The Whispering Portrait

By Sindhuja Rai

Setting: A Museum in a Big City

Rachel, a woman who worked for an old museum, had ordered a painting which was

pretty old. It came with a cracked wooden frame. The painting was of a lady who

looked pale, delicate, eyes almost too perfect to be painted. It was so perfect that the

veins of the lady were as visible as if it was a real woman.

It was a busy day as Rachel had ordered many things for the museum. After unboxing

everything, she placed it according to the style of the pieces. As she was about to

close the museum, she heard a voice from the back slowly going—

“Isn’t your grandmother going to finish me?”

She turned back and noticed that the painting was looking at her.

“W-ww-who are you?” said Rachel in a scared voice.

The painting replied as the painting was moving her lips. Rachel just got more and

more terrified.

“I am the piece that your grandmother couldn’t finish, darling.”

“B-BB-But how?”

“Ohh don’t be silly, she tried to burn me.”

“How are you still here if she burned you?”

The painting said, “If I don’t get finished something horrible will happen.”

Rachel, scared, ran as fast as she could and pretended nothing happened. She didn’t

come to work for two days as she was so terrified. After she came back the next day

and opened the hall, there was no painting in the frame. She ran to her colleagues and

asked them to come with her. As they followed, they all were terrified. Everyone

thought the painting was stolen.

“How is this possible? The museum has at least five locks and they are very strong!”

Rachel remembered the last night at work. She looked carefully at the painting.

“You were warned before...”

She runs. She gets a call from her mother crying, saying, “Your grandmother died.”

Rachel was shocked and worried. As her team walked outside, they saw that three

locks were broken. Later, they got to know that five of the security guards were

missing and the person who locked the doors last night was not there. Even after

three missed calls, he still didn’t answer. Everyone was terrified.

A person dead. Five security guards missing. One person not picking up the call. How

is this possible?

Rachel was too terrified to speak and collapsed on the floor. After coming back to

consciousness, she told everyone what happened.

“THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE!!!” said one of the workers.

“It’s the truth!” Rachel shouted. She was not calm and was blaming herself for it.

“What do we do now?” asked a colleague.

“It’s no use now... the lady is on a hunt,” said Rachel trembling.

By Sindhuja Rai