Hidden Pictures
by Jason Rekulak
Contents
Chapter 8
Overview
Mallory brings Teddy’s drawings to Mitzi, hoping for reassurance, and instead receives a ghost-centered interpretation and a fuller account of Annie Barrett’s 1946 disappearance from the cottage. The story deepens the link between Anya, Annie, and a possibly stolen child, while Mitzi’s proposed séance shows how far Mallory is being pulled toward a supernatural explanation. At the same time, caffeine and a moment of pill-seeking panic expose Mallory’s fragile recovery, and Teddy’s newest strangulation drawing proves the images are growing more violent rather than fading.
Summary
While the Maxwells go out to dinner, Mallory visits Mitzi next door because she wants someone to take Teddy’s disturbing drawings seriously. Mitzi invites Mallory in, serves strong coffee, and launches into complaints about the Maxwells and modern life. Mallory, reluctant to tell Teddy’s parents and afraid they will dismiss her, finally shows Mitzi the drawings and explains Teddy’s claim that Anya visits him and told him to draw them.
Mitzi reacts with unusual seriousness and agrees that children can be more open to spirits. When Mallory asks whether Annie Barrett might be connected to Anya, Mitzi tells the local story of Annie Barrett, a young artist who came to live in the Maxwell cottage in 1946. According to Mitzi, Annie was shunned by the town, rumored to be an unwed mother and later a witch, and then vanished after George Barrett found the cottage covered in blood but no body. Mitzi adds that later owners had no similar problems and speculates that renovating the cottage may have disturbed something.
The coffee overstimulates Mallory, and her rising anxiety sends her to Mitzi’s bathroom. There, Mallory impulsively opens the medicine cabinet and searches for pills, slipping into an old addict habit before finding the oxycodone bottle empty. The moment leaves Mallory ashamed and frightened by how easily her recovery instincts can reawaken.
When Mallory returns, Mitzi has brought out a wooden Ouija board and proposes a séance in the cottage with Teddy present, believing the spirit is attached to him. Mallory refuses because the Maxwells explicitly forbade religion and superstition and because she cannot risk losing the job that is keeping her stable. She leaves with the drawings, still asking Mitzi to keep everything secret.
Mallory spends the night awake, blaming the coffee and berating herself for snooping in the medicine cabinet. By morning she resolves to stop obsessing over Annie Barrett and avoid anything that threatens her sobriety. But after Teddy’s charcoal pencils go missing and they buy new ones, Mallory accidentally naps during his Quiet Time; when she wakes, she finds Teddy has made another drawing, this time showing Anya being strangled, and the escalating violence convinces Mallory that the situation is becoming impossible to ignore.
Who Appears
- MalloryNanny who seeks answers about Teddy’s drawings, hears Annie’s history, and confronts a frightening addiction trigger.
- MitziEccentric neighbor who validates Mallory’s ghost theory, recounts Annie Barrett’s disappearance, and proposes a séance.
- TeddyChild whose missing pencils and new drawing of Anya being strangled intensify Mallory’s alarm.
- Annie BarrettYoung artist who lived in the cottage, was rumored to be an unwed mother, and vanished after blood was found.
- George BarrettOriginal owner of the property who discovered blood in Annie’s cottage and reported her disappearance.
- Caroline MaxwellTeddy’s mother, whose strict anti-religion house rules make Mallory afraid to reveal her suspicions.