Chapter 11

~Ib~

Across from us, the lips in the painting "Tattletale" were moving, as if they were speaking. I wanted to get a closer look, but Kasey nudged me and gestured to Mary. Mary was staring at the painting with a strange look on her face. She narrowed her eyes.

"Mary?" Kasey asked. "What's wrong?"

"...No... thing's... wrong," Mary said slowly. "...Aha. What's wrong? Whaaat's wrrrooonnnggg? Ahahahaha, ohohohohoho..."

I took a small step back. Kasey furrowed her brow.

"I don't like him... not one bit..." Mary went on. "But she likes him, doesn't she? That's not good of her... Not good at all... Ohohohoho hohohohoho..." She giggled and ran away from us.

"...What was that?" Kasey asked incredulously. When I didn't respond, she said, "Um... I'll go check up on her. Just go on ahead for now, okay, Ib? Don't go too far, though. I'll catch up."

Kasey went after Mary. I was left by myself. With nothing better to do, I just walked around, going from room to room. When I reached the gray room, I was surprised to see that not only did the room have color, but there was a rainbow bridge across the gap in the floor. I gingerly walked across and got the brown key on the table. I had a feeling I knew which door it opened.

As I exited the room, I wondered what Kasey and Mary were doing. What was with Mary, anyway? She seemed a little... off. And who was she talking about before? I sighed and clutched onto the key in my hands. I just hoped she was feeling okay...

~Garry~

The color drained from Terra's face. "Great," she muttered. "Just goddamn splendid! We're in the dolls' home!"

I averted my gaze from the dolls and looked at the other objects in the room. There was a blank painting hanging in the back. There was nothing on it — it was just a plain white painting. Lying underneath the painting was a white ball of paint.

"That's the last one," I stated. I gingerly picked it up, and it vanished out of my hands.

"Great, now let's get the hell out of here," Terra said, glancing around the room nervously.

We walked to the door. I turned the knob. It didn't budge. "Huh...?" I tried again. The door remained sealed.

"You... can't be..." Terra gasped. "We're... trapped?!"

A message appeared on the door. It said, "Let's have another treasure hunt... Who? Who? Who has the key?"

"What's that supposed to —" she started.

Suddenly, a bell rang loudly, echoing in the room.

"Wh-What?!" I exclaimed. "What now?!"

The room suddenly became very cold and darkened into an ominous blue color.

"Are you kidding me?!" Terra shrieked.

"The key... We need to find the key!" I yelled.

Terra and I ripped through the dolls, desperately searching for the key. Something was coming out of the blank painting. It focused its red eyes on us and grinned wickedly. We tore open doll after doll, but still no key.

"Gross," Terra muttered when we found a doll stuffed with hair.

One of the dolls had a pebble in it. "What IS this?!" I exclaimed, frustrated.

We kept searching, but the large creature in the painting was getting closer. It began to reach its blue arms out toward us...

"WHERE THE HELL IS THE GODDAMN KEY?!" Terra screeched.

We were running out of time... We ripped open more dolls. Key, key... Where was the key?!

"FOUND IT!" Terra shouted, holding up the key.

I let out a shaky sigh of relief. Then I froze when I looked at the painting. It was too late... The creature was out...

I shoved Terra to the door as hard as I could, but she didn't escape. She stayed, screaming that she wouldn't leave without me. I opened my mouth to yell at her to get out while she could, but then the room became very dark, and everything flashed red.

~Kasey~

I traveled down the narrow walkway. After a moment, I started to slow my steps. I hesitated. Was I doing the right thing, leaving Ib like that? She was only nine. Maybe I should go back...? Then I heard a loud noise coming from ahead of me. It sounded like someone was bashing something. My curiosity got a hold of me and didn't let go. (Sheesh, was Terra right when she said that I was way too curious for my own good?) I kept going forward.

My eyes fell on Mary, who was slashing a mannequin head with the palette knife she found in one of the boxes. She was yelling, "In my way... In my WAY..."

