My Guilt

Garry didn't want to believe this was real – he absolutely couldn't believe it was real. His hands shook as he walked down the long and darkened hallway, and his legs felt weak, but he continued to press forward. He had just emerged from the massive toy box that Mary shoved Ib and him into, and he saw over at the end of the hall where the stairs leading out were, a small figure laying against the wall. He broke into a sprint, tears threatening to come from his eyes as he realized that his worst fear was about to be realized. Oh god, please don't let that be who he thought it was! He reached the figure, and his exhausted legs gave way. Leaning against the wall was Ib, the girl he promised to get out of this hell hole. He reached forth and touched her cheek, and felt tears begin to fall.

"No... Don't be dead..." He pleaded, "Ib... Don't die on me!" He failed – there how could he have been so worthless in her time of need? He balled up his fists, and slammed it against the ground.

The girl in question opened her eyes, "G – Garry...?" He quickly looked up, and watched her head painfully look over to him, and she smiled, despite the obvious pain she was in, "H – Hello…"

"Ib! You're alive!" He cried, his heart lifting, "Oh thank god!" He couldn't help but reach forward and wrap the girl up in a hug, but she let out a cry of pain, and he immediately let go, watching as she panted, "Ib… Are you ok? Where's your rose?"

Her eyes started to close, "I – I think..." She coughed up some blood, causing Garry's eyes to widen in alarm, "Mary... Took my rose..."

"She couldn't have!" He shouted, "Please, tell me she isn't doing anything..." No… This couldn't be happening!

Ib coughed again, "I think... I – I'm..." She cringed in pain, reaching a hand up to place over her heart, and she let out a soft cry.

"Ib..." He muttered, reaching forward and patting her head, trying to think of anything that could ease her discomfort. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to mind.

"Here... Take this…" She reached into her pocket, and with the last bit of her strength, she pulled out a handkerchief and smiled up to him as she held it out towards him, "D – Don't... cry..."

Garry quickly brought his sleeve up to wipe away his tears, and took the handkerchief from the girl, whose arm dropped like a stone the moment he took it, "Y – yeah... Thank you."

Ib closed her eyes, "Good... bye..." She muttered, and he noticed she went completely still. He reached forward and patted her head again, but that only caused it to droop to the side. His heart froze, and he started to shake.

"Ib?" He whispered her name so quietly he doubted even the dead could have heard him saying it. He forced himself to speak louder, "Ib!" He tried again to get her attention. There was no answer. "Oh god, oh please, Ib… Come on…" Nothing he did could cause the girl to budge one bit, and he just continued to whisper prayers – anything he could think of to try and get her to wake up.

"C – Come on! We've got to get out of here!" He replied with as much mustered cheer as he could produce. He grabbed her hand, "I promised you I'd take you to my favorite cafe downtown... We can eat the Macaroons there, and it'll be fun!" The girl still sat there lifelessly, and her complete lack of any response started to make his hands begin to shake even harder, and he felt warm tears falling, he tried in vain to stop them, "I – Ib! Come on..." He reached forward and tenderly picked the girl up, being sure to gently pocket her gift to him, "We need to get out!" He knew in the back of his mind that it was futile, but he just didn't want to truly believe what happened.

He went up the stairs still gently holding the girl, and he noticed a door that was closed shut with vines. He was curious to see what was back there, but now was not the time, he had to escape with Ib. He noticed on the ground red rose petals however, and he began to follow them. There might be a chance that the rose wasn't completely destroyed. He absolutely refused to believe that the girl in his arms might be... that. "We'll find your rose!" He said to her, putting on a smile, tears still spilling from his eyes. He blinked a few times to clear his vision, "Then we can get out together!"

He walked with her down a new path, and found that it led up to an area that was almost exactly like the art museum they had been at before all this trouble began. "Look, Ib!" Garry said, "We're here! W – We can get out of here!" He continued to walk on, and finally stopped in front of the large painting called 'Fabricated World'. Looking through, he could see their world. His arms were tired from holding up the girl, so he laid her down besides the painting, smiling despite his tears, trying desperately to look positive.

