Year: 3

Season: Winter

Ib: Age 11

Winter was significantly colder this year than it was the previous year, and her mother made sure to prepare her for going out into the cold by bundling her up in a very thick coat, gloves, boots, and topping it all off with a hat covering her ears. Opening the door to her house, Ib looked out at the couple inches of snow covering the ground, and slowly made her way down the icy path to the side walk. She was going to have to take the bus to get to the park again, where she intended to meet with her friend. After walking to the bus stop, and waiting a few minutes, it arrived, and the crowd of people she was with waited as the others on the bus stepped out. It was a very methodical scene, and Ib took part in it perfectly. When she got on the bus, she was fortunately able to find an open seat, and sat down, pulling out her new cellphone her mother had gotten her for her birthday. Scrolling through her text messages, she visited the ones that she had traded with her friend only a few days ago.

Garry: So you got a phone! Cool!

Ib: Thx

Garry: Was it a late Christmas present?

Ib: no it was a bday present.

Garry: Birthday? When was your birthday?

Ib: Feb 22

Garry: Yesterday?!

Ib: yep

Garry: Why'd you never tell me?

Ib: its not imprtant

Garry: Important* - and yes it is! What kind of friend would I be not to get you something?

Ib: u didnt get me ne thing last year either and were friends

Garry: That is because you didn't tell me! I won't stand for it! When we meet this Sunday, I'll have a gift for you.

Ib: im fine

She leafed through the few remaining texts after that, which boiled down to him insisting that he would get her something, and her finally relenting, since it was her birthday. She was able to make him promise to get him something for his own birthday in the end however, so she didn't have to feel too bad for accepting his gift. After a little while, the bus finally pulled up to the station near the park they always visited when they planned to meet up. Walking quickly to stay warm in the cold, she entered the park, and she looked around to the left and right, trying to find her friend. It didn't take long to spot the man she was looking for, since he was standing tall in the long coat she was used to seeing him wear. He stood near the entrance of the park, and she saw that he was hunched over and had on hand on his pocket, and another was holding a bag.

"Hello." She spoke up once she walked up to him, her eyes trailing up his body to his eyes. She gave him a soft smile, and a short wave, which he quickly returned.

He looked down at her and grinned, "Hello there." He pulled his hand out of the warmth of his coat pocket and gently pat her on the head, "You look adorable bundled up so much." She allowed him to pat her, not caring if it was him doing it.

"Mom wouldn't let me leave if I wasn't covered up completely." She replied, glancing away in embarrassment. She knew her cheeks were turning red, and she wished her mom hadn't covered her up so much!

"That makes sense," He muttered, shivering a little bit, "It's pretty cold." He let out a visible small breath, and forced himself to stop shaking for Ib's sake.

"It is." She replied. After watching Garry do that, she suddenly found herself somewhat glad that she was covered up so much. She still felt the chill on her cheeks, which were numbly slightly, but the rest of her body was just fine. Her eyes then wandered to the bag he was holding in his hand, and she tried to look away before Garry noticed her staring, but he caught her.

"Ah, wondering what's in the bag?" He asked, smiling at how quickly she shook her head and blushed red at being caught.

"No." She lied, hoping that the warmth in her cheeks would go away soon. She looked over to Garry, and from his expression, she knew that he didn't buy her story that she didn't want to know what the bag was. However, she wasn't expecting him to just shrug, and put the bag out of her reach.

"Oh, well, if that's the case, I'm sure you can wait a while." She pursed her lips into a straight line, which caused him to laugh aloud at her expression. "I'm kidding Ib, of course you can have it, it's your gift, as you've probably already deduced." He handed the bag to her, "I didn't wrap it, nor do I think you'd want me to, since I can't wrap very well." Ib accepted the bag, trying to appear not to be too curious, and opened it up, looking inside. Slowly reaching in with one hand, she pulled out a long, thick cloth from the bag. "It's a scarf," He supplied, "I made sure to pick a color that matched your eyes."

She nodded, and examined the red scarf, it was very high quality, he probably spent a lot of money on it... She looked up at him, "You didn't need to spend this much on me." She was happy that he got it for her, and simply felt very warm inside knowing that he cared enough to get her such a nice gift.

"It's only a scarf," He replied, trying to get Ib to think it didn't cost him as much as it did, and he reached forward and helped her wrap it around her neck, "Don't worry about how much it cost." He finished helping her put it around her neck, and he stood back to admire it, "It looks good!"

"It feels very nice." She added, "And warm." She buried her cheeks into it, the warmth of the scarf making the numbness go away. She closed her eyes, inhaling the scent of the fabric, which still smelled faintly like Garry... She liked that smell.

