The Good and Bad (Garry; Ib)

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C  O  M  E   P  L  A  Y   W  I  T  H   M  E

My eyes scanned the painted words over and over again, my feet planted firmly on the floor of a deserted hallway. I held the (color) rose closer to my chest and hastily continued on with my search of escape.

I've already come across headless mannequins chasing after me; paintings of ladies crawling with their torsos and hands out to get me; and a statue of a head just to get a wooden fish body. I can still imagine the glimmering red eye staring at me with malicious intent to this very hour.

I will not put up with painted words after the last one branded me a thief. Never again.

My ears strained to hear the slightest movement, a creak, a squeak- anything. The narrow corridor gave me more reason to be paranoid of a statue or a painting following me. All I could hear were my ragged breaths and I saw no sign of Guertena's horrific works.

This unsettled me; how all this seems too easy. There has to be a catch.

The moment I thought of that, it seems I was right. At the end of the hall is a stretch of canvas; a painting of a house on top of a hill with stars scattered all over the night sky. A lone woman stood there, her back facing me to reveal cascading brown curls and a white dress.

My heart raced at the foreboding presence of the painting, but, out of curiosity, I approached it within a ten-foot radius. It looked harmless, nothing unusual. Maybe it was just another one of the immobile paintings in-

"OH MY GOD!" I screeched at the sight of the woman's grotesque face turning to me. A menacing grin showing sharp rows of jagged teeth and wide, bulging eyes greeted me, but that wasn't what made me scream.

It was the scarred tissues of half of her face.

The clump of decaying flesh tempted me to retch right then and there on the floor. She would've been beautiful without it, a mesmerizing beauty, but the expression on her face told me otherwise. I took a quick glance at the name of the painting:

Fading Beauty 

Repetitive, loud stamping sounds made me jump and look at the wall.

D  O  N  '  T    B  E    S  C  A  R  E  D  ,   L  E  T  '  S    P  L  A  Y    T  A  G

Another round of stamping noises as more letters appeared. My eyes deliberately widened at the words and I scurried off to desperately find a door.

I  '  M    I  T

I heard a thud and the pounding of feet on the floor accompanied with a tinkling, eerie giggle. I choked, holding back a sob that was threatening to escape my throat, as I heard the pounding footsteps grow louder and louder.

"A door, a door, a door- Where can I find a door?!" I hysterically screamed, my legs slowly turning into lead the more I run. The hall seemed to stretch endlessly into the void and there was still no door in sight. My chest ached; the sob in my throat died out; my breathing was reduced to a wheeze; and my vision blurred as black spots started to fade in and out of it.

I was on the verge of tripping and falling on my knees when a door materialized on the wall a few feet away from me. An arm caught me before I could process what happened and I was immediately pulled inside.

The door slammed shut and melted back into the wall, leaving no traces of the existence of the door. A terrifying howl echoed from the other side along with the sound of footsteps fading, as if the scarred woman gave up and retreated back to her own painting for her next victim.

The arm let me go as my legs collapsed under me, still wheezing and finally sobbing from relief. A few tears strayed down my cheeks at the thought of dying inside this insane and murderous art gallery.

I almost died, I think to myself, bringing a hand up to wipe the tears off my face. I'm alive and it's all thanks to that arm-

My sobs stopped in an instant as my body went rigid. An. . . arm?

I craned my neck so fast that I thought I would get a whiplash. Behind me stood a lavender-haired man wearing a long, blue coat over a green shirt and brown pants. The neckline, cuffs and hem of the coat are torn in a fashionable sense. His left eye is covered by his hair, leaving his right eye the only one exposed.

His surprised black eye met my horror-struck (e/c) ones, the memory of that horrible experience still flashing in my mind. Without thinking, I leaped up to my feet and my back hits the wall.

"Please don't hurt me!"

He looked bewildered and was silent for a little before saying, "I-I won't hurt you, I promise!"

"I'm sorry if I scared you," he added, his eyes looking at me softly. I tried to find the slightest hint that he was lying, but found none. 

"Are you...." I hesitated, not sure what to ask after making a move like that. Let alone to someone who unknowingly saved my life.

Just then, a little girl shyly peeked out of his coat; her doe red eyes looking at me in concern and curiosity. Her eyes looked back and forth between me and the man before finally speaking.

"Are you okay, miss?"