"You're here!" Garry looked over his shoulder to see Mary there, but his eyes focused in on one thing: in her hands was a stem of a rose, with all the petals plucked off. His mind went blank, and he didn't even realize that he had collapsed to the floor on his knees.

"No..." He mumbled, looking down to Ib, and then back to the stem. It truly happened… He… He was a failure. He couldn't save Ib.

Mary shrugged, "I wanted the blue rose," She pointed to his, "But you weren't there, so I took the next best thing!" She smiled, "Red isn't my favorite color, but it's nice!"

"You killed her..." Garry muttered quietly, ignoring her rambling. That one thought just repeated over and over in his mind… She killed her. Why did Mary do it?

"What did you say?" Mary asked, looking curiously at him, "You whispered it so quietly I barely heard you!"

"You killed her!" He shouted, and he jumped back up to his legs and walked over to the girl, "I would have given you my rose! Why didn't you wait for her to find me? Why'd you k – kill..." He fell to the ground, bringing his hands up to his eyes as he let out a rattled gasp, "I – Ib... No…"

Mary smiled, "Don't worry! She'll be happy here!" Garry didn't respond to her. He was instead sucking in big breaths of air, and would shakily breathe it all out repeatedly. "She'll live on as a painting!" Mary assured him, "It's ok!"

"Just go..." He mumbled, shaking his head.

"That's the way out," She pointed to the painting behind him helpfully, "We can both get out now!" Garry was silent, causing Mary to shrug, "Whatever, I'm leaving." He didn't say anything again, instead he turned around to go over next to Ib, where he had grabbed her hand and was trying to talk to her in a pitiful attempt to wake her up. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but she could see tears coming from his eyes, and she frowned, unable to determine WHY he was doing that.

Mary watched it with mild interest for a few more seconds – humans were so weird! She then turned back to the big painting and grinned, she would become one of them if she were to go through! She could be a real girl and do real things, and maybe even start doing weird things herself! She couldn't help but giggle as she hurriedly climbed into the painting, disappearing to the other side.

Garry sat there next to Ib for what must have been hours. He finally moved, his lips trembling as he glanced over at her, "I'm so sorry..." Like before she was unmoving. "I – I -..." He let out a choked gasp, "I'm worthless..." He stood up, his hair covering his eyes as fresh tears fell from his eyes, and he looked over to the painting. "I'll get help..." He decided, "I don't know how, but I'll try to help you."

He walked over to the painting, and pressed his arm towards it, and it phased right through. He took one last look back at Ib's motionless body, and he began to climb, still shaking from his grief. Once inside the painting it felt like he was falling. He couldn't help but worriedly think about where he was going.

… Everything's going white...

… Ib.

He opened his eyes, blinking a few times as he looked around, "What the?" He wiped his eyes, and realized that he had been crying, but what for? He frowned, and looked up to the painting that he had been looking at – it was a very peculiar one, unlike anything else in the gallery. It depicted a little girl who couldn't have been more than ten years old, holding a red rose, her eyes shut, as if she were asleep. He frowned as he continued to examine it, for some reason the girl in the picture looked very familiar.

He pulled out his cellphone to check the time, "Oh man, I've better be going." He took one last glance at the picture, wondering how it provoked that kind of reaction out of him, before he headed towards the stairs to the first floor. When he walked down to the first floor, and went by the reception desk, he stopped – there stood a little girl in a green dress, blonde hair and blue eyes. She smiled at him as he passed, but he frowned, she also looked familiar.

"Do I know you?" He finally asked, unable to get the feeling to go away. He walked over to stand beside her.

"No." She answered, shaking her head, "We've never met!"

For some reason that provoked anger from him, but he quelled it down, "Are you waiting for someone?" He asked, looking out into the gallery, "You're a bit young to be here alone."

"My parents will be coming soon," She said, "I got bored lookin at all the pictures, but they're having fun." She rolled her eyes, "So now I'm waiting for them to come back."

"I – I see..." Something inside of him was screaming at him about this girl, but he just couldn't figure out what it was. Every time he tried to focus on the thought, it just disappeared. "Are you absolutely sure we've never met?" He questioned again.

