A few months had past and one rainy afternoon, Adam decided to maybe start cleaning out the old dark room.
It was a Saturday afternoon and he didn't have to work, having spent most of the morning fussing around with Laddy he now had her sitting in her playpen in the middle of the living room. The baby was now standing and spent hours gurgling small little words she had just started to learn the last couple of months. Looking at her Adam smiled…she was getting pretty big fast and her entire head was now covered in thick brown hair.
Surrounded by a bunch of stuffed animals, Laddy tried to steady herself as she held onto the side of the netting and looked up at Adam as he crossed the room.
"Dada…doggy…ups."
Smiling he opened the room, which he had only been in a couple of times since the whole thing had happened and flicked on the main light. He knew almost everything in there was covered in dust and cobwebs, and most likely trash now. Looking around he checked the chemicals and saw they hadn't gone over, neither did the few pieces of equipment he still had.
It really didn't matter anyways…he had thrown out all the photographs of Lawrence.
Thinking of him seemed funny, he never thought nearly two years since he was chained up screaming in a blood soaked bathroom…that he was would sleeping with the man's wife who sat across from him.
The same man who tried to save his life.
Alison and him had been seeing each other off and on during those past couple of months. It struck Adam strange to be back in a relationship again, but somehow things seemed better.
Alison was very interesting and beautiful. They mostly went out to eat whenever someone could sit for Laddy, or just spent time over at his apartment.
The one time he did visit her new apartment was earlier that month…in which he saw Diana. A little stunned to see her sitting at their kitchen table, she looked up from her homework and gave Adam an odd look. Alison tried to introduce the two of them but Diana threw back her chair and ran into her room. Alison tried to apologize for her behavior, but Adam waved it off telling her it was normal.
Adam could tell Diana was a smart kid…and knew there would be a problem with her mother screwing the same man who had watched her father saw his own leg off.
Trying not to think about it, they agreed that for now on they would meet up at his apartment instead, or at least until Diana warmed up to Adam a bit. Adam knew deep down inside that would never happen.
The dates were nice and a chance for Adam to relax, spending more time with Alison he began to know how Larry had fallen for her.
Feeling content with his life, Adam seemed to like the fact a woman was in his life.
She came over once a week, they either went out or stayed in and she spent the night. The sex was normal…in fact getting better from before. There was less silence and awkwardness between them. Just last night she had come over and they had dinner together. The rest of the night the two of them laid down on the carpet, watching Laddy crawl around and laughing from her different attempts on walking.
Smiling to himself he looked over the small counters and old wheeled up film marker he said before he stopped dead.
His old camera.
He hadn't even seen nor thought of that in what seemed like forever. Slowly picking it up the weight felt awkward to him since he had gotten so used to using digital. Looking it over he saw scuff and dent marks.
He then remembered when he last used it, right away his entire body froze up as he dropped the camera onto the counter. Feeling his mouth dry up like cotton he took a deep breath and felt his heart begin to race. He knew he was going into a panic attack. Turning around he raced out of there and ran to the bathroom. Taking three pills he swallowed them hard and tried to get under control.
Laddy began to sound fussy as she let out a small cry. Adam went to her, never wanting to hold her so badly before in his life and scooped her up in his arms before gently rocking her back and forth.
"Shhh…it's okay."
Pressing himself against the wall, he felt sweat begin to roll down his forehead. He didn't know if he should call Alison or 911. He thought he was going into a heart attack. Slowly breathing in and out he looked down at Laddy who was grabbing onto his shirt and laughing.
A little while later he decided to see what it had taken. Standing there doing the old process he did over a million times before, he tried to take deep breaths in the red tint of the light. He had no idea how the police hadn't even found it.
Trying to hurry things along he hung the nearly dark photographs up and left the dark room as soon as he could, not even bothering to look at them. Scrubbing his hands at the kitchen sink…he took Lady onto his lap and stayed on the couch for nearly an hour…not wanting to see what had developed.
A little while later he finally put the baby down to sleep and shuffled back into the dark room, snatching up the pile of photos and heading back to his couch. With the TV on mute he sat underneath one of the lights and began flipping through them.
There were a few of some skyscrapers, one of an old rock show he saw at a local club, two of Larry in the parking-lot which he nearly dropped out of his hand, then…
He saw the photo he took of Amanda on the stairwell. Stopping he looked at the photograph for a long time, remembering that day.
Sighing he noticed for the first time ever how sad he truly looked. Shaking his head Adam then saw the photos he took in his apartment that night.
Most of them were just to light his way, he tried to get through them faster as he began to feel his heart race again. Then he found the last couple.
The closet…then the thing that had attacked him.
They were mostly blurry, what seemed to look like a mask and red.
He gulped and remembered how that thing had jumped out of him through the darkness. Sliding them away from his hand he then screamed.
It was perfectly clear…
He saw Amanda in the photo.