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Dorm Log The Sequel To End All Sequels

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The question back made Ib bite her lower lip, and the girl looked down and away from Garry's gaze. "What did she mean"? Wouldn't Garry know? After falling down into the box and ending up in this place, being so far away...

But wasn't she the one being weird compared to everyone else? A sense of dread fell over Ib as she thought about it, her grip on Garry loosening. He had just been sitting there, acting like normal... and her parents had been acting like nothing was strange, too...

Warily, Ib looked back to Garry's face. "Mary pushed us... and now we're here. I spoke to my mum, and she said I came back to be with my sister, but I--"

The expression on her face worsened, and panic spilled into her voice as she spoke. She felt her uncertainty again resurface, felt her face pale. Was she just dreaming? Was this somehow a dream--?

Oh no...did it...happen again? Mary pushing them...

She was talking about the toy box in the gallery. Was that the last she remembered? And what about a sister?

This was. This was a mess. Garry's grip loosened, but he didn't let go. Instead, he looked at her face back. His face was serious. He had been through this before. But, at least when Ib could have went through time and space again and screw up time, she came and remembered him. His heart wouldn't take it if that happened again. He can...he can work with this. But how to get Ib feel at ease before telling her about that?

"I remember that, Ib. I remember that very vividly," Garry began saying.

"You're not crazy or anything to feel overwhelmed if things weren't what you remember. It's...complicated."

That was the template for Ib to question further, however there was one thing he wanted to add before she did.

"But know this, I'm Garry. You're Ib. We're friends. I want you to always remember that. I'm here to always support you and make you feel better about anything, understand?"

It was the words that Ib wanted to hear- that she wasn't strange to be so lost and confused. The anxiety in her calmed some- or much, to hear Garry reassure her instead of question her. It couldn't rid it all, but she felt comfort again to be there in Garry's presence.

And especially so, to hear the words he added. Ib nodded her head; she understood. He was right... Garry was Garry, and they were friends. She knew it, but to hear it made Ib feel better. Her lips didn't smile, but her expression turned softer, though still it showed the look of a girl lost in her own surroundings.

"My mum..." Ib began, her words spoken slowly and carefully. "I spoke to her on the phone. She was home... and dad was at work..."

Her head lowered, a moment after saying those words. Remembering their portrait in the gallery, being unable to find them for so long... but knowing they were safe now had made Ib too happy for words- words that could have been used to question why they were at home and not still with her. But she had heard her mother's laugh, and the voice that always she used when she told Ib to be good, she hadn't wanted to worry her mother or to ask her questions.

The next part of what Ib wanted to say was there in her head, but she found herself unable to speak it. It had rendered her speechless to hear, and now it had made her voice hard to find. How could she say it?

"And...she said you had a sister? What did you talk about?"

It must be true, if she doesn't remember seeing her parents since before the gallery, she was plucked right from it.

Aaaaaand were they okay with her being here? Must be, they didn't pluck her from the school by now. Ib from this time might not know, but Garry had met and became in good graces with her parents. But they were serious about Ib and her safety.

This was confusing as hell, but it did make Garry feel better that her parents weren't thinking she was kidnapped or anything. Just a huge time warp explosion mess. Her parents DID want her here...

Exactly, Garry. It's a headache. Even Ib doesn't get it. Timey wimey.

"... about the school," Ib answered, finding it a little easier than the subject before it, but still one that didn't sit right in the girl's mind. It made as much sense as everything else did, which wasn't any.

"She said we came here together, then she left with dad. She asked me if I was okay..." Ib paused a while, gripping her hands that had fallen by then to her sides together before adding, "I said I missed her."

...This is hard to deal with for an adult. But Ib is...not one. Mature as she can be, she's still a kid. This is crazy hard to handle. And the hardship is honestly breaking Garry's heart.

And she can't really ask who her sister is, could she? What happened with that?

This is too strange...Garry frowned with her. What can he even do about this?

"You must miss her...I can tell you what I know. I...don't know how much I can help but maybe I can clarify some things?" Garry said, then he paused and went at it.

"You were here for a while and then you left. I've been here since last summer. I teach Painting here and I'm in school. It was even a few months after we both left the gallery."

Paused one more time. He was prepping this last part.

"...Mary is here."

All except the end was news to Ib's ears. She had heard briefly that she had been before from her mother, though it hadn't made sense to her to hear. She couldn't judge the credibility of Garry's and her mother's words, but what did it mean if she did remember this? She couldn't think them liars, and for the moment before the final reveal, Ib wondered what was wrong with her.

But it was hard to give an answer to, when the events of the gallery were only a day behind her.

It was that last one though, that brought no surprise to Ib. She looked at Garry, but then nodded her head. After some delay, she looked back to up Garry, and said, "... she called my sister 'Mary'."

