literature

This Time Success? Chapter 1

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“Welcome to the world of Guertena. We truly thank you for attending today. We’re currently holding an exhibition for the great artist Weiss Guertena. We hope you deeply enjoy the art of the late Guertena, whose creations carry such mystery and beauty both,” you repeat to yourself over and over as you dig through your closet for your uniform.

It’s your first day as a museum guide in the famous Guertena Art Gallery. You got the job because your mother saw how much you liked the gallery on your first visit three years ago. Since you were now eligible to work and you visited the gallery whenever you had a spare moment, your mother did her best to make sure you could work there. You slip on a [favorite color] 3/4 long sleeved shirt and a pair of form fitting black pants. You clip your name tag on the left side of your shirt and brush out your silky [hair color] hair.

“Hey [name]! Why are you getting all pretty? Is today a special day?” You look over and see two little girls enter your room, one with blonde hair and blue eyes, and another with brown hair and red eyes.  You laugh and continue to brush your hair as you look in your dresser mirror.

“Mary, you know you should knock when you come into someone’s room. And Ib, you should’ve stopped her since I know it was her idea.” The brown haired girl blushes and looks at the ground while the blonde Mary rushes over to your side and gives you a tight hug.

“You look so pretty big sis! Are you meeting a boy? Didn’t mommy say you couldn’t date yet?” You smile and pat her on the head as you set your brush down and pick up a tube of lip gloss.

“I am old enough to date but no, I’m not meeting a boy. Mom got me a job and it’s my first day today. I have to look professional to make a good impression,” you say as you swipe lip gloss over your lips and place the wand back inside the tube. You check your hair one last time before snapping your silver watch on your right wrist. You grab your black backpack from your bed and sling it over your shoulder.

“Don’t forget your handkerchief [name]! Mom went to a lot of work to have these made for us.” Ib holds up a white, lace handkerchief with your name embroidered in black lettering on the bottom left hand side. You smile and take the fabric from the red eyed girl, placing it in your back pocket.

“Thank you Ib, can’t forget something like this. Now I have to go before I’m late.”

“Wait!” Mary tackles you when you reach the door of your room and looks up at you with her big, blue eyes. “Where are you working at?”

You giggle and place a finger to your lips, winking coyly. “That is a secret, I can’t have the two of you showing up at my work and disturbing me. If you really want to know, you can ask mother when she gets back from grocery shopping. I’ll be back for dinner, love you both!”

“Bye big sis! Have fun!” Ib and Mary shout at the same time, waving to your departing figure. You walk down the stairs and grab an apple from the kitchen before stepping out into the spring air. You breathe in the sweet air, sighing contently before running to the garage and retrieving your bike.

The ride to the gallery isn’t a far one, only a few blocks away from where you live so you get there twenty minutes before you’re scheduled to arrive. You lock your bike on the bike rack in front of the building and throw away your apple core. Inhaling deeply, you push open the glass door and step inside, the cool air washing over your body.

“Well, well, look whose back. Sheesh you come here almost every day and now you’re working here. Why don’t you live here if you love it so much?” You playfully stick out your tongue at your best friend, a young man with short brown hair, small glasses, and brown eyes, behind the receptionist’s desk.

“Oh shut your mouth Andrew. You know how much of a fanatic I am of Guertena’s work. I want to become an artist as famous and talented as him!” Andrew rolls his eyes and walks out from behind the desk, slinging an arm over your shoulder.

“You’re well on your way to be an amazing artist [name]. Although I don’t have a clue why you would choose someone like Guertena as a role model. The guy wasn’t exactly right in the head.” You push his arm off your shoulder and pinch his cheek.

“You just don’t know what true art looks like. Now, I’m going to take a look at the art again before people start arriving.” Andrew and you walk up the stairs into the main gallery with pictures and sculptures.

“I’m going to be close but I have to make sure everything’s clean and polished before people come.” You nod to Andrew as he leaves and glance at the paintings on the wall, their names already memorized since you visit so often.

Your eyes stop on a picture of a young man with lavender hair sitting with his head down. His face has a peaceful expression, almost like he’s sleeping. You tilt your head at the picture and furrow your eyebrows.

