"So, why did they close this place down?" Paige asked as she and Bendy entered into the lower levels of the studio "dad said that some weird stuff went off, is that what happened?"
"Mostly" Bendy replied "after Joey revived me and Boris into the real world, he became obsessed with the supernatural, specially after he discovered that an evil version of myself was summoned somehow and that was when all the trouble started, weird things started happening around the studio which frightened a lot of the people who worked here so they stopped coming and with nobody showing up, we couldn't make anymore cartoons so they had no choice but to close this place down, only me, Boris and another friend of ours, Alice Angel got left behind, we've been trapped in here for at least twenty years now and no one has come here since, not until you and your sister arrived."
"Claire did always say that they closed this place down because spooky things were happening but I thought she was just teasing me" Paige replied but Bendy shook his head, saying that it was all true and Paige began to suspect if Claire knew all along about the weird stuff that went off.
"Didn't Henry ever say anything about why the studio closed down?" Bendy asked the young girl "did you ever ask him about it?"
"I did ask but he just said some things happened, he never mentioned anything about some scary ink monster that looked like you haunting the place" Paige explained "he just said that Joey person did some stuff that people didn't like it so they all left and they closed this place down."
"Probably didn't want to scare you, that's why he mustn't have told you the entire truth" Bendy replied before quickly deciding the subject "so, ya been watching my old cartoons huh, do they still show them on TV?"
"Yeah, dad was the one who introduced me and Claire to them when we were little but Claire made out she lost interested by the time she turned Thirteen but I know deep down she still likes them but doesn't want to admit it" Paige explained as the two came into an area which seemed to be covered in what appeared to be shrines and pentagrams "what is all this, this is creepy."
"Do you remember what I said before?" Bendy asked "about Sammy Lawrence and how he worships that scarier version of me?" Paige nodded, her face turning pale "well all these shrines are dedicated to them, we have to keep moving, either of them could be around anywhere. Now just wait here for a second whilst I go and check if the coast is clear then we'll proceed." He then ran down to the end of the corridor whilst Paige waited for him to come back but she felt a little uneasy about being left on her own, what if Sammy Lawrence or the inky monster Bendy turned up, would they capture her, kill her, she shuddered at the thought so she decided to wonder round the room whilst she waited for the good version of Bendy to return and she came across some cans of what appeared to be Bacon soup, also she was starting to feel a little hungry so she took a couple of cans off the shelve and drank out of them despite the contents inside tasting a little off but she was too hungry to care, she hadn't eaten anything since before she and Claire left the house.
"Okay I'm back now" she heard Bendy say just as she finished off the second can "it seems safe from here on out but I believe it's getting quite late so I suggest that we bunker down here and then continue on in the morning."
"I don't know if I'll be able to sleep in this place, not with that ink monster on the loose or the guy who's been worshipping him" Paige said "also I still don't know what happened to my sister so I'm too worried and scared to even think about sleeping, I just want to find her and go home, I shouldn't have come here, not if I knew what was here." Bendy could see that she was about to cry again so he decided to try and cheer her up, hopefully take her mind of all the things that were bothering her.
"Hey, Paige, wanna see a trick?" he asked "watch this" Paige watched as he placed his hands on his head and lifted it up in the air, away from his body "ta-da."
"Woah" the little girl said in amazement, quickly forgetting about being worried about Claire "how did you do that?"
"It's pretty easy when you don't have a neck" Bendy replied, his trademark grin appearing wider than it usually was "okay, now catch" he threw his head towards Paige who easily caught it and started giggling, cheering the child up appeared to be working "okay now throw it back." She did so and the pair continued playing catch with his head for a good fifteen minutes before Paige implied she was getting tired.
"Okie dokie, it seems to be getting late anyways" Bendy replied as he attached his head back to his body "I think we should call it a night and continue on the morning." Paige nodded and went to look for a spot to lay down in and once she found one, she got herself into a comfortable position and looked at the living cartoon with a fearful look in her eyes which didn't go unnoticed.
"Hey, what's with that look?" he asked with a chuckle "I thought I'd cheered you up already."
"You're not gonna leave me here by myself are you?" she asked "what if I end up being kidnapped or something."
"Now do you really think I would do that, you're the daughter of one of my old friends, I ain't gonna let anything bad happen to you" Bendy replied with an amused chuckle and Paige nodded in response before curling up on the spot she had found.
"Do you think we'll find Claire?" the young girl asked.
"Yeah sure we will kiddo" Bendy replied even though he wasn't so sure that they would find Claire, it was highly possible that something could have happened, something unspeakable but he didn't want to worry the young child he had vowed to protect, she was already scared enough "now, howz about you get some shut eye and I'll keep guard."
