Hello, all! This is Chapter One! We hope you enjoy!


"Lalalalala...lalalalala...they're coming..." High pitched, eerie voices echoed throughout a dark appearing gallery. "They're coming... Lalalalala...they're coming...!" small, blue dolls with shaggy, black afros sang, singing the same tune over and over again.

The headless statues gurgled about amongst themselves, unsure of what the afroed dolls meant. "Do you think it's true, it's true?"

"Of course it is..." hissed the painted red ladies as they smirked deviously.

The yellow ladies echoed the dolls. "They're coming!"

"Mmm...silly sillies," chimed in a deep girlish voice. "You're all so excited, aren't you? Well, I suppose you would be... After all, they did kill our lovely Mary..." The owner of the voice exited the shadows, revealing a young man in a long navy colored coat. He smirked evilly as he glanced around the room towards the others, his purple hair glistening in the dim lighting of the gallery.

"Burned her..." Another voice corrected.

He smiled once again, looking into the shadows as a young girl entered from them. "Ah, Ib..."

The girl replied removing some stray dark brown hair from her face. "Yes, Garry?" She glanced at him with her dark red irises, smiling along with him.

Garry placed his hand upon Ib's shoulders."They're all so anxious..."

"I can tell," the girl with red eyes replied, looking over the group.

The painted ladies of many colors almost sneered at the purple hair man and the fact that his hands that were placed upon the younger girl's shoulders. Every single painting refrained from saying anything though. Each one of them feared the male of the two fakes. Of course, on the other end of the spectrum, the headless statues, undoubtedly, could hardly see anything. All of them fawned over the man. On a random note: the one thing they could see was how fashionable the evil male was along with the young looking female.

Another woman entered the scene, she had short dark brown hair and identical red irises as the young girl. "Ah, well, I suppose we should get to planning, shouldn't we, dear?"

Ib giggle a bit darkly before answering the older woman. "Oh, yes, mother!"

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"Come on, Ib, you're sixteen now! Don't be a slowpoke!" a lavender haired man teased, running on ahead outside of a chain link fence to a high school.

The young woman named Ib panted lightly while she ran, and she frowned at the male running, more like jogging, beside her. "Shu-Shut up, Garry!" she shouted airily with annoyance.

"Teacher...who's that man?" a random student asked, poking at the gym teacher's sleeve.

"Who, him?" the instructor questioned, indicating to Ib and Garry as they rounded a corner.

"Yeah, isn't he some sort of creep?" The child replied curiously.

A chuckled filled the air between the student and the proctor. "No, not at all," they answered. "He's always around her, and her parents are oddly okay with it..."

The student furrowed their eyebrows upon his teacher's response and then countered. "Still, doesn't that make him a pedophile?"

There was another short laugh. "The man's completely harmless," they reassured the teenager. "He's only nine years older than her, anyways."

"Now who's a slowpoke, Garry?!" Ib stuck out her tongue as she ran ahead of the older man who was now slowing down and panting. "C'mon, we ran longer than this in that gallery!"

Garry let out an exhausted laugh. "That was awhile ago," he retorted. "I also haven't been in a gym class in forever!"

"Still, be a man!" the brunette shouted back to the lavender haired male. "You've been through worse than a gym class!"

"Huh, what are they talking about, a gallery?" Some of the students whispered quietly as they ran along as well.

A girl with makeup caked on her face scoffed and crossed her arms while she sat on the metal bleachers. "He's, like, her stalker, I'm telling you," she stated loudly.

"What if he's, like, her boyfriend or something?" a powdered faced boy asked in a nasally tone of voice.

She shook her head. "Are you kidding?" she sneered. "Who would want to be with it? He's not its boyfriend."

"Then, like, what are they to each other?" The nasally toned boy responded.

"I just said he was its stalker," she growled. "Like, listen to me for a fucking change in pace."

"Well excuse me, honey. I just don't seem to, like, understand that logic," the boy flamboyantly flailed his arm about.

The girl rolled her eyes. "Do you even, like, understand what "logic" means?"

"Do you?" The boy hissed back.

She smirked at him. "I just fuck it," the young woman stated. "It's a better fuck than you."

"Oh, no you didn't, girlfriend!" the male shouted. "You're a fucking... A fucking..." He trailed off before he turned his back to the snarky girl and hopped off the bleachers. "You know what?! Screw you, honey! I'm done! I. Am. Done!" With that the boy left without a word and a swing in his hips.

A laugh passed the female's lips before she called out, "Finally, my gaydar isn't, like, off the damn chart!"

"Yeah, well, go ahead! Laugh all you want!" The male shouted his last words before entering the school building.

