Gallery (An Ib Story)

[2] Abyss of the Deep

The lights cut out.
I thought it might have been a power failure at first, but looking around, I noticed something that was very strange...
...weren't there more people here?
Ib seemed to notice it, as well. All the people at the gallery had disappeared, like they never existed at all. It was creepy, really. Why just us? Walking around the empty gallery, it was barren of all kinds of life, save for a few potted plants and the occasional headless mannequin. The silence was killing me, more than anything. Where was everyone? They couldn't have just... disappeared, right?

Walking by a window, I took a look outside. It was dark out. Not even a semblance of a street light, or any light, rather. It was pitch black. "That's... unsettling..." I said, letting my voice fill with a little fear. I was more creeped out, honestly. "Where did everyone go..?" I heard Ib say. I guess she was also a little frightened about where everyone went. "Don't worry," I said, "we'll find them. They can't have just disappeared." She looked around a bit more before latching onto my hand with her own. She must be more scared than I thought. Walking through the empty halls of the gallery, we noticed that the entire place was empty. No receptionist, no guests, no father of mine, and neither of Ib's parents.

We eventually looped back around to the painting "Fabricated World", only to find a strange blue liquid leaking out from behind it. Suddenly, there were multiple slapping sounds and I spun around instantly, seeing the words "COME IB" and "COME OLIVER" written on the wall behind us. "Well.. that's disturbing.." I said, trying to make sense of all this. I quickly led Ib away from the terrifying words and back downstairs, taking a different route that led us back to the room-sized Masterpiece titled "Abyss of the Deep". Looking around, I noticed that one of the velvet ropes used to cordon off the rug-sized masterpiece was strangely absent. Well, as strangely as something like this can get, anyways.

Despite my own hesitance, Ib took a step forward to the floor painting, sticking her hand out to it... or rather in it. Yeah. This just keeps getting weirder and weirder. Ib looked back st me for a moment before her body jolts for a second and she falls into the painting. "IB!!!" I scream, proceeding to dive in after her, but shortly afterwards, I blacked out.

I woke up a few minutes later. Or hours. It's difficult to tell. The first things I saw was myself in an unfamiliar room. It didn't look anything like the Gallery's walls, so I quickly figured that I might not be in Kansas anymore. I also noticed that Ib was nowhere to be found. "Ib?" I said, concerned for my companion's safety, getting no response in return. "IB!?" I said again, louder this time. I spun around in desperation, trying to find her in the room, when I saw a hallway materialize in front of me. Hesitantly, I called out for her again. "Ib? Are you there?"

No response.

Sighing to myself, I slowly walked down the hallway, coming to a much, much larger room. To the left side, was a cage. Inside of it, was a table with two vases on it. One vase had a Green rose in it, and the other, just a stem of a rose. Walking up to the cage, I tugged on where the door would be, but no luck. It was solid iron. Looking to the opposite side of the room, I saw a doorway across a large-looking gap, and to my immediate right, there was another Doorway, this one accessible. Hesitantly, I opened and walked through the doorway, seeing a large room that was more or less a small playground indoors, sandbox and everything. "Okay... Weird..."

Getting a bright idea, all of a sudden, I grabbed a handful of sand from the playground and quickly ran over to the gap again. I saw this in a movie once. "Let's see... there appears to be no bridge, but in reality..." I said, and scattered the sand across the gap as evenly as I could. Most of it fell into the pit, but some managed to stay on an invisible path! Thank you, Indiana Jones! Looking at it closer, I figured that the path was narrow, long and winding. Great. Well, a long, potentially deadly path is better than no path at all... right? Taking a deep sigh, I slowly walk myself along the path until I reached the door, almost falling into the pit at the very last moment.

Now across the door, I saw a large space across the top of the door, and a note on the front of it. The note read: "What is greater than God, More evil than the devil, The poor have it, The rich don't need it, And if you eat it, you'll die?" This was a bit more than confusing. I assumed that if I solved the riddle, the door would open, so I thought bout it a while. "The poor have it... the rich don't need it..." I said in thought, and then it came to me. "The answer is Nothing." I said, confident. It made sense. Nothing is greater than god, Nothing is more evil than the devil. The poor have nothing, the rich don't need nothing. And if you eat nothing, you'll die of starvation. Looking back up at the mysterious space above the door, I heard a strange clicking sound, like a lock being undone, before seeing  green check-mark appear on the space above the door. Breathing a sigh of relief, I opened the door and saw a large painting of a creepy-looking doll. "That's... unsettling..."I said, before noticing a green-colored key on the floor in front of the painting. 

Picking up the key, I thought for a second I saw the painting move. Shrugging it and the strange giggling I heard, I went to leave the room, only to find the door wouldn't open. Great. The painting DID move, didn't it? Tugging more frantically on the door, I looked back to see the wall from before that the painting rested on was a lot closer than it was before. I needed to hurry. Tugging harder on the door, the handle actually came off the door. Looking at it in horror, I looked around again, before seeing a mysterious button next to the door. Without thinking, I pressed it, and the wall stopped moving, and retracted backwards. The door opened, and I quickly left that room, not looking back.

Taking the key, I went back over to the cage and where there was no door appeared a door. Strange. I insert the green key into the door lock. Turning the key, I hear a loud *Clunk* sound as the door unlocked. The door opens and now on the table, beside the vases, I see a note on the table. Picking the note up, I read it aloud, but quietly. "When the rose wilts, you too will wilt away... Well. That's... foreboding..." Taking the rose with seven petals, I looked over to the near-empty vase next to it. The stem of a rose the only thing inside of it, I also grabbed it. I wasn't sure why, to be honest. I just had this strange feeling I couldn't describe. The feeling that I NEEDED to take this rose stem. But for now, I needed no explanations, just a way out. Conveniently, There was a small hole in the wall, about the size of a key. "Great... where am I supposed to..." Stopping in my tracks, I looked back at the cage door. Maybe I could use the key for the door..? No, that would be too obvious. There's got to be something...

Looking to the ground in frustration, I noticed a small yellow rose petal on the ground. Picking it up, I found that it practically fizzled away in my hand, much to my surprise. Looking at the rose stem, I saw it now had a yellow petal attached to it. I heard a voice whisper in my ear "Two of Six." Two of six? Two of six what? Are the stem and the petal both connected somehow? Whatever the case, I have a feeling I should look around as I make my way to Ib... wherever she may be. These rose petals seem to be important... for someone or other. I just know it. Looking at the rose, then at the wall, I get a bright idea. Well, bright isn't the right word... desperate? Yeah, let's go with that. Anyway, I walk over and put the tip of the rose in the keyhole, and surprisingly, I hear a clicking noise, like the lock on the door. Then I hear several more clicking noises, before a trapdoor opens underneath me and I fall downwards, into the Abyss of darkness below...