer home, it was just after dark.

She had been lugging her equipment around all day and was very tired. She

didn’t even bother showering. She just dropped her hat and camera on the

chair next to her bed and passed out.

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The next morning she was reviewing her footage on her laptop. The eagle was

majestic. Probably some of her best work ever. She watched the footage of the

deer. She thought they were very cute. Something in one of the deer shot caught

her eye though. It was only there for a second. She thought she saw a very tall

man with very pale skin in the bushes. It looked like he was watching her.

She rewound the footage, and looked again, this time in slow motion. She could

certainly make out a figure, but she couldn’t tell if there was actually someone

standing there, or if it was just a trick of light on some bushes.

Carol put the strange image out of her head and kept reviewing her footage. The

humming bird footage didn’t come out well. The little guy was moving too fast,

and the light was bad. The rattlesnake was cool though, even if it was a little

boring. After she watched the bit with the fireflies, she was pretty sure she

was going to win some kind of award. The natural lighting was just perfect. When

the firefly footage cut off, she noticed that she still had one video file left

to watch. Curious, she opened it. It was a video of her, sleeping in her bed.

Her insides turned to ice when she noticed the reflection in her bedroom window.

There was a very tall, albino man wearing a suit. She couldn't seem to make out

any facial detals. He was breathing heavily.

Carol slammed her computer shut, not wanting to see any more. The video stopped.

The heavy breathing did not.