Part II Chapter 4: Tiny Little Sheep
Alice loved many of the rides at Bendyland, but she wasn't able to ride them often. They were for park guests, and it wouldn't be fair for a toon like her to take one of the seats reserved for a paying customer. But after dark, sometimes she'd flip on the power, just for a single ride at a time, and ride them all by herself. Well, not always by herself. Sometimes Boris would join her! Bendy rarely joined, he didn't seem to like the rides much. She had a feeling that perhaps the little devil was afraid of heights, or maybe he got sick or dizzy. Either way, he never joined them.
She loved the lights on the rights, how they'd twinkle to life like stars, how music would play from all corners, making her feel like she wasn't alone. It was a reminder that dawn was just around the corner, she just had to wait a little bit longer for park guests to start arriving again. The sound of machinery humming and electricity charging through cables was like a mother's lullaby, so familiar at this point that it was comforting.
She had to be careful the guards didn't see her. She'd been caught before, and they'd told Joey. Joey had scolded her for wasting good park money. There was no point in powering things on at night unless they were testing the rides or doing some sort of maintenance. She understood. She did. She didn't want to upset Joey.
But surely he'd understand, just this once, if she turned on a few of the rides for Miss Audrey. The poor little girl was still sniffling, but she was being very brave, and had only cried a few other times while they'd walked through the park! Alice was very proud of her. They'd searched for her father for a long time, but hadn't come across any other human being. They'd run into Boris once, who happily played Audrey a song or two from his banjo. He'd left to go find her some food after she said she was hungry.
Now, though, they'd nearly circled the entire park, and still hadn't found her family. Alice could tell the little girl was nearing her breaking point, exhausted, ready to go home, and about to break down into tears again. Thankfully, Alice had a feeling she knew just the cure. She led Audrey over to her favorite ride. The carousel. It was powered off, seated in a corner of the park that didn't get as much traffic as others, hopefully meaning that no security would come by to scold her. Though, to that same effect, it might not be a bad thing if they drew over security, since it might be easier to find Audrey the help that she needed to get back to her family. Yes. That was a good excuse to turn on the ride, one even Joey would have to understand.
"Would you like to go on the carousel?" Alice asked.
Audrey squeezed Alice's hand a little, wide eyes staring up at her with admiration. Alice's heart soured. "...is it okay?"
Alice held a finger up to her lips and winked. "It can be our little secret...alright? Can you promise not to tell?"
Audrey nodded, and Alice headed to the back control panel to flip on the power. Joey had made sure that the power was wired to each individual ride, so that if one went down, they didn't all go down. This also meant that if part of the park ever lost power, some of the rides could still run, and they could still do their best to entertain the guests. Everything was always about entertaining the guests, of course.
The carousel whirred to life, twinkling music notes spinning out of the speakers and dancing alongside the painted horses. Each of the bulbs flickered and buzzed, a few needing to be replaced. This was one of the older rides in the park, but it was still just as popular as always. Audrey smiled as the large ride spun and twirled in front of her.
Alice pulled a lever on the control box, and the ride slowly spun to a stop. "Alright, Miss Audrey, let's choose a steed fit for a princess!"
"An angel!" Audrey said happily. "I wanna be an angel!"
Alice giggled, and watched as Audrey picked out a royal blue horse with a wide smile and golden hooves. Alice helped hoist her onto the horse, made sure she got a firm grip on the bar, then headed off the ride to start it up. "Are you ready, Audrey?"
"Ready!" Audrey said.
Alice pulled the lever, and once again the merry-go-round started to spin. The horses bobbed up and down in their whirlpool of gallops, and Audrey laughed every time the horse sank back toward the ground, only to rise up again a moment later. Alice watched her from the side, each giggle and bubble of laughter filling her heart.
This feeling really did make her feel whole. The previous imperfections she'd worried about so much were chased from her mind. It was only in the absence of such joy did she feel lonely. Ugly. She knew the guests would come back every morning. She knew that. But when the park grew dark and cold, it was so hard to keep hope. It was like nothing else existed. Like her mind was free to think about...other things. Like what was wrong with her. Why she often felt torn, why sometimes her thoughts didn't feel like...her.
She didn't like that. She liked when it was easy. When kids and adults alike would smile and laugh and shower her with adoration. She didn't have to think then. She knew what she was supposed to do. When she alone, she didn't know. Go watch cartoons? Wander the park aimlessly? The days went by so fast, too fast, but the nights dragged on forever.
