Chapter 13

**Acacia Point of View**

I was surprised at the maintenance of these portraits. I can bet all my money on it that these paintings are from a few eras back.

They are not painted recently. The strokes, lines, method and colors used is a clear evidence that these paintings are from at least half a dozen centuries back.

I have to give it to whoever was responsible for their maintenance; they took their job pretty seriously. There isn't a speck of dust, no scratches, no rust on the frames or no damage of paper.

This particular portrait of a young man stood from the tip of roof to the tip of floor. It occupied the whole wall but give how grand the man looked and how defined the painting is, the size isn't awkward or out of place.

The man in the painting did not just look regal, he looked terrifying. The glare in his eyes is enough to keep ghosts. It was subtle but has great weight to it.

"Who exactly is he? Who are all these people from the portraits?"

Wait, if this is not where the sais mysterious person is staying, then why was this room locked and where exactly is he?

Does he even live here?

With the punctuality I receive my food and other things, with how I was being watched and how I was saved from disasters frequently, he should be somewhere close to me.

Hell, the whole place is kept so intact and tidy, he should be here, in this fort. If so, then where is this person?

Why is finding this person is like getting stuck in a maze. Everything is a puzzle with no logical hint.

Looking down at my slightly protruded stomach, I rubbed my hand against it and frowned.

How did I end up like this? All I wanted was to find that person and ask him why and how this baby happened. I just wanted to know why I'm being locked here.

I just wanted to go home, to my family, to my friends.

No matter how much I try to find something useful about this place and island, it always ends up with more questions and no answers.

Until moments ago, there was a small hope that if I could open this secret room, I would get some answers but this secret room turned out to be a dud.

Everything is back to square one again.

I walked to the portrait of the young man and tapped it to see if there is any hidden locker or case inside it. When I found nothing, I continued to tap all the walls and floor for some kind of secret chamber or underground tunnels.

Forts like these, they usually have these secret passages and chambers.

Standing before the painting of a young man, I started to observe it keenly again so as to find something useful.

My eyes scanned it every corner from top to bottom but no matter how many times I look at it, it is nothing but a normal painting.

I nearly gave up and turned to go back when, for a fleeting moment, I thought I saw something. Turning back again to the portrait, when I looked at it again, there was nothing strange about it.

Biting down my lower lip with interest, I walked closed to the picture and stood on the far right end of it. Putting my bet on my instincts, I leaned against the frame and looked at the painting from side angle with a peripheral view.

I knew I was crazy to try something like that. I mean what will you find when you look at a mere painting from a marginal view?

It's not like this was a 3D picture!

And then, my thought was proved wrong. What I saw made me gasp and I started to chant "Impossible"

"This is impossible. What the heck is this?" I spoke as I rolled my eyes to have a better view of the whole picture.

From the extreme side angle, half the picture of the man disappeared and in the place is only the outline of his figure.

One part of vertical half of him was real painting and the other half disappeared with only an outline of his body. Like the other half is just air and there was nothing there to begin with.

What stunned me the more was the man's outline itself. The picture was unexplainable. I don't know how to put it in words.

Clearly a painting of this old cannot have a 3D effect. Even if it does, what is the meaning of having half a person being wiped out with nothing but an outline of him?

I stumbled a couple steps back from the picture and stopped when my legs hit a chair behind me. Walking back to the first portrait, the picture of an old stout man, I hurriedly bent and took a peripheral view of the painting.

Just like I thought! Half of the man was not there with only airy outline of body left.

And so does every other picture in the room.

"What exactly does it mean? The portraits are painted in such a way; this can't be just some advanced art."

There is some significance behind it. What is it?

I can see that everything that has been happening to me was not humanly natural incidents. From the moment I woke up on this island, everything was like a fantasy drama featured in Netflix.

If I didn't know better, I would think I'm haunted by a ghost.

But I know better. I'm pregnant and that means everything that is happening to me is very much human.

Going back to the painting of the handsome young man, I raised my hand and touched the painting to know there was some trick applied but found none.

The base of the painting was not a paper but a cloth there was nothing used that could give a painting 3D trick.

"Something is not right." I told myself as I continued to touch the portrait. "Everything seems very much right and that is not right."

Shaking my head, I went to look at the picture from the side line again. My eyes moved towards the invisible half of the man and continued to scrutinize it.

It was just like how they show invisibility of ghosts in movies and dramas. Like they have an appearance but just the outline of it.

Running my tongue over my dry lips, I lifted my left hand and moved it towards the invisible half of the crown on his head.

Lightly, with a feathery touch, I started trailing a finger over the outline. My eyes widened in shock when I was halfway down trailing the face.

W- what is this?

I retreated my hand as if it touched fire and went back to look at the picture in a normal manner. When there was no difference in it, I took small hesitant steps to look at it from the side line again.

"So I wasn't imagining things." I thought when I saw void filled until the finger was traced.

How is this possible?

How can a painting appear with just a finger touch?

I went back to tracing the outline and was staggered to see the invisible part appearing as my finger trailed the place.

As my finger touched the void space, it started to fill. As I saw the wonder happening right before me, my heart started to pound in my chest with fear.

As if there wasn't enough fear in me, every day one new thing appears to scare me off.

I began to feel hollowness inside my stomach as I traced the picture. My other hand went to stomach and rubbed it to ease it but seems like the baby inside is uncomfortable too.

Once done, the picture was now full and the void has long gone. Now the question is, how?

How can a painting on a cloth turn visible and invisible with just a touch?

Placing a hand on my racing heart, I gulped down the lump formed in my throat. Biting down on my lower lip, my hand shook as stepped back from the picture.

"Bloody hell, if this goes on, I will die from shock. Am I too coward or is this place beyond creepy." My voice trembled.

This is absurd.

My eyes blinked back the sudden dizziness that was attacking me again. Goodness, I have been fainting every day after I landed here.

I used to be a healthy girl but the moment I landed on this island, I was sick, pregnant or dizzy from fear.

Acacia...

I heard the whisper of my name again after months and it was the same voice that led me to this castle. It was the voice of the same man but I heard this voice somewhere else too.

Where else I hear this voice?

On deep consideration, I remembered where I heard it.

Acacia...

My breath hitched and my body trembled when my name was whispered again.

Isn't this the same voice I heard in my dream the other night?

**~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello Sweeties,

Next chapter is here. Enjoy!

What do you think about the chapter? Good?

How is the story proceeding? Are you able to follow the pace and plot?

Is the painting really a 3D one or was it something else?

Why do you think is the man from the painting half invisible?

Why is it visible when she touched it?

Who was calling Acacia?

Do you think Acacia is too much of a coward and weak to be fainting every day?

Do you guys understand her situation?