"That's what I was going for." He stated, laughing as she closed her eyes and leaned into the scarf, "I'm glad you like it!"

"Are you sure I can have it?" She asked, opening her eyes and glancing up at him. She absolutely adored the gift, but she didn't want him to regret giving it to her.

He rolled his eyes, and shook his head, "You are very modest, aren't you." Again, she turned away feeling her cheeks reddening, and she was thankful Garry had provided her a scarf so she could hide that fact from him. "But seriously, I got it for you, and I don't intend to take it back. It's yours." He smiled, "You look good in it."

That elicited a response she couldn't really decipher, she felt her heart thump loudly, her chest constrict, and her face felt so hot that it seemed like it could melt all the snow within a few yards radius all around them. "T- T- T- Thank Y- You." She stuttered out, looking straight at the ground and clenching her fists at her knees.

Garry watched her reaction in amusement, "Guess you really like it."

"I l- l- love it." She confirmed, nodding her head enthusiastically.

He smiled and clapped his hands, rubbing them together to generate a bit of heat for himself, "Great! That wasn't all I had planned for today though." He watched as she glanced up at him. "I wasn't able to celebrate your birthday, so I thought I'd let you choose where you'd like go. Where do you want to eat?"

"Um…" She brought a gloved finger to her lip as she thought, looking aside. She then crossed her arms, and went into her usual 'thinking pose' as Garry liked to put it. She let out a constant 'hm' as she tried to think of some place to go.

"There's no need to decide right now." He replied, looking over to a bench that was nearby, "Do you want to go sit down while you think?"

She shook her head, and then thought harder about what to do, though honestly, it didn't even take her that long to think of something to do. "Can we go to your house?" She asked, looking down at the ground, trying to hide her blush from asking that question.

"My house?" He asked blinking owlishly at her, sounding genuinely confused, "Why there?"

"Um…" She felt her cheeks getting warm again, "Because I want to thank you for your gift." She muttered through the fabric of her scarf.

"There's no need, it was your birthday after all." He waved it off with his hands, "You can pick any place you want to go!" He stated excitedly.

"Can we please go to your house?" She asked, looking at his eyes with her red ones, biting her bottom lip.

This time he looked away, "Ib, you know why I can't let you come over much, people might start getting the wrong idea..." He hesitantly scratched the back of his head, "Remember what I told you last time you tried to do it?"

"It has been months since I was last there." She pointed out, "But there is something you can do, help me buy some ingredients to cook with."

"Oh? What do you intend to make?"

"I want to make curry." She decided, "Mom has been making me practice my cooking at home." She grimaced slightly, as if the memory wasn't quite a good one, but she shook her head quickly, retaining her stance.

Garry nodded thoughtfully, "Curry does sound pretty good. Wait! I didn't say that we were going to do this at my house!" He looked down at the girl with his arms crossed, "Look Ib, I'm really sorry, but..."

Ib looked at him and pouted, her cheeks were puffed up, her lower lip protruding prominently, and her eyes started to shine as if she were about to cry, "I thought you said we could do whatever I wanted…"

"Urk!" He clutched his chest and looked away, "Don't do that to me! Fine! We'll go to my house." She could seriously make him do anything with that face - she knew he wasn't good around child who could master the puppy-dog expression.

"Yay!" Ib cheered, and she quickly grabbed his arm and led him through the town where she wanted to go. Like she said, she took him shopping and bought spices, some beef, and of course some rice, and then she took a small detour around the area to check out the lights, before finally going towards Garry's house.

"You know the area around my house too well," He noted absently, as he walked forward and unlocked the door to his house, and stepped aside so Ib had a clear path in.

She didn't bother to respond to what he said, and she just entered the house right when he opened the door. She took her gloves off and let out a loud sigh, "It's so cold!" She patted down her thighs and cheeks primarily, trying to get feeling back into them. Thankfully the scarf did keep her cheeks really warm though, so she was just mostly slapping her legs.

"Sure is." He agreed, taking off his coat and putting it on the hanger by the door, and watching Ib in amusement as she slapped her legs a few more times. She then took her coat and offered it to him, and he put it beside his own coat on the hanger. The two went into his small living room where he sat down on his couch with a loud sigh, closing his eyes and allowing himself to relax.

"Now wait in here!" She told him with an eager smile on her face, sounding far too excited to be cooking. She threw on an apron that was a little too big for her that she found by the stove, and she also got a rubber band out of her pocket and tied her hair back. She was glad that she thought ahead and put that in her pants before she came - who knew whenever a rubber band would come in use?

"Do you need any help, Ib?" Garry asked uncertainly as he watched her in the kitchen with the bag of food. She threw the food atop the counter, which she was able to see over, but she was still a bit small to comfortable cook on them, so she pushed a chair over to the counter so she could be on a good level with everything.

