Emmanuelle absolutely loved photography. She got her first camera as a part of her first smart phone when she turned 11 and had been addicted ever since. She took her phone with her everywhere she went and took pictures all the time, pictures of where she was and pictures of herself and her friends. Over the years she got better cameras, lenses, and mounts. For Christmas in her senior year of high school she even got a drone.
Now she was nineteen and just entering her second year of college to get a degree in photography. And this summer... her photography changed her life forever.
Today was October 28th, the night of her neighbor's annual Halloween party. Her neighbors, the Curtis family, adored Halloween, especially Anne. She was addicted to it. Every year she spent a thousand dollars in new decorations. Every year she spent the entire month of October decorating her house and yard for the season, then spent the month of November tearing it down and packing everything up.
She had everything... animatronics, decorations, lighting, fog machines, sound machines... everything an entusiast could want. And with her husband's obviously good salary, she could afford it.
Also, with Ben's good salary, they had a really nice house and yard. The house was easily 5000 square feet and they had 2 acres of land in the suburbs, with a beautiful patio, grilling area, seating area, and in-ground swimming pool behind a privacy fence in the back yard.
The weather was nice this year, with the night-time low only in the 60s, so Emmanuelle expected the guests to be spread out, with most of them being outside to be under the light of the full moon. Like they did every year, her parents, Seth and Ruth Hatfield, were getting their costumes on ready to walk over and join the party.
Emmanuelle walked down the stairs wearing her Harry Potter costume, complete with a t-shirt painted to look like a white, button-down shirt, with tie and sweater, black pants, a black Gryffindor robe, and complete with glasses and a fake forhead scar.
"You look good, honey," Ruth told her.
"Thanks mom," Emmanuelle said, carrying her phone in her hand as she always did. She was always prepared to take a picture.
The trio walked to the neighbors and saw themselves in the front door where several others entered with them. The party was in full swing when they arrived. There was snack food, alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and even regular food spread around. Guests were everywhere... but as expected, most congregated on the patio outside, standing and seated, some with food, most with drinks, all talking and having a good time.
As soon as they entered the house, Emmanuelle split from her parents and immediately began taking pictures of the decorations and the guests. She loved the variety and the atmosphere. It was perfect for her photography scrapbook!
It was an hour into the party when she finally found Anne Curtis alone. She took a deep breath, steeling her confidence. She really wanted this... and now was her chance. She boldly walked forward and tapped Anne on the shoulder. She smiled as the older woman turned and faced her.
"Oh... hi Emmanuelle," she said, sounding pleasant, but not too excited to see the young woman.
"Hi Mrs. Curtis," Emmanuelle replied, smiling. "Great party again this year! I really like your decorations."
"Thank you," Anne smiled, always enjoying a compliment. "It's a lot of work, but I do enjoy Halloween."
Emmanuelle was enjoying this close-up look at Anne's costume. She'd dressed as a witch this year, with the high-peaked black hat, a low-cut, form-fitting, black top with half-lace sleeves, thigh-high black boots with fishnet stockings, and black, form-fitting satin shorts. She was... sexy! And Emmanuelle had a huge crush on her.
"I can tell," Emmanuelle smiled. "And I've been taking a lot of pictures."
"Have you now?" Anne said, looking around as if she hoped to talk to someone else... anyone else.
Emmanuelle brought her phone up to show it to Anne. "I can, you know, send them to you later. If you'd like some." Emmanuelle was a little annoyed that Anne wasn't paying much attention to her, but kept up the conversation. "Yeah, I've started my second year at college. I'm getting a degree in photography. It's been a really big part of my life and I hope to get a job taking pictures one day."
"Mmhmm," Anne nodded, not paying much attention.
Emmanuelle brought up her pictures on her phone and scrolled back to the first pictures she ever took. "As soon as I got my phone, I started taking them. You can see here that I started with a lot of nature stuff... trees, flowers. Here's one of the pond at the park. I really like that spot."
"Mmm, yes. Very nice," Anne nodded, barely looking down.
"And then I found some old buildings downtown, you know the historical-like ones, and took pictures of them," she said, paging through them to show Anne. "Then pictures of people even. I love taking pictures of people acting naturally... as if I'm not even there."
"Yes, I see. You're pretty good," Anne said again, barely looking down. She started walking away, but Emmanuelle followed her, continuing to talk to her. Anne tried to look annoyed, tried to break off the conversation, but Emmanuelle just wouldn't stop. Finally, she started going up the stairs, away from the guests, away from the party, hoping that Emmanuelle would realize she wasn't where she was supposed to be. But Emmanuelle didn't stop.
"And then when I was a senior in High School, I got a drone for Christmas," she said, bringing up a new set of pictures. "Now that's awesome. I can take that up pretty high and see all sorts of things that I can't see from the ground. It's a completely different perspective. I got this one here of the little waterfall by hovering over the lake. I can move it around and get angles I can't get normally."
"Mmm... yeah... nice," Anne said, sounding bored and annoyed.
"I've been using the drone a lot lately, especially over the summer," Emmanuelle said. "I get some pretty interesting pictures and videos from up there. And the new camera I got lets me zoom in really close."
Anne opened the door to the master bedroom and turned to face Emmanuelle. "Look, can I help you with something? I would like some privacy in here."
"Well, now that we're alone, I've been wanting to talk about your marriage with Mr. Curtis," Emmanuelle said.
"Yeah, we're married, big fucking deal."
"I just thought you might like to see some of the pictures and videos I've been taking," Emmanuelle said, lifting her phone up again.
But Anne didn't even look down at it. "Whatever! You know I don't like you, so why are you bothering me?"
Emmanuelle smiled. "Well, you're going to like me because I know what you're doing behind Mr. Curtis' back."
"Oh my God! What are you talking about now?" Anne asked, extremely annoyed now.
"You're not even faithful to your own husband," Emmanuelle said, smiling smugly. "You know you're a cheating slut."
"What? What are you... what are you talking about?" Anne said, clearly confused and upset. "I'm not cheating on him."
"Well," Emmanuelle said, swiping through pictures on her phone until she found the right one. "Here... what's that then?" She pointed the screen at Anne.
