Oh my God, where are we?" Diane croaked when her mind at last registered that the four friends were no longer in the gallery gazing at the picture of the pointed-eared woman in the forest glen.
Rebecca and Harriet gasped as one as Rick's eyes bugged when he caught sight of his surroundings. They all looked around, not quite believing their eyes. "Did we just fall through the looking glass, or what?" Rebecca queried fearfully yet bemusedly.
"Um, no." Rick replied. "But it does seem that we have fallen into the painting. Look there." Rick was pointing to the elf-like woman they had all been looking at from the outside only moments before. Statue-still she stood, frozen in time. Captured on the canvas they were all one with. In fact, the entire landscape, woman and all, retained the characteristics of the painting they had been appreciating before.
Diane was the first to realize that their predicament had taken a horrible turn for the worst. Before they could even realize what had happened to them, Diane screamed and fell to the ground. "I can't move! Rick, Becca, Harriet, somebody help me!" she cried.
But help was not to come from her friends. They were all finding themselves becoming one with the canvas. Their bodies flattening, taking on the characteristics of the painted lady in the foreground. Rick was hopelessly stuck leaning against the trunk of a tree. Rebecca found herself captured in a crouch on all fours on the ground. Harriet was standing closer to the front of the painting, a look of extreme fear immortalized on her beautiful face, soft features now hardened with a painted scared expression, and Diane was lying on her back, her face turned toward the viewer with a look that mirrored Harriet's horror exactly.
The final registry of understanding that swept through the minds of each member of the group was the terrifying fact that the painted lady was slowly beginning to animate before their eyes and she was....
Sun Aug 13 18:34:39 2000