Long Gone

Chapter 1

I felt the rain pour down on my face, trickling from my forehead to my chin, the cold wind rushing through my hair, one of my bangs completely covering my left eye, my short white dress suddenly seeming like a burden as I got drenched, I gripped onto the torn and beat up coat I had kept for 9 years. I brought the jacket up to my face, kissing it gently as a tear rolled down my cheek.

I started at the gray-blue clouds, a raindrop painfully stinging onto my eye. My sister had finally caught up to me now. I pulled out the small lemon candy from the dark blue jacket, carefully examining it in my hand; it had probably gone stale a long time ago, no longer good enough to eat.

"IIIb, we come here every day! You need to get over your strange obsession with this museum, only bad things can come from it." Mary scowled, her face suddenly turning worried. "You have to stop Ib; I don't even know what you're thinking of gaining from this.' She sighed.

I clenched my teeth, my hand coiling up into a fist, rain continued to soak Garry's jacket as Mary stood there, twirling the fanciful umbrella my parents had gotten me after concluding I had an "obsession" with roses, "And it's always gotta be blue or red, never yellow!" I remembered my mother saying with a sigh.

"Shut the fuck up Mary…" I growled at her, taking her my surprise as she stopped twirling the umbrella, her grip tightening on the handle. "You know very well why I go to this place." I told her, my voice raising a bit, Garry's face flashing in my head.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about Ib…" She stuttered, fumbling with the umbrella, Mary was now shaking; her face had a worried look on it.

"You're coming with me too." I ordered, looking Mary dead in the eyes. She was looking at me with an intense stare, as if to say, No this is your job.

"Wh-What do you mean, wh-where are we going?" She laughed; her voice had a nervous tone apparent in it. As I heard the door click, to show that it was four o'clock and the museum was showing, I quickly got up from the spot next to the building I had been leaning on.

"We both know very well what I mean by that." I spat, walking into the museum as quickly as I could, paying our fees, then rushing over to the painting with Garry in it, his eyes closed he was lying in a scattered array of blue petals.

Mary suddenly had a panicked look appear on her face, her eyes darting from side to side. "Ib we have to go, right NOW." Mary spoke urgently, but before I could respond she had hurried downstairs, leaving me to study the painting of Garry. It looked so real, so life like.

All of a sudden the lights went out and the eyes of the painting had opened, Garry was now leaning on the frame staring straight at me. "Welcome back, Love." He whispered, grabbing my arms and pulling me into the painting, a gentle smile spread across his face as I was soon enveloped in a dark mist-like substance, I heard him whisper," get ready sweetheart, it's gonna be much harder this time around." My heart skipped a beat, do I really have to go through this hell again!

"Garry! Garry! Wake up!" A familiar voice rang in my head, Ib? Is that you? I thought, trying to open my eyes however they seemed to be locked shut, something was holding me back, something wanted me to live in this hell.

"Garry, please, get up, I won't leave without you." She told me, hearing large sobs come from the light weight on my chest. I wanted to hold her and tell her I was alright but my body was paralyzed. I tried doing everything I could to make her realize I was still alive and could hear her. She wasn't leaving the spot and seemed to be desperately pleading me to get up.

After a few minutes her sobbing lessened and she pulled something from my pocket, a soft surface brushing against my hand. "I'm not leaving without you, even if I have to die here too…" she said coolly, I heard a small prick and felt Ib grasp onto my shirt panting for air.

"Loves me…" I heard her whisper, "Loves me not…"

"Loves me…" The voice rang in my ear as I yearned to stop Ib from doing this, begging every muscle in my body to let me move.

"Loves me not…" She muttered; the tone of her voice had the sound of pain seeping into it.

"Loves me…" The voice said trailing off; a heavily panting Ib lay next to me, hearing an aching sob, my heart pained with anger. What was wrong with me? Why can't I move? Ib stop I'm Okay… I struggled to get the words out, but all that came out was a coughing wheeze.

"Garry?" Ib said urgently, her tiny stature shifting a bit before stopping to wince at the pain that came with the movement.

"Shhh, don't push yourself." Was all I could get out, in between the rasping cough attacks. My eyes had opened and my body was no longer stiff, however a surge of pain came with my sudden mobility.

"Garry, I thought you were dead." Ib sobbed, wrapping her arms around me, I rest my hand on her head.

"I won't give up that quickly." I lied, knowing I was done for, far too injured, the pain had come back to me like a bullet. I knew now that only Ib could get out, "Hey Ib, I want you to wear this," I said taking off my ragged coat, wrapping it around her as she tried her best not to cry.

"Garry your coming with me." She murmured, grasping onto my shirt. Quickly she reached into her pocket and pulled out a silk handkerchief with Ib embroidered on it, placing it in my hand, "You can give it back when we meet again," she chimed, trying to sound happier.

"Ib…" I whispered; tears rolling down my cheek as a smile crept its way onto my face. Ib quickly hugged me, kissed the top of my forehead, and took off.

"Look at the prrreeeetty girl, we've had so many visitors lately, but this one sure is something." The words echoed through the pure white room, seemingly coming from one of the three statues set out in the room. "Soooooooooo pretttty." The voice sounded far more sinister and creepier than before, a hint of lust mixed in. It was now quite obvious this voice was coming from the red statue.

"What a whore, a slut, a tramp! Garry probably thinks so too, huh? I bet you want to get your dirty paws allll over him, bitch!" Said the statue most to the right, which had been painted the color green, most likely for envy.

"Ib. look here, look! Look! Come this way Ib. Come this way, it's me remember me?" chirped the statue in the middle, it was blue, sounding a bit like Garry's only cheerier.

"What do you want from me!?" I screamed, crumbling to the ground as old, painful memories of the Gallery rushed into my mind.

"Solve the puzzle Ib; you've always been good at puzzles, why I bet you could solve a milk puzzle even, if you really wanted to." Sang a familiar voice. A small plaque formed below me.

"The one that speaks the truth will surely reveal the route. But the ones that lie around will plunge you underground." I read. Looking up I saw the statues change, the red changing to a headless black mannequin. The green statue changing to Mary, her face stricken with jealousy and rage. And the blue one to Garry, a giddy smile set upon his mouth.

"Preeetty thing, whore, Ib! Ib!" The voices chimed.

"And how should I know the answer?" I sighed. Examining each statue carefully. Damn this is harder than last time and I'm like five times smarter now. "The one that speaks the truth will surely reveal the route. But the ones that lie around will plunge you underground." I repeated. This is one fucking mess I've gotten myself into.