Red light penetrated the darkness. The smell of chemicals burnt the young man's nose. With a deep breath he steeled himself, 'it's okay it's fine I can do it, I won't fuck it up.' His words were full of confidence, but his voice faltered betraying him.
Snapping black gloves over his hands he gently dipped the undeveloped film into the acid bath. Once one tray was full, he made his way onto the next. As he worked his eyes lazily glanced dancing over the images above him hung out to dry.
Pushing the scratched safety goggles up the bridge of his nose the young man sniffed his eyes coming to rest on the images that caught his attention. A beautiful woman with a bright smile and dark eyes. Well, he figured they were dark since it was a black and white image.
Unpinning the photograph, he held it between his fingers peering closer at the image. With a soft hum he shrugged and put it back then drew his eyes to another. It was blurry, too blurry overdeveloped perhaps? There's no way anything in here would over develop they ran a tight ship. Unclipping the second photograph the young man held it to his face squinting into the blur. That's when he made out the shape, it looked like a lump in water. He tilted the photograph this way and that his eyes straining from the focus. Then it hit him, that wasn't a lump, or log, or animal. That was a woman. A bloated woman. It was hard to see but studying the image he could see the pained expression in her dead eyes. Bile rose in his throat.
The soft metal clicks of the door sounded behind him as the door swung open quickly shutting before light could penetrate the room. Another chilling metallic click rung out in the small room. Unadulterated fear sparked in the young man's chest quickly alighting with terror. He spun around his fight or flight kicking in and he was going to fight, even if it killed him.
Without warning he gripped the metal pan of liquid which had an image bobbing about in it and he threw it towards the larger man the liquid flying in the air. Suddenly the other man was upon him, his mouth angry with spittle as he spoke. 'I told you not to look to close but you just couldn't stop yourself.'
The young man felt the crushing pressure of hands on his throat, thick calloused thumbs digging into his windpipe, his ears filled with rapid throbbing his chest heaving in an attempt to pull in vital air. Kicking out he managed to catch the other man in between the legs. With a groan the man let go but quickly regained his composure.
Gasping for air the younger man struggled to see in the dark and only could hope that the older man had the same issue, but his hope was quickly dashed as he was set upon again. The other mans weight came crashing down on him as he was pushed into the hard floor, he felt something in his side give way and snap. Searing all-consuming pain shot up his spine and made his head feel light and start to spin. 'Please,' he rasped tasting dark copper in his mouth. He spat it out his words becoming more and more frantic his limbs frantically kicking.
'Please, no.' His words turned to sobs. This is it, this is how I die. He felt a deep sense of foreboding. He would fight but there was no way he could overpower this man. He still tried kicking, scratching pulling at anything he could.
That's when he felt the man lift, then slam him back against the ground his skull cracking against the pressure. If he were conscious enough the noise alone would made him gag.
Once again, the young man felt his windpipe crush under the weights of the man's hands. Eventually the deep red of the room faded to black his mind slowly erasing every thought he ever had in one swift blow.