But did Garry know the truth?

"I don't have a sister."

...Mary.

Garry thought long and hard.

Then his heart. It shattered. If Mary...was the Mary he was thinking of. And Ib doesn't actually HAVE a sister?

"...Ib..." Garry's eyes went sad.

Garry had to tell her something important. Very grave and important.

"I think...Ib, I think your sister...Mary must've done something but I'm sure it's that Mary."

Though Ib did consider it to be the same girl they both knew (what other Mary did she know?), it was hard to think it was the truth- no, she couldn't believe that at all. And she had wanted to think that she misheard it, but there had been little other sound at the time.

She was an only child, had been for her whole life. What could have happened...? But if Mary was here and not at the gallery...

"... Do you think they're okay?"

...Garry didn't know the answer to that.

If all of this was true...

...Then everything became screwed up and Ib's parents were pulled in to it. If he were in Ib's shoes, he'd be worried about ever talking to them.

Someone slinking in forcefully into the family, and the parents act like it's all natural and that's how it's been? He can't. Imagine.

Garry honestly is at a loss of what to do. Just...protect Ib. That's what he knew. And with her here and in the midst of this chaos? Garry had more incentive.

Ib would find Garry holding her in an embrace again. This more like a protective, loving, gentle shroud as opposed to just missing her a lot.

"I'm sure they're fine."

It was the sort of embrace that Ib just wanted- comfort and assurance. Two things she wanted overall, yet even out of that gallery, there was no end to the grief of it, was there?

Was it really all true...? And if Mary had really somehow... why did she? How did she?

Ib buried her head against Garry's body, much as she had before, to feel him closer to her. Nothing made sense, but as long as her parents were okay- as long her mum and dad weren't hurt, and Garry was fine too. That's all she wanted.

And for Mary... for Mary, she didn't know what to think.

Garry just...wanted to be that support system, even if he can't make sense of this himself.

But they will figure it out. Garry's heart was breaking for Ib and he just wanted to be there for her.

For now, Garry looked at Ib directly as he spoke to her.

"Now...why don't we leave this classroom and do something to welcome a very special friend of mine, what do you say?"

When Garry spoke, the young Ib looked at him, and his words made the tiniest of smiles appear of her face. It wasn't much of a happy one, but Ib too was trying.

And truthfully, Ib found in that moment that she wanted to stay close to him. She nodded her head, only moving some away from him a little, though she kept herself as close to him as they had been in the gallery.

"... Okay."

She didn't know what they could do at a school, but... as long as it was with Garry, Ib didn't care what they did.

And they would leave. Garry would probably be innocently smiling, to hide his worry now for Ib's safety.

He wanted to be strong for her. He had to. It really didn't matter at this moment where from what time Ib was from, she was his best friend. He WILL protect her. They can go through those stupid details later.

"There's this cute cafe in town, I could treat you there!"

A cafe. As they walked, the thought that they could go to such a place seemed to escape Ib's mind, and was somehow even strange to think. There was nothing keeping them at the school, and yet, to go to a place like that...

"... Okay." But despite that feeling, Ib agreed. Something normal... would be good. To go and do something normal with Garry- if she could really do that, then she wanted to do that.

But as they walked, the mention of the case brought up a memory to Ib, one that existed not too long ago for the young girl.

"Do they have macaroons?"

"They have the best macaroons. They should even be getting in more spring flavors now!"

He was probably going towards what she could mean by asking that. Actually wait, now he did know. Ah yes. He remembered now.

Yes.

"...As I promised, it's my treat. You can get as many as you want. This IS a party afterall."

Hearing that, the side of Ib's lips turned a little more. Garry really liked macaroons. It had been why she had asked the question- remembering the story he had told her about his trip to the cafe shopped, he had sounded so very serious about how they tasted.

"I'll have one. ... How many will Garry eat?"

Five hundred billion. I mean.

"Hmmm...maybe one or two. Moderation and all."

Garry took Ib's little hand as guidance.

~~"My dad says that about his favourite candy too," Ib said with a suspicious tone as she looked up at Garry with judging eyes, that then looked down to his stomach.~~

Wait.

When Garry took hold of that little hand, the girl's fingers curled around his hand in return.

"When we go to a cafe, I eat a new cake with my mum sometimes. But my dad eats the same thing."

Such a thing was easy to recall, so often during the times they went out together as a family, they would always stop somewhere for a drink and a slice of cake. Her parents would drink tea and coffee, and she would sometimes have tea too. Or a juice.

"My mum likes coconut tart, and my dad likes eccles cakes... they're really sweet."

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Dorm Log The Sequel To End All Sequels

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