After lunch was over and the dishes were cleared away, the friends gathered in Tiffany's room; on one hand to check out their invalid friend, and on the other hand, to re-examine the portrait, which had caused such a fuss before the commencement of their trip to Kaohsiung on the previous day.
As described by Claire, Tiffany was not any better and remained in an unconscious state and as expected, the woman in the portrait remained missing and the portrait remained firmly attached to the wall, unwilling to move no matter how hard they tried.
"I have a hunch that both Jeff's dream and Tiffany's illness have something to do with this portrait," mused Shaun after he tried again to move the steadfast painting. "But, unfortunately, the woman in the portrait is gone and Jeff never saw the original portrait, so I am afraid it's no longer possible to test out the validity of my hypothesis."
"Actually, it's not entirely impossible," replied Blythe, who had been silent all this while. "As you know, I have photographic memory, so I might just be able to sketch out the figure of the woman in the portrait, although I can't guarantee its precision, which will be limited by my artistic ability."
After they all agreed upon the decision, Blythe ran to her room to fetch a pencil and a piece of paper and started to draw. In less than half an hour's time, Blythe has completed her work, which had such a high level of resemblance to the original artwork such that everyone was speechless with astonishment.
"OMG, Blythe! This is like a perfect replica of the original!" exclaimed Eliza, who remembered the painting from when Tiffany first hung it up on the wall. "It's a shame that you haven't studied art at uni!"
"According to your logic, it's a shame that she hasn't studied every single subject at uni, cos she's legit good at everything!" said Claire.
"Claire and Eliza, thanks so much for your compliments, but you're exaggerating!" responded Blythe modestly.
"OMG! This is the beautiful Taiwanese girl in my dream! This is Ahuey!" exclaimed Jeffrey after he had stared at the portrait for several minutes. "I remember everything now, her portrait was drawn after she arrived at Japan."
"Just as I have anticipated," Blythe's grandma walked solemnly into the room. "From the moment I set eyes upon this portrait, I knew that it was no ordinary painting. But, unfortunately, I have underestimated the powers of the evil spirit who has possessed this portrait, and is now inside your friend's body."
"So, you're saying that Ahuey's spirit had possessed this painting after she has died, and now it has possessed Tiffany's body?" enquired Jeffrey. "But, what would such a beautiful girl as her possibly want with Tiffany's ugly face?"
"That's what we haven't figured out from the information available to us," replied Shaun in deep contemplation.
"But, how do we get the evil spirit out of Tiffany's body?" enquired Claire, anxious for her friend.
"If we want to save your friend," continued Blythe's grandma. "We will have to seal the evil spirit back into this portrait. Otherwise, according to Chinese folklore, if your friend's body has been possessed for more than seven days, she might never get it back." They all gasped in horror.
"But how do we seal the evil spirit in the portrait when it's already out?" asked Eliza, horrified by the idea of Tiffany losing her body.
In response, Blythe's grandma calmly walked towards her desk and took out her Chinese calligraphy equipment. A few seconds later, she finished writing a Chinese magic charm written on a piece of paper and started chanting a spell. After she has finished chanting, Blythe's grandma stuck the magic charm onto the portrait.
Will her magic charm work?
~To be Continued~
No comments:
Post a Comment