“I’ve never seen this painting before, and I know every piece of work in this gallery.” You lean close and read the title out loud. "‘Forgotten Portrait’, what a sad name for a beautiful piece of art.” You continue to stare at the painting before spotting Andrew on the far side of the gallery with a feather duster.

“Hey Andrew! Come here for a second!” When he walks over to you, you point at the sleeping figure in the picture. "Has this painting always been here? I don’t remember this ever being here before.”

Andrew leans close to the picture and pushes his glasses up on his face. “I’m fairly sure we’ve always had this piece here. I don’t really remember ever seeing it but I suppose that’s the reason Guertena named this art ‘Forgotten Portrait.’ It’s quite lovely though, shame I don’t remember seeing this.”

“Well I’ll make sure to point this out to guests so he doesn’t feel left out or anything.” Andrew chuckles and rolls his eyes before adjusting his glasses.

“He’s a painting; he can’t hear you or anything.”

You look back at the sleeping man with a small smile on your face. “Well I think he’s real, he looks real enough. But I know Guertena never based any pictures on actual people. Still, I wonder what his inspiration for this painting was. I’ll go check it out now!” You pull your backpack off and place it on the ground, unzipping it and rummaging through its contents. “But of course I left my book at home.”

“Man, you and that backpack of yours. You have so much stuff in there I can’t believe you don’t have back problems from it.” He peers inside the backpack and grins. “You brought more macaroons today?”

You nod excitedly as you zip up your bag again and sling it over your shoulder. “Heck yes I did! Three boxes to be exact, you know they’re my favorite snack ever since I ate some at that little café down the street.” You glance at your watch and see there are less than five minutes left before people start heading into the gallery. “We better get into position Andrew! People are going to come and I get to indulge them in my knowledge of the greatest artist ever!”

“Well, you certainly have enthusiasm which is good since the last guide was so dull people were falling asleep listening to her. Let’s do our best today alright? I heard a rumor that if all goes well, the boss is giving everyone a raise!”

You giggle and nod your head excitedly, grabbing Andrew’s arm and dragging him down the stairs. “Great! I need that money for more macaroons so don’t screw up!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And this is the painting labeled ‘Forgotten Portrait.’ I’m sorry I don’t have much information on this one since it was recently added to the gallery. Of course the man in the picture is not based on a real one but a figure in Guertena’s mind.” You’re about to say more when you feel a tap on your shoulder.

Turning around, you see Andrew behind you holding a book about Guertena. “It’s your lunch break [name] so I’ll take over this group. I hope you lovely people don’t mind me as your tour guide right now.” You whisper a thank you to Andrew before nodding to the people and breaking away from the group.

You look around the gallery and see the area filled with people examining the art and sculptures, your lips forming a wide smile. “It’s so nice to see so many people taking an interest in Guertena. He needs more popularity with this day and age.” You check your watch and decide to look around the gallery one last time before heading off to lunch.

You pass by the red, blue, and yellow sculptures called ‘Death of the Individual,’ seeing a young man watching the sculptures with fascination. You walk past a sculpture of a white couch with red on it before turning the corner to see your favorite piece of all.

“Ah hello ‘Fabricated World,’ how have you been?” You chuckle at the painting and walk up to it, taking note of all the vibrant colors and subtle pictures hidden in the art. “I wonder what Guertena’s inspiration for you was.” You stare at the painting for a little longer before the lights flicker on and off.

You look up and furrow your eyebrows. “What the heck was that? A short in the electricity? We can’t have that. I better look for Andrew and tell him to check it out.”  You leave the art and turn back around the corner to see the gallery bare of any people, the room eerily quiet.

“Hello? Anyone here? Where is everyone? They must have gone downstairs. Andrew probably told everyone to go down while someone checks the power.” You walk down the stairs when the lights flicker again and dim dramatically, you only being able to see a little in front of you.

“Woah! What happened to the lights now? Andrew you down here?” You stick your hand out in front of you and make your way to the receptionist’s desk, finding a flashlight and flicking it on. You look around the room and see that still no one is here, making  shivers run up your spine. “Maybe everyone went outside?”