"Nope! I'm good!" She called back, and she turned back to all the supplies she had laying there. Garry didn't want to sit there doing nothing though, so he got up to help her when she needed a pan to cook the beef in. With that done, he stood there while the rice cooked as well, and the sauce was boiling away in another pot.

"Wow, you really know what you're doing." Garry commented, letting out a whistle as he watched her continue to cook. The girl was intently watching some pans, and she'd occasionally stir the sauce and make sure everything else was cooking.

"Mom makes me help her with the cooking when we have guests." Ib replied, still focused almost entirely on her task at hand. She cast Garry an occasional glance, but other than that, she was clearly 'in the zone' so to speak.

"It's really paying off." He complimented her, and he watched her flush. He chuckled a bit as she shook her head, trying to get it to go away.

"T- thanks." She mumbled, feeling really dumb for blushing for such a simple compliment. It was from Garry though, and that made her feel really special...

"Do you enjoy cooking?" He asked, changing the subject to something she'd be more comfortable with. He watched as she stopped stirring the sauce, and looked genuinely thoughtful for a little bit, and then she shrugged.

"Sometimes." She answered, not giving anymore information than that.

He didn't ask her to elaborate, instead he took a whiff of the food cooking, and let out a please 'hm' as he did so, "I wish I had someone like you to do this for me every day, this smells absolutely delicious."

Her eyes shined brightly as she quickly turned over, almost falling off of the chair she was standing on, and she started to say, "Well, maybe I could-"

"No." He interrupted her immediately, having an idea of what she was about to say. He tried not to smile when he saw her crossing her arms and glaring at him.

"It's rude to interrupt someone when they are talking, you know." She told him, waving the wooden spoon in her hand close to his face to try and get the point across. Unfortunately, this only seem to encourage him to start chuckling under his breath.

"I apologize." He managed to say, holding in his laugh.

"You're smiling!" She exclaimed, waving the spoon close to his face again.

"I'm very sorry." He let out, and then he started to laugh, and he took a few steps away, leaning against the counter and letting out loud guffaws as he held his sides.

"You're laughing now!" She muttered, crossing her arms and looking very displeased with him. She averted her eyes, and went back to cooking.

"Haha! I'm sorry, but you're trying to pull off the 'stern mother' thing, and in your get up it's hilarious." He didn't hold back anymore, laughing at her expense. Nearly falling to the ground when he looked up, and took note of her apron, her hair tied back - it was like someone's mother had regressed forty years and didn't even realize it, and that just made it even more funny to him.

"I don't see what's funny." She huffed, and looked pointedly away from him, continuing to cook.

"Aw, I'm sorry." She gave no reply. "Ib?" Again she said nothing. "Hm, well, in that case, I guess I'll eat all of this myself." He reached out towards the rice cooker, but she was faster, she hit his hand with the wooden spoon she was using to stir the sauce.

"Bad!" She stated, pointing the spoon at him.

"It got you to talk to me." She blinked a few times owlishly, and finally allowed herself to smile. "There we go." He grinned at her, "You're smiling now, was that so hard?"

"Honestly..." She mumbled, but she returned his grin with one of her own, and then asked, "Can you check on the beef?" She completely changed the subject, deciding that dropping the earlier subject was probably a good idea.

"Will do." He replied, just going with the flow, deciding not to agitate her anymore, especially since it was her birthday and since she was cooking dinner for them. Thankfully, Ib didn't seem to mind it that much at all, and she was back to talking to him like she always did. It didn't take much longer before the meal was done, and Ib was setting up the plates. She then walked out, holding one plate in each hand, setting one down on the table for him, and then one for herself. She was also able to find two spoons lying around the kitchen as well. Soon enough, both of them were sitting at the table right next to one another.

"Thank you for the meal!" Garry let out, putting his two hands together in a small clap, before separating them and digging into his food. His eyes widened, and he dug in with gusto. Ib wasn't one to talk while eating, so the meal passed by in a comfortable silence as they ate the food. Garry asked for seconds, and soon enough the two of them were done with the food, relaxing on the couch instead.

"I should do the dishes." Ib replied after they had sat on the couch, simply enjoying the presence of one another for a little while, and she attempted to get up.

"Nope." Garry shook his head, pushing her back into her spot, "It's your birthday, and no one does dishes on their birthday." She nodded absently, deciding not to argue the point with him. Instead, she looked around his living room, seeing that he still hadn't put the paintings up. Garry was about to go do the dishes himself, but he stopped when he noticed what Ib's attention was drawn to.