Not tonight though. Tonight was special. And if it wanted to drag on forever, that was just fine with her. It was almost a shame that the girl would have to go back home soon. but she'd find her parents for her. Her father.
She just...she was just going to spend a little more time with her first. Soak in just a few more of those smiles.
She hummed the carousel songs under her breath in tune with the dancing horses, but was interrupted when she felt something inside her instinctively stiffen. She heard a chittering noise behind her and turned around. She jumped, but only slightly. She couldn't help it.
Bendy loomed over her, eyes locked onto the lit carousel in front of them. She could see his eyes behind the ink. She could see them fixated not on the lights or the horses, but on the girl riding them. His smile stretched wider. His hands quivered.
And Alice felt...what did she feel? What was this sudden fear, this sudden desperation? A sudden urge to hold onto Audrey, to keep her for herself, to not lot Bendy steal another adoring gaze out from under her, just like he always did, he always stole away their attention, their love, their-
"NO!" she said suddenly, her own voice surprising her in its ferocity. It was a start contrast from the music-box like quality of the songs playing behind her. Bendy turned his gaze from the ride down to her. Confused.
Angry.
"I...I'm playing with Audrey right now!" Alice said. "Wait...wait your turn. You...you'll just scare her anyway!"
She'd never been scared of Bendy before. Well, maybe the first time she'd seen this nightly form. She still didn't understand why he took it. Now though, she really was scared. She could feel shivers run down her spine. She felt a bit clammy, too.
Bendy's mouth shook up and down, inches from Alice's face. He grabbed onto her arm and pushed her down. His grip hurt, his ink feeling like boiling water bursting over her skin. She wanted to scream but couldn't as a single word ricocheted through her mind, a noiseless voice that overwhelmed her senses.
MINE
Alice whimpered, and Bendy let go of her as the ride and music slowed to a stop. The timed spins had run out. The next guests in line could get ready to board, as soon as the previous guests left the ride. There were no waiting guests. Audrey could have gone again around the ride again if she wanted. But instead, she got confused when she couldn't see Alice anymore, and carefully climbed down from the horse, and made her way over to the control panel.
She froze mid-step when she saw Bendy.
He stopped too, as if only just now remembering what he looked like. They were both silent, and Audrey glanced from him, to Alice, then back to him, eyes and form both shaking.
"J-just smile, Audrey," Alice said from the ground. "It's...it's Bendy..."
Bendy's mouth shook up and down, opening to try to form words that he never could. He reached out for her, made the first move toward his friend, and Audrey immediately screamed. She stumbled backwards, falling on the ground and bursting into wails.
"DAAAADDYYYYY!" she cried, bawling over and over.
Bendy moved toward her, his chittering smile shaking. He tried to dance, tried to move one foot in front of the other, lift up his arm to spin, but this body was different from what it was during the day. Flawed. Broken. Imperfect. He wasn't used to dancing like this. He tripped, and fell toward her, and Audrey screamed again before curling up into a ball and refusing to move.
He stared at her. His hands were shaking. The ink around him seemed runnier, like water. Not quite as solid as it usually was, leaving black lines trailing down his face onto his mouth.
Deep below the earth, something started to roar.
Alice could have sworn she'd felt like this before. Scared of him. Ready to run, knowing the whole park was about to respond to his anger. Something deep inside of her, another voice, urged her to get up. To run away as fast as she could.
For once, she decided to listen.
She grabbed Audrey up into her arms and sprinted away from Bendy. She only looked back once, saw Bendy clawing at his head, ink ripped out and pooling around him on the ground, only to sink back into his legs. His form grew bigger, his arms swelling with ink seeping up through the cracks in the pavement, answering his call. Cracked pipes underneath the park swelled with even more ink, rising up, merging with him, making him bigger and bigger in shape. His eyes were obscured completely, and his mouth changed, painted teeth popping out and cracking to sharp fangs.
He roared, mouth turned up toward the sky in a guttural scream that was neither human nor animal. It sounded like thunder, like metal scratching on metal, the sound of pipes about to burst.
She turned away and picked up her pace, but she could hear him thundering after her. She could hear him gaining on them.
