4 reactions
To find inspiration, my friend and fellow artist introduced me to a very strange method. Upon trying it, I painted a nightmare.
My initial reaction was to think that she was mocking me, however, I could see in her eyes that she had never been that serious.
"I'll ask you again Harmony. You really sure you wanna do this?" My friend Skylar (not her real name) asked me for the umpteenth time.
What answer other than yes could I give her? After months of pestering her to share the secrets of her success with me, she had finally agreed to do so. Once again, I read the steps of the strange ritual:
1. Place and lit five candles in a half circle shape on the floor and around the canvas
2. Blindfold yourself with a black cloth
3. Only use your hands, hair and post-bath water to paint
4. Eat five entire onions
5. No matter what you feel or hear, do not remove the blindfold!
Last week Thursday happened to be the D day. I followed all the instructions except for rule number 4 still doubtful and rebellious about everything. At around 1 pm, standing in front of the canvas and blindfolded, I plunged my fingers in the unclean water to craft my magnum opus.
Rubbing noises resounded in the room as I passed my wet fingers on the canvas. I almost laughed at myself. Honestly, falling for such a cheap prank out of despair? I had reached the bottom. Stopping soon crossed my mind but I refrained from doing so when I heard footsteps behind me. I gasped and turned around, my hand already on my forehead, ready to remove the blindfold with one swift movement. The footsteps came to a halt.
"Somebody here?" I asked.
"Somebody here?" The presence in front of me asked back, correctly imitating my voice.
Do not remove the blindfold! I remembered, therefore, I slowly lowered my hand and turned back to the canvas. The footsteps resumed. The closer they got, the more I feared the worst, and also the more I felt overwhelmed by an unknown force. Was it adrenalin? Was it fear? Or something simply supernatural? My movements became frantic and I felt out of control, painting faster by the second. Soon, the footsteps got so close that I began hyperventilating and felt on the verge of tears. Skylar's ritual was proving to be real, maybe too real and dangerous. I felt the footsteps stop right behind me. It prompted me to stop, expecting the intruder's next move to be much worse. It was.
On the back of my neck, I soon heard and felt the cold breath of someone, or something. I let out a scream then put my hand on my mouth. I was on the verge of losing my breath, crying and hyperventilating the more, as I sweated and trembled to the core. Still overwhelmed by the unknown force, in addition to my hands, I started using my ponytail braid to paint, unable to control myself, unable to stop.
All of a sudden, I then felt a viscous and scaly hand seize mine with a firm grip. My whole being screamed in terror before I began pleading for my life.
"Please, please, please don't hurt me, please,..." I said while the hand directed mine from the bucket of water to the canvas, tutoring me like a mentor and maestro.
I endured the ordeal, full of regrets and wishing for everything to just stop, until it finally did. It was as if everything just vanished, from the scaly intruder, to the noises and the unknown force. I concluded that it was time and safe for me to remove the blindfold, and did so, only to plunge myself in a worst nightmare.
Moonlight had invited itself through the windows. To my surprise, it was 2:39 am when I found myself in front of a surprisingly colorful masterpiece. However, there was one major problem:
I had painted myself, looking at the painting as if the canvas was a monitor provided with a camera placed in front of me. I recognized my living room and the exact same clothes I wore, I could see a good representation of my surprised self holding the blindfold with both hands, as well as the dark entity standing right behind me.
The entity's shadow, stench and cold breath left no doubt in my mind about its presence and evil intentions.
Fear seized my legs and transported me outside as I ran for a life I desperately tried to change, and under the growl of something I could only call a monster. I did not look back and did not stop until I reached the fire station near my house and just sat next to its entrance. The firefighters provided me with the necessary assistance, preventing me from bleeding to death, as I did not even know that the monster clawed me on multiple parts of my body, leaving scars to remember it by.
Reading this makes you the first person to know a truth I found myself unable to share with the firefighters, the police or even my own family up to the moment of writing this.
When I finally returned to the house days later, I found the painting destroyed by several claw marks to the point that it could be turned into a jigsaw. I decided to keep it. My relationship with Skylar was never the same after that incident. I only wanted a flash of genius, instead, I ended up with one less friend and multiple scars.
