Chapter 8
Everything was a blur. I heard someone yell "Ahh?!" and the next thing I knew, Terra was shoving someone away, caught by surprise. It was a girl. She fell to the floor, her gold hair flying. To match her blonde hair, the girl also had baby blue eyes. She was wearing a forest green dress with a blue ribbon, black stockings, and brown shoes. She looked around my age… but a tiny bit older… Maybe like ten years old?
"Whoa, are you okay?!" Garry exclaimed. He kneeled down next to the girl.
She didn't respond. She just sat on the floor, looking surprised and dazed. Then, so quickly that my brain was barely able to process it, she stood up and backed away.
Garry stood up as well. "Ah! Wait!"
Kasey stared at the girl. She cocked her head curiously. "Hey, are you… one of the people from the gallery?"
"Ah…!" the girl blurted.
"As I thought…" Garry murmured. He smiled and introduced himself. "I am Garry."
Kasey suddenly brightened. "Hi, I'm Kasey!"
Terra was staring at the girl. I couldn't read her face, but her eyes were narrowed. She seemed to be deep in thought. Kasey nudged her. She blinked. "Oh, um, yes. My name is Terra." She looked at me. "And this girl is Ib."
The girl remained silent.
"We were in the art gallery, but then somehow found ourselves lost in this place…" Garry explained. "So now we're all trying to find a way out. Presumably, you're doing the same?"
Finally, the girl spoke. "I… I was looking to see if there was anyone else too… I wanted to get out… So I…"
"Ah, I knew it!" Garry said.
"Do you wanna come with us?" Kasey offered, bouncing up and down on her toes.
"Huh…?" the girl croaked.
"It's dangerous to be alone here," Garry said. "There are lots of strange creatures around."
"Plus, this place is creepy and filled with a bunch of crazy surprises at every turn…" Kasey added.
Garry nodded. "So will you come with us? I think it would be best if we all stick together."
I observed everyone's faces carefully. Garry looked kind and welcoming and Kasey seemed to be really excited. Terra looked… well, distant. As for the blonde girl, she looked stunned and… happy.
"Yeah! I'll come…!" the girl replied, smiling.
"Yay!" Kasey cheered, giggling.
"Then it's decided!" Garry proclaimed. "Oh, what's your name?"
The girl paused. "Mary…"
"Mary, then!" said Garry. "Nice to meet you!"
"…Yeah!" Mary said. She turned to Kasey and smiled. "Kasey, right? It's really nice to meet you…!"
"Right back at ya!" Kasey replied. She beamed.
Mary turned to me and my seventeen–year–old sister. "Um… Nice to meet you, Ib… And Terra…"
Remembering my manners, I told her that it was nice to meet her too.
"Teehee… Thanks!" Mary chirped. Then she looked at Terra again. "Um… Terra…?"
Terra blinked. Still looking lost in thought, she gave Mary a smile that I thought looked a bit forced and said, "…Yeah. You too, Mary."
"…Right!" said Mary.
"All right! Now that we have more company, we can proceed with our spirits high!" Garry said.
"Yay!" Kasey and Mary squealed in unison. They giggled at their simultaneous outburst.
The five of us headed down the hall, passing by a painting titled "The Force of Quarrel." When we reached the end of the hall, we walked toward a vase. Kasey put her rose in and replenished it. I looked her over. I hadn't even noticed before, but she had long, thick scratches on her arms. Had she gotten hit by The Lady in Green, all the way back in the gray room?
When she was done, Garry said, "Say… Seeing as the four of us all have roses… Mary, do you have a rose as well?"
"…Yeah, I do!" Mary replied. "A yellow rose!"
"Ah, it's true! You four keep those safe." Garry's face suddenly turned serious. "Don't you dare lose it. And don't give it to anyone. And…"
"Wooow, Ib's rose is reeed! Kasey's rose is piiink! Terra's rose is whiiite! My rose is yellooow!" Mary bubbled. "I like yellow, but I also like pink! Oh, and blue!"
"I like pink, too!" Kasey giggled. "And yellow is definitely a nice color. And purple!"
Garry sighed heavily. "…Learn to listen, would you?"
But Kasey and Mary were giggling about colors and weren't paying attention to Garry.
We headed the other way and walked down the narrow hallway. There was a notice on the wall that said, "Which one could it be?" I furrowed my brow. What was that supposed to mean?
