To leave this world I have to be replaced. Someone must take my place and be the new Mary.
Gurtena was a man who believed that to escape something you have to put something in your place. You absence is never gone unnoticed. His spirit wanted to leave this dreaded gallery, but could never expand.
"Mary, her name is Mary." The old man stared at that beautiful painting before him. The blue eyes and yellow hair resembled his wife. This is what their child would have looked like if his wife had survived that unexpected car crash 12 years ago. "She is so pretty, my pretty little Mary." He gently stroked the white canvas. His heart stopped at that moment, he quickly grabbed his chest and fell to the floor.
The young girl stood by the man's side. Gurtena looked at her brown mary-janes with plain white socks underneath. She looked down at him with sorrow and then looked at the portrait next to him. This girl began to tear up.
"Papa." She mumbled, kneeling down beside the dead man. "Papa!" She cried out as she crouched down. "Get up Papa!" She yelled and screamed. "Please Papa!" Her tears fell to the cold floor, soon she joined them. She cried and cried on the floor. "I didn't even get to talk to you Papa! Why did you leave me without even meeting me! Papa!"
He died in his own world, created by him. Over those many years he tried to create his perfect family. He spent forever trying to perfect portraits of his deceased wife, but never could perfect it. So, he mainly labeled them 'Painted Ladies', for they did not deserve a name.
Mary went on living in this sad and lonely world. No one cared for her. All she could hear were the soft chuckled coming from the failed portraits of her would be mother. Those things were monsters. Mary would find something left behind from a human, it gave her some pleasure. One day she found a doll, but a green Painted Lady just snatched it up from her and crawled away. Mary was deprived of many things. Lost toys, phones, blankets, even a pack of matched. She was going to use those to end her own life, but lost them to a Painted Lady. Finally, she managed to make it back to her little room with a small notepad and a box of crayons. With that she wrought and drew her every thought. One day she took the crayon to the wall and created her own little world that she called Sketchbook Land. It was her home, her sense of humanity.
After years of being locked up, Gary had forgotten all about that sense of humanity, that thing that kept him sane.
"Ib?" Gary opened his eyes. The pain in his chest was gone and he was no longer wounded. He stood from the harsh ground where he had been left. "I bet she went to find the exit like I told her to." Gary smiled and sighed. Something seemed off too him, he felt a little too happy and to healthy. Gary felt his chest when he realized… There was no heartbeat. "Am I dead?"
"Gary's so clueless, teehee." A Painted Lady giggled at him. Gary spotted a bit of light at the end of the hall and ran towards it. It was a window. Gary peeked through and saw… The gallery, he white was and the front desk. Gary turned his attention towards the two girls standing in front of the two adults. The blonde one giggled and laughed while the brunet one just smiled calmly.
"Ib! Ib! What are you doing with Mary?! Get out of there while you can!" Gary yelled as he banged on the window. Mary linked their arms and started to drag her towards the door. Neither of them heard Gary.
"Come on Sis, let's go home!" He heard Mary say before they both exited the gallery in front of the two adults. Gary stood there in complete shock.
"Ib…" He said in sorrow. Gary backed up against the wall and fell to the floor. "Ib." He said again as he curled up with himself. "Ib."
He spent the next big chunk of time doodling with the tiny notepad he found in Mary's old stuff. He was starting to get really good, but the odd thing was that he only drew one thing. Constantly he would draw Ib, nothing else. Chibi Ib, portraits, what Ib would look like at different ages, it's all he ever drew. He never wanted to forget her face, never. Eventually the paper ran out and his utensils were running low. Gary had the materials for one last drawing.
"She is perfect." It looked like Ib. Same brown hair, maroon eyes, only she wore this long black dress. Gary's memory was fading of her so he thought of something simple and nice for her to wear.
"Gary?" A small child spoke behind him. Gary turned to see his drawing had come to life. She was short, and sweet, and perfect. "H-hi, it's me Eve!" She smiled.
Eve was his own little Ib, to hold and protect for the rest of his life. The laughed and played together, and Gary would always protect her from the statues and Painted Ladies. One day Gary looked out the window again. Whenever he'd look out that tiny little window and into the gallery he would get very upset.
"Why can't I be human!" He screamed as he kicked in a mannequin head. "I want to be human!" Gary yelled as he through a glass bunny. "I hate it here!" He cried out, feeling the need to hit and destroy. Eve was just there and the exact time. She tried to comfort him, but was just pushed into a wall and slammed to the ground instead. "You're not her! You're only a fake!" Gary had snapped. His mood changed that day. When he had finally calmed down he was a different person.
"Y'know Eve," he said as he sat on the red couch comfortably, "this place isn't all that bad." He chuckled. Eve sat on the floor, waiting to aid him in any way she could, after all he was her creator. "It is like my own little castle. That would make me the King, after all I am the only one with real thoughts left." Eve just nodded.
So time passed and Gary's sanity slowly slipped away, along with his humanity.
Mary was back in the hellish world she managed to escape a couple years back, but this time she had a different goal, to save Ib. She let tears fall from her face as she ran down the halls. "Ib." She called out.
Ib heard her name being called. "Ib." There it was again. Was the voice singing her name, or crying it?
"Gary… Ib… Where are you?" A creepy tone of her sister's voice rang in her head. "Ib?! Gary!? Where are you!?" There is was again, it played over and over in her head. Why was her voice so desperate and scary? It was almost evil.
"Ib!" Mary grabbed Ib's arm and pulled her in for a hug. "Oh Ib I'm so glad you're alive and safe! Why did you jump in, oh why?" She cried and held on tightly to the younger girl.
"Mary? Mary, you're here! What are yo-"
"I knew you'd be brought back into this place whether I wanted you to or not." Mary sniffled and broke their hug so she could... well… explain some things. "Gary was a friend of mine. He was an artist obsessed with drawing others. I used to stand there for him while he painted, sometimes you would join me. Here, well, paintings come to life. Gary because dangerously obsessed with that fact and started to create monsters. We managed to lock it all up in this little world he could rule on his own where nobody would get hurt." She thought of a desperate lie. Mary couldn't tell Ib the truth. If she did then Ib would remember everything and turn against her for Gary.
"So how do we get out?" Ib asked and looked up at her with big red eyes. Mary was shocked at the pale skin Ib had and Ib's fiery red eyes. "Oh! And who was the girl that took my place, they called her 'Eve'."
"Ib…" Mary mumbled in sorrow. "Ib, you've been replaced by a painting of Gary's."
"So what do we do?" Ib asked.
"First of all," Mary glared down the hall, "we find Gary." Mary turned a 90 degree angle and grabbed Ib's hand. The two traveled down hall after hall, but no sign of him. In fact, there was no sign of any other painting. "I don't like this" Mary mumbled when they reached a door at the end of the hall. She slowly peeked inside to see nothing but a short hallway that ended in other door. The navy colored walls were bare. They stepped inside and started walking. When Ib and Mary were about half way into the room the door closed behind them. Ib turned and screamed, which caused Mary to turn and see the horrifying sight.
7 Painted Ladies stared blankly, about to strike at any moment. Mary turned back to the next door and saw that the door was now blocked by more Painted Ladies.
They were surrounded, with no way out.
A/N: DUN DUN DUN! :3 Sorry if theres big mistakes in this chapter, it was finished last second. I hope this also answers some of those burning questions about Gary and Mary… and Eve. I enjoy Eve, she seems so cute in my head. So let's deal with those Painted Ladies next time.
Read and Review pwease! X3 I wuv you!