She frowned as she looked back up at him, "Why? Do I look familiar?"

"I feel like we've met..." He muttered. The blonde hair, the green dress… He could vaguely remember something like that in his memories… What was it though…?

She shrugged apologetically, "I'm sorry, but we've never met."

He finally shook his head, and reached into his pocket again, and felt some fabric touching his fingers as he did so. Frowning, he pulled it out, and looked at it, in a corner was written 'Ib'. "Ib?" he said the name aloud.

The blonde haired girl jumped at that, "What did you say?" She looked up at Garry with wide eyes, and noticed that he was holding a handkerchief.

"Ib." He repeated, frowning towards her, "You know her?" He asked, turning his eyes away from the cloth back down at Mary. He was so close to figuring this out, it was frustrating the hell out of him that he still was having trouble though.

"Gimme that!" She cried, but Garry kept it out of her reach, "Gimme!" She gripped his coat with one hand, and then reached up with the other, her face forming a scowl, "Give it to me!"

"Why?" He asked in surprise, still keeping it away from her grasp. Usually he'd go ahead and give a kid something if they wanted it this much, but this girl… Something about this girl was telling him that if he gave it to her, he'd never remember.

"You can't remember!" She vocalized his thoughts, and his eyes widened. He knew now that no matter what, he couldn't give her the handkerchief.

"What are you talking about?" He demanded, trying to get some answers from her.

"Nothing! Just give that to me now!" She shook her head, and still gripped his coat tightly, trying to reach up for the cloth.

"Ib..." He tried really hard to think... He remembered a little girl giving it to him when he walked to her in a dark hall, but why was he there? He gritted his teeth, getting a worse headache the harder he tried to think of it, and then it came to him – Ib! She was dead...

"Gimme!" She continued to cry.

Garry startled Mary by snapping his head towards her so quickly that she jumped back from him, and he glared down at her, "You! You murdered Ib!" He pointed an accusing finger at her as he growled that out.

"No I didn't!" Mary said, crossing her arms, "She just went to sleep!" She knew that she didn't kill Ib – she didn't lay a single finger on her!

"Sleep?" He cried, "I can't believe I left her in there! I've got to go back!" He looked back towards the gallery, and went to take a few steps towards it, but he heard Mary begin to talk.

"You can't..." Mary told him, "Since I'm out here, that world doesn't exist anymore." She looked up at him with a smile, "That world was a part of me, and since I'm a human now, it doesn't exist!"

"W – wait..." He muttered, his breath getting caught in his throat as he turned his head to look back at her, "You mean..."

She smiled, "Yep! She's just a painting now and I'm real! She never existed!" Garry surprised even himself when he lunged himself at the girl and slammed her against the reception desk. The person behind it let out a startled yet, calling security immediately. Garry didn't care; he just glared at the little girl in front of him.

"Let go!" Mary cried in pain as he pressed her against the desk. She reached up and tried to claw his hands off of her shoulder, but he wouldn't budge.

"I..." Garry growled, "I should kill you..." He whispered the last bit so no one overheard. He could feel Mary begin to shake, perhaps feeling fear for the first time in her life. He cruelly smiled… Good. He was glad he could allow her to experience that much.

Mary shook her head, her eyes widening as she looked at him, "That would be pointless!" Garry wanted to say more, but he was tackled off the girl hard, he let out a gasp as he landed on the floor with a loud bang, and looked up to see a well-dressed man glaring down at him.

"Get the fuck away from my daughter!" He growled at Garry, taking a few steps towards him, his hands balled up into fists that were shaking in fury.

"Daughter?" Garry muttered quietly. He looked pass the man and saw that Mary was being held securely by a woman, who was rubbing Mary's hair and whispering to her. His mouth dropped open when he saw how similar the woman looked to Ib, and then his eyes darted back towards the man who had knocked him down. These were Ib's parents!

"If you take one more step towards her, I swear I will kill you." The man warned, his eyes narrowed as he looked down at Garry.