I swallowed, feeling uneasy. While she continued muttering to herself, I thought about just backing away and pretending like I never saw her. But Mary was my friend. Even if she was acting a bit weird, I should be there for her... right? Slowly, I reached my hand out and tapped her on the shoulder.

Her fingers froze on the knife, just inches away from the mannequin head. Without turning around, she said, "...Kasey?"

I blinked, wondering how she knew it was me. "Um, yeah. Sorry, I just wanted to see how you were feeling. You kind of left in a hurry."

"How I'm feeling?" she repeated. She tilted her head to the side. "I'm feeling... fine."

I smiled uncomfortably, even though she wasn't looking at me. "Well... that's good."

She stood up, put the knife back in her pocket, and turned to me. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," I replied. "I just... thought that you might want to talk. Do you?"

"Talking is nice."

"Yeah..." I paused. "So, um, what were you doing?"

"Oh, that was... I'm sorry, but I'm not too sure either... I was just... All these feelings suddenly... How do you say it?" she fumbled. "Came... gushing out? Um... uh..." All of a sudden, she brightened. She plastered on a smile. "Don't worry about it! I'll be fine!"

I nodded distractedly. Her behavior was a bit... odd. Was she really feeling okay? Before I could ask, she started talking again. "Kasey, would you... be friends with me? I've... always wanted a girl like me who could be my friend... And I want to meet your mom, too! I mean, I don't even have a dad..."

"Of course I'll be your friend, Mary," I told her. I thought we were already friends. Then I thought about the last part of what she said. Did she... not have parents? That would be really sad...

"Really? That's great!" She giggled. "I know lots of things we can do! We can play dolls... I'll be the mom doll, and you can be the dad doll... Or maybe we could draw together! I love to draw. I've got lots of crayons. We should definitely draw sometime! I'm pretty good, you see!"

She blabbed on, and I eyed the floor, really wishing I could just sit down and rest for a bit. She seemed to notice, because she said, "Kasey, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine," I said. "Just a bit tired."

"Yeah... You've been walking around the whole time, huh, Kasey? Don't wear yourself out!" Her face turned serious. "We have to get out together! We're almost there, so let's keep at it!"

"Yeah..." I mumbled.

"Ahah... heehee... We passed by a painting of a clown earlier... So the thing rolling down the stairs was the clown's spit! Ahahahah..." She giggled and, once again, changed to a completely different subject. "Cookies and cream and chocolate and... Teehee, so much to eat! I want to eat all these sweets!"

I smiled.

"Kasey... How's this scarf?"

"It's cute," I told her.

"Teehee... I'm glad! I really like it too..." she said. "Your scarf's all big and cute too, Kasey!" She gestured to my pink-and-gray scarf.

I blushed. "Thanks." My scarf was my most prized possession, so that meant a lot.

"Your flower's all pink and pretty..." She giggled. "Can I touch it?"

I paused. Reluctantly, I handed it over.

"Yaaay, thanks...! It's so pretty..." she said in awe. "But as pretty as roses are, they still have thorns... Ah! Sorry, Kasey, one of the petals fell off..."

I winced as a wound appeared on my body. Then I took my rose back and said, "It's okay. Don't worry about it."

She was a bit quiet for a moment before she perked up again. "Kasey, do you know about snow?"

I was a bit thrown off guard by her question. "Yeah," I replied.

"Wow, that's nice! It's really cold, right? I read in a book that you can eat it with syrup! I wonder how it tastes..."

"You mean... You've never seen snow before?" I asked in disbelief.

She stopped smiling and slowly shook her head. I felt bad, because it seemed like I just ruined her mood. I shuffled uncomfortably.

Mary sighed. "For an art gallery... there aren't many visitors, huh... I wish more people would come..." She closed her eyes. "I want to get out now... I'm tired of being here..." She reopened her blue eyes and looked at me. "I wonder what Garry and Terra are doing now? Maybe she doesn't really like him... and he's crying all alone?"

"...What?" I blurted.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "I hope we find them soon..."

