About a week later, Rowen was on his way to the bathroom. It was somewhere in the vicinity of two in the morning and he found himself unable to sleep. He couldn't put a finger on the cause, yet, but this was the third time this week he was having sleep troubles. As he neared the bathroom, he suddenly had the feeling that he was being watched. Frowning, he turned to look behind him, but no one was there.
-That was odd…- Continuing on, he passed the painting, noting the soft glow the artist had painted on a discarded doll on the floor near the chair. That caused him to do a double take. -Hey! When was THAT in the painting?-
There was no mistaking the doll for a mind trick. Her entire form had a soft white glow around it. It was then Rowen felt like he was being watched again. Unnerved, he hurried to the bathroom. He wanted to be away from that picture as soon as possible. -What in the HELL was Cye thinking when he bought that!-
The next morning, Cye came into the kitchen and was surprised to see Rowen already there. In different clothes, even.
"Good morning, Rowen. You're up early today?" For the smile he gave the other boy, he received a forlorn look in return. "What's the matter?"
"What… exactly attracted you to that picture in the first place?"
"I don't see how that--"
"Please?"
Cye frowned slightly. Rowen didn't usually interrupt him like that. "…I can't really describe it. I suppose it was the feeling I got when I looked at it. Why do you ask?"
"It gives me the willies. When I was walking towards the bathroom, it felt like I was being watched."
"That was probably just the darkness messing with your mind."
Rowen shot a look at Sage, who had just entered and was getting himself a cup of tea. "An' then I saw a doll on the floor by the chair in the picture. Had a glow of white paint around it."
Kento and Ryo had entered in time for Rowen's last sentence. "'Fraid not, Ro. If there was something like that in there, we would have noticed it when Cye first showed us."
"It WAS there, I tell you. I saw it with my own eyes."
"I think you should quit reading spooky stories before bed."
"You, too, Ryo? Did you even LOOK at the painting this morning?"
"Of course I did. But only because I got the feeling that I HAD to look. Didn't see a doll, though."
Sage seated himself in the chair on Rowen's left and gave Ryo a questioning look. "You "HAD" to?"
"Yeah. It was such an odd feeling. Especially since I haven't felt the need to look at the thing since the first couple of days it's been there." He frowned. "Lately, it's been… Well, I can't quite explain it, but it's creepy."
"Oh, come on, you guys." Cye wagged a fork at them. "Am I the only one here NOT bothered by that silly painting?"
A resounding "Yes!" answered him, Sage's voice not among the others. No, he was too busy drinking his tea and thinking about what Ryo and Rowen had said. He just couldn't believe Rowen's account, for one. The blue haired boy had a habit of late night reading and Sage thought he might have been trying to transpose a part of the book on to the picture. On the other hand, Ryo was quite open with his feelings and not all that good a liar. So the two accounts together were rather troubling. Sage concluded that further study of the subject in question was in order. However, after breakfast, as his stomach was reminding him he hadn't eaten yet.
----
Later that day, Sage finally found the time to stand in front of the painting in the hallway. There wasn't anything about it that struck him as unusual; only the sad, depressing feeling of the piece he noted when he first saw it. No dolls, no feeling like he was being watched, no creepiness… Just a regular picture of a room.
Shaking his head, he turned away from the wall and walked out to the living room. Cye and Kento were already there, though there was no sign of Rowen or Ryo. He sat himself next to Cye and picked up the day's newspaper.
"Did you find anything unusual?" Kento asked, looking up from the manga he was reading.
"No. It's the same as it was the day Cye brought it home."
"Oh." He went back to reading.
"Just as I thought." Cye added. "Though, if it really bothers everyone else that much, I won't be too heartbroken if we take it down."
"Are you sure? You were really excited about having it."
"I'm sure, Sage." He sighed. "Besides, I think it might be starting to affect Rowen and Ryo."
"You mean even more than this morning?"
"Yes. I've seen them do whatever they could to either hurry past it or cover it up so they didn't have to deal with it."
"I think it's cursed."
Sage and Cye turned to look at Kento. He was focused on his book, but it had definitely been his voice that said it. Casting a quick glance at Cye, Sage asked, "Why do you think that?"
"Because," The boy marked his page and sat the book aside. "I hear it call my name when I go to the bathroom at night." Even though he had put the book down, Kento still hadn't looked at his friends.
"How can you be sure it was the picture, though? There aren't any people in it." Cye offered the boy a smile, but it went unseen. "Perhaps you were just not fully awake at the time…?"
Kento shook his head, finally looking at the others. "I was awake. I could maybe buy being half asleep if my name had been whispered. But it wasn't, Cye. It was said in the same tone as you're using to talk to me right now."
"Why didn't you say something earlier?"
"I didn't think you'd believe me. You know how I tend to overreact sometimes."
The other two nodded in agreement. Though both knew Kento didn't like being spooked, the fact that he waited so long to tell them his own experience led them to believe he was telling the truth on the matter. The three of them sat in silence for a while, not really having anything else to discuss. It was sometime later that they heard the front door open and close. As Kento stood to go greet whoever came home, the smell of pizza hit his nostrils. That was followed by two teens, both of which were smiling.
"We picked up some dinner for us." Ryo held up a pizza box and Rowen continued, "Thought since we were out, we might as well bring home something that wasn't giving off creepy vibes."
Cye ignored the comment about his painting; instead he chose to respond to something else. "Where did you two go? It was rather quiet, here, without you."
"Went to the park." Ryo answered. "We just had to get away for a while."
The five of them relocated to the kitchen and settled down to enjoy their dinner.