"Y – You took her parents?" He weakly asked. Mary didn't say anything, but he saw a slight smile cross her face. Garry got up to go to her again, but felt a fist slam into his chest, and he let out a pained cough, a coppery taste filling his mouth. He looked up to see the man had kept his word and started to beat him for going towards Mary. Garry felt tears of both pain and despair leaving his eyes – Mary would get away with this! She killed Ib and took her parents, and there was nothing he could do about it.

"Kohta!" The woman holding Mary said sharply to the man who had punched Garry.

"I warned him!" Kohta yelled, slamming another fist into Garry's chest, before he pushed him back to the floor, "Leave. Now!"

Garry was sprawled out on the ground, unable to comprehend what was going on. He... He couldn't do anything. He felt cold, and glanced back to Mary, hatred burning in his eyes. How could this girl do such a thing? This was beyond evil – this was absolutely repulsive. His jaw shook with rage, and he managed to get up to his feet despite the pain he was in, and he saw several security guards surround both him and Ib's father.

"I'm going..." Garry told them weakly, reaching up to wipe the blood that coated his lip. The security escorted him, shortly after, leaving the family of three.

Mary frowned; she had absolutely no idea why Garry acted like that. Looking towards her dad, she walked over to him, "Daddy, are you ok?"

"I'm fine," He turned towards her and wrapped his arms around her, "Did that man do anything bad to you? Are you hurt?"

"He didn't do anything bad," Mary replied, shaking her head, "You came before he did anything to me."

"Good," He sighed, shaking his hands as the adrenaline began to wear off from his system He let go of Mary, and stood up, trying to compose himself.

"Kohta, what you did to him was assault." His wife reminded him, walking over hugging Mary too. She didn't want to admit it, but she was very worried for a moment there.

"I'll say it was in self-defense of my daughter," He replied, "That's if that coward decides to sue us anyway. I can't believe he tried to hurt Mary," He hugged his daughter once again once his wife had let go, "My baby girl, if anything bad had happened to you, I don't know what I would do."

"I'm ok!" Mary tried to reassure him, "Can we go get some ice cream?"

Kohta let out a short laugh, "Yeah, just let me talk to security a little bit so I can clear this mess up. Saya, I'll be right back." He nodded to her and went over to talk to the men standing around.

Mary looked to her mom, "Yay! We're getting ice cream!"

Saya smiled down at her daughter, and patted her head, "What flavor do you want to try first?"

"All of them!" Mary cried. Finally, finally she was going to do everything she wanted to do! She could barely contain her excitement, and she couldn't help but start laughing, since she was so happy. Her laughter was contagious, since shortly after Saya started to laugh at her daughter's antics.

XxXxXxX

Mary frowned as she woke up in the middle of the night for the third consecutive night in a row. It had now been almost a month since she visited the museum, and the nightmares had only just recently started. She couldn't even really remember them, but she had a feeling she couldn't quite identify inside of her every time she woke up from such dreams. She finally groaned, and got up and walked down the hall to her parent's room. She opened the door, and sneaked into bed with them, letting out a satisfied groan as she felt warm and secure between the two of them.

Her parents didn't mind her doing this, especially since she told them that it was nightmares.

It was when they continued to occur on a nightly basis for two weeks that she began to question if they were going to be a permanent addition to her life. She had been getting less and less sleep, and had just started to get up and play whenever the nightmares she couldn't identify woke her up. She was now reluctant to go to bed, because she knew that they would begin, and she didn't want to deal with them.

Mary opened her eyes again, and saw Ib at the end of her bed.

"Hello?" Mary said, a little nervous to see the girl there.

She let out a startled scream when she saw Ib suddenly collapse, as if there was a harlequin that had cut the strings holding her up.

Mary shot up in bed, and let out a shaky breath. That was the first nightmare she could clearly remember, and she saw Ib in it. What did that mean? She frowned – Ib was happy in the museum! She was a painting that thousands, maybe even millions of people could now see and enjoy! Isn't that what everyone would want?

She ignored the fact that she hadn't wanted that.

She was laying down in bed one morning a few weeks later when she saw her mother getting up, so she threw off her sheets and ran after her mother into the kitchen.

