They say a photograph is worth a thousand words. That might be a cliché, but for me it is the truth. You see, I’m mute and deaf. I can’t speak or hear. I’ve got my eyes, though, and I see things in a photograph that the average eye cannot. The truth is, I only need to look at a photograph to tell you what happened. Somehow, word spread of my uncanny ability and soon a local detective, desperate to solve a kidnapping case, contacted me and begged for my help.

That was all it took, and now any time a crime happens that they can’t solve on their own, they call me. I’ve earned the nickname X-ray. It’s kinda lame, I know, but it’s grown on me . . . not that I can see through solid stuff! I can just see what’s hidden within a photograph.

Once, they tried to take me to an actual crime scene and it was like synapse overload. I can’t see things in real life chaos, only in the 2-D image on a piece of paper. That photograph is like another world that opens up to my eyes, a place I can enter and see what’s underneath the jackets, the dust, the .  . . you know, unpleasant realities.

But I’m tired of seeing the dark in the world. I’m tired of the blood and stains of man’s hatred against man . . . against self.

Yes, a photograph is worth a thousand words and more. I just want to see simple beauty in every syllable.