Dark Whispers

The museum at midnight was eerily silent.

Jamie and Sandra stood in a long-sealed art room, facing an ancient ink painting on the wall. The paper had yellowed, its edges slightly tattered, yet the woman depicted remained strikingly lifelike—she wore a flowing ancient gown, her long hair cascading down, hands delicately folded over her lap. A faint, almost imperceptible smile graced her lips.

Jamie frowned. "This is the one?"

Sandra nodded. "Yes. Half a month ago, a security guard on his night patrol claimed he saw the woman in the painting 'smiling.' The next day, he disappeared."

Jamie shivered.

Her gaze shifted downward, landing on a file folder beneath the painting. Inside, there were records about the artwork.

She flipped through the pages, murmuring, "'Autumn Water Beauty,' painted by Ming Dynasty artist Su Baisheng. Legend has it that the woman in the painting was modeled after Shen Wan, a lady who was drowned in a lake for refusing to marry a nobleman. It's said that the artist used her bone ashes in the pigments..."

Sandra's brow furrowed. "So that's why this painting—"

Before she could finish her sentence—

Rustle...

A faint, scraping sound echoed through the room, as if fingernails were gently dragging across a surface.

Jamie's heartbeat quickened. She scanned the room, but it was just the two of them.

Yet—

The woman in the painting...

Her eyes seemed to have lifted ever so slightly.

Jamie sucked in a sharp breath, staring hard at the painting.

Impossible! Was it an illusion? Just now, she could have sworn the woman had moved!

"Jamie..." Sandra's voice was low and tense, her gaze locked onto the portrait. "Her smile... it's wider than before, isn't it?"

Jamie's pulse pounded in her ears. The once subtle smile had stretched further, as if mocking their fear.

Rustle... rustle...

The eerie sound returned, like something slithering out from within the frame!

"Run!" Sandra grabbed Jamie's wrist and dashed toward the door!

But—

Bang!

The door slammed shut on its own!

The lights flickered wildly before plunging the room into darkness!

Jamie's breath hitched. She turned toward the painting, and her pupils constricted—

The woman was gone!

The canvas, once adorned with her figure, now held only a vague background. The familiar presence had vanished.

"She's out!" Sandra hissed, drawing a dagger, her stance poised for battle.

The air turned deathly cold. Shadows slithered in the corners, tendrils of darkness creeping outward.

Then, a woman's raspy laughter whispered by Jamie's ear—low, chilling, disturbingly close.

She spun around, but only caught a glimpse of long strands of hair dangling from the ceiling, drifting toward her face.

Above…!

Jamie instinctively stepped back and looked up.

Hanging upside down from the ceiling was the woman from the painting, her ghastly pale eyes locked onto Jamie's.

Her smile stretched wider, revealing jagged, sharpened teeth. Her tongue flicked over her lips, as if savoring an anticipated meal.

Jamie's scalp prickled. Every nerve in her body screamed at her to flee.

Sandra reacted first, hurling her dagger straight at the entity!

Swish!

The blade struck true, piercing through the woman's torso—but she remained unfazed, merely tilting her head as her grin grew even more sinister.

Then, she lunged straight at Jamie!

"Jamie! Get down!" Sandra shouted.

Jamie instinctively dropped to the floor.

Whoosh—!

The woman's long hair whipped past, a chilling gust of wind trailing behind. It struck Sandra with brutal force, sending her crashing into a bookshelf!

Jamie's heart pounded as she scrambled toward Sandra, but the woman's shadow loomed over her.

An invisible force wrapped around Jamie's neck—a crimson thread tightening like a noose!

Pain flared through her throat. The woman's face inched closer, her eyes glinting with feral hunger. Her mouth opened wider and wider, threatening to engulf Jamie whole!

"No... I won't...!" Jamie thrashed, but the red thread constricted tighter!

"Jamie—!" Sandra's desperate voice rang out.

Splash!

A bottle of ink exploded against the woman's face!

The instant the black liquid touched her skin, she shrieked—a wailing, agonized cry that reverberated through the room!

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

Her body convulsed violently, her skin splitting like burnt parchment. Her ghastly eyes locked onto Sandra with pure malice as she writhed in pain.

The ink ate away at her form, her shadow quivering, as if being pulled into an abyss!

Sandra's eyes flashed cold. She yanked Jamie up and rushed toward the painting.

"Jamie! Send her back!"

Gritting her teeth, Jamie seized the edges of the canvas, pressing the woman's spectral head against it.

"Go back!!!"

The woman let out a final, ear-piercing scream as her form was consumed by ink, dissolving into wraith-like fragments before being sucked back into the painting!

The room fell into dead silence.

Jamie and Sandra stood there, panting, drenched in cold sweat.

The woman had returned to the painting.

This time, however, her eyes were closed.

Sandra gingerly touched the scratches on her neck, her voice hoarse. "This painting… must never be seen again."

Jamie took a deep breath and nodded.

They wrapped the portrait in thick red cloth, sealing it away inside a reinforced vault—ensuring it would never see the light of day again.

That night, the museum returned to stillness.

Yet they knew—the woman in the painting had not truly vanished.

She was merely… asleep.