"Do you still have bad dreams?" She asked him, turning her red eyes to look at him. She noticed that he looked down to the side, and he let out a small sigh before responding to her.

"Only occasionally," He admitted, "Have they passed for you?"

"I get them sometimes too." She admitted to him. Though now she always just went to confront her parents about it after she woke up after a particularly bad one. She was a bit old, but they still allowed her to sleep with them if she was frightened by her dreams, and in this case, given the contents, she was more than willing to forego a little teasing from her parents if it meant getting a good nights sleep.

"It's awful that you had to go through that," He sighed, "A kid should never have to go through something like that."

"I'm not a kid," She replied, narrowing her eyes slightly. A little hurt that Garry was still treating her like a child, despite everything they had been through together.

"You were a kid." He insisted, "But I will agree that you handled yourself well in there, better than I did anyway." He smiled towards her, trying to let her know that he meant her no offense.

She shook her head, "You did good in there too. Why are you trying to deny what you're done?" She couldn't understand Garry sometimes - he had saved her life, and she viewed him as a heroic figure, but he seemed to think otherwise.

He smiled sadly, "No. You saved my life more than once in there Ib, you were far better than I was."

She frowned, "Why do you always put yourself down?" She crossed her arms, and shook her head in disappointment, "You were better than that, and you know it."

He scratched his nose sheepishly, "I put myself down, huh?"

"Yes." She continued, "You forget that you also saved my life. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have gotten out of there at all. You saved me at the end…" She remembered when she was so injured that she could barely walk, and then she had to burn the painting while Garry was holding off Mary...

"Yeah," He acknowledged with a small nod, "I guess so."

"Have you tried to contact your dad at all?" She asked, changing the subject to something she hoped Garry would consider. She remembered telling him that her parents helped, so his dad shouldn't be an exception, right?

"What?" He asked, looking at her in surprise at the complete change in subject, and he shook his head, "No. I haven't, and I don't intend to."

"I think you should."

"Why?" He asked, looking at her with a curious expression. He didn't display any emotion beyond that, and Ib knew that this must be some thin ice she was travelling on, so she tried to explain it as best as she could.

"Because you deserve someone to be there for you when you need them," She explained, "I want to help you, but I think your dad could help you more than I can."

"Now who's the one putting themselves down?" He teased, "But… No. I can't meet with him again; you don't know what he's done." Ib watched a dark look pass through his eyes as they narrowed for a bit, and his face shifted into almost a snarl, but it was gone as soon as it appeared, and she wondered if she was just seeing things.

"It couldn't possibly be that bad." Ib insisted, shaking her head as she looked over to him.

"You've never met him Ib, trust me, he's the worst." He claimed, shaking his head.

"But you're so nice," She continued, "He couldn't have been that bad!"

He paused at that, "At one point… At one point he was probably a good man, but that has come and gone." Instead of the dark anger from before, she saw... Sadness? Like before however, it disappeared as soon as it came.

"Why?" She asked, "What happened?"

"I shouldn't talk to you about this stuff," He sighed, and feigned a smile, "Come on Ib, you really don't want to talk about something heavy like that." It was clear that he wasn't willing to talk of it, so Ib did the only thing she could think of to do at that moment.

"I won't pry if you don't want me to," She sighed, and backed down. While she felt it was essential for him to face, she didn't want to argue with him about it, and potentially ruin their friendship. She respected him far too much for that to happen.

He nodded, "Thanks." She could see how grateful he looked since she didn't pry furthermore, and that made her feel a little better. After that Ib stayed a little longer, and when it was getting late, he assisted her by putting the scarf around her neck again, and he watched in amusement as she held it gently as he wrapped it around. Moments afterwards they walked out the door and began to walk to the bus stop she needed to head to.

"I was happy to have you over." Garry stated, smiling down at the girl, "It was... More fun than I anticipated it to be, I guess."

"You were initially opposed to it." She couldn't help but crack, grinning up at him, her red eyes shining.

"Yeah, I was, but it ended up better than I thought." He shrugged, "You're good company."

"It was fun, and I like talking with you," She stated, feeling warm just saying that to him. She couldn't identify whatever the really warm glow in her was whenever she said things like that to him, or when he said nice things to her, but she decided that she really liked it.

"Talking, huh?" He muttered, thinking about what she said, "Yeah, I guess I like talking with you too. I suppose going through hell with someone will really make them a friend for life, huh?"

"Yeah." She agreed with a quick nod. She didn't think it were possible for him to say anything more true than that. She was more thankful to have him as a friend, and she hoped he felt the same way.

XxXxXxX

CHAPTER 3 REVISED: 6/25/2013 - Added in a lot more detail, and combined a lot of sentences. This chapter had 1.9k additional words added to it.