Four years after leaving the art gallery, Garry and I once again set foot into it. Nothing has changed much since four years ago. Apart from the slightly different lightings of the gallery, everything was exactly how I remembered it to be. It somehow gives me a nostalgic feeling.
"…Mary." I subconsciously find myself thinking of her. That girl that Garry and I found in the distorted world. She was my only friend other than Garry, the last painting of Guertena, the carrier of the yellow rose.
"Shall we walk around the gallery, Ib?" Garry's words interrupted my thoughts. I nodded, putting my thoughts aside and focused on the various works of Guertena.
Garry and I walked along the gallery and stop in front of the painting [ Abyss of the Deep ].
"This is where I started my journey…"
"…! Ib too?"
"…Eh?" puzzled, I looked up at Garry.
"I was wandering around the gallery in search of people after the lights went out and accidentally fell into this painting. When I woke up, I was already in that other world." Garry explained to me.
It was the first time Garry told me anything about how he entered the other gallery before we met. I continued looking at him, not saying anything. He smiled gently at me in reply and held my hand tightly, "shall we go see the Fabricated World?"
Garry held my hand all the time as we walked along the corridor, our footsteps came to a stop as we stood in front of the big canvas named [ Fabricated World ]. It was then we heard someone's voice.
"Why…why did you leave me alone in that world?"
"..!" I quickly spun around
"Mary!" My only friend other than Garry stood right before my eyes. She hasn't change since we last saw her in that world. It was probably because she was a painting… A painting… H-how did she come out of that world!?
" I wanted to see you so much, Ib.. Hehe, I managed to escape from the painting after being burnt somehow, although it took me years to do that. I'm so glad to see you here again, Ib!"
…That's right, I burnt down Mary's painting back then… Tears started dripping down my face.
"…Ib…" Garry held me closer to him, having no intend for me to approach Mary. I stood rooted to the ground, not knowing what to do.