Yaaay, I can finish this chap in a week! Well, I've been awake for 2 days straight to make this, don't want to let you guys waiting~~

I tried to describe the suspense as best as I can, and if any of you had an idea for 'their nightmarish' adventure, don't hesitate to PM me! I will gladly accept any idea!

Without further ado, let's begin chapter 5!

I do not own Ib.

Chapter 5: The Third Rose

All people…Disappeared…With no trace…The seat which was awfully crowded a couple of second ago is now empty, every single one of them. Instead, on the seat, lied a black rose.

"What the hell…" Garry stared at their surrounding, eyes instilled with horror. "You've gotta be kidding me…Is this some kind of joke?!" slight anger was behind his tone.

"Garry…"

This place…she now remembered, this hall was the first place she saw in her dream. Empty seats…black roses…dim light…Did her nightmare just come true? Was this place somehow connected to her dream?

Standing dumbly won't get them anywhere, so the two decided to check the hall out. With the silence that covered the whole room, the thud sound of their footstep was as clear as water. The emergency light wasn't even enough to light the whole room up, the corner of the room was completely pitch black, they feared that something would suddenly come out from it.

And they can't shake off the feeling that somebody was watching them move, somewhere…within the darkness…

"What is this?" the purplette reached the nearest chair, picking the black rose from the seat. "Black…rose?" he inspected the rose. It was a real rose, but he never seen the black one before. The thorn was removed, and red string was tangled on its stalk. He plucked one of the petals out of curiosity, and suddenly...

Drip.

Something dripped from the ceiling and fall to the seat, making the two jumped out of surprise. It was…a crimson liquid? They hoped that it was just paint or some sort, remembering how they often they saw that back in Guertena's gallery, but after Garry checked the liquid, it had an uncomfortable coppery smell, and he was sure it wasn't paint…

It was blood…The crimson liquid was a blood…

"Holy shit! It's blood!" Garry quickly wiped his hand off the blood with his coat, he didn't even think, he just had to wipe the thing off quickly. It sicken him, the last thing he wanted to see in this nightmare would be blood. The brunette glanced at her teacher, Did he just swear? But given the situation they are facing now, she would've done the same, probably…

"Garry, you're okay?!" Eve said, giving support to the almost-fall-to-his-butt Garry, which he appreciated greatly. "Yeah…thanks, Eve…Sorry, I was surprised…" he turned his face to her, holding his chest to relieve his pounding heart. The brunette just nodded, it not like she was going to scold him for swearing, though.

The black rose he was holding fell to the floor, "We…we should return it to the seat…" Garry picked it again and placed it back. As it fell back to the seat, it crashed the blood with a sickening splash sound.

"It...It couldn't be the people…could it?" the girl said shakily behind the man, her hand grasped his coat. If it was, then did they just hurt them? Garry was reluctant to answer, he himself had no clue…no clue at all…so he wasn't sure how, or what to answer…

"Oh yeah! Cell phone! Can we call someone!?" Garry said suddenly. He checked his pocket, and Eve checked her bags, but no. There was nothing. All of their belongings were gone. Their cell phones, their wallets, everything.

Garry let out a sigh, and fixed the glasses on the bridge of his nose, "I can't believe we're on this again…"

"Well, actually…I…know…" she said unsurely, an earned a 'what?' kind of expression of Garry. "I've seen it…in my dream…"

"Eve? What dream?" he gazed his student with disbelief. Eve nodded, she felt like she was informing someone of their relative's death. "I…I had a nightmare, for a week straight…It was this place, and there were these roses and…" she paused, taking a deep breath before she continued, "Mary…"

'Not that girl again' was written all over his face. That ghost was always been his nightmare…He remembered how she was trying to kill him, with her palette knife and those horrid dolls.

"I'm sorry, Garry…I should've told you earlier…" her eyes started to well up. Things probably won't go this bad if she told him, fighting her way among her classmate. And now, it was too late. It all had happened…

Unexpectedly, Garry knelt and met her on level face. Since his handkerchief disappeared from his pocket, he erased the girl's tears with his hand. He gazed softly into her eyes with his lips turned upward, and said "Don't worry, Eve…We'll be fine…We've survived this once, and I'm sure we'll made it again…" His hand patted her head, like she was a little girl. The girl couldn't help but blushed.

