Ib Fanfiction-The Forgotten One-Chapter 6

Ib stared around the room, and ran for the closest door in a nearby corner. Running into the room, her heart sank: it was a small room with no exit. She bolted to the door, feeling that she had just lost time and was allowing the man catch up with her, somehow.

The portrait man walked casually down the blue-walled hallway, dragging his hand along the wall, smothering the purple text there with streaks of blue paint, seemingly not even aware of the text's existence. Keep running little one, our game isn't over yet...

Ib ran out of the room and bolted to the next door, which was hanging on it's hinges. She kicked it into a more closed position as she turned to run up the stairs in front of her.

"RUN! HE'S RIGHT BEHIND US!" Purple text at the top of the stairs screamed at Ib as the little girl climbed as fast as she could. She could feel the panic rising in her heart, but something deep down inside her was starting to fight back. For some reason, she felt a huge rush of anger in her heart towards the man, quelling her fear somewhat. She wanted to hurt him, make him stop, make him pay for...pay for what? She realized that she wanted to make him pay for something, but it wasn't for hurting her...it felt more like she wanted him to pay for hurting someone else...but who? She ran out the door at top of the stairs, slammed it shut and ran for the next door she saw, still confused and terrified.

The man kicked down the door at the top of the stairs and smiled, seeing a fast moving white and brown blur duck around the far corner of the room.

"Little liar...I hope you've found a good hiding spot, because ready or not, HERE. I. COME!" the man laughed, his lips again torn apart into that demonic smile.

Ib skidded to a halt as she ran into the room. She barely stopped herself in time to avoid falling into a black hole in the ground that separated the two halves of this room. There was one small strip of bright blue paint seemingly levitating over the hole, like a bridge, and Ib noticed that both the canvas on the stand behind her, the one of the wall ahead of her and the room deep below her were all swathed in blue paint. She turned to run out the door, but turned to see the man standing in the doorway, the door torn away and shattered behind him.

"There you are." he cooed.

The fear rose up in Ib's chest again, but this time, the anger overtook it. She gripped the rabbit her hands, and growled at the man "I said...LEAVE ME ALONE!"

The man was about to lunge forward and take his sweet little prize when she suddenly shouted another falsehood and a swath of purple text appeared across the back wall: "YOU WONT HURT IB!" the next thing the man knew, he saw a blue doll in a pink dress being hurtled at him, it's red eyes glaring into his...

The rabbit ornament smashed into the man, it's many shards digging deep into his face and chest, splurging blue paint everywhere. Ib didn't waste time, she dodged around the man out the door and through a small, secluded door at the opposite side of the main room, and then down an odd staircase that seemed to be made of a crayon drawing.

The man threw the doll to the ground, enraged. "You..." he hissed, and then raised his arm, his hand decaying into blue paint and then reforming back into a twisted claw. He tore apart the doll until it was nothing but fragments of fiber and blue-stained stuffing. The man lifted his head and tried to find her, his sweet little Ib, pushing all his senses out, searching for her...gone...GONE. The man bellowed with rage, then stopped himself. No, no, it's okay. There is still plenty of time and nothing can hurt you, there is no way out, there is no way for you to lose. Be patient, be patient, all good things come with time...

Ib was stunned by what she saw around her, an entire town made of crayon drawings, all so simple and yet stable and real. She turned back to see if the man was following, but found that the path behind her was gone...Ib walked around the town until she found a small, secluded room far in the back of a building with a heart on the door.

The room was black-walled and strewn with many crayon drawings across the floor, paint sets and yellow roses, a burned canvas at the far end of the room, and more rabbit ornaments that were broken into so many sad little pieces. Ib's heart sank. She had felt horrible about sacrificing the rabbit to save herself...but yet somehow felt that the rabbit had wanted to help. Ib shook the feeling off, and hiding in the far corner of the room, she pulled out the journal entries and continued to read.

" At least 2 years after ??? (+/- unknown)

I think I'm starting to lose it. I keep having dreams about the real world, all the people there, my family, my friends, my teachers, just the random people out on the street. I have no one to talk to here, and I know that normally, I wouldn't be too ??? at being alone, but it's really been messing with me lately. I'm starting to feel like I can ??? with paintings here, or they are trying to ??? with me, and it's really starting to get to me. What I wouldn't give for another, regular, human ??? right now..."

Ib heard a soft noise off in the distance, past the locked door. After several minutes of waiting to insure nothing else happened, she returned to the entries.

"At least 3 years since ???

I...I miss them so much...I've looked all around for them, anything to remind me of them...I...I need something to keep happy, and right now, that's my memories of them...I've looked in all the books I can find, I've searched all the halls I can access. No luck. They're not there..."

Ib began to feel bad for this person, although she still had a suspicion that this could be a trick the portrait man set up for her, but something in her kept telling her that she was wrong...that these entries had somehow been waiting for her to find them...

" ??? since ???

Ib...I hope she's alright, I ??? that she got out alright...I'll never forget her. She was so sweet and pure, so unlike anything I had ever known in my life. Wherever you are, Ib, I ??? that you're happy..."

Ib stopped. Her...her name? The writer of the entries had known her? Had helped her to escape here somehow?

"Wh-what?" stammered Ib out loud. She shook her head to try and focus, and picked up the next journal entry, hungry for answers. It was a half-page, with a single drawing on it blue paint.

Ib stared at the drawing for a moment and then dropped it to the ground, her heart pounding in her chest. The drawing was of Ib and the portrait man...hugging and smiling at each other.

That's right...patience...patience...The portrait man pulled the red rose from his body again, staring at it's withered form, admiring the sweet, lively scent it gave off...it will be worth the wait...