Edible Fin
Summary: A wonderful moment to bond, a wonderful moment to... ? ? ? ? !
You don't know this word.
For the Rebirth of the Daily Weird Thing [Competition] prompt: sharks
Garry tugged on the door knob once more. "It's locked," he muttered, glancing down at Ib.
She was still looking at the door, biting on her lower lip while her small hands remained clutched around the hem of his jacket. Her gaze shifted a second later, eyes meeting his and he could see the fear in them at the prospect of being locked in this room. He couldn't say he much liked the idea either, but... he couldn't let it show.
"It'll be fine, Ib." He ran his hand over the top of her head, ruffling her hair while he gave her a smile. Her grip on his jacket seemed to relax and when she gave a small smile in return a laugh slipped from his lips. "Come on, let's look around. Someone probably lost the key in here."
At the nod of her head he walked over to the bookcase, looking over the top shelf while Ib searched the bottom one. He glanced down at the books she opened a couple times, checking that the content wasn't... inappropriate; like that one time.
After another second of making sure the words weren't too mature for her he glanced back to his shelf, pulling out books to see if a key was hidden between them or behind or... anywhere on the shelf really. It was the only furniture in the room, except the empty picture frame hanging on the wall. The words: Deep Blue, displayed beneath it.
"Garry?"
He nearly dropped the book in his hands when he heard Ib speak. "What is it?" he asked, after sliding the book back onto the shelf.
"I found this." Ib held up a open box, containing puzzle pieces within. Most of which contained a shade of the color blue, along with bits of white and grey.
It wasn't a key, but maybe... Garry glanced to the picture frame on the wall. "It must be the pieces for the painting. Could you give me a hand so we could put it back together?"
"Sure!" Ib smiled brightly, walking over to the painting to set the box down beneath it. "You always put the corners on first, right?"
"Usually," he agreed, joining her at the painting. Garry looked through the pieces, helping her find the corners. The back side of the pieces were sticky, almost like glue, so at least he didn't have to worry about how to make them stick to the frame. Once all four corners were found he lifted Ib up, letting her place them on the frame.
Ib giggled as he set her back down. "This is fun. Let's put the other puzzle pieces back in place to, and then the door will open!"
"Yeah. It's just another puzzle we have to solve." Garry laughed softly.
It was simple compared to the others, and Mary wasn't around either. There wasn't even any of those creepy dolls around... It actually felt safe here in this room, despite the fact they were still in this gallery.
He pushed those memories away as he helped Ib find the corresponding pieces to the puzzle.
It slowly started to take shape: the water getting darker at the bottom, sharks swimming around in the sea in a collection of white and grey, even some wavy green sea weed stretched out from the bottom.
He picked Ib up for the last time as she slid the final piece into place. "Done!" She turned to smile at him, and he would have smiled back to if he didn't feel something wet land on his forehead.
"Huh?"
He titled his head up just as the water began falling in a steady stream from thin slits in the ceiling. What... what was going on? He could feel Ib shift in his arms, moving closer to press against his chest, her breath coming faster than it had a moment before.
Garry tightened his grip on her, making sure she wouldn't fall from his arms as he felt the water rising, soaking through the fabric of his pants. "It's going to be okay, Ib." he said as his gaze settled on an opening in the ceiling. He wasn't sure if it had been there before or not. After all, how many people think to look up at a ceiling when they first entered a room? The only problem was that it was too high up, but as the water rose he was sure he could reach it.
A splash sounded to his right and his head spun quickly to look at the picture frame, eyes widening. Had it... had that shark just moved? Did they all... move?
The shark in the frame practically shuddered as the water brushed against it again and he took a step back. This... this was ridiculous. Fuck this gallery.
He both wished the water would fall faster and slower at the same time as he waded through the liquid to stand beneath that opening. With a glance up he couldn't see anything but darkness, but it had to be better than this room. A room that was soon going to be filled with water, with those sharks from the painting swimming around in it.
Garry could feel his distaste for this gallery growing with every passing second, but he bit his tongue, not about to curse in front of a child.
"Here we go," he muttered, kicking slowly in the water to stay afloat. "Grab onto the edge and do your best to pull yourself up." Garry raised his arms, lifting Ib towards the opening.
He ignored the splashing sounds as he watched her go through the hole in the ceiling. His heart only beat faster when Ib's head poked out from the opening, so she was looking down at him as the water continued to fill the room. "Garry?" Her eyes had widened, the edges moist now.
"Back away from the opening Ib," somehow he kept his voice calm when he spoke and with a glance at the direction of the painting Ib ducked away so he couldn't see her anymore.
With a deep breath Garry kicked harder against the water, arms stretched out to grab at the edge of the hole, pulling himself up and out of the room just as he heard teeth snap beneath him.