Paula went to her locker at the end of class, and found that the camera from before was missing. She asked her locker mates if they had seen anything but no-one knew. Paula returned home to her mother Rachael, who at this point had completely become unaware of anything involving the camera, and told her she lost her mother's heirloom.
Rachael laughed, insisting that the camera was practically worthless, and that Paula shouldn't worry one bit about it at all. Paula, feeling relieved, passed out on he bed quickly after arriving home. As she slept off the headaches she had been getting, the last person aware was left internally screaming.
Emily, who had been turned into a fetus when fighting for the camera with Paula, was still aware of everything. She knew who was supposed to be what, but couldn't do a thing about it. She was trapped, and had to wait to be born.
A few months later she was able to scream again as she was pushed out of Paula's stomach. She passed out almost immediately due to the pain, but later awoke being held by her father turned mother.
"Isn't she beautiful Mom?" Paula asked Rachael.
"She's gorgeous." She replied. "Have you thought of a name?" She asked.
"Well, I was thinking Emily, but she looks more Asian than I thought she would be since her dead beat dad was white.... so how about Emiko?" Paula suggested.
"Wonderful honey. And remember, I'll pretend to be her mother, you pretend to be her sister, and when she's old enough to understand we'll tell her the truth."
Emily, or Emiko, could hear and understand all of this, but now had the body of a newborn. The next three years were beyond frustrating for Emiko. She was dressed in bright pink onesies, paraded around like a doll, babysat by 14 year old girls who barely had a clue what to do, it was miserable. All she had for entertainment was children television which grew old fast.
Interacting with family grew frustrating too. She would have to crap herself and watch as her former boyfriend changed her. By the time she was able to talk, not only could she only mutter a few words, she also had a lisp. By age 5, she was thankful to be able to use the bathroom, but was still pretty sick of all the kiddy stuff. On top of that, she had to constantly remind herself about who she really was.
By age 10, she thought of herself as Emiko. She still wanted to change everyone back, but it had been so long that she couldn't remember what her real name was. On top of that, she knew who her mother and sister were, they were her boyfriend and father, but she couldn't remember their original names or faces either. She even thought of them as Mama and Sis.
By age 15, Emiko was a successful high school student. She was on the cheer team, had a wonderful hunk of a boyfriend, and had her own clique. She had long moved past her delusions of another life with the help of therapy, and was a proud Asian American in a mostly white school.
It was the start of another year in high school, and Emiko had decided to take a photography class. She didn't know why exactly, but it was almost like something in the back of her mind was calling to her about it. She arrived and decided to sit in the back of the classroom, and after a few minutes of waiting the teacher came in.
"Hello class, I'm Ms. Thalia Ramirez." The busty Spanish accented teacher announced. "I'm, how you say, pleased to meet you all."
Although "Thalia" had only just started teaching, she had no idea that she had been working there for nearly 80 years now. Every couple years she ended up being inadvertently changed by the camera. In fact, the school had been altered countless times since the camera took up permanent residence there.
After a pretty boring lecture, Thalia announced a semester long project that would involve taking pictures with older cameras. The class were all given their own cameras from the shelf, and the bell rung. As everyone got out of their seats to move onto the next class, Emiko couldn't help but stare at her camera. Something about it was, familiar to her... but she couldn't quite place it.