The Old Painting

Cob worked at a construction job, and he lived in the same house that he grew up in—the same house his mother grew up in too. His dad and mom were in a retirement home, and his older sister moved out nine years ago, leaving the farmhouse all to himself. He lived alone, never having married, but his life at 32 was a happy one.

One day, Cob thought, “I wonder if there are any old family portraits or paintings from my grandma when she lived here.” He had gotten to thinking about his family tree and decided to search for some history in his own basement.

Cob went down into his basement to look around. For the last eight years, while living at this home, Cob spent his evenings looking around in the basement. He had found many paintings and pictures that had belonged to his grandma, and he found places on the walls in his living room to hang them. Grandma Ethel was an artist who loved to paint landscapes, portraits, and buildings, and these were her paintings.

One evening, Cob found a painting that was very strange. From the look of it, it was the second largest one that she had ever painted. Instead of a landscape, some kind of building, or a person, it was a strange creature with no arms, but it had a human-like torso. It had four legs that ended in small stumps, and its head was not human. Its mouth was open in a frown, and its eyes were open and looked hollow. The strange creature had no nose, but it had nares. The top half looked like it had burst out from the bottom half.

Cob didn’t remember this painting because his grandma painted it when he was young. He decided to take a picture of it on his cell phone and text it to his mom to find out if she knew about this painting. His mom called back next and said that she didn’t remember it either, even though his mom remembered all of her other paintings.

Instead of just leaving it down there, because it probably didn’t belong to anyone in his family, Cob decided to hang it up in the living room right next to all the other pictures and paintings of Grandma Ethel.

The next day, he had just gotten back from work during the evening, and as he was putting his tools away, he went to take a look at the strange painting. Cob noticed an odd thing. There was a very thin, red, messy line around it on the wall, so Cob went and got the Clorox spray and a rag to clean it off the wall. As he was wiping the wall, he noticed it was not coming off, so he tried again and sprayed more. It still was there, so he tried one last time, but again it still didn’t come off. Cob got a little frustrated, but he was kind of a chill guy, and he quickly calmed down.

Instead of trying again, he put the rag and the spray away and said to himself, “I’ll try again tomorrow after I get back from work.”

By that time, Cob was tired, so he started to get ready to go to bed. He turned off the lights at home and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. While he was brushing his teeth, he got a whiff of a horrible smell, like old, rotting meat. Cob put down his toothbrush and started looking around his house for the foul stench. He went into the kitchen to check the fridge to see if there was anything past its expiration date. He didn’t find anything, so he went to the garage to check the deep freezer, but he still didn’t find anything. Then, as he walked by his living room, the smell got stronger.

Cob went into the living room to look but still didn’t find anything. As he walked by the strange painting, the smell intensified. Cob moved closer to the painting, took a whiff, and then got hit with such a horrible smell that it whipped his head back. He grabbed the air freshener from the kitchen, came back, and sprayed all around it. After Cob put it back in the kitchen, he went to bed.

While he slept, he had a strange dream where he was in an empty, infinite-looking desert. There was a constant sandstorm so dense that he could barely see anything far away. As Cob looked around in his dream, he could just barely see a tall structure that looked like a painting frame as tall as a skyscraper. As he started to walk towards it, a loud, deep, raspy voice was heard, but he couldn’t understand it: “ⴌⴀ⋑ⴌ☊4⏁⟕⌖⋏⟕ⴌⴟⴌⴍ☊⟚ⴌⴟ☊⋏ⴌⴟⴎ⋑ⴌⴟⴏ⟖⌗⟚⌗ⴟ⌖⟚⌗⟚⌖ⴟⴟ⟚!”

Then he started to hear quick stomps that got louder and louder! But then he woke up, startled. After he calmed down, he picked up his phone and saw that he was late for work. He quickly got out of bed, took a shower, got dressed, and grabbed his tools. As he ran through the living room, he took a quick glance at the wall with the strange painting. He saw something weird, but before he could think back to it, he got interrupted by checking his watch and decided to worry about it when he got back home.

During lunch, he thought about the smell and decided to go to the store to buy scented candles to deal with it. That evening, after Cob put his tools away, he started putting scented candles all around the house and placed one on the coffee table under the strange painting. Then he remembered that morning and looked at the other paintings and photos. All the faces in the paintings and photos looked like the strange creature’s face. As he stood there in confusion, he decided to take the painting down.

