Prompt Fiction

PROMPT : BLURRED

“I can’t make out a thing,” Julian said, squinting at the incriminating photograph. “It’s too blurred. How can they get anything from that?”

“They can get all kinds of things from pictures,” Sanae hummed. She flopped on her brother’s bed, twisting around to watch him as he popped it in the desktop scanner. “Can you do it?”

He grunted.

“Julian!”

“Yes! Fine!” He growled. “I’ll fix it.”

Sanae grinned. “Yeah. I know. Thanks.”

He grunted again.

The photo was scanned in, cleared up and then rather expertly photoshopped to clear any lingering doubts about the barely distinguishable individuals captured within.

An hour ticked by.

When Sanae finally rolled up, off of the bed, she sauntered to the closet, rummaging through the contents with an expert hand.

This was easier to work with.

She drew out the shirt he’d used and the cap from the hook in the corner. Boots were found and a pair of skinny jeans. She wrinkled her nose, but they didn’t smell too bad—so they were likely clean—just not properly put away.

Julian remained glued to the screen as she ducked all the way inside the closet to change.

The new outfit was genius— as were most of the ones he picked.

By the time she’d tucked her hair up under the cap, he was printing out the new photo for her use.

He set it on fire and let it die a slow death in the metal trashcan beside the desk, spritzing it with some water when it was over.

“How do I look?” Sanae struck a pose.

“Like you’re asking for trouble,” he snapped. “Take it,” he flicked the picture her way. “And don’t come back for at least two months, alright? They’ll catch on if you keep doing this.”

Sanae shrugged. “I’ll try, but you can think of something if they do, right?”

“I’m your brother, not your manager. Make that useless lump do something instead of spending all of Dad’s money.”

“He’s booked me in eight different gigs across the quadrant. I think he’s doing plenty. We just need a PR guy.”

“Yeah. A PR guy that isn’t me. Now go.”

Sanae huffed. “Yeah, yeah. I’m going now. Thanks.”

(c) S. Harricharan