Garry must be having it scary too, but he was optimist that the two of them can get out of this place. He was always the one to help her, and comfort her…How could she cry if he was sure that they will get out safely? She'll be fine…With Garry around, she will be fine…

"Yeah…Thanks, Garry…" she nodded and returned his smile, relieved the man.

"Now…how to get out of this place? We didn't touch any mural like before, did we?" the teacher cupped his chin, thinking of a way to get outta the place. He seemed a little bit calmer than before. Well, he's an adult now. He understood that if he didn't want to make the girl worried, he had to be calm first. "Do you remember where you were going on your dream after this place?"

"Hmm, I don't think so…" she shook her head again. She was always running aimlessly during her dream (something was chasing her for god's sake!), so she didn't really know where she was going. "I remembered … something, I don't know what that is, was chasing me through the hallway…"

The man shivered, the 'chasing' word certainly didn't seem good, "Let's just hope nothing will come…I don't think I'm in the mood for a run…Nothing else? Like a place or something?"

Eve massaged her temple, trying real hard to remember her dream, there should a place that was out of ordinary. "I think there was…a garden…or something…"

"Think there should be a garden around here?" Garry furrowed his eyebrows, this is memorial hall, not a park, why would there be a garden here? But then again, this whole place might already change its structure, just like at Guertena's gallery. "Seems like our best bet."

"We're not checking the entrance?" Eve asked him, shouldn't that be the first place to be checked? Surprisingly, the man just shrugged, ""Nah, let's not even bother with it. I'm pretty sure it would be locked…"Gee, how he emphasized it. He sure know well about the worst scenario…He's got a point, though, if escaping this place was that easy, they wouldn't even have to be scared by that 'blood' incident…

"Okay…" she agreed. Then Garry reached his arms to her, "[cough]…Let's not get separated…" he cleared his throat while he averted his gaze somewhere, it was visible that pink had tinged his cheeks. Eve was surprised after seeing this, Garry was…embarrassed? Well, same thing happened to her cheeks. When her hand almost reached his hand, suddenly…

SPLAT!

They turned their head in shock when they saw the stage, the source of the sound. The stage was suddenly colored in red, the wall, the podium, the floors, all covered in red liquid. There was something on the wall, it was so big that they were able to see it clearly without getting any closer, written in a horrible handwriting.

E?

"Let's get outta here!" Garry pulled her hand hurriedly, dragging her all the way out of the hall. As soon as they got out, the hall's door slammed shut, and black vines, sprouting from the wall, covered the door in instant. The vines was strangely solid, as if it wasn't part of a plant…They won't be coming to the hall again anytime soon…

Eve fell to her knee, shivering greatly as she stared at the door. Will they be trapped if they didn't make it in time? Beside, that the hell was that?

"What was that?!" Garry he felt his feet turned into something sluggish, but he refused to fall to the floor, so he leaned his back to the wall instead, catching his lost breath. "Damn, this is even scarier than before…" he covered his mouth with the back of his hand. Just when he said he wasn't in any mood to run, that splat on the wall made him to…

This is nothing close to their previous nightmare…Something more sinister is at work…and that sinister thing knew them, judging from its message on the wall earlier…

Miss me?

No, they don't even need to think twice of who, or what that could send the message…

Mary…

"Hmm? What's that?" The teacher said, after he noticed something on the doorknob. It was a key. A yellow key was hanging on the vines that tangled the doorknob. They probably should take it, who knows? Maybe it'll open a door somewhere. He pulled it off from the vines, and stuffed it to his pocket. "You're alright, Eve?" he asked the girl as she got back up on her feet, which she replied by a nod.

"Let's go…" he said to her.

xXx

They walked through the hallway. The wall had somehow morphed, they noted. It wasn't plastered in wallpaper anymore, it was all painted in red, which matched perfectly with the carpet, making them feel like they were walking in a hall of flesh and blood. And to make matter worst, they saw no window at all. The scene of red overwhelmed their vision, but they must keep on going, nonetheless. The sooner they escape this place, the better.

