Ib: The Art of A Nightmare

by AiMorkoko

It's been six years since Ib had gone to the Gallery with her parents that fateful day. But Ib has returned, wanting to know why she doesn't remember a thing except when they got there, and when they left. But now Ib has fallen into the nightmarish world of the gallery, will she escape again? And who is the strangely familiar man with purple hair?

In the early afternoon, under a grey sky, Ib was on her way to an art gallery...For the second time in 6 years..

On her way to the gallery, Ib went over the reason she was going. When she was nine, Ib had gone to the same gallery. But the strange thing was, she didn't remember the gallery at all. But when she went home, she started screaming when she saw one of her dolls. She grew to have many phobias since that day. Dolls, statues, paintings, and even other girls her age. Ib had no friends for that reason, she was too afraid. She was going to the gallery to discover why she was so afraid of these things.
Ib wore an outfit similar to the one she wore on that day. A button-down white shirt, red scarf, a red miniskirt, black knee-high socks, and red shoes. Her style of clothes hadn't changed. Her hair was down to her waist, her red eyes wise.

Ib walked in and went to the desk and went through that whole process before going off to look at the art.

She walked up the stairs and started to look around. She saw all sorts of paintings and sculptures. She saw headless statues at freaked her out a little too.

'How strange...' she thought.

After walking a bit more, she came upon a large painting. It was about 9 feet long, if not longer, and it had many colors upon it. It looked like a mad world. As she looked at it, she wondered what type of world this could be.

Then the lights started to flicker. Ib looked around, it had become deadly silent. Ib looked at the painting again, and saw blue paint leaking from beneath the frame. After looking closer, she saw a message.

'Come down below Ib..' she read. Ib, a little freaked out, started to hurry down the stairs, hoping to find another person. But everyone was gone. She looked everywhere, but found no one. Then, as she was searching downstairs, she noticed something strange. The rope that surrounded a large painted work on the floor was open. It was supposed to be closed so no one stepped on the painting. She looked at the title and saw that it was called 'Abyss of the Deep'. She walked to the border of the art and looked at it. She thought she saw it shimmer, like water. She looked closer, bending at the waist. Ib lost her balance and fell into the painting.

She found herself surrounded by water, she was in the painting. She closed her eyes and held her breath as she sank down, farther and farther until it was all black.

A second later, she was on her own feet, on dry ground. She sucked in a breath and opened her eyes.

She was not in the gallery anymore.

The walls and floor were now blue, and she stood between two paintings. Both looked exactly alike, a rocky cliff with water below them, but one had blue water and the other had red. Ib walked down the hall, hoping to find an exit. As she walked, the word 'Come' had started to be painted on the wall. When she reached the end of the hallway, she was a light blue colored door and an end table with a vase on it. In the vase was a pretty red rose. The rose almost looked too pretty to be real. Ib felt compelled to pick it up, like it was important. She gently picked up the rose between her index finger and thumb. She carried it with her handkerchief in her breast pocket. She noticed that the vase was full of water. The rose seemed to call to the water. Ib placed the rose gently into the vase again. A second later, the rose sucked up all the water, a few petals growing a second later. Ib felt refreshed. She moved the table and, now empty, vase and tried the door. The door opened and she walked inside. A painting of a woman was on the wall of the small room. She looked peaceful, but Ib noticed that her hair was slipping out of the painting. Ib saw a blue key and bent over to retrieve it. She held it in her hand and looked back up.

The painting had changed.

Now the woman wore a very disturbing expression. Her eyes were open and she had a twisted grin on her face. Ib turned and left the room. A paper on the wall caught her attention. It said: As the rose wilts, so do you. Ib looked at the rose, feeling the sense of déjà vu.

She walked back down the hall, past the similar paintings, until she reached a door the same shade of blue as the key. She inserted it into the lock and turned it, hearing it unlock. The key vanished. Ib was confused but didn't want to stay here any longer than she had to. She walked through the door.