Out of the Picture

Out of the Picture

Olga had just bought the painting on the downtown’s flea market, on this gray clouds day, but already she could feel that something was not right. The salesman had been very eager to sell the item. It had felt like he wanted to get rid of the picture. The situation had been a little awkward because the painting was very beautiful. The artist had a certain talent and the lady on the picture herself had an eternal elegance. As she really wanted the picture and the price was very low, she did not ask for more and took her leave.

She ran fast to her home where she lived alone. It was a big mansion inherited from her grandmother. She had always been an only child, an orphan at the age of seven, and raised by her grandmother. When she had passed away, she remained in the house. Olga had never been very social. She simply was not this kind. So when she lost her grandmother, she lost her best and only friend. Her smile would always be remembered by the young woman, as she had seen it every day they had shared together.

The woman in the picture looked almost like her granny, but with a severe look in addition. She was wearing a dark purple velvet gown and a somber green hat. She was elegant but could almost scare the people away. Maybe that was the reason why the salesman wanted to get rid of it. 

It was a bit difficult to get past the people in the streets as the picture was large and heavy. The frame was thick and beautifully decorated. The weight also was a bit eerie. It should have been way less hefty for a picture with only a canvas. It was large, but the fabric was quite thin. It felt like something mysterious was adding weight to the item. Olga could not really explain why, but it felt strange somehow.

Once she was home, Olga put the picture on the floor to get herself a fresh drink. The well deserved break had come after the hard way to the house. She poured herself an iced tea and while she drank it, she heard a weird soft sound coming from the hall. After that, she came back into the hall of the mansion to discover that the picture was standing on the opposite wall, where it should be hung. She was sure to have put it to the left side, not to the right.

For one second, she thought herself crazy, but she pulled herself together and looked at the picture. The lady seemed, if it was only possible, a little bit more severe. She had always wanted a beautiful portrait to hang on this empty wall. She had always wondered why her grandmother had never put anything on this one, as all the walls of the big mansion were furnished. Nonetheless, she put the picture in her hands, only to find it even heavier, and she hung it on the wall.

From the moment she first hung it, she felt a grab on her wrist. The woman inside the painting was actually getting out of it. Olga could not believe her very eyes. Like she had been imprisoned in an art cage, as some sort of contemporary art, the granny used all of her strength and got out of the picture, revealing a five foot woman with a tremendous force. It was not at all what Olga had ever expected. She did not know how to react. 

At once, the old lady took Olga and put her into the picture. All the rage she had kept while being trapped, she used it to reverse the situation. The young woman was trapped inside of the painted picture. 

Olga was innocent, she had done nothing to her, and the old woman perfectly knew it, but she had no choice. She did not even look at the owner of the mansion, it was too hard. She could not withstand it. She put the picture down on the floor and without a sound, she left the house and closed the door.

Outside, the air was refreshing, cool and chilly. How good it was to be out of the picture for once ! It had been so long ago that she had not felt this freedom. The old lady had been imprisoned inside the painting for several decades and she could finally breathe a new air. It was beginning to smell the old lady inside the picture, she thought. When passing in front of a window, she looked at herself and gasped at her own reflection. Time was going by into the picture as well. She could definitely see that she had aged and felt sorry for herself. She felt even more sorry for the girl she had just trapped into the painting. 

Into the empty hall and into the picture stood Olga. At first, she could move into the painting. She could feel the cold and the darkness emptying this new world. All around her, she could see her worst nightmares. She could hear her loved ones that had all already passed away scream in agony. She could smell the sweat from her own body as her fear and anxiety were inexorably increasing. She could taste the blood and tears of these people floating in mid-air. She could feel all of their pain, all of this sorrow that was surrounding her.

But slowly, her members became harder and harder and she could not move anymore. She could not move, but she could hear the wailing and deafening voice that was telling her to find a new victim if she wanted to get out, and to grasp her as soon as her portrait would be hung on a wall. 

She was now trapped into the picture, waiting for someone to hang her on a wall, any wall. But she was alone, she had no family or friends and the house was well taken care of. Several years could go by before anyone would notice her absence…