The photograph hangs on the museum wall, a stark and silent landscape in miniature behind a simple glass display case. The black and white image depicts a children's play area at night; the only illumination that of a single street lamp and the hazy background glow of the moon, obscured by a heavy night mist. The combined effect is both eerie and enticing.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡE4LA8nMtb4
The climbing frame is an old fashioned metal one with an attached collection of swings and slides and it sits atop a gentle hill. Tall trees to either side seem to loom over the empty playground, casting long shadows across the lower half of the image. The entire scene is devoid of human activity, lending a ghostly tone to the work.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0w1zrAL33e
I lean forward a little more, pressing my nose against the cold display case to peer into the shadows of the bottom left corner.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡnL0f6VMJk1
Perhaps not that empty.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡhY53zdqlHC
There, sitting beneath the outstretched boughs of an emaciated tree is a small child. She looks to be no more than seven or eight years old, a petite looking thing with long dark hair and pale skin. Wearing a little white dress, she looks like a ghostly Victorian child. All that is missing is a teddy bear or a sinister doll.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡqI8rhA13E5
Whoever the photographer chose to model for this shot, she was a good choice. Her innocence, surrounded by the gloom of the abandoned playground lends a certain creepiness to the image.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡi1RihYe3Hy
A sudden giggle echoes behind me. With a shudder I step back and look around. The room which houses the photographic collection is empty aside from myself. I shake my head and smile.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5Zxa27ots5
Definitely an unsettling photo...copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5TNek5Pm9t
I turn back to the display in front of me. Reaching out, I tap the glass casing with my fingers. For the briefest moment I imagine movement in the bottom left corner where the little girl sits. I squint into the shadows.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrviKNgYRY
There is no sign of a little girl in the corner of the photo, only the faint outline of a pile of fallen leaves. With a finger, I trace the spot where I thought I had seen the child. The details had been so clear; it's hard to imagine that I had been seeing things.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡxWX46ZbusE
I look away for a second to drop my cumbersome bag to the floor and turn back for a closer look.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡAyxoMSuCeD
There, once more, is the little girl. The shadowy image is playing tricks on my mind. copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5F4BYPoeNf
She sits as she had before, beneath the withered tree; her knees drawn up against her chest. Her gaze is fixed forward as though watching other children playing on the climbing frame in front of her. She looks lonely.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡckbapiaBNC
Another sudden giggle from behind me jolts me from my reverie. I turn just in time to see a small gaggle of children dart through the narrow room. Their cheerful shrieks fade with their footsteps as they run further into the gallery. A frazzled looking woman hurries into the room, casting me nothing more than a cursory glance before darting after her unruly charges.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡgnaOLXGfzU
I wonder at their presence before remembering - a new exhibition has opened this week on the upper levels. I wish the woman luck, but I do not envy her task. The gallery descends once more into silence as I turn back to the photograph.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡSFAXhyMFNA
This time I am certain of it. The little girl has moved.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡV0U7akpkVc
Her pale face stares out at me from behind the glass. Her head has turned, and now her piercing eyes glare straight into mine.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡXcA80l6GBG
My heart jumps in my chest as I stumble backwards. I collide with another display case. My hands are trembling in shock. Blood pounds in my ears. My back is pressed against the cold glass as I examine the photograph from a safe distance - but the image is still and silent. The little girl is sitting once again in calm meditation beneath the tree.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡBtmcrDLejy
There is something very wrong about this photograph. Whether by some trick of the shadows or by design of the artist, the girl had moved; and though I can't quite put my finger on it, there had been something unsettling about her eyes.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡOeyJmJ4L40
I don't like it.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡY2czadUgUv
With a shake of my head I edge forward and snatch up my bag from the floor. Yet despite my unease, I can't help casting one last look.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡWvZjIrWtFf
The creepy child now stands at the forefront of the image. Her small white hands are pressed against the glass casing that separates her world from mine. She glares at me and I sense a distinct aura of malevolence radiating from her childish face.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1uuAeQkiCo
With sickening jolt I realize that the girl means me harm. It goes against all rational thought, but I know now that she is more than an image on the wall. I turn my back on the disturbing photograph and run towards the door, clutching my bag tightly to my chest.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡjBqvaBI5SD
A high pitched giggle emanates from behind me. I freeze in place as the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡAP8A8R14kH
Cold hands wrap about my ankles and my feet are ripped out from under me. I hit the floor with a scream, my forehead cracking against the tiles.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡkmbOWqFhJh
For a moment I lie there, stunned. I feel a sharp jolt as the girl begins to pull me in slow, jerking movements across the smooth floor. My hands are sweating and shaking as I claw and scrabble for purchase. I kick and twist, wrenching my ankles from the girl's grasp.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡG2T7y3Ih8B
In a panic, I roll onto my back and scramble away from her. I hit the far wall. My heart is thumping in my chest and my whole body feels as though it is vibrating with fear. The temperature in the room must have dropped several degrees. I can see the misty puffs of my panicked breaths on the air.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJq3jyUlDf
In front of me, clear as day and as real as the world I live in, crouches the girl from the photograph. Her long dark hair, matted and tangled with broken twigs and leaves, hangs in front of her face. Her green eyes glow with a cold, inhuman malice. copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2XBeMyErPo
The blind fury I see in those eyes turns my stomach. I feel the sour taste of bile rise up in my throat. Her skeletal limbs twist at impossible angles as she scuttles towards me in a rapid, jerking crawl. Over the sound of her cracking joints, I hear her low-pitched laugh. She skitters closer toward me.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡJwrCDZFmhO
I struggle to get back to my feet but my legs have turned to jelly; they no longer obey my frantic commands. The girl's fingers, thin and claw-like, lock around my ankles and tear at my feet. Her phenomenal strength rips me away from the wall and my head slams against the floor for the second time. Half-stunned I feel her begin to drag me once more in a series of sharp, sudden, jerking motions. I contort and kick and scratch in vain as meter by meter she drags me back. copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbyofRWadz
I wonder whether anyone has heard my screams, and why nobody has come to my aid. Surely someone has must have heard the commotion? My thoughts are wild and scattered.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡpfx0ujz9Lo
In its display, the photograph seems to have grown to monstrous proportions. The other images in their frames have been swallowed up by its hungry presence, and what was once a scene mere inches in size, now encompasses the majority of the wall.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡxuUY6yYMVf
I am near enough now that I can see the branches of the trees wave in the wind. copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡASr8gH0dRd
Over the sound of my pounding heart, I can hear them tapping and scratching against the climbing frame. The dead leaves that lay in tidy piles now scatter in an invisible gust of wind. The ghostly child clambers with jerking motions backwards over the lip of the frame and into the image. She smiles beneath her mass of ragged hair. It is a thin lipped smile, and it fills me with dread.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡNgtkhXEQ6p
I struggle in vain as she drags me into the dark, windswept playground. For one brief moment, I wonder to myself whether anyone will see me here. Will the next person to view this photo see my pale and terrified face staring out at them from beneath the withering tree?copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡfETaD0IBMD
I tilt my head backwards just in time to see the last vestige of my world snuffed out like a candle. All that remains is the chill wind, the darkness and the grinning face of the little girl in the white dress.copyright protection157ＰＥＮＡＮＡRmwjvN1w0S
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