It wasn't as dark as they expected, but still, it was kind of difficult to see things outside 5 meter radius. There were hallways after hallways, not a sign of door anywhere near their eyes. They had grown tired, how long has it been since they walk like this?

They were currently heading for the garden Eve mentioned about, or at least the place where the yellow key can be used. Garry had noticed that the girl beside him had her breath out, and there were nothing to relieve them. No water, no food. It suddenly hit him that this is a race against time, they had to get out quickly before they're out of commission.

"Let's stop for a while. You looked kind of beat…" He stopped.

"I-I'm okay, really. Let's keep on going..." She stammered. She didn't want to halt their advance. But Garry simply smile, and said, "It's okay, nobody wants you to faint now, beside, I'm also tired..." he exhaled, dropping himself to the floor. He pondered as he pulled the key from the pocket, examining it carefully. "What did this key do anyway? There's no door around…wonder if we got the wrong way, though."

Oh no Garry…Don't jinx it…

"Hm?" the brunette's eyes wondered a couple of feet away from where they sat. There was nothing on the wall, but one paintingless gold frame. And she noticed something in the middle of the frame, which made her rose abruptly from the floor and make a run toward it. "Garry, there's a hole here…"

"Whoa, really?!" Garry quickly stood and go toward the frame, and it's true, there was a small hole, no, keyhole on the wall! "Way to go, Eve! Your eye's awesome!" he exclaimed excitedly.

The violet-haired man inserted the yellow key to the hole, he somehow gets the idea if it was the key for the hole, and as he turned it around, a clicked sound was heard, and suddenly the wall around the frame opened, as if it was secret passages they'd seen in a movie.

Garry entered first, while Eve quietly followed behind him. It was a small room, which ceiling was covered in web and pretty dusty. There were only one table and a bookcase in the back of the room. And the objects on the table couldn't surprise them more…

There were roses. One was red, and the other was blue…

"Oh no…not this shi-, sorry, not this again…" Garry gritted his teeth, the last thing he wanted to know is that his life depended, once again, on these roses. He had it enough when the Lady in Blue ambushed him from his back and stole his rose. Luckily, Eve was around, and even managed to retrieve his rose from that horrid creature.

"That's our rose…" they reached the table. And it was visible that some of the petals were slightly wilted. A vase of water was also standing on the table, and as they put their roses into it, the wilted part recovered. In addition, they also felt slightly refreshed.

"This is our rose alright…" she said, looking grimly at the red rose she took from the vase. "Guess we shouldn't worry about food or drink as long we had the rose…"

"Yeah, don't worry about food or drink, but once the petals all gone, we're finished…" the man replied sarcastically. He actually didn't want to say the word that way, but he was too pissed to even think about his word. He didn't like the idea of 'clinging his life to the rose' again…

"We should be really careful then…" she decided to ignore his sarcasm, and stuffed her rose to her bag, and was followed by Garry who put his blue rose to his coat's pocket. "That bookcase seemed suspicious though, want to check it out, Garry?" she pointed her finger to the bookcase which was standing in the corner of the room like a silent ghost.

Garry nodded, and began to run his finger through the book. It was awfully dusty that he cough, "Ugh, it looks like somebody forgot to clean up for a century…" Eve just smile wrily at his joke, and helped him to check the lower part of the bookcase.

"Weird…The book is empty…all of them…" Eve commented after she opened some of the books. The same thing happened to Garry, every book he opened turned out to be a bundle of empty paper. "This is the last book…" he sighed tiredly as he saw the only book left in the case. A book with golden cover, there was something written on its cover, but it was too worn out to be read, and when he opened the book, something fell from the book.

It was…A white rose?

Please don't mind the swearing Garry, he's nothing like that in your head, right?

Okay, I'll be waiting for your comment!

Since I've been receiving comment of my grammar (my, you're such a kind reader), maybe next chapter will be provided with beta reader.

Good day to you^^