SWNOVELS Chapter The research
I click on a blog called ‘the crying boy’. It’s all people talking about their experiences with the crying boy painting and how they immediately got rid of it, because of it story behind it and they were scared of their house burning down.
I leave the blog and go see different articles but one catches my eye, on hauntedpaintings.com, about this man that had this painting hung on his wall since he can remember. He always thought it was a painting of a family member until someone from his school came over and said that the painting told him something and he researched it online and found the articles about the cursed painting. Which was exactly the one hanging in his living room.
He showed his mother and mother couldn’t believe her eyes and told him it’s been in the family for generations. He swears that nothing bad has ever happened to his home or what so ever, no fires, nothing, but sadly, with all the known evil about this painting, his family made the decision to get rid of it. That night their house burned down, everyone made it out alive and the only thing that made it out of the fire was the painting, hanging on the wall at its original place. What was weird was how did the painting get back on the wall and the firefighter couldn’t find any explanation on how the fire started.
He explained that he himself did some research and found out that there’s a way to break the curse is by hanging the crying girl painting next to him. Bring the two of them together, brings your home good luck, cancelling out the bad luck. Others claim that being kind to the print can also bring good luck.
Still, to this day in 2022 they do not know how come the painting survives the fires. Some say it’s because it has a fireproof vanish on top of it. Some say the tears on the boy’s face take out the flames. Some say it’s because it’s pure evil.
I leave the article, I come across a video on YouTube. A video from the sun in 2002, setting my painting of my sweet boy on fire. It breaks my heart. The two men take gas, pour it all over him, light a match on fire, and throw it right at him. The frame catches on fire, but the painting is flame free. I’m amazed.
I’ve had enough. My painting isn’t evil. It was just mistreated over and over again, over the years, and he defended himself in the only way he could. I would never mistreat him, so I know deep in my heart he will never hurt me or my home. He’s family now. It did say in the article that if you treat him kindly, he brings good luck.
I close my laptop, get up, and head into the dining room. I look at my sweet boy. I got my first boy ripped away from me. No one’s going to rip you away from me. You’re my sweet boy. I walk to him and gently slide my index finger on his cheek. I can feel him.
“Why would anyone hurt you?” I whisper, with a tear falling down my cheek.
“You’re starting to scare me Kathleen!” My husband speaks. I didn’t know he was watching me.
“Oh you’re here. How am I scaring you?” I ask. I glance at him.
“Why are you crying?” He comes to me and hugs me.
“I don’t know! I feel a connection to the painting. He was a helpless little boy that got burned alive, he died alone” I say hugging him back.
“I know it’s sad, but it’s not your fault” he reminds me, he’s right.
“I know but he was helpless, just like I was when I lost our baby boy” I express.
“Honey, that too wasn’t your fault” he hugs me hard.
“I know! Please don’t make me lose him too” I beg.
“It’s dangerous to keep Kathleen!” He becomes serious.
“No it’s not! I did my research! Yes, there is some odd, unexplainable stuff about this painting, but he is harmless if you don’t mistreat it. He actually brings good luck if you treat him right” I explain. I wish he understands.
“Are you hearing yourself? Do you hear how crazy you sound!” He says, annoyed.
“I’m not fucking crazy” I cry.
“You acting crazy right now! Crying over a painting we just got yesterday! He’s not our son” he yells. I know he’s not my son, but in some ways, I feel like we were destined to find each other.
“You don’t want to see him! Fine! I’ll take him into my office!” I take my sweet boy off the wall and go into my office.
I walk into my office, and I set my sweet boy on my desk chair. I go downstairs to the garage, grab a hammer and a couple nails. I walk back to my office and look around. Where should I put him? Not next to the window. That’s when I see it right in front of where I sit on the wall. I take the hammer and nail the nail into the wall, grab him and hang him. I sit in my desk chair and look at him.
“I’m so sorry you had to hear that!” I say to him.
That’s when I noticed, right under his right eye, it looks like there’s something coming out of his eye. It looks like water damage, but the weird thing is.. it’s coming straight out of his eye.
“Have you been crying?” I ask him.
I felt his answer in my body, getting shivers. He has!
“Don’t cry my sweet boy, I’m here” I whisper and press my cheek against his.
I sit back down in my desk chair and open my laptop to see if my boss sent me any < emails. He did. I open it.