"Yeah," I relaxed at the sight of the girl hiding behind him, who was giving her a soft look and a pat on the head. "I'm okay. Are you two from the art gallery?"

--

The ghost of a smile appeared on my lips at the memory. It was the only good thing that happened to me for a while in the midst of a murderous compilation of Guertena's art. Shortly after that, they introduced themselves as Ib and Garry then I joined them to find a way out of here.

All three of us are stuck in a room after Garry and I rescued an unconscious Ib from the dangers outside. Luckily, the room was safe enough from the cursed place. She's currently sleeping on the floor with Garry's coat acting as a blanket while the latter is reading a book from one of the shelves.

I sat next to the sleeping girl; occasionally raking a hand through her brown tresses in concern. She must be exhausted from all this running around and she's only nine to be put in such a situation. A sigh escapes my lips, causing Garry's head to pop out beside one of the shelves.

"Is something wrong?"

"Nothing," I answered, still gazing at Ib's peaceful sleeping face. "It's just.... I just wish all of us could get out of here already."

I raised my head to see Garry giving me a reassuring look. He approached and sat beside me then took one of my hands in his; the book momentarily forgotten and lying down beside him.

"We'll escape this place, ____, and then we'll be free from all of this," Garry squeezed my hand, a smile on his face. His gesture gave me a sense of security and relief that I couldn't help returning the smile. I squeezed his hand back, "Thanks, Garry. Without you two, I might've gone insane already."

"Anything for you," he said, his face leaning closer to mine, but he stopped. He stayed that way for a few seconds, as if he was fighting a battle with himself, before placing a chaste kiss on my forehead and standing up with the book in his hand.

"You can rest with Ib if you want. I'll keep an eye out if anything happens, " he told me and disappeared behind the shelves without waiting for a reply. I guess it was the best course of action for the situation and my heart.

I sat still, heat creeping up from my neck to my cheeks and my hand touching my forehead where he had kissed me. Maybe being here wasn't always a bad thing.

Silently lying next to Ib, I fixed the coat on her then closed my eyes to sleep with thoughts of life after leaving this twisted world behind.

And maybe, just maybe, Garry will be in it.


Bonus ending:

Garry made sure that ____ was asleep before he placed himself beside her. The untitled book lay in his lap; his eyes taking in the features of the girl he once rescued in the gallery. He took out the bracelet she gave him earlier when he panicked; mentioning that it was her lucky charm and it gave her courage.

The bracelet is a woven leather strap; a silver chain dangling on one end and a latch on the other. Her name was engraved in silver and attached to the band. It was simple yet beautiful like her, is what Garry thought. He wore it on his wrist and went back to looking at ____.

"How can she look so peaceful...?"

He knew that what he's doing is creepy on so may levels, but he couldn't help it. He's grown fond of both Ib and ____, but he saw the latter past the borders of friendship. He didn't know when and he didn't know how, but he knew that he's already too late to turn back on it.

Garry drew a breath and sighed, rearranging the coat so that it could cover and provide warmth for both girls. He took one last look at ____ and mustered up the courage to do it, even if she was currently unconscious.

"Hopefully she's not a light sleeper," he muttered, brushing his lips ever so slightly on hers. He closed his eyes, savoring every second of it, then he drew back to cover his flustered face. His head turned sideways, an eye risking a careful glance at the sleeping girl.

".... Why does she do this to me?" Garry smiled in spite of himself and returned to reading the book in front of the bookshelf, thoughts of life with ____ after the escape of the gallery invading his mind.

If only Garry knew that her heart was already his.


*****************

I've been inactive in Wattpad for who knows how long ;-; I'm sorry for that and, as some sort of attempt at redemption, I wrote a one-shot featuring our one and only Garry in the horror RPG game called Ib.

The painting stated above was an inspiration from a real painting in the game- the one with the actual setting excluding the woman. The woman was probably inspired by Hel, the Norse goddess of the dishonorable dead. It was mostly based on Magnus Chase and the Asgardian Gods though.

I admit, I'm lacking inspiration for months and only had it again just today. If I include my projects during Christmas break, I still have a lot in my mind and wrote this as a stress-reliever (and to finally update something gah)

Anyway, I hope anyone who's still reading this book enjoyed this one-shot. I'm so grateful that you guys still stuck to this book even after months of inactivity :'D

I'll see you all soon.

From, HeavenlyAngel761

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