"You're not tired?" the girl asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Me?" Bendy asked, dramatically pointing at himself "Kid, I'm a living cartoon, I don't ever get tired, I could stay up all night if I wanted to, especially if there's a young child I need to protect." Paige smiled at him in response before letting out a huge yawn as she gave into exhaustion and drifted off into slumber whilst Bendy stayed by her side whilst keeping a look out but soon found himself nodding off but he kept fighting to stay awake, he had to make sure nothing happened to Paige, he had to make sure that no harm would befall her.
"Come on, don't go falling asleep now ya silly billy" he said to himself "ya gotta keep an eye on the kid." Unfortunately he was finding it more difficult to stay awake any longer so he finally gave in and fell asleep, hoping nothing bad would happen to Paige. He woke up the next morning to find the spot that Paige had been sleeping in empty and immediately panic kicked in.
"Paige, kiddo where are ya?" he asked, looking around until he heard a mixture of what sounded like retching and sobbing coming from the doorway so he went to investigate and found the girl hunched over and trembling "hey there you are, I was worried something happened to you" she pulled herself up and turned around, revealing her face to be extremely pale and eyes red from sobbing "golly, ya looking awfully pale, were you throwing up just now?"
"Uh huh" Paige sobbed, wiping her mouth before staggering forward with her arm round her stomach only to collapse halfway and Bendy practically ran to her "I woke up and my stomach was hurting, then I threw up."
"Could have been something you ate, what was the last thing you eaten?" Bendy questioned "do you remember?"
"I had some of that stuff yesterday" the little girl replied, pointing at the untouched cans of Bacon soup "they tasted a little funny." The little cartoon nodded and went to examine one of the empty cans that Paige had left.
"Well it's no wonder you got a stomach ache, these cans have at least expired by at least ten years" he explained "looks like you could have food poisoning or something" he walked back over to where Paige was sitting and placed his hand on her forehead only to quickly retract it back as he felt heat from her forehead through his gloves "yeesh, ya burning up kiddo, do you think you'll be able to make it through into the next area."
"I'll try my best" Paige mumbled weakly, she was starting to feel nauseous but it was no good hanging around and she slowly pulled herself up "I'm sorry by the way, for drinking that bacon soup, but I was hungry."
"Hey don't apologize, you weren't to know it was expired and beside, it's the only source of food around here" Bendy replied as he hooped his arm around hers to keep her from falling "besides, ya got me to look after ya, just call me Doctor Bendy" this brought a small smile on the little girl's face but the sickly feeling in her stomach was still there "righty then, let's go find that sister of yours and if ya need to throw up again, just let me know okay?"
"Okay" Paige replied and the two made their way down the hall with Paige almost collapsing every time she felt dizzy but luckily Bendy managed to keep her from falling and they continued on walking until they came to a hallway that was flooded with ink.
"Oh boy, looks like we have to go through all this ink" he told the young girl who nodded silently "okay then little miss, shall we head onward."
"Okay" Paige replied, her tone exhausted and the pair of them waded through the flooded hallway with the girl getting her white tights stained with ink and as they got halfway, they could hear the sound of someone approaching and when Bendy realised who it was, he pulled Paige out of sight and kept her hidden as Sammy Lawrence passed by the flooded hallway, carrying a cardboard cut out Bendy whilst saying his creepy poem.
"Sheep sheep sheep, it's time for sleep, rest your head, it's time for bed." After making sure he had gone, Bendy and Paige continued forward until they reached the entrance that led into the music department.
"Was that?" Paige asked, feeling the urge to throw up again "was that Sammy Lawrence?"
"Yeah, I didn't want him seeing that you were down here, not with what he's planning" Bendy replied before noticing that Paige had one arm wrapped around her stomach and the other over her mouth "what's the matter, you need to throw up again?" the girl nodded, her face was almost as white as his "okay go use the trashcan over there." He pointed to an empty trashcan and the little girl quickly rushed towards it and emptied the contents whilst Bendy placed a reassuring hand on her back.
"That's it, get it all out, better out than in" he said as the girl finished emptying her stomach "all done now?" Paige nodded and sat down, leaning against the wall "you wanna take a rest for a little bit?" the girl nodded and closed her eyes, clearly exhausted from walking all the way here in her condition and from throwing up twice "okay kiddo, you rest here for a little bit then we'll head on." The little toon plopped himself down beside the girl, looking at her and seeing just how pale and exhausted she looked, it seems things would be a little more difficult with Paige being in this condition but he had to help her find her sister and help them both get out of this place. Suddenly there came a clanking sound from the pipes around the walls, like something was crawling inside them and Bendy quickly pulled the girl next to him in a protective hug as he glared up at the pipes.
"Ya ain't getting her" he whispered in an angry tone "I'll make sure of it, and I ain't gonna let that psycho Sammy Lawrence sacrifice her to ya neither."