I have rather vivid dreams at times, so I’m puzzled as to whether something I dreamed is just a dream, or if it came from something I read. See if this rings any bells. If it’s not a short story, maybe I’ll write it
This is what I remember of the dream: A relator is showing a house to a woman, and she really likes it; it’s reasonably priced, it’s ready to be rented and it’s been well mantained. There’s a beautiful painting of a beach scene on one wall, which the woman admires. She rents the place and moves in. Everything is fine for a few days, then she begins to notice strange things that shouldn’t be in the house: a little sand on the floor, then sea shells on an end table, then a star fish… eventually everything from the painting, including the ocean, finds its way into the house, and the woman is swept away, presumably drown. At the end the relator is showing the house again, and there’s a little telltale pile of sand somewhere.
And at first I thought “relator” was a simple typo, but since it’s consistent in your OP, and you’re the relator, I’m guessing your presence in the story means it was a dream. What a giveaway.
I had a similar experience, wherein I remembered a story read to me as a child. Except I could not find the story anywhere and my mother claimed no knowedge of it, so eventually I came to the conclusion that it was a dream or in some way my own invention. At which point I set about writing the story.
Then I found the book.
Which pretty much ruined it, but…my memory of the story and what I thought was signifigent about it was not really the same as the original. I should have just written my version anyway (but then, I should do a lot of things…).
Hey, remember, Hamlet wasn’t an original story either .
Further study of my posts would lead you to believe I just can’t spell. I spell a lot better than I did as a kid, but I lack most ability to sound words out, so ones that look similar are hard for me to distinguish between. Spell checking is no help given that checkers don’t care a whit about context - if I manage to spell a word correctly, even if it’s not the one I meant, I’m screwed. :smack:
There was a “Night Gallery” episode that had a very similar plot, except the protagonist was a man and the painting was in his family home, which he had somehow obtained by nefarious means. The painting in the show was of a cemetary, I believe, and things changed in it night by night, until it showed something horrifying happening to him and he was gone.
I realize I’ve probaby just described at least three or four episodes of Night Gallery, but that’s as much as I remember.