"Mary?" Saya said, seeing her daughter darting at her, "Are you still having bad dreams?"

"No!" Mary said, not wanting to concern her loving mother, "I heard you walk by and I wanted to see what you were doing!"

"I'm going to make myself some tea," Her mother replied, "Would you like some?"

"Sure!" Mary said, pushing down all the thoughts that had been plaguing her mind and sitting at the table with her mother, sipping the tea that the woman had prepared for her.

"Do you want to go out today?" Saya asked.

Mary smiled, "Sure! Where are we going?"

"We can go out to eat If you want." Saya said smiling at her daughter, "Is there anything that you feel like eating?"

"Oh, I want to try Mexican food!"

Saya blinked at that, "Mexican?"

"I want to try everything!" Mary said, "There's so many different foods!"

"There are." Her mother said, sipping some of her tea, slowly waking up, "If that's what you want, we'll do that."

Mary was ready very quickly, running to her room and throwing on a sundress that her parents had gotten for her a month ago, and she looked around for anything else, finding a fancy hat that she desperately wanted to try on, since she had never worn one before. She looked around her room and found some sandals, and threw those on, smiling when she noticed they fit her perfectly! She went downstairs, where her mother was still just waking up.

"We're not leaving for a few hours," Her mother told her gently.

"Awww..." Mary let out, "That's like in a million years!"

Saya chuckled, "Watch TV or play outside."

Mary frowned as she went into her family's living room where the TV was located and turned it on. Being an only child absolutely sucked! She really wished she had someone to play with her. Not letting that dampen her spirits however, she forced herself to smile, and she went to turn on the TV, fascinated with how the pictures moved. She would never understand how people took this for granted!

After amusing herself for another hour or two, Mary's mother was finally ready to take her out to eat, and the two went by bus.

Mary eagerly put change in so she and her mother could ride, and smiled as she took a seat near the window and watched the world pass by quickly before her. This was another thing that absolutely amazed her – how fast cars were! She didn't even know that things could even go this fast, and she heard that there were planes in the air that could go ten times as fast!

"Come on, Mary." He mother said, grabbing her hand and getting off at a stop downtown. Mary looked around, the sight of so many people was still a novelty for her. She didn't realize that THIS many people could gather in one place! How was there even room for everyone? She continued to look around like an excitable child when she went into the Mexican restaurant at the corner of one street.

Inside, there were several people eating with friends, laughing, whispering, yelling, anything she could imagine she saw.

"Do you want to sit by the window?"

"Yeah!" Mary said eagerly.

When it came to ordering food, Mary had picked a burrito, having absolutely no idea what in the world that was. Her mother had been a little more reserved, simply picking some rice, saying that they would share the burrito together. Mary wasn't sure what to make of the food when it first arrived – it looked so much different than what she was used to! She eagerly took a bite, and then another, and another...

"It looks like you really like it."

Mary nodded, "It's good!"

"I'm glad." Saya said, "Don't eat too fast though, or else you'll get a stomachache.

Mary heeded her mother's warning, remember how little fun the first one she had gotten was.

After eating, the two left the store and continued to walk down the street, where they stopped at a store, "I'm going to go in and look at some thing," Saya had said, "Do you want to come in with me?"

Mary opened her mouth to speak, but across from the store she saw a park, but more specifically she saw a person on a bench at the park, looking up to the sky doing nothing. His hair was purple, and he wore ragged clothes.

"Mary?"

"Oh?" Mary snapped back to attention, "Um, no. I'll stay out here. Can I go to the park?"

"I don't know..." Her mother mumbled, clearly hesitant to allow her daughter out alone.

"I promise I will be good!" Mary said.

Saya sighed, "Fine. But be careful! And if anyone tries to lead you off somewhere, or offer you anything, you say -."

"No!" Mary said, finishing her sentence for her, "Yeah, I know."

Saya gave her a pat on the head, "Good, now go have fun."

Once her mother left, Mary wandered over to the park where she saw the man on the bench with his eyes closed. Once at the bench, she sat down beside him, smiling all the while. She took a deep breath and yelled out, "BOO!"

