WTTQ EXCLUSIVE: “The Gallery Beneath the Paint”

 Filed by Raine Solara, flashlight in hand, breath held.

On the surface, the Gallery at the Retreat is a beautifully curated homage to the alien elf, the enigmatic painter, recluse, and alleged time-fugitive.
But behind the frames and under the floorboards?
A different story entirely.

"Calling all spirits with the spirit box"

“This isn’t a gallery.
It’s a crypt of versions.
Each painting is a trapdoor, a doorway to the Retreat's twisted memory maze —
and maybe, to what Anjelikka lost when she let herself be painted too many times.”

“Portrait of Scott (face of confusion)”

It hangs near the back of the gallery, in the transition hallway between the main exhibition and the secret vault.

The painting is deceptively simple:
A man — Scott — his face is full of confusion, and his ears resemble those of an elf
But his eyes?
They follow you.

If Scott is the Alien Elf,
then we’ve been exhibiting a ghost.

And worse — they age while you look at them.

WHO WAS SCOTT?

In whispers, he’s referred to as:
“The Other Visitor”
“The One She Waited For”
And once, by Dandy: “Oh, Scott? He’s the one who almost stayed.”

According to the rarely-accessed Retreat guest ledger, Scott arrived six Februarys ago, stayed for exactly 3 years, and vanished mid-conversation during a snowfall that no one else remembers happening.

“Scott isn’t just a visitor.
He’s a temporal echo — a muse that arrived after he’d been remembered.
His portrait might be the first — or the final—key in unlocking what Anjelikka truly gave up to build this Retreat.”

The Timeline Discrepancy
The Alien Elf is known to have disappeared from the Retreat five years ago.
Scott appeared six Februarys ago, left no trace except the painting, and is never mentioned again… except in whispers.

Anjelikka: I love a good ghost story.

Yet one line in Anjelikka’s journal haunts the investigation:
“He said he hadn’t painted in years — that he’d become the painting instead.”

When asked directly, Dandy smiled too widely and said:

“The Alien Elf painted what he feared most. And in the end?
It stared back at him with Scott’s eyes.”