She was scared. This was true fear. Somehow, it was an emotion that felt both foreign and familiar at the same time. She knew she couldn't outrun Bendy forever.
"This way!"
She heard the voice but didn't see who it was from. It wasn't one of hers. She didn't have time to question it. She took a sharp turn toward the open door, nearly slipping on the cobblestone. Bendy barreled past her, crashing into a lamppost and park bench, ripping them completely off of the ground and sailing toward one of the park buildings. The light on the lamppost flickered and snapped, wires and sparks illuminating Bendy's new face, dripping with ink.
If this was during the day, Alice would have scolded Bendy for acting like a child, for throwing a temper tantrum because he wasn't getting his way. This was different, though. This tantrum could kill her.
Joey said toons don't die. So we shouldn't fear death, since we aren't really alive. Joey said they were just creations made of ink. Even if that were true for Alice, the same wasn't true for Audrey. Alice was going to protect her. No matter what.
Alice dove through the open door, and her savior slammed it shut behind them. She didn't have time to see who it was before she was pushed forward, still running, down a set of stairs and around the corner. She almost tripped, catching herself as Audrey whimpered and buried her head into Alice's shoulder, wet with tears now. She heard the closed door behind them crack open, and thundering down the steps after them. Bendy wasn't giving up this easily.
They made it to a rickety elevator Alice hadn't seen before, and they hurried inside. It shuddered a little under their weight, and the man with them whipped the gate shut and slammed a button on the side. The elevator started dropping fast, probably too fast, but it was just fast enough to escape Bendy. She saw him reach for them, claws barely missing the outside of the elevator, and then he was gone. They were descending further and further down. She could hear his roars above them. They continued even as they made their way down to the darkest depths of the studio.
Alice turned to Audrey, stroked her hair and shushed her tears, tried to offer small words of comfort. Audrey couldn't even bring herself to look at Alice, she was too busy crying and trembling. It made Alice's heart hurt. She felt her pain, her fear, and her sadness all at once. But she wasn't hurt, physically at least, and that was something.
Finally, Alice turned to the figure standing before her. She swallowed a bit of bile in her throat. Both voices in her head seemed angry.
The disfigured man let out a sigh of relief and sat down on the opposite end of the elevator. He scratched at his partially ink-covered head and grinned at her. He had horns sticking out of his head, pieces of a halo jutting out at odd angles, and a smile that made her heart hurt in so many different ways.
"I think as far as favors go...that brings us back up to two that you owe me, my little angel," Sammy said.
Henry and Tom looked up at the creaking ceiling with wide eyes. When the noises and roars had started, both men had froze, waiting to see if the thundering sounds would get closer, farther, or try to hear what exactly was causing them. One roar after another, loud enough to shake the wooden beams.
"That...none of that sounded good..." Tom muttered.
"I agree...let's get out of here," Henry said. "Do you have everything you need?"
Tom nodded, and the two rushed up the stairs.
Henry felt...how could he describe it? He knew something was wrong, that much was obvious by the groaning pipes and ink that occasionally seemed to drip upward. But there was something else. Some innate anxiety that he couldn't shake, an overwhelming feeling that he needed to find something, that something was wrong. He couldn't place it, but it made him sick. He never should have come here, that much was obvious, he should have just continued to play along with Joey's plans and ignore Tom, ignore all of this...
How long could he ignore this? How many times had he had this talk with himself? It was getting old.
How long could Joey ignore this? How long could Joey keep pretending that everything was alright, that progress had brought them this far and progress would continue to take them to new heights instead of new lows? Did Joey ever think about the end, or was it always the next step with him? How far did he think he could go? Neither of them were getting any younger. Eventually, this would have to stop. Right? There's no way this could continue on forever. But what would happen at the end? Would this park crumble to dust, and Bendy and Joey with it? Or would things go out in a blaze, with mad ink demons roaming the streets?
God, Henry wanted this all to end. He wanted the restless nights to end, he wanted to love his life without feeling guilty, like he'd created a monster and left it to fester, he wanted to watch his daughter grow up and smile without feeling afraid and reminded of another of his creations...
Audrey. That made his heart clench. His palms get sweaty.
Was there something wrong with Audrey?
Tom and Henry reached the top of the stairs, spun around the corner, and screeched to a halt.
