Horror Short Story | Portrait

Chen Cheng bought an oil painting from a flea market. The painting depicted the back of a woman standing by a window, with long hair cascading down her shoulders and wearing a white dress. The brushstrokes were incredibly fine, making it look as real as a photograph. He found it beautiful and hung it on the living room wall. The next morning, he noticed the woman in the painting had turned slightly. What was initially just the back of her head now revealed half of her profile. Chen Cheng thought he might have misremembered and didn't think much of it. On the second day, the woman turned a little more. This time, he was sure it wasn't his imagination; the contours of her face were becoming clearer. On the third day, the woman had turned completely around. It was the face of his ex-girlfriend, who had died in a car accident three years ago. Terrified, Chen Cheng took the painting down, shoved it into the deepest corner of the storage room, and covered it with old blankets. That night, he heard faint footsteps coming from the storage room. He didn't dare open the door and locked himself in his bedroom. The next morning, the storage room door was ajar. The painting was gone. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked back into the living room— The painting was hanging on the wall again. But this time, there was an extra person in the painting. A man, standing next to the woman, with his back to the viewer. He was wearing the same gray t-shirt that Chen Cheng was wearing today. He looked down at his own clothes. Gray. The man in the painting was slowly turning his head. Chen Cheng's friends hadn't been able to reach him for three days and reported him missing to the police. When the police entered Chen Cheng's house, all they found was the painting on the wall. The woman was smiling sinisterly.