Snapshot

The Modern Prodigal Daughter

Now a kinetic visual novel by
STUDIO MADELEINE CHAI
Available on Itch.io and Steam.

Expanded story (~7500 words)
Seven voiced characters with anime-style sprites

* * *

Written for ScienceFiction's June 2020: Holiday Contest ("Innovation").
3rd place winner on the Punk Fiction profile.

We all know a time machine can't be built. 
But what if there was a camera invented that allows filming events in the past?

* * *

Click. I lowered the camera from my eye, and the instant film emerged. I slipped the undeveloped photograph into the front pocket of my laboratory coat. Only after several minutes would the image be clear enough to see; until then, all there was to do was to enjoy the silence of the courtyard. To think that this is how I am spending my first afternoon in the United Kingdom, I thought to myself. Before I had appreciated even a fraction of London, I had immediately flagged a taxi and headed out. My first time in this country — on this continent — would be spent completing the task I set out to do. By then, I felt much too old to bother with fun and games; all work and no play had made me into a boring adult.

"Oh, wow! Is that an actual Polaroid?" I turned around. A young man with stylish glasses and tanned skin approached me. "I've never seen one with my own two eyes."

Those two sparkling eyes made me shy; there was also that handsome face and that bewitching accent. "If I can be honest, I am not that familiar with this kind of stuff."

"That's strange. Those things are pretty rare these days." He tilted his head and chuckled. "I think you must be right around my age. Are you a Cambridge student? Faculty?"