"W...what the hell is that?!" Tom shouted, and a monstrous Bendy turned around to face them. He snarled, showing teeth that Henry didn't even know he had. Whatever this creature was, it was so far beyond his Bendy. This was beyond a monster, beyond a demon or a devil, and had become something else entirely.
Bendy locked eyes with Henry, and his claws dug into the floor, pulling up wooden beams that sank into his claws and were absorbed by the ink.
"He looks really pissed at you, Henry," Tom said, taking a slow step back. "What'd you do to him?"
"I-I haven't done anything," Henry whispered, stunned to the spot when faced with this creature. "Is that...is that really even Bendy?"
Bendy's claws grew longer. Sharper. His jaw opened, teeth chattering and shaking with much more point and danger now.
"We...we need to leave..." Tom said.
Bendy growled lowly, tensing down to the ground, ready to jump.
"Now, now, NOW!" Tom said, and was shoving a frozen Henry back down the stairs, the only way to go. Bendy leaped toward them, grabbing Henry by the ankles and pulling him back up the stairs. Henry cried out in pain as Bendy's ink touched his skin, flashes of darkness and light swirling together in front of his eyes.
Tom reached out to grab him, but Bendy yanked him back again, away from the stairs, pieces of wood digging into his back, bigger and more painful than any splinters. He roared inches from Henry's face, loud enough for all other sound to turn into a dull ringing. He thought he might pass out from the pain and noise and fear. He didn't know why Bendy was so angry at him today, what had he possibly done? But he didn't have time to question it much longer. Bendy raised up a claw, one swipe could take Henry's head clear off, but a large crack sounded as Tom swung an axe at Bendy's head. He stumbled only slightly, and Tom gripped the axe with his one good hand and swung again.
"HENRY, GO!" Tom shouted. "GO TO THE EXIT!"
"But you-" Henry started, but Tom shoved him toward the door roughly before turning back to Bendy.
"GET OUT OF HERE!" Tom shouted. Henry could hear the fear, the desperation in his voice. To Tom, it was either both of them die for nothing, or one of them die for everything.
But Henry still wasn't going to leave them. He looked around the room for something, anything to help, when suddenly the ripped up boards at their feet started to creak and groan. Bendy and Tom both looked down as the boards split open, and a hole swallowed Bendy up and sent him tumbling down below, the combination of a heavy monster Bendy and cheap Joey Drew wooden flooring too much at once. He roared again as he went falling down, head over claw, down into the a darkness so deep, it looked like ink. Tom slipped, falling backwards, the planks beneath his feet giving out, and Henry dove toward him, reaching out for his hand. But instinct was hard to break, and Tom had reached toward Henry with his good hand.
The hand he didn't have anymore.
Henry grabbed nothing, and watched as Tom fell down into the darkness, his wide eyes afraid. Scared. Full of regret.
And then they were gone.
Linda pulled into the parking lot of Joey Drew Studios and got out almost immediately, slamming the car door behind her. This was it. This was the last place she thought they might be.
She knew Henry would be gone. He'd left a note. But she wasn't expecting Audrey to be gone too. She'd searched everywhere. Everywhere. Audrey had never run off before. But she loved her father. If she had overheard her father talking...
Linda wasn't stupid. She knew her husband didn't think she was, but there were a few things Henry thought Linda didn't know. Like something being wrong with the park.
She knew full well there was something wrong with the park. She wasn't naive. She knew there was something wrong the moment that Allison Pendle had stepped into their house, years ago, dripping wet from the rain, eyes afraid and nervous and ashamed all at the same time. She'd known when Henry would come home after "going out for the night" with eyes that looked like he'd seen a ghost. She knew when Henry would thrash in the middle of the night, screaming from nightmares she couldn't wake him from, unable to calm down under she cradled his head in her arms, whispered to him and stroked his head, and he'd grab onto her like she was the only solid thing in the whole world. She knew. She'd always known.
Linda was not a dumb woman. She was smart. But she also knew what her husband needed. She knew he needed a place to hide from his demons now and then. She knew he needed a way to be strong, something to fight for. So of course she'd played ignorant. Of course she pretended not to know why he looked so tired and so damn scared all the time.
This, however, had crossed the line. She could be strong for her husband. She could let him go fight his demons.
But she'd be damned if she'd let her daughter get dragged into whatever this was too.