Garry lurched forward, almost falling off the seat, but he stabilized himself quickly enough. He glanced over to the girl beside him, and his bewildered glance turned to a cold glare, "You."

"Hi!" Mary said.

Garry stood up and started to walk away.

"Hey! Wait!" Mary got up, following him, "I need to ask you something!"

Garry stopped and looked back, and Mary noticed that he looked like he hadn't shaved in quite a while, and under his eyes were a little blackened. Why was he like that? There is nothing bad going on in his life, surely!

"Go away." He said, "I have no desire to talk with you."

"I've been having nightmares," She said quickly, "Why?"

"Why?" He repeated, "Maybe it's because you're a little monster." He began to walk away again.

"That's mean!" Mary gasped, "You're rude!"

"Go away!"

"Wait!" She grabbed his ragged jacket, "How do I make them go away? They're not letting me sleep!"

"Give me one good reason I should help you."

"Because you're nice?"

He grunted, "I'm not helping you, now go away."

Garry reached into his pocket and pull out a pack of cigarettes, in his other hand was a lighter which he used to light it up and he took a quick drag, puffing it out in a long sigh. He then walked away, leaving Mary there alone.

"What a horrible person!" Mary grumbled. Everyone else was so nice to her! Why was he like that?

"Mary?"

She turned to see her mother coming for her, "Momma!"

Saya chuckled, "Let's go, while we're out we might as well get you some school supplies."

Mary cheered. She LOVED school! She made so many friends, and they all played together, and it was so fun! If only she could go there every day!

As they walked down the sidewalk, Mary took one last glance back towards where she last saw Garry. Seeing nothing, she hurried to catch back up with her mother, and reached out for her hand.

XxXxXxX

Mary wasn't sure what she was looking at, but she had to make sure that this wasn't another nightmare, so she pinched her arm hard. When she registered the pain, she looked back up at Ib, who was simply standing there watching her.

"Hello?"

No answer.

Mary frowned and shook her head, walking into her kitchen and emptying the contents of her backpack onto the table in there, sitting down on a nearby chair and got started on her homework. She had just entered middle school, and the teachers were expecting so much from her already! It wasn't nearly as fun as elementary school at all! The eleven year old girl let out a groan when she couldn't figure out a problem, and looked up from the table to see Ib was still just watching her.

"What do you want?" Mary asked curiously.

No answer.

"Why aren't you at the museum?"

Nothing.

Mary looked back down at her math assignment, moving onto the next problem, but her eyes kept glancing up to Ib. Was she real? Why was she just staring at her? She couldn't focus!

"Go away!" Mary shouted, throwing a nearby book at Ib. The book sailed through the air, and went right through the girl, fortunately she just faded away on her own. Mary let out a relieved sigh when that happened, and went to pick up her math book and opened it back up to the page she had been assigned for homework.

The next day was the same, except Ib appeared at a different place. She was coming home from school talking to her friends on the way back, when she saw Ib at the end of the sidewalk. Mary stopped right in her tracks, causing her friends to stop as well and look towards her questioningly.

"I – I got to go." Mary said, "I forgot something at school."

"Really?" One of her friends asked.

Mary nodded, "I'm really sorry!" She said, and she took off the opposite way.

Ib made a habit of appearing daily now, whenever Mary was just starting to forget about her last appearance she would pop up. What made it worse is that each night before she went to bed, Ib would be standing at the end of her bed just staring at her. Mary found herself creeping under her covers and curling up, hoping that she would just go away.

It was a Sunday, a day Mary had absolutely no school, but she dearly wish she did. Everywhere she went in the house, Ib would be there, staring at her with an absolutely emotionless face. Mary finally went up to the one that appeared in her room.

"Go away!"

No answer, as expected.

Mary began to grind her teeth together, "What do you want from me? Why are you here?"

Silence.

"Please..." Mary begged, "Go away. I already see you every night in my dreams, do you have to haunt me during the day too? Please, please, please, please go away!" Tears were forming in her eyes, "I can't stand it anymore! I think I'm going crazy!"