As we headed up a few set of steps, we came across a room that had two doors on each side. The wall between the doors was much closer to the opposite wall. A painting hung on the wall. It was called "Flowers of Jealousy."
We tried out the right door, but it was locked, so we went to the left door instead. It opened with ease, and we walked inside. My eyes widened in surprise. The room was filled with pink and white rabbit ornaments (along with a single green one) that were sitting on shelves. There were two tables, three stools, and two bookshelves in the room as well. There was also a big painting of a pink rabbit. It was titled "Red Eyes."
"...the love of..." Garry muttered. "This painting, this room... Why must it be so unsettling?!"
"Huh? Really...?" Mary said, looking surprised. "I think it's cute..."
"Wha...?! What about this is CUTE?!" Garry demanded.
"I just think it is..." she responded. "What about you guys?" She looked at me and my sisters.
Terra shook her head, her eyes darting uncomfortably from bunny to bunny. "No way. Sorry, Mary, but Garry's right. This is definitely not cute."
"Well, I think it is!" Kasey declared. "In fact, I wanna pet it!"
I didn't know why Garry and Terra looked so anxious. It was almost as if they were... scared of the bunnies. I certainly wasn't, and it seemed like Kasey and Mary weren't, either. I actually did think the bunnies were pretty cute, and I told them so.
"...Ib... Kasey... Do you both... really like this kind of thing...?" Garry asked quietly. "I can hardly stomach it."
"That makes two of us..." Terra muttered, gripping onto his arm.
"You guys are such weirdoes!" Mary told them.
Terra's eyes flashed over to Mary. She narrowed them at her.
"You're the weirdoes!" Garry replied, huffing in disbelief. "...Ugh, never mind that! Let's investigate this place and get out of it already! I feel like I'm being watched in this room..."
"Talk about unsettling," Terra agreed.
After looking around the room a bit more, we came across a book called "Ruin of the Heart" in one of the bookshelves. It read, "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."
When I looked up, I found that Terra was staring at me and Kasey strangely, as if she knew something we didn't. It made me uncomfortable. I debated over whether or not to say something, but before I could open my mouth, the green rabbit ornament fell off the shelf and shattered to pieces. When we looked closer, we found something among the shards. It was a violet key. Kasey took it, making a comment about how pretty the color was.
We exited the room and headed towards the other door. As we were passing by the "Flowers of Jealousy" painting, a soft sound emitted from it.
The five of us stood there, staring at it. "Huh...?" Mary said. "That sound's... getting closer..."
As a flower bloomed in the painting, large vines came out of the ground. We gasped. Mary stated the obvious: "Something came up from the ground!"
"T-This is bad!" Garry said. "Get away from the painting!"
"Kasey! Ib!" Mary yelled. "Watch out!"
The ground began to vibrate where we were standing, and I knew that more vines would sprout from the ground. I felt a tug on my sleeve and I was pulled away from the painting. Mary and Kasey fell next to me. I watched as Garry grabbed Terra's arm and jerked her away from the vines. They were on the other side of the room. The vines came out all the way, separating the five of us.
"Terra! Are you all right?!" Garry exclaimed.
Terra nodded, looking a bit shaken. "I'm okay. What about you?"
"I'm good as well," Garry replied. Then he and Terra turned to us. We looked at each other through the vines. "What about the three of you?" he asked.
"Ahhh... That scared me!" Mary said.
"She's right... That was scary," Kasey agreed. "But we're fine."
"Ib? Are you hurt?" Terra pressed.
I shook my head. My heart was racing, but other than that, I was okay.
"Good..." she said, sighing of relief.
"But with these... things in the way, we can't get over there," Garry said.
"Maybe we can cut it down?" Terra suggested.
Garry touched the vines. "...Wait, what's this?" He furrowed his brow. "These vines are made of stone..."
"What?" Terra reached for the vines. She frowned. "How...?"
Mary turned to me and Kasey. "...Hey, Kasey. You got a key in that room, right?"
Kasey nodded.
"Maybe that key... opens that door there?" Mary gestured to the door on our side; the one that was locked before. "We might find something to get rid of these in another room. Should we go look?"
Garry and Terra shared a glance. "Hmm... well... I wonder if you'll be okay..." Garry murmured.