Sure enough, she saw Henry's car parked, and Tom's a ways off as well. They were both here. Did Henry purposefully bring Audrey along with him? No. Maybe she had snuck along.
Both Henry and Audrey were going to be in a lot of trouble once Linda got a hold of them. She just...had to figure out how she was going to do that.
She sighed and sat on the hood of her car, staring at the locked gates with a frown.
Yeah, Linda wasn't dumb. But she hadn't exactly thought about how she was going to get into the locked park in the middle of the night, she just knew that's likely where her family was. She'd tried calling the police when she realized her daughter was missing, but they were surprisingly uninterested. When she mentioned Audrey might be at Bendyland, they actually hung up on her.
So yeah, there was definitely something wrong with Bendyland, and while Linda was perfectly content to play nice and ignorant while Henry was home and he battled his own demons, she was not going to sit idly by and wait for something to happen to her husband and her daughter. That was the last straw. And if there really was something wrong with Bendyland, something that could take her whole family away from her, then she was going to be taken away with them.
That's just the kind of woman she was, she supposed.
Just as Linda was contemplating if she could scale the fence in her slippers, she hadn't the time nor mental foresight to change into sturdier shoes in her panic, another car pulled up alongside her. A nice car, far nicer than she or Henry could ever own, brand new, freshly washed and waxed, not a scratch on its solid black surface or tinted windows. The headlights flickered off as the door opened, and Joey Drew stepped out, straightening his tie. He turned to Linda, raised an eyebrow as if surprised, and then smiled.
"Well well, what are you doing here? And without Henry and Audrey, no less!" Joey said. "Have you lost something?"
"...yes," Linda said instinctively. "My, uh...Henry's car keys. We think we lost them in the park somewhere," she said, gesturing to Henry's car next to hers. "Henry wanted to catch a few more minutes of sleep, so I thought I'd come up here early to try to find them. I guess I just forgot how early the park opens," she admitted, giving him what she hoped was a convincing laugh.
Joey smiled. "Well, we can go in a little early! I have to say, you are one dedicated woman, Linda. It's nearly four o'clock in the morning! Most people are asleep at this hour, and it's far too early for a park to be open!"
"What can I saw, I love my husband," Linda said.
"Well then, let's go check lost and found, shall we?" Joey asked, and led her toward the park.
Linda tried to push aside the feeling that he was leading her to her doom. It sounded a bit too melodramatic for her liking.
And Linda was too smart to fall for such silly traps anyway.
Sammy's baaaaack! You knew I couldn't keep that mad musician away for long!
Thank you again everyone for reading and reviewing, it means the world to me! Honestly, all of the reviews I got on the previous chapter about brought me to tears. You guys really have no idea how much joy your reviews and excitement bring me. I always get the biggest smiles reading your reviews!
And to FantasyToArt, thank you so SO much for offering to support my writing on a donation site of some kind. I really got choked up because it made me realize that people really DO believe in my writing abilities, so much so that people might even be willing to pay for it! That being said, I probably won't open up any sort of donations for my fanfictions, mainly because these stories are for my benefit as much as anybody else's, and it doesn't cost me anything to keep creating them! Seriously though, from the bottom of my heart, thanks for even offering! Kind words pay me back for every chapter I write!
Okay okay, sorry to get all mushy, but it really does mean a lot to me how many wonderful and dedicated followers and reviewers I have. I've had this fanfiction account for over five years, but only reactivated it recently because I wanted this site to remind me what my passion and my dream is: to become a published author. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, and to get back into the habit of writing often. I told myself that even if people didn't like my writing, I could still take their criticism and improve. And I have received criticism, and I've been able to take it to improve and get better. What I wasn't expecting was the absolute flood of support and love I've received from my stories. Writing these stories has brought back my passion for the written word, for making people smile and go to the edge of their seats with excitement.
I AM going to become a full-fledged published author. You guys have really helped prove that to me, that my writing can carry its own weight, and I can achieve my dreams. I think it's finally time for me to take the first step into working on my novel again. I had put it aside for a while because...well, honestly, I was scared whether or not my writing could stand up in the real world, if it wasn't fanfiction characters. But I really think I can do it. At the very least, I'm going to try!
Of course, don't think this means I'll be taking any breaks from my fanfiction stories! On the contrary, Welcome to Bendyland Season 2 is only just getting started! So again, from the bottom of my heart,
THANK YOU ALL! :D