"Yeah..." I nodded. "I hope they're safe."

"...Yes... That would be... nice," she muttered. "But if one of them isn't — like Garry, for example — we'll just have to leave them behind, right?"

"I'm not leaving Terra behind," I replied firmly. "And I wouldn't want to leave Garry, either."

"Right..." she mumbled. "I was just saying..."

I sighed, and my mind wandered over to Ib. Where was she? Was she okay? I should get back to her... I looked at Mary, who was absently playing with her hair. "Hey, are you sure you're feeling okay?"

She looked up. "Um... Yeah. Why?"

"I need to go check on Ib," I told her. "Want to come?"

Mary didn't respond.

"Uh... Mary?" I looked at her quizzically.

"I... um..." she stammered. "...No, I'll stay here a little while longer... if you don't mind..."

"No, that's okay," I assured, giving her a smile. "I'll go find Ib and the three of us can keep going, okay?"

She nodded, looking distracted.

I waved at her and then started walking back to where I left Ib. I thought I heard the faint sound of footsteps behind me, but I must've imagined it.

~Ib~

I'd been waiting for Kasey for a while now, but she still didn't come back. What could she have been talking about with Mary for so long...? I sighed, playing with the key in my hands. Then I scrambled to my feet. I knew I wasn't supposed to go without Kasey and Mary, but I wanted to see what was behind that locked door... I waited for a few more minutes before I finally gave up and unlocked the door. I opened it and slipped inside.

There were stairs in the room. I walked over to them and debated over whether or not I should go down the stairs. But before I could make a decision, someone opened the door and came inside without bothering to close it. I turned around. It was Mary.

"Hello there, Ib..." she said.

I opened my mouth to say hi when I saw that she was holding the palette knife. My throat went dry.

"Where are you going, Ib? Your sister's trying to find you..." She took a step closer. "I know what you're trying to do..."

I gulped, my eyes locked on the knife in her hands.

"You're trying to steal Kasey away from me..." I looked at her, shocked by her words. She had a dangerous look in her eye. "It won't work, you know..." She stepped closer. "No one will get in between me and Kasey... No one..." She swung the palette knife in the air, just inches away from me. "...Not even you, Ib..." Then she raised the knife at me. I could feel all the color drain from my face, because this time she was directly aiming to hit me.

At the last second, I dodged the attack. My heart was hammering in my chest. What was wrong with Mary...?! Why was she trying to hurt me?!

Mary giggled. "Ooh, you can run, Ib, but you can't hide..."

I wanted to run out the open door, but Mary was blocking it. I considered going down the stairs, but Mary must've known what I was thinking because she ran in front of the stairs. Then she cornered me. I screamed as she raised the knife again...

Suddenly, Mary collapsed to the floor. I watched in shock as she fell, and I saw that there was someone behind her. My eyes connected with the figure. Brown eyes stared back at me.

It was Kasey...! She looked upset and sullen. She held a hard-cover book in her hands. I realized she must've used that to knock Mary out. I threw my arms around her and thanked her a billion times.

Kasey didn't say anything. She didn't even hug me back. She just stood there. When I pulled away, I saw that she had tears in her eyes. I reached my hand out, but she pulled away. She wiped her tears away with the back of her hand and then hurled the book across the room.

I stared at her. My voice was shaking, but I asked her if she was okay.

"Mary... was my... friend," she whispered. "I d-didn't want to do that... but I had to save you..." Her eyes welled up again, but she blinked the tears away. "I'm sorry if she hurt you, Ib. I don't know what's gotten into her..."

I didn't know, either. But I felt bad for Kasey, being forced to hurt her own friend. Even if that friend tried to kill me...

I almost told her what Mary said, that she thought I was stealing Kasey away, but I stopped myself. It was too soon. I could read on Kasey's face how pained she was right now.

"A-Anyway... There are stairs here... Since there's nothing up here, let's go down..." She tightened the scarf around her neck and grabbed my hand, leading me downstairs. I looked back at Mary one last time. She lay motionless on the floor.