The teacher looked up from looking at his watch and called out to the class. "Okay, kids, class' over! Round up!"

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Ding, ding, ding!

Garry stood up from the bench he was sitting on in the commons of the school then walked over to the office and leaned against the brick next to it. He watched calmly as the students of the school spilled out from the classes on each side of the hallway he could see. It wouldn't be long until he and Ib would leave and go to her home. "Hopefully her father's at work," he said quietly to himself.

The girl with the makeup caked face giggled as she and the young man with her while they strode down the hall as if they were hot stuff. Her laughter soon died down when she noticed the extremely tall man standing next to the office. "Hey, look," she whisper. "He's back for it again."

"Again?" The young man with her replied in response to her while looking at the lavender haired male that was standing by the office. "He's, like, really some sort of creep, right?"

"I told you!" she squawked. "I feel just a tiny bit bad for her... Like, I mean, she's such a fragile thing..." The girl then sighed dramatically. "Don't worry, dear child!" she cried. "I, being the good citizen like I am, along with my gay sidekick, will, like, totally help rid you of your creeper!"

The nasally boy spoke, staring blankly at the preppy girl, "She seems, like, perfectly fine with it..."

She rolled her grey eyes. "You, like, can't even see it," the young woman retorted. "She's, like, in such shock and, like, broken that she, like, can't muster the ability to even, like, get him to, like, go away!"

"Really?" the boy said in frank. "You know what I think? I think you, like, just want him for yourself..."

Her nose suddenly scrunched up into something unrealistic. "Ew...!" she exclaimed. "He's, like, so...girly and, like, emo looking! No way!"

"Ahuh..." was all the nasally boy replied as he rolled his eyes.

"Seriously...!" she exclaimed. "Like, I mean, just, like, look at him!"

The young man swung his hips. "He looks very fashionable to me."

"Yeah, to you!" the girl sneered. "Anyways, c'mon, let's go." She grabbed his wrist and dragged the flamboyant male along with her to the supposed stalker. "Hello!" she greeted Garry, a smile upon her lips

"Uh, hello," Garry replied, looking at the girl and her 'friend' curiously. "Do you need something?"

With a nod, the made up girl said, "We're, like, curious about what you, like, are to Ib." She crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one hip. "Are you, like, a weirdo, or something?"

The lavender haired male jumped, blushing slightly. "No! Of course not! Ib and I are friends!"

A strange expression appeared on her facial features. "Really?" she asked. "Then why're, like, always around?"

"It's complicated..." The tall man looked away from the two students. "Ib needs me, and that's really all you need to know, sir-erm-miss," Garry replied giving the pair a stern look when he turned back to them.

Ib walked merrily from her locker after getting her school stuff while humming a tune. She was in a bright mood and it didn't seem like anything could disrupt this. That was until she saw the preppy girl and her goon, her enemies since elementary school, speaking with Garry by the office. What were they talking to him about, and why? Were they telling him outrageous lies about her? Were they making her to be an insane person?

She could feel her throat tightening and the urge to run in the opposite direction. She wanted to cry, not because of what the duo could be telling him but of the fact he might believe it. The thought of Garry not being around made her feel completely empty and hollow, and she hated it. He was always there for her and vice versa ever since they met in the other gallery when the paintings came to life to chase after them...headless statues suddenly moving on their own and growling...

With a loud thud of her bag dropping to the floor, Ib gasped and breathed unevenly; her throat tightening even more than it already was. Tears began streaming down her face and her breathing became loud and harsh sounding as she gasped. She felt like she was choking on her own breath and began to sink down to the floor, losing her steadiness and balance from being distraught. Her heart felt as it was racing, thudding against her rib cage, and she began to have chest pains.

She ran her fingers, which were becoming numb, through her hair while holding her head and rocking slightly. It felt like her head was going to explode from pain and lack of air; her hyperventilating worsening. She was dizzy enough to make her sick to her stomach, and cold, but she was sweaty as if she were in a sauna. Ib couldn't help but have a sense of terror; other than the possibilities of Garry believing the lies that the preps told him the memories of the other gallery came flooding in with her sense of panic, making her feel like she was losing control.

Garry looked up, knowing it was about time for Ib to be coming by, and looked towards the hallway where the kids were staring and backing away. Ib in was curled up into a crumpled ball on the floor, gasping for air like a fish out of water. Garry quickly rushed over to her in less than the blink of an eye. "Ib?! Ib?! Calm down! Breath!" he instructed while other students began to swarm around the both of them.

"The-They ne-ever stop cha-asing yo-ou," the brunette girl choked out in an airy tone.

