short scary stories

Night Shift

The night shift at an art museum is a fairly easy job: cleaning up, locking the doors, and especially making sure no hooligans tried breaking in. Easy pay for such a simple job. But on this night–this cold, cold night, it was different. The guard sat in the back room, watching the cameras, waiting to jump into action at the slightest movement just so he wasn't so bored, when finally, he got his wish. The camera to the back door glitched for a second and then went black. The night guard, excited by the situation, got up and went outside to the back door. Upon his inspection, the camera seemed to be working just fine, 'maybe just a lost signal?', he thought. The night guard, who was disappointed by the lack of action, made his way back into the security office. He sat down for a short second until he saw something suspicious on the main floor camera. He leaned forward in his seat and made out a small image of what looked to be one of the museum's audio tour devices. Once again the night guard made his way out of the office and down the hallway onto the main floor. In the quiet of the room, he could hear the device's audio playing through the headphones. He saw the device laying on the floor and looked left and right to see if anyone was in the room with him. The guard could've sworn he had not seen this on the floor earlier when he was locking the front doors; he would've seen it if it was. The guard kneeled down and picked up the device. He held the headphone to his ear to hear the tour guide talking about one of the museum's newer paintings, the one the public stayed away from the most due to its eeriness. The guard turned off the device, but as he did he heard a door open and close, the back door to be specific. With haste, he made his way to the back door, pulling out his flashlight so he could see better. He slammed open the door and quickly looked left and right to see if he could see anyone walking away from the door, but he didn't see anyone one or anything around. He closed the door and made sure it was locked before heading back into his office. He decided he would check the cameras to see if he could find the culprit that opened the door, but when he looked at the cameras he saw that there were two more besides the back door camera that were now completely black. The guard took a breath trying to calm down, but to his luck he heard a crashing sound coming from one of the rooms. He made his way back out of the office, more cautious this time, and back down the dark hallway. The main room was clear so he made his way into the next room which was also clear. That left the final room that he didn't want to go into. This room held the eerie painting that everyone avoided. One day this painting showed up at the back door of the museum, no name on it and no note, but the workers decided to hang it up instead of letting it sit outside. The painting was of a beautiful woman with long black hair, a beauty mark under her left eye, and a straight face like she had no desire to be painted. She was a beautiful woman, but the way she stared into the viewer's eyes made her seem almost alive and like she knew everything about anyone. The guard was especially scared of the painting. He didn't like the idea of being alone with the painting, but if the job made him good money, then he was willing to do anything for it, including spending the night in the same building as the painting. And when the guard finally made his way into the last room, he saw that same eerie painting laying on the floor face down. He slowly approached the painting, hesitant to touch it as if it were some kind of germ. He lifted it up, avoiding eye contact with the woman, and hoisted her back onto the hooks that held her painting on the wall. The feeling of being stared at so intensely bothered him so he decided to look back at the painting. To his shock he saw the painting dripping with a dark liquid which covered his hands. The guard let out a loud scream as he fell to the ground, kicking himself away from the painting. He whipped out his flashlight and pointed it at his hands to see them covered in blood. He quickly whipped it off on his uniform and pointed the flashlight at the painting. The painting was now almost completely covered in blood except for the woman's eyes who continued staring straight at the guard. The guard looked around the room in panic, and as if his night couldn't get any worse, he saw all of the paintings dripping with blood. He let out another scream and rushed up, leaving his flashlight behind as he ran out of the room. As the guard ran out of the room and down the hall, he felt his head spinning and his hearing was starting to get cloudy to the point where he could only hear his panicked breathing. He rushed into the office and slammed the door behind him, locking it. The guard slid down the door and collapsed as he tried to calm down his breathing. What could explain this strange event happening to him? Was it the multiple cups of coffee making him hallucinate? Maybe the lack of sleep? Or maybe the stress of having to work every day to provide for himself? The guard asked himself all of the questions, but he had no answer to any of them. Then he felt the familiar liquid coming from under the door. Blood was now starting to flood the room and the guard quickly got up trying to open the office door, but there was no hope. He was jammed in there with no escape. He whipped his body around and looked at the screen of security cameras that have all been turned black. He looked around the room in panic trying to desperately find a way out of the room when suddenly the cameras all turned back on again, but this time each camera showed him. He watched himself on the screen as the blood was now up to his waist. He splashed through the thick liquid trying his best to slam the door open. The blood reached his stomach, then his neck, and finally, as the guard took his last panicked breath, the blood had covered his head.

The next day the workers showed up to work. They unlocked the doors, flipped on the lights, and made their way around the building making sure everything was nice and orderly. Suddenly a scream was heard from down the hall and when the workers rushed their way to the source of the scream, they stood horrified as they saw the night guard. The guard was dead with his skin pale, his eyes wide open, and an almost shocked expression on his face. Later that night the workers learned that his cause of death was due to a heart attack, as to what caused the heart attack they'll never know. There are only two people that know what happened that night; the night guard, and the eerie painting of a beautiful woman with long black hair, a beauty mark under her left eye, and a small smile on her face like she knew everything about everyone.

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Word count: 1303

i wrote this in a half hour about two weeks ago for a short story english assignment that was due at the end of class so ofc this is steaming hot garbage. i think a lot of what my writing has in common is that i dont think and i just write which explains the lack of plot.

also if you didn't catch it the painting started off with no smile but at the end it changed to having a smile. and the painting is based of tomie from the junji ito collection because i think she's really pretty but also has the best story <3

i also dont proof read bc im too cool so idc