Chapter 6

SOFIA has already started to choose drawings, almost all of them have been painted but the others are not finished yet.

Using the paintbrush from the artist, the two began to paint.

Sofia chooses the drawing of a woman in a red hat.

Miguel on the other hand is the image of a couple walking on the beach.

Gregorio was sitting in front of them secretly happy. He picked up the phone on the table talking to his caretaker Mang Nestor.

"You already know what you're going to do," Gregorio spoke with a weak tone of voice to the person on the other phone line. Miguel looked at him. The artist smiled at Miguel and said just continue painting.

Miguel smiled back at the Artist. He continued to paint again.

An hour later when the two had finished, Gregorio approached them. He first looked at what Miguel had done.

"Great!" Gregorio applauded. "You did a good job, Miguel."

"Yes!" Miguel said excitedly. Sofia glanced at him. He made a quick wink for her. Sofia smiled at him and blow a flying kiss.

The artist peeked at what the girl had done.

"Wow, Sofia you also did a good job!" Gregorio also praised the girl and patted her right shoulder.

"Thank you, Sir." Thanks, Sofia. She was very happy because the result of the painting was good.

"Sign the paintings you painted," Gregorio ordered the two.

"But Sir, you are the owner of the painting," Sofia answered.

"Sofia is right, we just painted the ones that aren't finished yet. But you still own them, Sir." Miguel replied and he pointed to the paintings.

Gregorio let out a sweet smile on his lips.

"I'm asking you to sign them because when you get home, I'll give you those too," Gregorio said. He put one of his arms on Miguel's shoulder.

"Really? Aren't you kidding Sir?"

Gregorio nodded. "I'm not kidding,"

"I'm just going to thank you!" Miguel exclaimed. He quickly approached the painting he had finished. He put his name at the bottom of the painting and signed it.

Sofia followed, she wrote her full name at the bottom of the painting and also signed it.

"I'm done!" The girl said happily and handed the paintbrush to the artist.

A few minutes ago Miguel felt dizzy. He clung to the side frame of the canvas board in front of him.

"I feel dizzy," Miguel said, feeling his surroundings spinning around him.

Sofia approached him in a panic.

"What's wrong with you Miguel?" Sofia asked him nervously. While Gregorio was just watching them.

Sofia was about to touch Miguel when she felt dizzy, touched her forehead.

"What is happening?" The girl seemed to be asking herself a question. Sofia felt a strong force coming from the canvas board she had finished painting.

"It's not happening, it's all just a dream," Miguel screams. He felt a strong force pulling him from the painting in front of him. "What's going on Sir?"

Fear can be seen on Miguel's face.

"What's going on Sir?" Sofia asked the artist who was standing in front of them, with a smile on his face. "Answer our question, Sir!"

Gregorio just let out a loud laugh. The artist's laughter was frightening, the tone of his voice seemed to come from underground.

"M-Miguel, help me!" Sofia cried for help from Miguel, who also seemed to be having a hard time preventing himself from not entering the canvas board.

"Please help us, Sir!" Miguel begging for help from the artist.

Gregorio walked closer to them still laughing.

"You will be included in my collections," the artist said happily, as he watched the two seem to struggle with the force coming from the painting.

"Aaaahhhhhh!" They both screamed. Half of their bodies were absorbed by the painting. The two students clung tightly to the edge of the canvas board frame. They cry as they ask the artist for help. They were terrified of what might happen to them.

"Sir, have mercy on us, please help us! We still have many dreams that we want to come true!" Miguel pleads with the artist. The artist stepped closer to Miguel, but not to help.

Gregorio held Miguel's hands, clinging tightly to the edge of the canvas board frame. The artist forcefully removes Miguel's hands.

Miguel was horrified.

"Don't!" Miguel shouted as the artist removed his hands clinging to the edge of the canvas board frame. His tears flowed.

Miguel shouted in fear when his body finally entered inside the canvas board. In a moment, his form will be seen in the painting. Miguel's face changed to the man in the painting.

Sofia was horrified by what happened to Miguel. She forced half of her body out, which was already inside the canvas board.

"Miguel!" Sofia shouted. She saw that Miguel's face was already in the painting.

Sofia felt the force sucking into her body grow stronger. She saw the smiling artist step closer to where she was. The girl was even more nervous because she knew, she would be next to Miguel.

"Poor Sofia," Gregorio said smiling. He touched the weeping girl's hair. "Don't even try to save yourself, Sofia. What happened to Miguel, will happen to you too. You will also be part of my masterpieces that will be included in art galleries. People will just see you as a beautiful painting!" The artist says emphatically. He laughed aloud, his laugh was like a demon.

"No!" Weeping cry of the girl. She gripped the edge of the canvas board frame tightly.

The artist smiled like a mad dog, as he forcefully removed the girl's hands clinging to the canvas board.

"Have mercy on me, Sir, please don't do this to me!" Sofia cries pleadingly, but the artist doesn't seem to hear her plea. Because he continued to remove her hands. "No.....!"

The girl screamed as the canvas board swallowed her. Gradually, the girl's face changes in the painting.

"Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha!" Gregorio laughed happily. He picked up the painting where Sofia’s face was. The artist didn’t notice the tears that were on the edge of Sofia's eyes that were now in the painting.

Gregorio approached another painting, where Miguel's face was. He stared at it intently. "What a nice masterpiece!"

Gregorio left the room. Where the room witnessed what happened to the two teenagers.

He went to his bedroom while carrying the two paintings.

The artist approached the large black cabinet, where he kept the paintings of his victims. He opened the cabinet, flicked the switch and when the inside of the cabinet lit up, layers of paintings could be seen, placed under the feet of a small statue of Satan.

Gregorio caressed the statue of Satan, offering a short prayer as he offered the two new paintings.

Inside the artist's room, a faint growl like a demon can be heard. After praying, he placed the two paintings on top of the other paintings that were there. He returned the paintbrushes to the small box where the blessed power of evil was.

The tragedy that happened to their family returned to his mind. Evil people robbed their house while they were sleeping. Not content with clearing their money and jewelry, they killed his wife and child. They also tried to kill him but he survived, before he could take his last breath, he prayed to the lord of darkness to save his life. He was angry with the God of heaven because of the terrible thing that had happened to his family.

In exchange for his life, he had to sacrifice human life, to his master Satan. He must do this to gain eternal life. He has also taken revenge on those who killed his wife and son. He paid people to kill them. But he still had to sacrifice human life so that he could continue to live long on the earth.

DAY TWO at the mansion. In the morning, the students were at the table, apart from Sofia and Miguel. Students can't help, but ask each other where the two are.

"Where are Miguel and Sofia?" Gregorio asked the students. If you look at him, he also looks unaware of the disappearance of the two students. Not anyone would think that he was involved in the disappearance of them. "Noel, weren't you left in the living room last night? Didn't you notice them?"

Carlos and Noel look at each other.

"Miguel was with us last night, Sir," Carlos answered.

"Carlos is right, but he left us when he saw Sofia. We saw it, they went here in the kitchen." Noel replied.

Gregorio nodded, holding the spoon tightly. "What did they do here last night?"

"We don't know Sir, as far as we know they were just here in the kitchen last night. We even waited for them to come out of here in the kitchen, but we didn't see them come out. We were sleepy last night. We went up to the bedroom." Noel explained.