Chapter 15

As we walked through, a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes about my age greeted us. "Ahh?!" she exclaimed with a puzzled look on her face as she fell backwards.

"Whoa, are you okay?!" asked Garry in a worried tone. He walked over to her.

"...!" She got up and moved back a little. "Ah! Wait!" Garry called out to her. He tried a different approach. "Hey, are you... Could you be one of the visitors to the gallery?"

The only thing she could say was, "Ah...!" Assuming this was a "yes," Garry said, "As I thought..." He introduced himself to her. "I am Garry. ...And this girl is Ib." I slowly walked and stood next to him.

Still shocked, the girl was silent. "..." She could only stare at us. Garry continued to explain our story. "We were in the art gallery, but then somehow found ourselves lost in this place... So now we're both trying to find a way out. Presumably, you're doing the same?"

The girl's eyes looked sad, and she finally spoke. "I... I was looking to see if there was anyone else too... I wanted to get out... So I..." Before she could finish, Garry interrupted and joyously invited her, "Ah, I knew it! Well, would you like to come with us?"

"Huh...?" was her reply, a quizzical expression on her face. Garry explained, "It's dangerous to be alone here. There are lots of strange creatures around." He invited her again, "So will you come with us? I think it would be best if we all stay together."

The girl's face lit up and she said, "Yeah! I'll come...!" Garry smiled and said, "Then it's decided! Oh, what's your name?"

The girl stared at us for a bit and slowly said, "Mary..." Unbothered by this, Garry replied, "Mary, then! Nice to meet you!" She answered with a "...Yeah!"

Then she walked over to me. She was a bit shy. "Um... Nice to meet you, Ib..." I remembered how Garry was so mature and courteous to this stranger, so I remembered my manners and replied with a nice to meet you too. She replied to this with her signature "...Yeah!"

Garry turned to the both of us and said, "All right! Now that we have more company, we can proceed with our spirits high!" Mary smiled cheerfully and exclaimed, "Yay!" With a little more vigor in our step, we were ready to face whatever challenges awaited us. Garry certainly felt a little more comfortable with someone else to walk beside with. Mary looked happy to have found company. I... guess it's nice to have someone my own age to be around. Not that Garry wasn't nice.

A painting near us read, "The Force of Quarrel." It appeared to be an argument. Moving along, there was a split in the path. Trying to move up, Garry stopped and said, "Ib, there's a vase the other way. Let's visit it just in case." Thank goodness Garry was looking out for me.

We went to the vase and placed our roses in. "Say... Seeing as Ib and I both have roses..." started Garry. "Mary, do you have a rose as well?" She reached into her pocket and produced a pretty sight. "...Yeah, I do! A yellow rose!"

Garry smiled and said, "Ah, it's true!" He warned us, "You two keep those safe. Don't you dare lose it. And don't give it to anyone. And..." He stopped and checked to see if we were paying attention.

Mary was preoccupied with something else. "Wooow, Ib's rose is reeed! My rose is yellooow!" She put away her rose and said, "I like yellow, but I also like pink! Oh, and blue!"

Garry shook his head and said, "...Learn to listen, would you?" He signaled that it was time to head on up through the hallway, so we moved. Mary sure was a spirited girl. What's her secret to happiness in such a dreary place? Maybe she can teach me later...

In the next room, there was a notice on the wall. It read, "Which one could it be?" Another cryptic message... Only time will tell what it means. We pushed on.

The next painting we saw was titled "Flowers of Jealousy." Devoid of anything related to flowers or even plants, it looked like a maze with a single red dot at the top of it.

There were 2 doors: right and left. The one on the right was locked, so we headed over to the one on the left. Thankfully, it was open.

Inside was a fairly odd surprise. Bunnies. Bunnies everywhere. Pink and white bunnies galore. A lone green bunny caught my eye. Perhaps this was what the notice was referencing before: the odd one out.