My initial reaction was to think that she was mocking me, however, I could see in her eyes that she had never been that serious.
"I'll ask you again Harmony. You really sure you wanna do this?" My friend Skylar (not her real name) asked me for the umpteenth time.
What answer other than yes could I give her? After months of pestering her to share the secrets of her success with me, she had finally agreed to do so. Once again, I read the steps of the strange ritual:
1. Place and lit five candles in a half circle shape on the floor and around the canvas
2. Blindfold yourself with a black cloth
3. Only use your hands, hair and post-bath water to paint
4. Eat five entire onions
5. No matter what you feel or hear, do not remove the blindfold!
Last week Thursday happened to be the D day. I followed all the instructions except for rule number 4 still doubtful and rebellious about everything. At around 1 pm, standing in front of the canvas and blindfolded, I plunged my fingers in the unclean water to craft my magnum opus.
Rubbing noises resounded in the room as I passed my wet fingers on the canvas. I almost laughed at myself. Honestly, falling for such a cheap prank out of despair? I had reached the bottom. Stopping soon crossed my mind but I refrained from doing so when I heard footsteps behind me. I gasped and turned around, my hand already on my forehead, ready to remove the blindfold with one swift movement. The footsteps came to a halt.
"Somebody here?" I asked.
"Somebody here?" The presence in front of me asked back, correctly imitating my voice.
Do not remove the blindfold! I remembered, therefore, I slowly lowered my hand and turned back to the canvas. The footsteps resumed. The closer they got, the more I feared the worst, and also the more I felt overwhelmed by an unknown force. Was it adrenalin? Was it fear? Or something simply supernatural? My movements became frantic and I felt out of control, painting faster by the second. Soon, the footsteps got so close that I began hyperventilating and felt on the verge of tears. Skylar's ritual was proving to be real, maybe too real and dangerous. I felt the footsteps stop right behind me. It prompted me to stop, expecting the intruder's next move to be much worse. It was.
On the back of my neck, I soon heard and felt the cold breath of someone, or something. I let out a scream then put my hand on my mouth. I was on the verge of losing my breath, crying and hyperventilating the more, as I sweated and trembled to the core. Still overwhelmed by the unknown force, in addition to my hands, I started using my ponytail braid to paint, unable to control myself, unable to stop.
All of a sudden, I then felt a viscous and scaly hand seize mine with a firm grip. My whole being screamed in terror before I began pleading for my life.
"Please, please, please don't hurt me, please,..." I said while the hand directed mine from the bucket of water to the canvas, tutoring me like a mentor and maestro.
I endured the ordeal, full of regrets and wishing for everything to just stop, until it finally did. It was as if everything just vanished, from the scaly intruder, to the noises and the unknown force. I concluded that it was time and safe for me to remove the blindfold, and did so, only to plunge myself in a worst nightmare.
Moonlight had invited itself through the windows. To my surprise, it was 2:39 am when I found myself in front of a surprisingly colorful masterpiece. However, there was one major problem:
I had painted myself, looking at the painting as if the canvas was a monitor provided with a camera placed in front of me. I recognized my living room and the exact same clothes I wore, I could see a good representation of my surprised self holding the blindfold with both hands, as well as the dark entity standing right behind me.
The entity's shadow, stench and cold breath left no doubt in my mind about its presence and evil intentions.
Fear seized my legs and transported me outside as I ran for a life I desperately tried to change, and under the growl of something I could only call a monster. I did not look back and did not stop until I reached the fire station near my house and just sat next to its entrance. The firefighters provided me with the necessary assistance, preventing me from bleeding to death, as I did not even know that the monster clawed me on multiple parts of my body, leaving scars to remember it by.
Reading this makes you the first person to know a truth I found myself unable to share with the firefighters, the police or even my own family up to the moment of writing this.
When I finally returned to the house days later, I found the painting destroyed by several claw marks to the point that it could be turned into a jigsaw. I decided to keep it. My relationship with Skylar was never the same after that incident. I only wanted a flash of genius, instead, I ended up with one less friend and multiple scars.
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