Strange Painting

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A cryptic story.

One day I was assigned to clean up the art room at school **
I wanted to go home as soon as possible, so I was doing it very fast when I noticed a painting hanging on the wall.
It was a portrait of a very beautiful woman but it was a little creepy and had a distinctive look around her eyes.
It felt like her large eyes were looking at me.
I got a bit scared and quickly finished cleaning up and went home.

Next day the school was in commotion.
The painting in the art room got stolen.
Because I was the last person to have seen it, the art teacher pounded me with questions.

"So you're saying it was still there when you were cleaning up."
"That's right. Was the painting expensive?"
"The painting's entitled  'Sleeping Beauty' and it was given to me by my artist friend who painted his own daughter while she slept. It's not worth much. Both the painter and the daughter already passed away too."

"I see...."

The painting in the end was never found.
Strangely they didn't find any traces of someone breaking in.


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** Japanese school kids are often ordered to clean their own classrooms during lunch break and/or after school.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Ahh... If the painting is entitled 'Sleeping Beauty', and is a painting of the artist's sleeping daughter then why would the portraits eyes be open?

Interesting, heh.
Rizuki said…
ok that creeps me out ._.
thanks for your hardworks saya
Lone Plague said…
So because the painter painted his daughter sleeping, it would be rather odd for the painting to be staring... ~_~
DonAbad said…
Pretty easy to figure out: if he painted her while she was asleep, how come her eyes were open?

But then again, that gives us something else to consider....Maybe her eyes were open because she was actually dead when the picture was painted.... <__<
Fai said…
OMG WHEN HE/SHE SAW THE PAINTING THE EYES WERE OPEN, but it was a painting of a little girl sleeping the eyes should've been closed *captain obvious flies away*
togecrazy said…
cryptic yet still creepy, welcome back saya...
Tenshi said…
Like the others said, this one wasn't too hard to figure out.. But then, it's still terribly creepy! Thanks for the good work, Saya
It all gets more creepy, at least for me, the fact that not only it stared at him, but it had vanished the next day. If you think about it she was entitled Sleeping Beauty.. and the sleeping beauty wakes up only for the prince, right? Guess who just won himself an otherwordly stalker.
Anonymous said…
uwah, that's pretty creepy! nice to hear from you again saya-san!! i hope you're feeling better?
Anonymous said…
@tenshi wow I never realised that the ghost was stalking him now. I got the reason why it was creepy but still figuring out why it went missing until i read your comment.
Kiera said…
Saya-sama~

The painting was supposed to be of a SLEEPING girl, right? So why was she staring at him? I also thought she might've come out of the painting and then taken the thing with her.. It's a possibility, right? XD
~Kiera
Unknown said…
I think the woman in that painting had died when she was being painted...
And 'sleeping beauty' can also means a beautiful woman who has already been dead, right?

Besides, the staring eyes are creepy...

By the way, Saya, I'm very happy to find your blog. It's wonderful blog, lots of interesting stuffs! I'm also a big fan of the creepy.
FNGunplar said…
Saya San welcome back!
I was so worried because you were missing for days since halloween, i thought you did some scary games and something happened lol. But maybe you are just so busy, right? Anyway, i have to admit that this is truly one of your cryptics that really give me goosebumps! Usually cryptics always make me laugh but this time i rather feel scared. Good job anyway. Hope you'll always be healthy and rock!! ;)
Anonymous said…
Maybe the woman in the painting died during the creation of the painting. Then she finally woke up in the form of the painting and walked away, thinking she was still alive
~桔子~ said…
Glad Saya san is back :)

I think the readers have pretty sound explanations. Creepy!!
Sadae said…
If she was asleep at the time her father painted the portrait, why where here eyes open? OMG creepy. I hate when I feel a picture or painting is staring at me.
Moxie said…
I can't believe I figured this one out! I NEVER figure them out and have to read the comments! Yay! More please, Saya!
nunu said…
The whole time he was cleaning the eyes were open and looking at him? That would give me nightmares!!

Glad to see you're posting again, Saya-san. I hope you're well now. Thank you for this story.
BlueRio said…
The painting entitled "Sleeping Beauty" but why does the eye of the girl in the painting open??damn that gave me creeps....it's been a long time saya..glad to see you back.. ^^
Kikasa said…
It could be that she was actually sleeping with her eyes open! That's creepier when I think about it D:
Hidekichin! said…
its pretty scary XD when i read a comment that states she was dead whwn she was painted O.O
that scare me ;c
Thanks saya u awesome like always
regorgitated said…
Hello, dear Saya. How do you do? Hope you're feeling better.

This story reminded me about an article I read when I was a kid. It was about a woman who bought a strange abstract painting depicting something like a female figure. Since that time the woman started to have weird dreams about this figure coming out of the painting and choking her. Once the woman awoke and saw this figure standing nearby, its hands on the woman's throat. After that the figure returned back inside the painting. This story seems to be rather primitive, but still it impressed me at that time, and that's why i always feel a bit uneasy when reading creepy stories about paintings.

Anyway, thank you for the translation! Hope you will recover soon!
Kelly said…
Saya you make me feel so creepy because I did a photograph like that as a cd commission. I keep imagining opening my photo one day and the eyes being open. >_> I feel very creepy for creating this photo now, it's a dark interpretation of sleeping beauty.

This is my photo:
http://classically-fragile.deviantart.com/art/sleeping-beauty-syndrome-II-305465661

hehe I think it fits the story sort of XD
RRayhan S said…
my first thought that the artist paint her daughter as memento of the day when she's died XD

but as Kikasa said, yeah it's creepier if she was sleeping with her eyes open! probably it was some sort of syndrome or something.

btw @Kelly that was such a beautiful portraits! and seems ur gallery full with sleeping-related themes LOL
Kelly said…
Thank you Rei :) and I think sometimes I like fairy tales too much. XD I was working on stuff for my vogue italia profile for a while so I was taking a lot of darker things and it made people think I was a creepy person.
blackrealm said…
Wait wait wait wait

¿Yhe paiting was when she was assleep?

Bu her eyes were looking at him?

......That girl was in the cold dream then.

Or maybe she can sleep with her eyes open, i wanna do that.
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~桔子~ said…
It's been a while since this post from Saya san. I hope she is well :)
Adorably Dead said…
I never did quite like paintings of people looking directly at you. And now I won't like them of people sleeping either.
Anonymous said…
Where the painting when to? Moreover, was the spirit of the dead subject stolen the painting?