"We'll be fine!" Mary said brightly. "Right, you two?"
"I... I guess so," Kasey said. She mulled it over. "I mean, as long as we stay together."
"We will!" Mary assured her. "Don't worry!"
A small smile appeared on Kasey's lips. "Then... yeah, I think we'll be okay."
"See, Kasey thinks we'll be fine!" Mary chirped.
"What do you think, Ib?" Terra asked me.
I bit my lip and confessed that I'd rather not split up.
"Huh? Why not?" Mary pouted.
"I don't see what else we can do," Kasey told me, sighing. She reached for my hand and gave it a squeeze. The gesture was familiar and comforting, and I relaxed a little. The truth was, I didn't want to be separated from Terra and Garry. They were both older and wiser, and without them, going through this gallery wouldn't be as simple. Not to mention how much more dangerous it would be. But if anything, I needed to be grateful that I wasn't alone. I had Kasey and Mary with me. They weren't that much older than me, but hopefully it wouldn't matter.
Kasey smiled reassuringly. "It'll be okay, Ib. As long as we stay together, we should be fine."
I nodded, hoping she was right.
"Is that so...?" Terra said, frowning sightly.
"Well, I guess it's worth a try..." Garry said.
Terra crossed her arms. "All right... But if you don't find anything, make sure you come straight back, okay?"
"And then we'll rethink about what we can do," Garry finished for her.
"Yeah! Got it!" Mary said.
Kasey and I nodded. Then Kasey said, "Okay, let's go."
"Be careful!" Garry and Terra chorused as the three of us walked to the door. Kasey put the key in. The door clicked open and we slipped inside.
The room was a light shade of brown. It was filled with boxes. There was another door in the room, but we didn't go through it because we weren't supposed to go any farther without Terra and Garry. There were four headless statues in the room, but they weren't walking around. When we inspected one of them, Mary said, "Looks like this would break if you hit it... Way too heavy to move, though."
We checked around, searching for something that might help us. Four boxes in the room were slightly opened, so we examined each of them. One of them was filled with various kinds of paint, another was filled with yellowed drawing paper, and another was packed with various painting tools.
"Hmm... Is there anything useful in here?" Mary asked. She peered inside. "...Ah!" She pulled out a palette knife. "Maybe this can cut those vines?"
"Let's try it," Kasey replied.
"Ahaha! I was just kidding!" Mary clarified, giggling.
Kasey raised her eye brows but didn't say anything.
"But I think I'll hold onto this..." Mary went on. "You know, just in case..."
Maybe if one of the art creatures tried to attack us, Mary could protect us.
We checked the last box. It was filled with worn brushes.
"Hmm... I don't really see anything useful," Mary said. "Should we just go back to Garry for now?"
"That's probably the best thing we can do right now," Kasey said.
Suddenly, the lights flickered and dimmed. Kasey yelped and gripped my hand. Then, almost as suddenly as when they turned off, the lights turned back on.
"That scared me..." Mary said.
"Y-Yeah..." Kasey stammered, still holding on to me.
The three of us walked back to the door so we could leave. We stopped in our tracks when we saw something that hadn't been there before. There was a headless statue blocking the door.
"Huh? The exit..." Mary gasped. "Wh-When did that move? Wasn't it just against the wall?"
"W-We have to move it!" Kasey exclaimed.
We ran up to the statue. "Ready?" Mary said. "Heeeave...!"
Even with our combined strength, we weren't able to move it. But we were able to make it wobble a little. Maybe if we made it fall and shatter into pieces, we could pass? But when it started to wobble too much, Mary suddenly stopped and said, "Wait... I don't think we should break it..."
Kasey paused, her fingers still on the statue. "But we need to get back to Garry and Terra."
"I know. But maybe we can find another way. I just don't think we should break it. I have a bad feeling about it."
After a moment, Kasey nodded and drew back from the statue. I followed suit.
We looked around the room a bit more and examined all of the opened boxes again. We discovered that a lot of things had changed. The box that was filled with various kinds of paint was missing the red and pink paint. The yellowed drawing paper in one of the boxes was wet for some reason. The box that was packed with various painting tools smelled terribly moldy. The last box still contained the worn brushes, but looking closer, I saw that they were made with hair...
We walked to the other door in the room. "Not much else we can do but go this way!" Mary said.
We pulled on the handle and went inside.