Together, Forever [After Story]

"Hey, Ib! We're here now. We can't be late for class!" Mary said as she tapped Ib's shoulder, waking Ib up from her daydreaming as she looked out the window. Ib has been spacing out a lot lately. It was going on for the past few weeks. She didn't talk as much, like how she used to. She didn't seem to want to talk to anyone. Not even to Mary. All she's said were simple replies like "yes" and "no". 

Ib and Mary arrived at class the moment the bell rang. Class began with the first period, like how every day did. Ib took out her notebook and opened it to a blank page. All the previous pages were filled with words and drawings of things no one would expect Ib to write or draw. It had a man with a tattered coat, roses, paintings, vases, macaroons, and statues in dresses. The day proceeded normally, like how every day did.

Ib and Mary got home and greet their parents. Ib skipped that night's dinner again and got ready to go to bed. Lying in bed, Ib stared at the ceiling with an expression of a sort of sadness unnoticeable at first glance. . Before she knew it, she fell asleep and began to dream.

Ib found herself in a familiar place. A place she's been to that seemed to highlight moments of her life. A place where she experienced fear the most. She was in the art gallery. She was in Guertena's art gallery. It was so vivid. The ladies in their colored dresses crawling on the floor, their lower bodies replaced by the frames they came from; the statues in dresses; the mannequin heads; it was all there. Ib walked around the art gallery. She knew the place very well like the back of her hand. The monsters didn't seem very hostile. In fact, they didn't seem to notice Ib at all. 

Further, Ib walked. She walked deeper and deeper into the art gallery. The surrounding area changed. The environment looked like it was drawn with crayons. "This must be Sketchbook", she thought. She walked further, passed Mary's house, turned left past it. She reached the sunlit area. There, in the sunlight, was a man in his tattered coat. "Ga…" Ib hesitated for a moment. "Garry!" The man turned around and smiled, holding his blue rose. "Ib…" he said. The petals on the rose began to wilt and fall off, one by one, until nothing was left but the stem. Garry fell to the ground…lifeless. Ib rushed towards Garry and held his ice cold hand, with tears streaming from her face.

Ib woke up in the middle of the night. She sat up and began to cry. "Garry…" she whispered in the darkness of her room. She began to remember those times when she was with Garry. "Me…mela…melanch…melancholy! Garry, what does that mean?" her 9-year-old self's voice echoed in her head. She cried even more. She could no longer hold back the tears she held each day. Ib knew how much she missed Garry. But there was nothing more she could do. Garry was gone. He no longer existed. In his place was Mary, her "sister".

Ib calmed down after crying so much. She stood up and turned the lights on. She found a blue rose on her desk; with it, a piece of paper. "When the rose withers, so too will you wither away." Such a sentence was written on it. Ib placed the rose on her bedside vase, along with a red rose and a yellow rose. She checked the time. It was 2AM. Ib decided to stay up and took out the milk puzzle she had been working on for months.

She was nearly done. All she had to do was put together the last few pieces to complete the puzzle. "Done." She said, with a slight happy tone. The puzzle began to glow. The pieces blended together into a solid object. It shined like a mirror. Then…it began to show an image. It…it was Garry! It was Garry and his blue rose! He seemed to be in a deep sleep. Ib began to cry once again at the image of the person she yearned for. She cried. All she did was cry.