You run towards the door and pull on the handle, your eyes widening when you discover it’s locked. You go back behind the desk to look for keys, your search fruitless. “Where the hell is everyone?!” You swallow nervously and stay on the first floor, making your way into the room with the painting ‘Abyss of the Deep.’

As you walk, you swear you can hear footsteps behind you and check over your shoulder every few seconds in the hopes of seeing someone there. You head into the next area of the gallery and go down, making a left to stop in front of the rose sculpture ‘Embodiment of Spirit.’

You stare at the blood red rose and sigh, moving your flashlight around the rose. “No one here but you and me rose.” You scratch the back of your head and head up, hearing someone cough behind you. You quickly spin around to see no one in the darkness, your hair on the back of your neck standing on end. “Who’s there? Can you help me?”

You shake your head when no one answers you and continue to look around the gallery, hoping to find Andrew or anyone and explain to you what’s going on. You end up in front of the ‘Lady in Red’ picture and shiver at how her eyes seem to bore into you.

“I don’t remember her being so scary looking. Must be this dark,” you mutter to yourself before you hear something squish under you. Lifting your foot up, you see remnants of a crushed orange. You stick your tongue out at the fruit and wipe your foot on the carpet before heading off.

You end up back at the ‘Fabricated World’ painting when you see a blue liquid leaking from behind the frame. You swipe a finger in the liquid and hold it close to your face. “Is this paint?” You feel the liquid between your fingers before you hear the sound of a typewriter behind you. Turning around, you let out a shriek at seeing red words spelling ‘Come [Name]’ on the floor.

“Oh hell no! I don’t know what you are but I’m not coming with you!" You bolt away from the painting as fast as you can, shining the flashlight in front of you to avoid crashing into anything or anyone. “I’m getting the hell out of here now!” You spot a window and run towards it, trying to find a way to unlock it.

“There’s no lock but it won’t open!” You try breaking the glass but it holds on tight. You begin to pant and turn away from the window when you hear someone bang on it. You look behind you and see a handprint on the glass that wasn’t there before. You clutch your flashlight tighter and point it at the window, backing away from it slowly.

“If this is a joke this isn’t funny damn it! Andrew, if you’re behind this I’m going to murder you!” Your voice echoes throughout the room, making you shudder violently. You shake your head and begin running through the gallery again, wondering what to do. You come across the red letters on the floor again and see that the blue paint has formed itself into words.

Breathing in deeply, you shine the flashlight on it to read ‘come down below [name]. I’ll show you someplace secret.’ You force yourself to calm down and reread the words again. “Come down below? To the first floor?” Nervously you make your way downstairs where you see blue footprints leading into the ‘Abyss of the Deep’ painting.

You hear a whale noise and gasp slightly. “It almost feels like it’s- calling out to me. Is it?” You shake your head violently and slap yourself across the face. “Pull it together [name]! Paintings don’t make whale noises like that! How could it be calling out to you?! You’re crazy!”

You breathe deeply and look at the painting again, seeing the animal inside it blinking and swimming around slowly, looking at you expectantly. You feel entranced by the creature and blink rapidly. “I must be insane, I must be insane, I must be insane,” you repeat to yourself as you set the flashlight down on the ground. You hesitantly back away from the painting before closing your eyes and jumping into it.

The sound of water enters your ear and you open your eyes to see crystal clear water surrounding you. You open your mouth in shock and surprise, an air bubble escaping your lips. You close your mouth and eyes again, tucking your knees into your chest as you continue to fall deeper and deeper down.
Hello my lovely birdies! :la: Today I have a new reader insert to add to my list of growing stories haha :iconsweatdropplz: It's not a DRRR!! one, though I will be updating Shizuo next, this is from the RPG horror game Ib! I recently fell in love with this game after watching Cry's play through of it. (God I love that man :iconloveloveplz:) And I love Garry as well! He's so cute~ :iconglompsomethingplz: :icongarryplz: I saw there is a lack of reader inserts from Ib so I decided to write one myself! I'm following game play while also putting my own twist on it :) For those of you familiar with the game, I'm combining the endings Forgotten Portrait and Together, Forever so I hope this works! :D Hope you enjoy~

Chapter 2: [link]
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voIatiIe's avatar
Yay~ Ib and Mary are my little sisters! my life dream is complete! XD