Alexander Vance was very, very rich. He bought anything he wanted.

He heard a rumor about a painting. A devil's painting. They said it was never finished. Every time you tried to paint it, the paint would just... disappear. The canvas would drink it.

He had to have it.

At the auction, he bought the painting for a huge amount of money. It was called "Study in Sorrow." It showed a dark, misty garden. But in the middle, it was empty. Just a messy sketch. Unfinished.

He didn't care about the rumors. He was too curious.

He hung the painting in his private study. That night, he had a bad dream. He heard a soft, scratching sound.

The next day, he decided to finish the painting himself. He took his best brush and his best blue paint.

He touched the brush to the empty spot.

The paint sank into the canvas. It vanished. The spot was still empty.

Alexander was shocked. The rumor was true.

He tried again. And again. Thick paint, thin paint, different colors. Nothing worked. The painting drank it all.

He couldn't sleep. The nightmares came every night. He dreamed of the foggy garden, feeling lost and scared.

He stopped eating. He only painted. His skin became pale. His hair started to fall out.

He was obsessed.

His wife Lena and their two children came home from a trip.

They found Alexander in his study. He was thin and pale, like a ghost. He was painting frantically.

"Alex! What's wrong?" Lena cried.

He didn't look at her. His eyes were stuck on the painting. "It's so thirsty," he whispered.

His family was terrified.

A month passed. Alexander was getting worse. He looked crazy.

One day, he had a terrible thought. He looked at the veins on his wrist.

It doesn't want paint, he realized. It wants blood.

A dark calmness filled him. He knew what he had to do.

He took a sharp artist's knife.

It was quick and horrible. He hurt his family. He hurt the servants. The house became silent.

He walked back to the study. He dipped his brush in the red now on his knife.

He painted the final stroke on the canvas.

This time, the color stayed. A deep, dark red.

The painting was complete. For one single second, he saw the whole, beautiful, terrible garden. He felt a happiness he had never known.

Then, before his eyes, the red paint began to sink. The canvas drank the blood, too.

The painting was unfinished again. It was still hungry.

Alexander smiled. He finally understood. He knew how to see the finished painting one more time.

He raised the knife to his own throat.

The news called it a terrible tragedy. No one understood why Alexander Vance had gone crazy.

All his things were sold at an auction.

The auctioneer spoke to the crowd.

"...and this unique piece, 'Study in Sorrow.' As you can see, it is famously... unfinished."

A new buyer looked at the painting. She was very interested. She couldn't wait to take it home.

She wondered how she would finish it.

The canvas is waiting for its next artist.