"I know, Ib, I know..." Garry voiced calmly while rubbing her shoulder in a comforting manner. "It'll be okay... Remember, we escaped. Remember? Just breath, Ib, breath..."

She gasped loudly. "I-I'm no-ot cra-azy!" she cried.

"I know, Ib. You are definitely not crazy..." Garry's expression softened even more as he patted her head lightly and brought her close so she could cry on him.

"Yo-You don't belie-ieve the-em...?"

"Believe who, Ib? No one said anything about you," he told her gently and calmly continued to pat her head.

Ib said nothing as she continued to gasp against Garry. Instead she looked passed him at the two people standing behind him: the girl with the makeup covered face and the flamboyant male that was always around her. All three of them stared at each other in silence as the brunette kept on hyperventilating.

"Is she going to be okay?" a young boy, presumably a freshman, asked with concern lacing his voice.

"Oh, this happens all the time." a female student, who was most likely a senior, replied to the boy. "Not really sure what it's all about. Personal business and all..."

The freshman boy frowned before he spoke up again. "Really? That's kind of sad..."

The senior, who was completely desensitized to it, then answered once again. "Yeah, well, you kind of get used to it... She always seem okay afterwards."

"Weird," the young man whispered. "You'd think she'd be on medicine, or something."

33333

A shaky sigh escaped from Ib as she and Garry walked down the sidewalk, and she rubbed one side of her forehead before running her fingers through her long, brown hair. "I-I'm sorry," she stuttered quietly.

"You have nothing to be sorry about, Ib," Garry reassured her while swinging her school bag over his shoulder.

"Garry...!" Ib began in a frantic tone.

The lavender haired young man gave her a gentle yet understanding look before saying. "No buts, Ib. It was perfectly understandable." He ruffled her hair softly with his empty hand. "Besides you had a panic attack, Ib. Do you understand?"

"...Yes, Garry..." The girl with red irises sighed in defeat as she continued to walk beside him. "I'm not just a child anymore..." she added in a mumble.

Garry stopped, turned, and looked at her with seriousness while putting his left hand on her right shoulder. "Oh, Ib, I'm not saying you are," he informed the female. "I'm just trying to look out for you. I don't mean to treat you like a child if that's what you think I'm doing. You're a young woman." He smiled. "A beautiful, strong, young woman." The lavender haired male blushed slightly at saying his last few words as he spoke.

The brunette haired female became red as well at Garry's comment. He usually didn't talk to her like that, and it was quite flattering that he had called her "beautiful." She hadn't really ever thought of herself being pretty after all. "Are you sure?" she lightly mumbled in embarrassment as she tucked a stray hair from her blushing face behind her left ear.

"Positive," Garry replied while reaching into his pocket and pulled out a fake flower. "I know this isn't much, being fake and all, but here..." The lavender haired young man bent his knees down slightly as he tucked the plastic, purple rose inbetween her hair and her left ear. "There...now you look even better!" he exclaimed. The man gave her another smile. "Of course it wouldn't matter either way... You'd still be gorgeous," Garry stated with a light chuckle and the blush of his own still upon his cheeks as Ib stared at him intently.

"Funny, I had this to give you..." Ib blushed again, taking out a fake, purple rose of her own, and stood on her tippy toes to stick it through one of the buttonholes of his long torn/worn jacket that he had for so many years.

"Oh, Ib...thank you," Garry smiled, helping her getting it through.

Ib looked back up at him with a small smile of her own. "No, Garry, thank you," she urged. "Without you, I would have never escaped that horrid place..." The brunette haired girl then wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. The lavender haired man smiled gently again before placing his arms around her to return the hug. "It's perfectly alright, Ib..."

She leaned into him more as they stayed in their embrace for a little longer until a sudden loud honk made the both of them jump out of each other's arms before another gave them a heart attack.

"You slimy bastard!" a male yelled as he rolled down the window to the car he drove. "Get your hands off my damn daughter!"

"Dad, it was just a hug!" Ib blushed furiously as she yelled at him from the other side of the street.

"I don't care!" he hollered. "Just get in the car, and I'll take ya home!"

The girl shrugged. "Alright, but Garry's coming too!" she informed. "Mom said he could!"

His blue-grey eye visibly twitched at the news. "What is wrong with your mother?!"

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"Lalalalala~! My daughter and my son-in-law are coming home soon~" a light brown haired woman sang in her kitchen as she grabbed her pot holders and pulled some freshly baked cookies out of the oven. She just couldn't wait for everyone to come home.


We hoped you enjoyed chapter one. See you soon!~