Before investigating the discolored bunny, we checked out our surroundings. There were tables, stools and some bookshelves. The bookshelf on the left had a book titled "Ruin of the Heart." "If your spirit suffers too much, you will soon start to hallucinate... And in the end, you will be destroyed. And more worrying yet... Is that you will not even be conscious of that fact." I hoped to god that these bunnies were not a hallucination of mine. I certainly didn't want to hope what kind of horror the illusion would mask...

At the back of the room was a giant picture of a pink bunny titled "Red Eyes." Garry finally had enough. "...the love of..." he muttered. "This painting, this room... why must it be so unsettling?!"

Mary had a look of surprise on her face. "Huh? Really...? I think it's cute..."

Garry was flabbergasted. "Wha...?! What about this is CUTE?!" Mary shrugged and replied, "I just think it is..." She turned to me. "What about Ib?"

I was past the age where I thought bunnies were cute and kind of agreed with Garry. However, I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so I just told her I thought they were cute.

Mary's face lighted up. "I know, right?! It's so adorable!" Garry gave up. He sighed and said, "Enough of this... Let's just check the room and leave."

He took another look around the room and said, "I feel like I'm being watched in this room... Talk about unsettling."

We took a few steps, when suddenly, the green rabbit fell and shattered into pieces. Carefully, we edged up to it and noticed something shiny amidst the shards. It was a key. We picked it up and hurried out of the room.

As we were going through the hall, we stopped at "Flowers of Jealousy" because we heard a noise coming from it. Something seemed to be emerging from the painting...

"Huh...? That sound's... getting closer..." said Mary quietly. Shaking violently now, the frame rumbled. A thorny rose burst from the painting. Shooting up from the ground in front of me were 3 thorny vines.

"?!" gasped Garry. "Something came up from the ground!" screamed Mary. The ground trembled, and Garry shouted, "T-This is bad! Get away from the painting!"

The ground beneath me began to crack and Mary screamed, "Ib! Watch out!" Mary pulled me away as another thorny vine shot out of the ground. "...!" gasped Garry.

With the worst of it over, we got as close to the vines as we could and tried to see the other person on the other side. "Are you two all right?!" asked a worried Garry. Mary hugged me and said, "Ahhh... That scared me!"

I was visibly shocked and thought about what happened. If it weren't for Mary, I would have surely got seriously hurt. "Ib? Are you hurt?" asked Garry. No, I wasn't. But I was scared. Garry was on the other side and he wasn't with me. I told him how I felt.

He breathed a sigh of relief. "It certainly was startling... But as long as you're not hurt." He reached out to the vines. "But with these... things in the way, I can't get over there... Maybe I can cut it down?"

Garry then touched and felt the vines. "...Wait, what's this?" It was smooth, solid and so cold. "These vines are made of stone... What to do..."

While he thought, Mary turned to me and asked, "...Hey, Ib. You got a key in that room, right?" I felt my pocket to see if it was still there. Sure enough, cool to the touch, was the key.

"Maybe that key..." she started. Mary pointed to the door ahead of us. "Opens that door there?" Perhaps so. I looked at the door and stared at it.

"We might find something to get rid of these in another room. Should we go look?" she asked. Garry seemed a little worried. "Hmm... well... I wonder if you'll be okay..." he mumbled.

Mary turned to face me with her bright eyes and said, "We'll be fine! Right, Ib?" It was frightening to not have Garry with me. But nothing good would come out of here stuck between stone vines. I swallowed my fear and cleared my mind. At least I'd have Mary with me. I should try to be calm and optimistic like her. I said I thought we'd be fine.

"See, Ib thinks we'll be fine!" said a happy Mary. Our friend on the other side sounded a little sad. "M-My... Is that so..." he mumbled to himself. Then he stood straight up and said, "Well, I guess it's worth a try..."

Then Garry got serious. "But if you don't find anything, make sure you come straight back, okay? Then we'll rethink about what we can do."

Mary nodded and said, "Yeah! Got it!" She turned to me and said, "Okay, let's go!"

I waved goodbye to Garry, though he probably didn't see me. This was the second time I would be separated from an adult. I really hoped Mary and I will find something to reunite with Garry... We looked at each other, then stuck the key in the door. It fit and opened easily. We looked at each other again, took a deep breath, and ventured in.