No response.

Mary let out a scream, and attempted to hit Ib, but her hands just passed through ib, and the image disappeared. Despite the fact that Ib was gone, Mary continued to scream, slamming her fists on the floor over and over, "WHY DON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

Her door was thrown open, and her mother rushed in, "Mary? Mary what is it?"

Mary turned to look at the woman, "N – Nothing, mom." She said, despite the fact that she was shaking and tears were streaming down her face, "I stubbed my toe."

Her mother frowned, "Are you ok? You've been acting weird for the past few weeks now."

Mary wanted to just tell her about the images she had been seeing, but she held it back. She didn't want her to think she was insane, she heard that insane people were taken to a special place, and that she wouldn't be able to go to school or do anything fun anymore.

"It's nothing." Mary opted to say again, standing up, "I'm going out for a bit."

"Mary? Are you really sure? You know I'm here for you."

"Yes!" Mary said roughly, "I'm sure. I'm leaving!"

Her mother watched in worry as her daughter walked out of her room. She knew something was wrong with her, but she was at a loss of what to do for her. Maybe Kohta would know?

Mary marched down the stairs, ignoring Ib as she walked by her on the way out of the front door, and she nearly ran the second she got outside. She just had to get away. A little fresh air should surely set her mind at ease! She walked down the sidewalk, and took the bus to downtown, just aimlessly allowing her feet to carry her wherever she could go. She was so preoccupied in her thoughts, that she nearly missed seeing a purple-haired man walking down the opposite end of the sidewalk.

He was the ONLY one who would know what she was talking about, so she hurried over to him, and grabbed his arm, "Garry!"

The taller man looked down, a half-smoked cigarette was in his mouth. He frowned the moment he noticed the green dress. He realized by the color alone who it was, and he started to try walking forward again.

Mary unfortunately had a firm grip on his arm, "Please, I need to talk to you!"

"What can you possibly need to talk to me about?" He asked, the venom in his voice was still just as vile towards her as it had been two years ago, and she distinctly smelled alcohol on his breath. She again noticed that he really needed to shave, but she shoved that thought aside – it wasn't important.

"You're the only one who would know what I'm talking about!" She began, "It's about Ib."

That had been the wrong thing to say, Garry pulled his arm out of her grip, and continued on his way.

"Please!" She called.

"No." He answered, walking away.

Mary started to breath really fast – he was the only one who could help her at this point, explain what was wrong, and he absolutely refused to! She began to shake as she ran ahead of him, and dropped down on her knees, "Please! Please hear what I have to ask..." She started to cry, she was so desperate for his help.

Garry gritted his teeth, glancing around seeing people walking by giving him and Mary odd looks. He finally growled out, "Fine. What."

Mary let out a shaky breath, "I – I keep seeing Ib! In my dreams, and now I'm seeing her around my house, in school, EVERYWHERE!" She screamed, "She won't go away no matter what I do!"

"What about it?" He asked impatiently.

"Why? Why am I seeing her? In my dreams and outside now! I need to know, I'm going to go insane if I don't figure out why!" She explained through her tears.

Garry shook his head, "That would be a fitting end for you."

"Garry!" She cried out, "Please..."

Garry saw the nervous wreck she was in front of him, and he finally let out a sigh, "It's guilt."

"What?"

"You feel guilty."

"Why?"

"Because you killed her." He answered, "I've got to go."

"Wait!" She stopped him again, "Why do I feel guilty? I did nothing wrong!"

"You killed her." He repeated louder, causing more people to stare at them, "How does that not add up for you?"

"But she's a painting," She pressed, "She'll live forever."

Garry had to try really hard not to hit the girl, so he took a really long drag of the cigarette in his hand and counted down in his head, "Ok. Look." He said, looking down at Mary, "Did you want to stay there forever?"

"I had friends there." Mary stated.

"But would you like to stay forever?"

"I'm happy to be here though." Mary stated, evading the question.

Garry curled his lips in disgust and started to walk away, "You're a very selfish girl. Think about others for once – put yourself in their shoes."

