Chapter Fourteen: Promise Of Reunion
"Ib!"
Ib heard her name being called. "Ib! Can you hear me?!"
Ib realized her eyes were closed.
"IB!"
Ib quickly sat up after hearing the loud shout.
Garry was kneeling down besides her. "Mary is still after us. Let's go."
"Yeah..." Ib stood up and took Garry's hand.
. . .
After walking for a short while, Ib and Garry came across an entrance to a room, but thorns were covering the way.
"It doesn't look like we can cut them." Garry said as he examined the fake thorns. "What if I...?" He took out his lighter and held it up to the thorns. As soon as the fire came in contact with the thorns, the thorns burned and turned into ash. "It worked!"
The two entered the room to see coloring books, crayons, dolls, and drawings all over the room. On the other side of the room, hung a large painting.
A portrait of Mary.
"Is that-"
Garry was cut off by the sound of loud footsteps.
Mary came running into the room, her knife in her hands. "Ib... Garry..."
Ib looked towards the girl who was once her friend. "Mary..."
Mary hung her head down, looking at her knife. "...Leave now!"
Ib and Garry looked at her, both confused.
Mary shot her head back up, eyes filled with rage and fire. "I said leave!"
Before the other two had a chance to react, Mary ran towards them.
"Ib! Look out!" Garry took Ib's hand and ran further into the room until they were cornered against the wall with the portrait.
"What do we do?!" Ib panicked as she watched Mary run closer to them.
Without knowing what he was doing, Garry took his lighter and burned the portrait of Mary.
Mary stopped running.
Tears formed in the blondes eyes. "You... You destroyed the beautiful portrait my father made for me."
The three of them saw a small light coming from the ground. They all looked down to see Mary's feet on fire and the fire slowly spread up her body.
"No..."
Mary started to cry as the fire worked it's way up her body.
"NO!"
Mary's entire body was consumed in flames. The other two watched in horror as she burned to death.
"I just wanted to have friends...!"
After the fire died down, all that remained was ash and Mary's palette knife.
"Wow... Girls sure are scary." Garry said.
"Garry! Your hand!" Ib pointed out that Garry's hand got cut meaning his hand in real life got a cut too.
"I can feel the small pain in my real hand too. I guess getting any kind of injury in here means the same thing in real life." Garry said. "That means... Mary..."
"Here." Ib wrapped Garry's hand in her handkerchief. "It could get infected."
Garry smiled. "Thank you, Ib."
Ib smiled back.
. . .
Ib noticed something unusual but interesting.
Mary's diary.
Probably her diary from real life.
"Garry, can you read this?" Ib held the small diary up to Garry.
Garry knew it was wrong, but he was interested himself. "Sure."
Garry began to read aloud:
"All I want is a friend...
I'm tired to being alone with nothing to do but draw and stare at my dolls.
All I want is to be happy.
But, it seems I can never be happy.
My father says I will make a friend soon, but that is not true.
No one wants to be my friend!
Why does life hate me?
If I ever do make a friend, I will try not to lose them.
They would possibly be the only person who likes me..."
Garry closed the diary and set it back onto the floor.
"Now I feel horrible." Ib sighed.
"Forget about it. Let's just go."
. . .
"This is it!" Ib shouted with joy.
They finally found their way out. Now they could finally wake up.
Garry jumped through the painting (which was their way out.) and turned back to Ib.
"Ib, grab my hand and we can go." Garry reached out his hand towards Ib.
Ib reached for his hand.
Until...
"Ib, there you are."
Ib heard a familiar voice call for her. She turned her head to see her mother, walking towards her.
"M-Mom?!"
"I finally found you." Her mother smiled.
"How are you here?" Ib asked.
"Well, I guess I'm in the same situation as you. Dreaming and not knowing how to wake up."
Ib's mother stretched out her hand. "Let's go, Ib. Your father is waiting for us."
"Dad is here too?"
'No... This can't be right.' Ib thought.
"Ib! This can't be your mother! Grab my hand!" Garry shouted.
"Ib, how many times have I told you to not go with strangers?"
"Don't listen to her!"
"Young lady listen to your mother! Come with me right now!"
"Grab my hand! It will be okay!"
"Do you never want to see us again?!"
"IB!"
"GARRY!"
Ib shouted and reached for Garry's hand.
Garry took Ib's hand and pulled her in.
They both fell through the painting.
. . .
Ib's eyes slowly opened. Vision finally clearing, Ib could see that she was in a hospital room. Looking besides her, she could see a young man on a bed next to hers. He was already awake and sitting up.
It was Garry.
"Hello there." Ib said.
Garry looked over at her and smiled. "Oh, hi."
"How long have you been here?" Ib asked.
"I can't say that I know. But, I guess I should go." Garry got off of his bed and walked towards the door. "See ya, Ib."
As Garry placed his hand on the door knob, he stopped. "Ib... How could I know that name?" He spoke to himself.
Garry looked down to see Ib's handkerchief around his hand. "Where did I get this?" He took it off and looked at it closely. Garry could see 'Ib' was writing on it.
"Wait..." Garry said. "This handkerchief... It's that girls. It's Ib's..." Garry looked back at Ib, who was starring at Garry.
Garry walked back over to Ib and gave her a hug. "Ib..."
"I remember everything. The gallery, the dream, Mary... I remember it all. You remember right?"
"It took you long enough to remember." Ib smiled.
Garry finally let go of Ib. "I want to talk to you more but, I have to get going."
"That's okay." Ib said.
"Hey, Ib... Could I hold on to this handkerchief for a little while? I'll clean it and everything." Garry asked.
"Of course because... we will see each other again! I promise!"
"A promise of reunion."
Garry and Ib smiled at each other once more before going their separate ways.
I'M BACK!
Did you miss me? Probably not...
Anyway, the story is almost over. Just one more chapter.
I'll see you guys in the next chapter!