The Haunted Painting

John was a successful art dealer, traveling the world to find the most valuable and rarest pieces of art. His latest find was an old painting from an unknown artist. It was a beautiful painting of a forest with a small cabin in the center, but something about it seemed off. The longer he looked at it, the more he felt like the painting was watching him.

John brushed off the feeling, thinking he was being silly. He hung the painting in his bedroom, wanting to admire it before he sold it at an auction. The first night he slept with it in the room, he had a nightmare. In the dream, he was in the forest from the painting, and he was being chased by a shadowy figure. He woke up in a cold sweat, feeling like he was being watched.

The next day, John decided to move the painting to his office. He thought that maybe having it in a different room would help him forget about the strange feeling he had when looking at it. But things only got worse. Whenever he was alone in the office, he would hear strange noises. Scratching sounds, whispers, and footsteps. He was sure that the painting was the cause of all of this, but he couldn't prove it.

One day, John invited a friend over to his office to have dinner. They were enjoying their meal when his friend noticed the painting. His friend asked John where he got the painting, and John told him the story of how he found it. As they continued talking, John's friend suddenly gasped and pointed to the painting. John turned around, but he saw nothing unusual.

His friend told him that he saw a figure standing in front of the cabin in the painting. John thought that his friend was just trying to scare him, but the feeling of being watched returned, stronger than ever before.

The next day, John decided to take the painting to an expert to get it checked out. The expert examined the painting and told John that it was cursed. The painting was made by a painter who was obsessed with the occult, and it was cursed to bring misfortune to its owners. The only way to break the curse was to destroy the painting.

John didn't want to believe it, but he had no choice. He took the painting back to his office, ready to destroy it. As he raised his hammer, the painting seemed to come alive. The figure from the painting appeared before him, and John realized that the curse was real.

In a panic, John ran out of his office, leaving the painting behind. He went to stay at a hotel for a few days, trying to forget about the painting and the nightmare that it had become. But even in the hotel, he felt like he was being watched. The shadowy figure from the painting was following him, and he couldn't escape it.

One day, John returned to his office to find that the painting was gone. It had disappeared, and there was no sign of forced entry. John was terrified, knowing that the curse had followed him. He tried to forget about the painting and move on with his life, but he couldn't. The nightmare was always with him.

Years passed, and John became a recluse. He rarely left his house and spent most of his time in his bedroom. One day, a knock came at his door. It was his friend, the one who had seen the figure in the painting. His friend was pale and trembling, and he told John that he had seen the painting in an auction house. It was being sold for a fortune, and the buyer