Michael found the house through a small advertisement.
The rent was surprisingly low.
The owner told him the house had been empty for years but needed someone to take care of it.
Michael did not ask too many questions.
He moved in on a Friday afternoon.
The house was old but comfortable.
There was only one thing that bothered him.
A large photograph hung on the hallway wall.
It showed a family standing outside the same house.
There were five people.
A father.
A mother.
Two children.
And an old woman.
Michael assumed the photograph had been left behind by the previous owners.
On his first morning, he noticed something strange.
The family in the photograph seemed to be standing closer to the house.
He thought it was his imagination.
The next morning, the old woman was standing beside the front door.
Michael stared at the photograph for several minutes.
He remembered clearly that she had been standing near a tree.
He took a picture of the photograph with his phone.
The next morning, something even stranger happened.
One of the children had moved.
The boy was now standing on the stairs.
Michael became uncomfortable.
He searched the internet for information about the house.
He found an old newspaper report.
The article mentioned a family who had disappeared from the house nearly thirty years earlier.
Five people.
Exactly five.
Michael read the article twice.
According to the report, no bodies were ever found.
That evening, he returned home early.
The photograph was still hanging in the hallway.
But now there were six people inside it.
Michael froze.
The sixth person was standing at the very back.
He was wearing the same shirt Michael had on.
Michael stepped closer.
The person in the photograph looked exactly like him.
Then the figure slowly raised one hand.
Michael stepped backward.
The photograph fell from the wall.
The glass shattered.
For several seconds, nothing happened.
Then Michael heard footsteps upstairs.
Slow footsteps.
Someone was walking toward the stairs.
He looked up.
Nobody was there.
His phone suddenly rang.
It was an unknown number.
Michael answered.
There was silence.
Then a whisper said:
"You are in the picture now."
The call ended.
Michael turned toward the broken photograph.
The family was still there.
But the sixth person was gone.
He looked around the hallway.
Then he heard a knock from inside the wall.
Three times.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Michael slowly realized that the sound was coming from behind the photograph.
He picked it up.
Behind the broken frame was a small wooden door.
The door had not been there before.
And from the other side, someone whispered his name.
Author: Asadullah Galib Al Sadi