SHORT HORROR STORIES

THE PICTURE

I loved the realistic appearance of this piece of artwork, the painter has used the perfect combination of colors to make such a beautiful picture of under the sea with different types of fish and the varying shades of coral it looked almost alive . I looked at the price tag which read five dollars. I instantly grabbed it and took it to the counter. I hung it on the wall in my room in the hostel, just then my roommate Anya burst through the front door. " okay I am wearing a pink dress to the prom, please tell me you are also not planning to wear pink, I don't want our dresses to clash." She announced while settling down on a chair. I rolled my eyes, " don't worry I am wearing a red dress", I replied. Anya unlike me always gets excited about social gatherings especially with her attire. She is always well dressed just like now ,dressed in a mini green dress with matching high heel shoes while I am wearing a plain grey shirt with blue jeans and sneakers. "Oh my god,did you just buy that picture?, Jesus Julia you were suppose to buy the shoes for tonight," she exclaimed." I did ,these shoes were on discount and they will look great with my red dress", saying so I pulled out a shoe box from the plastic bag. She immediately snatched it from me and took out the shoes while dropping the box after examining it closely she handed it back to me. "These are great but the one we chose yesterday were excellent, you should have bought those", saying so she walked away. She never liked my choice of shopping, there were many more differences we had, but despite all that we had been best friends for three whole years.
I sighed with a sense of relief as I entered my room, the hostel is practically empty I guess I am the only person who decided to leave the prom early. I never really liked parties, prom etc, I literally would prefer staying in my room and be on Facebook rather than socialize with people face to face. I checked the time , it was quarter to nine. Realizing how tired I was I had my bath and went to sleep.
I felt like being chased, no matter how fast I ran It kept gaining on me, finally it caught me. Startled I woke up , it was just a dream falling on my back I tried to go back to sleep but I couldn't. Maybe I need a glass of water, I got out of bed switched on the light and started to make my way to the kitchen. On the way I glanced at the picture on the wall it made me freeze at that spot, I concentrated on it, all the fishes were GONE, how can this be possible?. Starring closely I saw a faint tiny white spot appear in the center of the painting. It began to grow larger rapidly, suddenly a MASSIVE LARGE MOUTH with SHARP FANGS appears in front of me, terrified I fall to the ground and scramble backwards. I couldn't believe my eyes, A large shark just emerged out of that picture and was swimming across the room in mid air. It stared at me snarling and baring its terrible teeth, it began to swim towards me as I screamed loudly. Just then the door opens and Anya walks in, the massive creature grabs her in its huge jaws and dives back into the picture,I watch it in extreme horror with every core of my body shaking, swimming farther and farther away taking my best friend with it.
The next morning , I was still sitting in that exact position, frozen on the spot. I heard multiple knocking on the door, I didn't bother to open the door. The warden unlocks the door and Comes towards me.
" Julia, child are you okay ?,.... you seemed to be scared where is Anya ? , ........jade and Kathy said she told them she is heading back to the hostel before leaving the prom?, .......where is she?", the warden kept asking pausing between questions waiting for me to answer. " It to....OK he ...er", I stammered in fright. "Who took her?" , she asked.
Gathering courage I told her everything. Some of the girls gathered in my room and began to comfort me. A few hours later three male police officers entered the room one of them approached me and asked " hello Julia, my name is Timothy ....I need you to honestly tell whether Anya came here last night or did she call you and say she will be somewhere else." I confessed everything to him, "look tell us the truth and stop telling crazy stories", he continued in annoyance. This angered me, I grabbed his collar violently making him choke, " do you think I would lie about this, I am telling the truth!",I screamed. The other two officers pulled me away from him while everyone else hurried out of the room as the police officers walked out they locked the door. I pressed my right ear against the surface of the door. " we still are not able to get access to Anya s mobile, her whereabouts are still unknown, in the meantime I would suggest you don't let Julia out she seems to be in a shock", the police officer claimed.
By nightfall a heavy storm with lightning began to brew outside. At midnight my heart started to pound heavily, I felt my vision going blurry due to fright. I looked at the picture, the fishes were gone, the white spot reappeared it began to grow bigger and bigger, finally the fatal monster reappeared it wasted no time in catching me between its jaws, its sharp razor teeth dug deep into my stomach, I cried out a agonizing scream but it is overpowered by the sound of thunder clapping, finally it dives back into the picture swimming farther away, taking my lifeless body with it.