Mary didn't stop him this time, and only watched him continue to walk away. She thought hard about what Garry said, could she be feeling guilty?

"No..." She mumbled, "That can't be it."

She had plucked Ib's rose so she could get out. She had wanted to do it to Garry's, but she didn't know where he was, and she wanted to be able to ensure that she would be able to go to the real world, so she unfortunately had to use Ib's.

She absolutely loved the real world! She loved her parents! She loved school, her friends, meeting new people, trying new foods, going out in the sun, the snow, everything! Is... Is that why she felt guilt then? Is it because she took all of that away from Ib?

She continued to walk, examining the thought closer – From Garry's reaction that day, she knew that her current parents were Ib's. They were very loving and kind, and they accepted her without a doubt. She tried to do as Garry asked, to put herself in their shoes. How would she feel if her daughter was no longer alive?

Sad.

She frowned. How did she feel knowing that she had pretty much taken Ib's spot in the real world? She was happy to experience it, but it was... sad... that Ib had to... go to sleep for it to happen. She started to shake, and finally began to understand what the feeling was, what feeling guilty meant. She felt bad. She clutched at her beating, human heart, and felt tears welling up in her eyes. This was the feeling that had been plaguing her for years.

"I – I killed her..." She whispered, truly understanding what Garry had been saying all along.

His hate... It was justified.

She got onto the bus after wandering the town for a little while, and came home to an empty house. Her mother – no, Ib's mother – had left her a note on the kitchen table, telling her to help herself to some food. Mary ignored it, in favor of going into the kitchen and opening a drawer, where there was a particularly sharp knife.

This immense guilt she felt.

It had to end.

She stood there, and noticed from the corner of her eye that Ib was impassively watching her. She lifted up her other arm, and her hand holding the knife was shaking violently, but she steadied herself, and closed her eyes as she gashed at herself, intending to end it all. She felt pain and... Nothing else, just a mild pain. She opened her eyes, and noticed that there was only a shallow mark on her arm where she cut herself, nowhere near deep enough to kill.

"I – I don't want to die..." She mumbled, the knife tumbling out of her hand and clattering as it hit the kitchen floor, "This... Is this what she felt like when she was about to die?" When she had thought she was going to kill herself, there was absolute despair in her heart, and her mind was endlessly telling her not to do it.

"I... I'm a monster..." She whispered.

She took a look at Ib, and promptly collapsed to the floor, letting out choked sobs as she curled her knees towards her.

"I didn't want to stay there forever, so I made Ib suffer that fate?" She continued to cry, "I understand why Garry hates me so much..."

She continued crying, and only composed herself enough so that she could put the knife away and rush up to her – no, Ib's – room before Ib's parents could see her as a complete mess. The life she had, while she enjoyed it, was a complete lie. She had just taken Ib's place, and she didn't know what to do anymore.

XxXxXxX

She stopped paying attention in school – she didn't deserve this. She had murdered someone to be here, she felt absolutely sick to her stomach. She only ate when she absolutely had to, or when Ib's parents would force her to do so. She didn't talk with her friends anymore, and the few attempts her friends made towards conversation she ignored. Soon, she was alone.

She deserved no less.

Ib still visited her every night in her dreams, and still showed up every day in her house, at school, anywhere really, but she simply ignored it now. If she even glanced at the nine year old girl, she would begin to cry, and she didn't want to do that, she had done enough of that already. She simply went to school every morning, not paying attention, not doing the work, or anything productive. She refused to be happy, considering what she subjected Ib to.

The years continued on, she got through Middle School with barely passable marks, and was fortunately able to get into a high school. She lost weight, becoming almost severely underweight, and her social life became non-existent. She didn't care about anything anymore. She continued to dive deeper and deeper into her depression, with no light at the end of the tunnel.

After all, a monster like her deserved no less.

XxXxXxX

Notes:

FIRST HALF OF CHAPTER 1 REVISED: 7/21/2013 - Added in a lot more detail, and combined a lot of sentences. This chapter had 1.1k additional words added to it.

I'll get around to revising the second half and the rest of the story soon.