Hello all my dearest friends and readers! I have finally returned with another chapter! I hope you enjoy it
Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Bendy And The Ink Machine
The Triple Butterfly Effect
The night was calm and peaceful as the entire Connor family was in a deep sleep…well almost the entire family.
Tom sighed as he continued to stare at the ceiling. For the past few days, he had been getting little to no sleep and knowing that his job required sleep, Allison kept trying to get him to take the day off and try to figure out the cause of his lack of sleep.
But Tom didn't need his wife's help because he knew why he couldn't sleep.
Bendyland.
As much as the repairman tried not to allow it, thoughts of the amusement park flooded his mind.
When will it be finished?
What will happen when it is open to the public?
He also wondered if the same thing was happening to his wife. Allison never really liked being secretive, so he couldn't be sure.
The repairman let out another sigh, this time waking up the woman beside him. Seeing that her husband was once again unable to sleep, Allison decided enough was enough. Whether Tom liked it or not, they were going to talk about it tonight.
"Tom, enough is enough. Now just tell me what's going on with you. Is it me? Is it Zephrina? What is it?" Allison asked while sitting up.
Cornered with his wife's impatience and frustration, Tom gives in.
"Fine Allison, I'll tell you." The repairman said after sitting up himself.
"I know that this may sound weird, but on the day of your interview, sudden thoughts of Bendyland and Joey Drew came to me. I don't know why, but the thoughts of him pushing the workers past their limits…I don't know."
Allison actually did find it weird that Tom was losing sleep over this, but the fact that he wasn't looking at her and slightly shaking started to set off red flags for her.
He was nervous about something, but she could tell it wasn't like the day he proposed to her. This was something different. She had an idea, but needed a little more information.
"Then I started thinking about when it will be finished and what will happen when it's opened to the public. This isn't going to be a normal amusement park Allison; I just know it." Tom said in a cracked voice.
Tom's cracked voice confirmed Allison's suspicion. This had happened to him before, but she couldn't understand why it would suddenly happen again after several years.
Her husband was having a PTSD attack.
All these thoughts suddenly made sense to her now.
Bendyland was a project that put Joey Drew Studios into financial decline, making the place much more unpleasant and dangerous than it already was.
Workers being pushed past their limit always happened at the studio when it went into financial decline and all of the disciplinary actions whenever something went wrong.
Joey Drew had often gotten physical with the studio's employees…Tom being one of those employees.
Without a second thought, Allison reaches over and turns his head so he will finally look at her.
"Tom, listen to me. You're having another episode, that's why you're feeling this way. All these thoughts started to trigger bad memories. I remember this same thing happened before we got engaged.
Allison was hoping this episode wasn't going to be like the last one he had years prior because after it was over, Tom had wanted to end the relationship permanently because he had gotten physical with Allison and didn't want to risk hurting her again.
Fortunately, Tom seemed to calm down as his wife kept talking to him and after a while, he finally relaxed.
"I'm sorry Allison…" the repairman said while avoiding his wife's gaze again.
Without a word, Allison pulled her husband into a hug, unaware that their daughter had woken up and seen everything. She had never seen her father break down like that. Zephrina always saw him as being brave, strong, and a person that never cries, so this was completely new for her.
Although Allison had calmed him down, Zephrina couldn't make out this sudden change. Since her parents kept Joey Drew Studios a secret, the child had no idea that was the cause.
She really wanted to join her parents, but with what she just saw, Zephrina felt like this was something that she should stay away from…unless she was told otherwise.
. . .
Despite Allison's support, it took almost a full week for Tom to recover. She was aware that PTSD wasn't curable, but it can be managed. While Allison was able to calm him down herself the last two episodes, she knew that she could only do so much, so she told Tom that it would be best if he got professional help, like she did after learning the cause of Zephrina's condition.
"Tom, I know that you don't want to, but remember you got help when we learned the cause of Zephrina's condition. You knew what was the best thing to do then and I think this is the best thing to do now. Please Tom, for the three of us." She said, taking her husband's hands in hers.
He closed his eyes and sighed deeply. "Alright, I'll get some help."
As the couple shared an embrace, they both wondered if this could have been prevented if they had gotten help the first time.
. . .
With Allison getting her husband treated to where everything was under control and eventually back to normal, the wife of the fallen Bendyland worker was a different story. After finding out who was responsible for her husband's death, the entire family had done everything in their power to get "Mr. Joey Drew" caught and questioned, but all their efforts were in vain because he managed to slip away each time.
Nobody knew how he was able to do it.
Joey Drew had to be stopped before another person got hurt…if it hadn't happened already.
. . .
Tom continued to tap the pen against the table as he thought about what to write. He had decided to respond to the letter from GENT, but since there hadn't been any contact with them, the repairman wasn't sure what to write. After a few more moments of tapping the pen on the table, figured out what he wanted to say. As he was writing, his thoughts had turned to a specific GENT worker that had to "shadow" him. While Tom was always a well-liked and respected employee back then, for whatever reason, this worker never really liked him.
