text: She could feel her skin prickle with goosebumps as she rose out of the warm water of the tub, the sunlight had finally hit the ideal angle through the bathroom window to start taking photos. She called in Joe to begin taking the shots. Pose this way, now that way he said. Often times she felt like the poses weren't so much for the benefit of the camera as they were for Joe himself. This wasn't the first time she had regretted signing that contract, but the money was required and even if Joe was creepy, at least he wasn't like her last client. That guy had some deep seated issues to work out. She kept shifting around for the poses, oftentimes dipping her body back into the warmth of the bath. Joe was an artiste, and he would often forget the simple things like making sure his models were actually comfortable during the longer photo shoots. Finally, she pulled the plug, the bathwater draining down, she was on her knees still from the last position which had felt like it was about a pull a muscle in her back. Stretching with her arms crossed above her shoulders, she arched back, the gentle curve of her back had the dual effect of releasing some stress as well as pushing her breasts up into what some would call a perky position. After a second of this stretch she heard the click of a camera. Thinking that Joe was done she lowered her arms and saw surprise in his eyes. He was looking at the camera, at the photo he had just taken. The strange thing was the look on his face, she was used to that look that many had when attempting to hide their own arousal, but this, this was new. He looked at the camera with a tinge of awe. Unfortunately she couldn't find out why. Joe was always secretive with his photos, it was part of her contract that all pictures taken by him belonged to him and he would never release them unless he wanted to, and so far he hadn't. The next morning as she was packing her bags to move on to the next client, Joe came up to her and handed her an envelope. It was one of those larger ones designed to keep letters flat, that off yellow in colour with a USB taped to the outside. Hesitantly, Joe spoke, "This one is yours" he said. "I know that you have reached a point in this career where you think nobody sees you, I mean truly sees you, and I get it. If i had to deal with people like me all the time i'd be pretty jaded too. I just wanted you to see this photo, and to hang on to it. The USB has the original raw image file, but i stayed up late last night and processed this for you. I want you to put it up somewhere, somewhere that you can see it often, so that you can be reminded of just how beautiful you truly are." He walked back out to the hallway and turned towards his studio, feet shuffling on the floor like always. She grabbed her bags and left, payment had been made and there was another client waiting. Some time later she heard through a friend of a friend that Joe's apartment had burned down, with him inside. She wasn't sure what to feel about that. She never did put that photo up, hell, after the initial glance at it, she'd never even looked at it again. More time went by and she was walking home from the corner store, a loaf of bread under one arm and a bottle of whiskey under the other, it was the fifth bottle that week. Her phone beeped with a message, setting down the bottle she pulled it out of her pocket and looked. It had a few messages from a blocked number, she opened them up and saw Joe's smiling face in a selfie taken at a stunning beach. The message underneath said: "That photo changed my life, I was in a bad place and needed a change, it was the perfect catalyst, so i faked my death and moved to Mexico and haven't regretted a day since, I hope it's done you good as well." It wasn't until she shivered from cold that she realised she had been standing there long enough for the sun to have gone down. The top of her blouse was damp from tears. Using her sleeve she wiped her face and broke out in a smile at the image of Joe with such a happy grin. After a moment she started walking again, not even realising she had never picked the whiskey bottle back up. But she knew, she knew that change was coming. She doubted she'd need to fake her death like Joe did, she didn't owe any money and wasn't under anyone's control. For the first time in years, she was looking forward to the next day.