His camera could steal people's souls. He would linger around famous tourist attractions like a lion stalking its prey. He felt an itch inside of him that could only be scratched by taking souls of the innocent, the power overwhelmed him and he soon became an addict. Like a smoker needing a pack a day, if he attempted to stop he surely would go insane and fall into withdrawal.

Screams and shrieks of people's souls decorated the walls of his house wailing to be freed, like framed pieces of art he had just purchased from a retail store. These photos were stolen, they showed the pain and suffering inside of people, they were taken by an artist who needed a soul.

His name was Kevin.

***

Kevin wasn't always desperate for souls, for the longest time he was an honor student destined to do amazing things. Kevin wasn't smart — he was brilliant, and was easily admitted to NYU. He went to tour the Big Apple, he always dreamed of living in a big city,  when a strange man offered to take a photo of him, things went downhill.

“Wow, a free photo? Hell, in this city it costs 50 dollars just so I can sit down. You know what? I'll take you up on that offer. Here, just get one of me in front of that building with all the screens.”

“Three, Two, One… say cheese!” The man said with a sinister smirk on his face. Click.

“So how do I get my photo?” Kevin asked.

“Oh you'll get it in due time, don't you worry about that,” the man responded.

“You know I think it would be better if you took my photo over ther-” Kevin turned around, the man had vanished into thin air.

The next day Kevin felt glum, he had no energy and wanted to stay in bed all day. Perhaps it was something he ate or maybe the introduction of the bitter cold weather, whatever it was, he felt depressed. With no motivation, Kevin dragged himself out of bed, got dressed, brushed his teeth, styled his hair, put on his contact lenses, and drifted to class.

When Kevin arrived back to his dorm at the end of the day he found a box with a note on it on his bed. It read:

“Hello Kevin. I am the man that stole your soul.  I've been searching for YEARS, photo after photo again, trying to find the perfect match. Like you, I also had my soul stolen, and after years of anguish I finally figured it out. So to save you the time I'll explain. Having a soul is like having a blood type, except more diverse. There are 500,000 different types of souls, some more rare than others, and if you lose yours then the only way to get it back is to find an almost exact replica of your own. Yours Kevin was perfect. Exactly like my old one. I'm sorry, but I had to do this. I couldn't bare the pain anymore, and wouldn't wish it on even my worst enemies. I wish you the best of luck.”

Kevin was at a lost for words, “h-h-hee stole my soul?” Kevin was scared, like a 3 year old child in a haunted house. He went to open the box hoping that it was all a prank played by his roomate, or maybe this was all an elaborate invitation to a halloween party, but when he opened it all he found was an old camera.  “Mm-my soul.”

***

It's been a month since that fateful day, Kevin was still working out how to use the damn camera, nevertheless steal a person's soul. His grades had dropped significantly, he was on the brink of being expelled from the university, he was too concentrated on getting his soul and life back. Eventually Kevin learned the mechanics of the camera and conducted his first trial, on a rat skimmering on the edge of a sidewalk underneath an abandoned bridge. He spent most of his time underneath this bridge, it's the only place he felt comfortable anymore, where he didn't have to see and envy all those soul filled humans. Trapping the rat in a corner, he went to take his first photo.

“Alright little guy.” his hands shaking and barely holding the camera steady “Im sorry.” Click. The camera vibrated, spewing out a photo of the rat like a polaroid camera, but when Kevin went to take a closer look of the image, the rat squirmed around in the photo trying to find an escape like a bird trapped in a cage. When Kevin looked back at the rat on the sidewalk, he saw that it barely could move. Even if Kevin neared it, and all it did was lie there and wait for death.

Looking back and forth at the two rats Kevin suddenly felt an immense amount of power growing within him. All his worries and longing for his soul went away in that instant, as if god had snapped his fingers and release Kevin from his pain. Kevin liked this, there was something deep inside of him that ached for more. When Kevin felt that power go away, he felt the same pain and emotions that he dreaded fill him again. He couldn't bare it any longer.  

Soon Kevin began increasing the size of souls he stole. Rats were like appetizers, and the main entree were humans. He had never stolen anything from anyone before, he had morals, but that all went out the window when his hunger grew. Kevin walked up and down all across times square in search for his next victim, looking for just the right person, someone as naive and foolish as he had been. Someone he could easily fool. Eventually he spotted his prey, a young 17 year old fresh and ripe for the picking. Kevin approached the child, and offered to take a photo for free.

“Hey kid! You want a free photo. No catch. This cameras the best in the business.”

“Sure, here get one of me in front of that building with all those screens.”

Wow, that was easy. You would think in a city with all these creeps, a guy would at least be a little hesitant for a stranger to take his photo, whatever. Kevin thought to himself.

As the boy stood there waiting for the flash, Kevin transported back in time, to the day he lost his soul. He saw similarities between him and this boy, he saw the same innocent boy that didn't deserve to have his soul stolen, the same boy just wanting to tour the city and explore the world. Kevin knew he couldn't go through with it, he couldn’t put the same pain and suffering on this boy, he didn't want to continue the cycle.

He didn't want to but he had to. Greed for power got the best of him and forced his finger down. Click  

The camera once again spat out a polaroid like photo, only this time the rat was a person. Kevin couldn't believe what he had just done, he had a real soul in his hand, like a piece of gold Kevin could feel the value and power it had. He could feel the pain draining because there was no pain, all he knew and felt about in that instant was control and power, nothing else. Consequently the larger the soul the larger its effect, after a human soul nothing could relieve Kevin of his anguish more which only grew his addiction.

“Mister...mister...MISTER!”

“Huh.” Lost in his delight Kevin had completely forgot where he was.

“Can I see the photo?” the boy asked impatiently

“Um…. sorry no. It's no good. The light was behind you, and i'm all out of blank ones”

“What about that in your hand, can I at least see it” The boy asked reaching for the photo”

“NO!” Kevin responded lunging backwards. “I told you it's no good, all black nothing to see. Well I gotta go, more uhh photo business.”

Kevin raced home where he carefully taped the photo on the wall and would be able to admire it forever.

Soon that one photo turned into ten, then twenty, then hundreds. Kevin had covered his entire wall with portraits of innocent souls, his addiction was out of control. Kevin had lost sight of his original goal to get his soul back, and now couldnt control his hunger. Kevin became a drug addict, desperate for anything to give him the slightest high. He had no emotions, felt no more sympathy for innocent boys anymore. He only wanted the feeling of power and nothing else. He had no soul anymore.