Chapter 23
"Ah, it's warm..." said Garry, rubbing his arms. "But this is a fake sun, isn't it?" He closed his eyes and said sleepily, "I hope we get to see a real sky again soon..." Me too. We've been stuck in this place for far too long.
"I have to say, we've come a long way, us two..." he said. "My feet are starting to get sore..." he sighed. See, aren't you glad I made us stop and take a break?
"You know, as far as we've managed to come..." started Garry. "Aren't we headed down? All the stairs go down... Is this a good way to go...?" I started thinking about it too. His logic was making me scared. He saw the look on my face and quickly apologized. "...Sorry, Ib. I didn't mean to make you anxious..." He took my hand and smiled at me. "Forget I said it, okay?" Okiedokie artichokie.
Garry shivered a little, even in the warm light. "You know, after seeing all the moving paintings and things jumping out..." he began. "I'm hardly even surprised to see a moving painting now. Crazy, isn't it?" I wouldn't be surprised either. We've gone through a lot. "Trick art is nothing special, huh?" said Garry. I guess not.
Garry massaged his ears and said, "This place seems to make my ears ring..." he complained. "Plus, is it just me? Or does it smell like crayons? ...Why?" he complained some more. To me, I smelled a bit of chalk as well. Come on, Garry, you don't see me whining.
I heard Garry's stomach rumble. He grunted and turned to me. "Say, Ib... Have you heard of macarons?" No, but I assumed they were food. "They're these pastries shaped like hamburgers. And just the other day, I had one at a café, and it was sooo tasty!" Oh my god Garry my stomach is killing me. Please stop. "It was really, really good! Even the cream wasn't too sweet!" he went on. Ahhhh I was so hungry now.
"So, uh, if we get out of here, could we go there together?" he asked. Then he hesitated. "...No, wait. We WILL be going there. And we will get out! I promise!" He smiled gleefully at me. I couldn't tell, but I think I was smiling as well. Did he just ask me out on a date? And agreed for me? Ehh I was okay with this. I'd love to go out with Garry for some yummy macarons!
Garry looked at me and asked, "Ib, you're holding onto your rose, right?" I nodded and showed it to him. "Make sure you don't lose it. And don't let anyone else have it!" he said, making me promise to him not to ever lose my rose. "Although... I still wonder, why do we have these roses?" he pondered. He thought for a moment, and said, "...Well, I recall there was a rose sculpture in the gallery called 'Embodiment of Spirit'... I wonder if there's a connection there?" Garry's such a smart man. I'd love for him to be my big brother.
"I was just thinking... Why did Mary come with us?" he asked scratching his head. "To make fun of us? ...The more I think about it, the less likely that seems. We don't know very well what she's after... Of course, she may not even have a goal." Then Garry shook his head and said, "First things first, I want her to stop chasing us with a palette knife..." I guess Garry didn't understand Mary like I did. I saw her as someone who never got to experience snow, sunlight, a real life. She had nothing I had. Not even parents. It was very sad...
Garry flicked some dust off his coat. "You saw that stuff flying out of 'Pandora's Box' earlier, right?" he asked. "I wonder what it was? Probably not anything good... That would figure." I recalled all of those cryptic symbols flying out of there. Where did they go, I wondered.
Garry was bored out of his mind so I thought about what we should do next. This mirror, it had to be useful somehow. I stared at it. My face was tired, worn. I was tired, worn. The light from the false sun highlighted these features. I moved my hand a little, and suddenly the light hit my eye. Ouch, I whispered to myself. I put down the mirror on the floor.
Then I had the most wonderful idea. I angled the mirror so that the light reflected onto the frozen door. In seconds, the ice melted and it was a pool of water on the floor.
"Ah! The ice on the door melted...!" exclaimed Garry. He looked at the mirror and back at the door. "I see now... You reflected the sunlight. Not too shabbyyy!" he said, dragging out the last syllable and flashing a smile at me. I felt so proud of myself. I bet Garry was proud of me too. We got up, and headed through the door.
When we went inside, we were met with a strange ticking noise, like a clock. On the ground in front of us were 8 red dots. 3 on the top, 2 on the middle and 3 on the bottom and they were connected like a square. We took a closer look and saw they were switches. Before pressing anything, we decided to check out the rest of the room.
At the back of the room appeared to be instructions on the wall. First there was a "Start," and following it were a heart, an eye, a crescent moon, a sun, a star, a green spiral, a red fruit and finally a blue cat. I think we had to press the switches in a specific order. But what did the symbols mean?
Then we realized some of the symbols from "Pandora's Box." They were scattered around. Then we also realized that the switches symbolized the places. It was a map. Thinking hard, we tried to think where we saw the symbols.
I remembered that the really decorated house had a heart on the door. It was in the area to the right of us. And we were currently at the top left side, so I pressed the switch at the top middle. Then I remembered Garry pointing out the odd butterfly with the eye pattern on its back. It was the area below us, the middle left. I pressed the switch there.
Next was a moon. Where did we see a crescent moon? Then I recalled the blinding light at the lake. I pressed the switch at the top right. Next was the sun. This was the area we were in right now. I pressed the switch at the top left. Only 4 more to go. Next was the star. Garry noticed some stars in the storybooks in the house near where we came in, so I pressed the switch at the bottom right.
A green spiral... The "Bulletin Board." That's where it was. It was right next to the house with the storybooks. I pressed the bottom middle switch. 2 left. A red fruit. That was near the fruit trees, poking out from the orange tree. I pressed the middle right switch. Last one. The cat drawing. I knew where that was. I hurried on over to bottom left button and pushed it.
There was a clink, and a key lay on the floor in the middle of all the buttons. Wow my memory was fantastic. I bet Garry was jealous. Where would he be without me? We left the house and hurried on to the fancy house with all the flowers. The door opened with a click. We went inside.
The house wasn't so fancy on the interior. It was mostly white space with a few pink lines. At the back of the room was a blue drawing labeled "Toy Box." Garry had a surprised look on his face. "This is the toy box...? It's rather big. But at any rate..." We peered into the blackness within. "It said there was a key in there..." He blinked a few times and said, "...I can't say I see the bottom. Is there really a key in there, I wonder...?"
Suddenly, we heard a noise behind us. "Wanna see?" said a sweetly sinister voice. "Huh...?!" gasped Garry. I felt small hands forcefully push us in. We fell into the darkness, falling into the horrors within. I closed my eyes, and wished everything would be alright.