I am not an artist, nor an art collector, but appreciate the finer things in life. The meticulous details which normally one tends to overlook. This habit of minute scrutiny of things can turn into a nightmare sometimes.
Let me tell you what happened.
I was a regular visitor of a particular art gallery. Every week there used to be new displays, held by different artists some were very prominent, some were novice. Visiting the gallery was time well spent in the evenings for me as I lived alone.
Every one knew me there and appreciated my comments as a critic (though I was not). I just said what I saw and felt. One evening as I was going through a new set of displays, I saw this painting of a mirror.
An exquisite gold mirror- its frame work was so simple yet so intricate in all details. It had a woman’s head gilded on one side with a long braid at the corner, then at bottom there was a body of a fish and the other end was the other half of the face, very distorted.
The mirror was plain and clear. It was an unusual subject for a painting. I was very impressed with the artist. I asked him how had he decided on this theme. The artist honestly said that he had not painted this, but he had found it abandoned on the road side. He had picked it up, restored it a bit and put it up for sale. I guessed that’s why the other half of the face was not very clearly restored. I wanted this painting. The artist gave it to me without any hesitation.
I was a very happy man and placed it, in the centre of the wall of my small apartment. I placed it in such a way that I could see that painting from any corner of the apartment.
Late that night I was admiring the drawing with a magnifying glass, appreciating all the finesse when suddenly I felt that there was a shadow in the corner of the mirror. I was petrified. I was sure it was not there before. I looked again , there was a shadow. Maybe it was there, I had missed it before.
The next evening I had invited some friends to appreciate my prized painting. I was explaining to them the fine details and was deciding on the age of the painting, when I looked again in the mirror, there was no shadow.
We were enjoying the evening, with conversations about various artists, but my eyes were on the painting. After a late night finally every one had left and I had decided to look at the painting again. As I returned from my bedroom with my magnifying glass, I saw the shadow, with my naked eye. This time it was bigger than before. "Ahhh!!," I gave out a cry in terror. I kept on staring at it, and was too scared to let it out of my sight. I sat gazing at it, maybe it was telling me something or was somebody coming out of it ?
I sat there all night, all day mesmerised and was hoping to see someone coming out. I had not eaten, I had not called my workplace, I just sat and stared at the mirror. I could feel the shadow growing slowly, But I could not see any form. Was it a man or a woman? Maybe it was the woman gilded on the frame. If it was true, it would be so wonderful. She was a princess, a maiden with stunning features, long flowing braids, and was engraved in gold.
Suddenly I felt that I had to touch the mirror, so I walked towards the mirror, and just as I was about to touch it. My front door stood wide open and it was that artist from whom I had bought the painting. He had rushed in, threw me on the couch and ripped the painting with a knife. The entire apartment was deafened by a loud chilling cry.
The artist had found the origin of the painting. It was a eighteenth century painting, based on a legend that it was a gateway to the unknown dark side of the world. Anyone who had gazed it for a long period of time, had found himself on the other side.
The last owner too had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. So it had been left abandoned on the road side and it was waiting for another prey.
