My House of Horrors

“The painter is quite creative, painting this from the perspective of the cadaver.” Ma Yin looked at the painting in her hands. She was influenced by the emotions elicited by the painting, and she did not feel so good.

“It’s quite weird, don’t you think? Painting from the cadaver’s perspective, as if it’s a living person… it looks off.” Liu Xianxian glanced at it once before she lost interest. “I have a feeling this painting is for the dead. Perhaps the painter is the cadaver.”

“Stop joking.” Ma Yin put the painting aside. When she prepared to pick up the second painting, her finger accidentally brushed against the canvas, and it felt wet, “It still hasn’t dried?”

She stood where she was with her mind blank. “The painting feels like it just been painted. There has to have been someone else in this storeroom recently, but why would they paint in here? And why paint such a weird topic?”

Ma Yin thought about what Liu Xianxian said before they entered the building. A student saw someone waving at him when he passed by the western section of the campus, and following the shadow, he discovered a seriously ruined cadaver.

Could the painter really be the cadaver? A scary thought appeared in her mind. Ma Yin could not stop herself as she staggered backward. She wanted to stay away from the cupboard, but she was curious about the other painting. Eventually, curiosity won over fear. Ma Yin walked to the cupboard and took out the second painting.

It was an oil painting, and the colors used in the painting were quite depressing. A gray sky, a black crow poking at a startling white body, and a decaying arm poking through the ground.

Such a depressing view of the world, there’s no color at all.

Ma Yin turned to the third painting. It was a painting of a young girl holding an apple. This painting was completely different from the other two. The girl was wearing a cute, vibrant outfit, standing under the neon lights. The apple in her hands was a burst of red. From the background to the character, it was filled with brightness and color, but the painting still gave one an uncomfortable feeling.

The reason was the main character. The little girl was completely different from the rest of the painting. Her exposed skin showed an unnatural gray-ashy color. She held the apple in her hand, wanting to give it a bite, but she knew, even if she did, she would not know the taste of apple. There was a simple desire on the girl’s face; she wanted to know the taste of apple.

Putting down the third painting, Ma Yin looked at the last painting. It was a realistic painting, and it had a dead person as its subject. A normal person might have been uncomfortable, but Ma Yin was unaffected. After her first autopsy class, she understood something. A dead person was categorically different from a living one. A dead person was no different from a cold machine, comprised of complicated parts, but it was a machine that could not run again.

The man in the painting looked at his body, probably wondering whether he could still be called human. After staring at the human portrait in the painting for a long time, Ma Yin suddenly remembered something. She took out her phone and clicked open the video that her sister had sent her before her disappearance. When the video reached twelve-second mark, she pressed pause.

The camera was aimed at the window. A woman was hanging on the windowsill, exposing half of her face. Comparing the face to the painting, Ma Yin suddenly realized that the color of the woman’s skin was similar to all the human characters in the paintings!

What’s going on? One is real since it’s captured on film, but the other is fake because they were painted.

Her arm shook involuntarily. She had a feeling that the woman in the video and the people in the paintings were all looking at her. She put the paintings back into the cupboard and closed it—only then did the feeling disappear.

The main characters of the paintings are all cadavers, so in that case, the woman climbing on the window is also a cadaver? But how could a cadaver climb onto the windowsill?

When the video stopped, the woman by the window was staring at the person behind the camera. Through the screen, Ma Yin felt like the woman was staring at her.

There was a complicated emotion in her eyes—that is not something possible for cadaver.

Ma Yin closed the video. She was quite afraid staring at the woman.

My sister’s disappearance has to do with this woman and these few paintings are my clues.

With her hand on the cupboard door, Ma Yin touched the sticky substance, and she was confused. There is residual formalin on the door, and the paintings are painted from the perspective of the cadaver. Sis disappeared after she saw something similar to a dead body, did the cadavers really come back to life?

“Xiao Yin!” Liu Xianxian’s voice came from behind her. This cowardly girl sounded like she had walked deeper into the storeroom alone.

“Where are you?” Ma Yin could only hear Liu Xianxian’s voice, but she could not see her. There was too much trash in the storeroom blocking her view.

“Xiao Yin!” Liu Xianxian called again. Ma Yin, who had been spooked by the paintings and the video, was cautious. She picked up a broken chair lying to the side and walked toward the sound of the voice. Walking through the racks, she saw a straight shadow standing in an inconspicuous corner of the room.

“Liu Xian?” Ma Yin held the chair with one hand as she raised her phone. Before the light hit the shadow, she felt someone touch her shoulder. “Who is it‽”

Her arm moved, and Ma Yin swung the chair behind her. Just as the chair was about to hit the person, she saw who it was and forced herself to stop. The chair brushed against the person and knocked into the rack, creating a loud bang.

She pulled back her arm. Liu Xianxian was also scared because she did not think Ma Yin would react so violently. “Xiao Yin, what’s wrong with you tonight?”

Putting down the chair, Ma Yin took in a deep breath. “What’s wrong with me? Were you trying to scare me to death by tapping on my shoulder like that?”

“But we’ve been here several times already. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Liu Xianxian thought she saw a twisted expression on Ma Yin’s face for that moment.

“This time’s different. Now I can be sure someone has been in here before us!” Ma Yin was suddenly reminded of something. She aimed her phone at the corner!

“Where is he?” The corner was completely empty.

“Xiao Yin, stop scaring me. Who is here other than us?” Liu Xianxian stood behind Ma Yin. “Even if someone was here, he must have left already.”

“No, he’s still here. I just saw him with my own eyes!” Ma Yin could not have imagined that, while they were searching through the storeroom, there was another person in there with them. “We have to leave immediately. I have a very bad feeling.”

Ma Yin picked up the chair from the floor and tried to persuade Liu Xianxian to leave.

“No, we cannot go now.” Liu Xianxian stood her ground as she held onto Ma Yin’s arm. “I just came back from the other side of the storeroom. I found the statue.”