A portrait.
773 Words
The whispers got louder around her as if they were meant to scare her and it sure did. It wasn’t just one now. It sounded from behind her, in front, at her sides. They were everywhere and at the same time hovering over her. The darkness wasn’t helping at all and due to her chest pounding heavily in fear, she felt a familiar pain starting to spread from there and she clutched her chest tightly when it got more intense. She found it hard to breathe. She didn’t have her medication with her and there was nothing she could do to ease it.
Her chest hurt but the whispers didn’t stop it, she felt scared at what was happening and her heart didn’t stop pounding in fear.
“Stop” she said softly at first, bringing her hands to cover her ears tightly as if it will stop it but it didn’t. She squeezed her eyes shut as she tried to endure the pain that shot up from her chest then she heard a chuckle. One that sounded creepy especially because it was in that same breathy voice, not an actual voice. She felt her skin crawl at what was happening.
Just what the hell was this! She wanted to go back home. She wished she hadn’t come here in the first place. She wished she will be in Jennie’s company and eating what she cooked but instead she was here.
“Stop!” she yelled covering her ears even tighter as she yelled again, this time, her voice was a tired whisper “Stop it, please”
And then, as if it listened to her, it stopped. It turned quiet again and Devi opened her eyes surprised.
She was even more surprised when she saw a fire torch on the wall light up on its own. What is this? Magic? She doubted she should be that foolish to think so. Perhaps someone was playing games with her.
But as the torch gave light to the room where she could now see the things that were around her. The things that were in this room… It shocked her and when she looked all round, she felt goosebumps rise on her arms. Was this what her grandmother had been doing? Was this why she never let her inside this place? Devi felt disbelief rush through her. She felt sick and scared and worried.
In front of her, she could see herself, no, a portrait of herself, a painting hanged on the wall but the thing was, at the side of the painting, hung together with it were skulls on either side. Probably belonging to humans. There was no way they could belong to animals. Did her grandmother kill people? She didn’t want to believe that but what possible explanation could she give to herself? It wasn’t just one or two skulls, there were many and some littered the floor. Devi could also see traces of dried blood scattered everywhere which made her wonder about the activities that had been happening here.
Why would a painting of her even be here? Why? She felt utterly confused having no clue about what this all meant. She had many questions, many doubts yet there was no one to ask.
Apart from a portrait of her in the room, there were also candles, red and white ones that were blown out. There was also a knife lying on the floor.
Devi slowly backed away, her feet’s inched backwards when her eyes suddenly caught something that was written on the wall. At first, she couldn’t see it clearly but the light from the torch brightened making it become clearer.
‘Now, they will come for you’ those were the words written on the wall in red. She felt her heart pounding again and hurting as she turned around quickly finding the door and going out of it, she ran out of the house. She didn’t know how she managed to locate the exit but soon, she was in her car breathing heavily and not spending another minute there, she drove off, leaving behind a trail of dust in the dark.
After she left, two figures dressed in black stepped out from behind a tree watching her car that kept moving farther in the distance.
“She took the bait. Now, they will begin to come for her” one of the black dressed women said and the other sighed, her eyes looked old and wiser as she said,
“Nothing is clear yet until he appears, we can only watch and see how it unfolds from now on”
- Writer