But as he reached for it, a cluster of hands came out, pulled him in, and threw him on the ground. As he got up, he looked around and saw a strange land. It looked like the desert from his dream but filled with trees from Deadvlei, dark mahogany red, without a sandstorm. A grass field mixed in with the desert, but the colors weren’t normal. The sand was crimson, the grass was pomegranate, and the sky was a mix of fandango and scarlet. The sun was overly bright.

As Cob looked around, he saw the painting frame from his dream, now detailed with carvings of arms reaching up and climbing on each other. It was made of stone that looked ancient. As he walked up to it, he saw words carved into the old stone: “Find the stone tablet and be careful of the Unfortunate.”

As soon as he finished reading, he heard a loud cracking sound. Cob looked around and saw the creature emerging from the ground nearby. It stood at least twelve feet tall and quickly turned its head toward him. Cob immediately started running, searching frantically for the stone tablet. As he scanned his surroundings, he noticed something strange about the trees. Beyond their unnatural color, they appeared to have figures entwined within them. These figures resembled people but were thin, with some muscle, and their heads were skull-like with empty eye sockets. Some had exaggerated deformities, while others had torn skin that hung like fabric.

As Cob ran, he noticed a faint orange glow in the distance. He moved toward it but soon heard the sound of wood cracking. The figures—the unfortunates—began breaking free from the trees and chasing him. They moved in eerie, unnatural ways; one ran on its hands due to its legs being too small, another used its long arms as legs because one of its legs was too short, and another dragged its oversized arms and hands behind it.

Cob managed to outrun most of them, except for one that was just a head and an arm, crawling persistently after him. He quickly glanced around and saw that the towering creature had lost sight of him. Turning back toward the orange glow, he saw the stone tablet but realized it was not the source of the light. Instead, the Unfortunate standing near it was glowing—not its whole body, but the rings in its eye sockets burned a bright orange. This one was different; it had no large limbs and was not entwined with a tree like the others. Instead, it was nailed to a tree, and next to it, the words “the trapped one” were etched into the bark. The Unfortunate clutched the tablet in its hand as if holding a book.

Cob cautiously reached for the tablet when the trapped one uttered, “I…help…you.”

Cob, confused, responded, “What do you mean? Do you mean how you led me to you, or something else?”

The trapped one remained silent as if waiting for something. Cob carefully pulled the tablet from its grasp. The moment he fully removed it, a violent sandstorm erupted, just like in his dream. Strangely, the trapped one vanished. At the same time, the creature spotted Cob and began charging toward him.

Cob panicked, unsure if he would escape, but then the orange glow reappeared—this time in a different location. It was the trapped one, flickering like a dying light bulb and pointing in a specific direction. Cob took off running in that direction. As he ran, he saw the trapped one appear again, pointing toward another path. Behind him, he could hear the creature and a horde of unfortunates closing in.

After several sharp turns, Cob finally reached the large stone painting frame. He spotted a slot for the tablet and quickly inserted it. A bright light burst forth, revealing an opening to his living room. Before stepping through, he glanced back to see if the trapped one was still there. It was, waving goodbye as it flickered away like a dimming light.

Cob turned back toward the portal and sprinted through, barely escaping as the creature lunged after him. He tumbled into his living room, strangely landing softly on the floor. As he caught his breath, he let out a relieved sigh.

Suddenly, almost the entire creature, along with a mass of arms, burst through the portal, trying to follow him. One of its arms, covered in torn, hanging skin, dangled over the threshold like fabric over a candle. Then, without warning, the arm ignited in flames. The creature let out a horrible, unearthly scream: “⍀⏃⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑⊑!”

As the flames spread, the arms thrashed in panic. The painting that had served as the portal began to burn away. Desperate to stop the creature from escaping, Cob grabbed a broom and furiously beat at its arms, shoving it back. The flames consumed the painting, and the creature and its grasping limbs were sucked back into the void. When the last ember faded, nothing remained but ash scattered on the table and floor.

Exhausted but victorious, Cob exhaled heavily and exclaimed, “Oh my god, finally!”

He grabbed a dustpan, swept up the ashes, and glanced at his watch. Only one or two hours had passed. Dumping the ashes into the trash, he turned off the lights and went to his room. Without hesitation, he collapsed onto his bed, ready for sleep.