Red Paint: Ib

3. Mannequin Maze

Listening to the insane giggles coming from that blue painting for several long minutes, you finally edged further away from it. "I don't trust it- even if that thing can get us out, I'm not giving my rose to it." Ib and Garry simultaneously released huge breaths of air that they had been holding, relief clear on their faces. They traded looks that you couldn't quite place and the older of the two rubbed his left temple, eyes closed. "Well thank goodness for that! To be perfectly honest I was starting to fear that you were actually going to do what it says!"

"I'm not stupid," you retorted, "The thing asked for my rose so I knew that that there had to be something wro- where did Ib go?" Cutting yourself off, you fearfully scanned the hallway for your younger companion- the blood draining from your face. "Where did she go? She- she was only just there- right?" Garry joined you in your search, his light skin somehow even whiter than the norm. "She must have gone to one of the mazes, no doubt," he grumbled. "Honestly, why would she do such a thing? Doesn't she know that we ought to stick together?" You leaned against the dark gray wall and sighed, "She's a brave kid, I'll give her that." The two of you were silent for a long moment until Garry pushed off of the wall and yanked the door to the Mannequin Maze wide open, giving you a pointed look. "Well? Aren't you coming?" He wasn't going to take "no" for an answer and you knew that, so you simply had no choice other than to follow him into the room.

Just as before, the lights were dimmer in there though having the door click shut behind you made it seem all the more dark. The clipped sound of high-heels on stone drifted through the halls of the maze and you instinctively shrank against Garry's side, taking comfort from his taller and familiar form. He stiffened slightly as your shoulder brushed his and relaxed, his shiny purple eyes glittering slightly in the low light. There was a sign posted on the wall right before the door, blatantly stating "Labyrinth" as thought it weren't already obvious.

A labyrinth? Please. If you were to be frank, the maze itself wasn't all that big, the difficulty was avoiding the trio of mannequin ladies that patrolled the halls, the clip-clopping of their heels serving to make your nerves stand on end. Reaching the top left section of the maze, you came across a sign that you read out loud in a hushed whisper. "'There's a trick to solving mazes... Hug the right hand side and you'll reach the end eventually.'" Speaking of which, you couldn't help but feel as though you'd heard that before- perhaps it was some little tidbit that Meldy had told you of during lunch. "Not a bad trick... But that doesn't help the ceiling being far too low for comfort. Not to mention those weird things loitering around... Gives me the creeps. Let's be careful not to be trapped between them, okay?" There he was, being all "manly" and "take-charge," though you pitied him. Being as tall as he was could be a nuisance at times- and he was right, the ceiling was so low that if you mussed up his hair (more than it already was) the tips would be brushing the top without a problem. Tossing him a sympathetic smile, you flattened yourself against the right hand wall to follow the sign's instructions, carefully dashing past mannequins with a hammering heart.

After a terribly close call where one of those freakish things had slashed at Garry's rose that was sticking out of his coat pocket, you reached the top right corner of the room where an easel was set up with another message written across it- this one in black ink. "'Check directly south of the red paint.' Well that's useful," you grumbled. "No, no, wait! I remember seeing some- DUCK!" Shoving you down, a whoosh blew by your ear as Garry pushed down on your shoulders until your knees buckled under the force, the shiny black hand of a mannequin flying over where your head had been. How had they caught up to you so quickly? Your friend shouted in pain and reached behind him, snatching his rose out of the cold fingers of a headless mannequin while shoving you past the other with his free hand- another blue petal drifted to the ground, crumpled and brown.

Secrecy didn't matter anymore, you had to find the red paint and look to the south of it- that was this maze's puzzle. Come to think of it, it wasn't as much of a puzzle as it was step-by-step instructions with annoyances that were trying to hamper your progress or put it to a stop all together. "There!" Near the sign about the "right hand" trick there was in fact a large spill of dried red paint that was splashed on the ground. Pulling Garry behind you, palms sweaty from fear of being trapped again and desperate to get out and find Ib, you came across a tiny button pressed against a wall that was "south of the red paint." You all ur stabbed it with your finger and glanced to your right, glaring at a note scribbled on the wall. "Do you like mazes?"

"No," you hissed under your breath, "No I do not!" Managing to just skirt around a mannequin and duck out of the door, you slammed it shut and leaned against it, breathing heavily as you waiting for your lungs to stop stinging and for your heart to stop pounding like a bass drum. "You... Are you alright? Your rose?" Garry glanced over at you and fished out his flower, inspecting it worriedly. Two petals had shriveled up and we're just about ready to pop off, he had been injured. That fact became more imminent as he winced in pain, hoisting up the leg of his beige pants that had been stained red. Two long gashes stretching from his knee to his ankle and were bleeding rather heavily, soaking into his socks and pants as well as spilling over his polished shoe and staining the carpet. "Well," he said slowly, "I suppose that it could be worse."

He allowed the fabric to fall back down over his leg as a high-pitched voice called from down the hall. "Look! Look! I found eyedrops!" Ib slowed to a stop before you, large red eyes blinking in surprise as they raked over the blood. "Oh no... Garry?" "It's quite alright, Ib, I'll be perfectly fine." She nodded slowly though she seemed much less excited than before. "Ib, where did you go? Garry and I were worried!" That seemed to perk her up a bit, "Sorry! I did the easel maze and I found this! I thought that it might have to do with those eyes from earlier?"

"Let me look at that, would you Ib?" Reaching over, Garry took the eyedrops and inspected the shinny glass bottle curiously, his lips twisted down in a little frown. "I think that you're correct!" Ib looked so happy then that you almost forgot all about your other friend's wound. She looked so pleased with herself that she had helped that it brought a smile to your face. "Nicely done, Ib," you murmured softly, "I'm proud of you."

A/N: Can I just say that I REALLY don't like the mannequin maze? It's not hard- it's so NERVE WRACKING! Those mannequins can mess you up big time! If you get stuck between two of them, it's GAME OVER. Just DEATH EVERYWHERE. UGH, I'm still salty about that room. Anyways, THIS IS IMPORTANT! Please note somewhere for future reference that you found the "MAZE TRICK." This is incredibly important and will help to decide what ending that you get. Please remember that if you read the other choices it does not continue in a timeline sense, blah blah blah, you should know the drill, the next chapter is "Blessed Bride and Groom" , I hope that you enjoyed!