Like Joey Drew, this worker gave Tom a bad vibe. But unlike the former, the vibe wasn't murderous…it seemed more like the angry, jealous vibe.
The sudden sound of his wife's voice ended his thoughts.
"Tom, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but I need to show you something."
Turning in his chair, the repairman sees Allison with a white envelope and a nervous look on her face.
"The letter from Archgate Films came today. I was hoping we could open it together." Allison said, handing Tom the letter.
After having Allison take the seat next to him, Tom takes the envelope and slowly pulled out the paper after ripping off the top of the envelope. But knowing that it wasn't his letter, Tom didn't open the letter itself.
"The rest is up to you." He said after pushing the letter to her nervous hands.
She slowly opened the letter:
Dear Miss Allison Connor,
We are extremely pleased to tell you that the job is yours! We have already started planning a new cartoon and there is a design for the character you will be voicing. I'm sure you will love it. We are very excited to work with you. Once everything is in place, you will be getting a call from us.
Sincerely,
Matthew Fretzon
Head of Archgate Films/Voice Acting Department
"I got the job…" Allison whispered in shock.
A smile made its way onto the repairman's face as he pulled Allison into a hug.
"I knew you could do it."
. . .
The days following Allison's acceptance were spent putting together a child care request ad. Since Allison's work date wasn't specified, they decided to quickly start looking for a sitter so when Allison did start working, Zephrina would be acquainted with who they hired.
"It should also make leaving Zephrina a bit easier…hopefully." Allison thought.
After several different drafts and ideas, Allison and Tom were able to complete the ad and it wasn't long until it was in the newspaper.
. . .
Joey Drew sat calmly in his chair as he listened to the man in front of him complain about the way he had been handling the Bendyland construction.
"We have been working non-stop day after day on this project and we have only received pain and hardship while you benefit over everything!"
Joey just shrugged his shoulders. "Your point being?"
The worker shook his head. "My point is that all of us workers care about each other and if things don't change, we are going to quit. I'm sorry but that is the truth."
Instead of lashing out at the worker for threatening him, Joey slowly stood up and made his way over to the door, but he didn't kick the worker out.
"A few years ago, there was an employee that really stuck out from the others. His work around the studio was always top notch and while he wasn't the friendliest, he was still quite a valuable asset to the company. Always knew that the boss' well-being came before his. But one day, everything changed.
The worker didn't know why Joey Drew was telling him a story but before he could ask, Joey continued speaking.
"He started acting pleasant and a bit secretive about something. Not only that, it seemed like my well-being had been replaced with someone else's."
Now the worker was getting scared. "Who was that employee?" he asked nervously.
"Mr. Thomas Connor…" Joey plainly said.
The worker noticed Joey's grip on his cane start to tighten as he turned around.
"Do you know who became his priority?" Joey asked with a darkening tone.
Things were getting scary. "No, who became Thomas' priority?"
Joey Drew returned to his chair and slammed a hand on the desk.
"Miss Allison Pendle that's who!" She suddenly became his entire reason for living! I lost a lot of money when they left the studio!"
Almost immediately, Joey Drew cleared his throat and after preparing himself a cigar and resumed talking.
"But before that, I knew exactly where to strike Thomas if he didn't meet my demands or try to turn against me. Now, the reason for this story is to let you know that I will always know where to hit and while Thomas and Allison got lucky, you and the others will have no choice but to keep working because…"
He smirked before blowing out a puff of smoke.
"I'm a man of my word and I'm sure you wouldn't want your loved ones involved. Am I right? I do recall Thomas having to take a couple of hits for Allison."
At that point, the worker surrendered and accepted that he had no choice.
"Make sure to tell the others what I just said and then get back to work."
The worker nodded. "Yes sir…"
. . .
It didn't take very long for the ad to attract attention because within a few days, Allison and Tom received five answers.
However, when they had interviewed those people, neither of them seemed suitable at all. They were either just going to do it for the money or didn't like that the child has a social problem.
"Tom, if we don't find someone soon, I might have to reject the job." Allison said, crossing off the last name on the list.
Before Tom had a chance to respond, the phone started to ring.
"I'll get it…just remind me where we left off." The repairman said after gently shaking his wife's leg.
A minute had barely passed when Allison heard Tom telling her about a husband and wife who are interested in the child care position.
Allison never really considered a husband and wife, but at this point, anything was better than nothing.
"Sure, take their name and we'll set up a time."
Taking out a paper and a pen, Tom asks for the names, totally unprepared for what he was going to write down.
"Thank you and we'll see you soon."
Once he hung up the phone, Tom re-joined his wife and silently handed her the now folded paper.
"They'll be here in an hour."
Allison unfolded the paper and read the paper in pure shock.
"Henry and Linda Stein…"
I'm not sure if I got the PTSD thing correctly, but I tried my best. I hoped you enjoyed the chapter and stay tuned for more!
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