#fandomania

Baxter: Stop that.

Es: o(╥﹏╥)o

Abby: NO LOOK WHAT YOU DID YOU MADE HER SAD!

Es: No.

Ford:

Es, counting all of her flaws on her fingers: I have no self-esteem, my grammar is garbage, my humor is nonexistent, I look like shit 90% of the time, I am scarily insecure, I am so numb that children fear I am actually a zombie, I can’t sleep at night, I’m a total klutz, I don’t like peo- Abby: LET HIM COMPLIMENT YOU IN PEACE, ES!

Es: You really think I would die in one hit?

Varoro, confused: Well, yes-

Es: [pulls out a tazer]

Baxter: OHSHIT-

Es, shocks him again: You could fight back if you’re angry, but I’d probably die in one hit though.

Ford: Es, wait! What do you think your friends would think if they saw you with that?

Es: Abby is the one that gave it to me.

Es: [tazes him again]

Chicka, completely done: wHy.

Es: He’s pretty much 90% of my impulse control.

The Anomaly Trio

Down the pipeline

I squint my eyes, the blinding sun somehow made its way through the layers of branches and leaves. Made all the brighter through my glasses.

“AH-CHOO!!!”

“Goodness Joy, allergies definitely hit you hard this year.” I can't help but feel sympathy for my best friend.

“Oh it's not that bad Hailey, remember spring a few years ago?” Joy reminds me, while she puts up her long brown hair into a braid.

“Yeah… not much can top that.” I remember that time well.

It was so bad that she always had a full tissue box in her backpack at school, and by the end of the day she would be low, if not out of tissues entirely.

“Anyway back on topic, are you sure your dad found a whole ass building in your woods?” She put us back on the thing we were talking about.

“Yeah, he said it was old and rickety, and by all means we can look at it and just be careful.” I told her what Dad told me.

It's a little weird that an old building is in the middle of the woods, my woods, behind my house. This land has been in my family since my great Grandfather… great great Grandfather… the Grandpa who moonshined during the depression.

If this was here, why didn't we know?

So that's why we're here, walking a dirt road made by countless truck outings to cut wood. The trees on both sides of us give us a nice cool path through the sweltering summer sun.

It takes a few more minutes to see a pretty little clearing with soft grass, a creek and a small drop off to the west.

The only thing that looks out of place, is an old yellowing wooden building, with a..?

“Is that Bendy?” I point to the top room.

Why would there be that old cartoon character plastered on this building?

“Yeah..? Why is he up there?” Joy asked too.

My eyes fall onto the door. Something feels weird about it.

“Is it weird that it feels like it's, I don't know… calling me.” Joy asked me with a concerned look on her face.

And to be completely honest,

“I feel it too.” I nod looking at the yellow door.

If anything, it feels kinda like we're 5 years old and you're not supposed to touch the full cookie jar on the counter.

Like there would be consequences to grabbing a cookie.

But Dad said it was ok to look inside, Mom had no problems and Joy’s Dad said why not.

So why does it feel like that?

“Do you still want to go in?” I ask.

Joy nod's, “We walked all this way, it would be kinda a waste to not look inside.”

And so we walked over and onto the porch, and I stepped in something wet.

I look down and see a black puddle. So I squat down to see it.

“Don't touch it.” Joy whispers. She has always had good instincts, instincts that saved my butt countless times.

So I get up and we open the door.

And see a hallway with that black stuff covering the floor and half way up the walls.

“Well, it looks like we won't be able to avoid it.” I shrug.

“Ok… but at least watch your step.” Joy asked as she pointed at a hole in the floor.

We went around said hole, and (because Joy said to) avoided the puddles.

The entire place is old paper (parchment?) yellow, and the black stuff… is it ink?

What else could it be, it can't be tar (it moves fluidly.)

Some places are blocked off by crates and the black liquid making water (ink?) curtains.

“Yeah… Joy, I think this is ink.” I tell her as I rub my blackened fingers together. Honestly getting some of the stuff on us wasn't a matter of if, it was a matter of when.

“Are you sure?” she asked.

I look in front of myself and see a sign that goes through a list of places, one of them is called ‘the Ink Machine’.

“Pretty sure.” I point at the sign.

“Hm…” she too, read the sign. “So… what's a Ink Machine?”

“A machine that makes Ink, I can assume.” I told her. “but… why would they have something like that in here?”

So we follow the signs, the halls look even more decrepit then the room we were just in. The farther we go the more the wood is cracked and ink is flowing more easily.

We turned the corner and there's a big metal pipe with a ‘watch your step’ sign on it.

Useful.

Joy steps over it, while I have to put a bit more jump into it. (Dumb genetics, only making me 4 foot, 11 inches. The pipe goes up to my knees.)

There's wood boards and scraps littering the black stained floor. We turn another corner and see a big room.

We walk inside.

In the middle of the room there's a big unfamiliar machine that is dripping ink. (Ok so that's the Ink Machine). It's hanging over a pond of the black liquid that is just under the platform we're standing on.

There's something about it that just piques my curiosity.

Wait…

Something in the ink is moving. Fast.

It stopped just before it hit the platform.

And something tall, really tall, bursted out. With it a moving shadow flooding the room.

He's(?) tall and lanky and looks malnourished, OH and has a Bendy like head.

Is he really tall, or is it because of my crappy height perception?

“Eek.” Joy squeaked as her face became pale. “RUN!!!”

She grabbed my arm and pulled, making me follow her.

We start running back down the hallway.

“Aaa-oof!!!” Joy tripped over the pipe on the floor.

“SREEEEEEEECCCHHHH!!!” is the noise coming from the other room, And quickly coming closer.

I look around.

“Weapon Weapon Weapon Weapon Weapon.” I really need something, anythin-

…

That'll work.

He's coming.

I grab a wooden board and swing with all my strength. And hit him right up the side of his head, where the other side of his head hit the wall.

Joy got up and we continued running.

We see the exit.

Crack.

The hole.

We forgot about the hole.

And we fall.

I grab onto Joy’s back.

“TellmyfamilyIlovethem!”

Joy pov

A painful noise filled the room.

I scrambled off of Hailey.

She isn't moving.

I prop her against the wall, looking for anything.

“Hailey, wake up. Please, you need to wake up. I'm worried.” I beg. “Hailey…”

“HELP!!! PLEASE SHE NEEDS HELP!!! HHHEEELLLPPP!!!!” I yelled out, praying someone could save us, save Hailey. “HHHEEELLLPPP!!!”

“Hello?! Miss? I'm coming to help, please hang on!” I hear a man’s voice from deeper into the studio.

Sounds of things being shoved and broken fill the halls and then some footsteps come closer and closer, until I see a… black, white and yellow older man that gives off Tired Dad/Tired Grandpa energy.

His face filled with hope… and then dread.

He walks up to Hailey and feels her pulse… and shakes his head.

“Sorry miss… but it's too late for her.” he told me as he stepped back.

A moment later the weird ink gets closer to Hailey, covering and consuming her until all that was left was her little red backpack.

What… what just happened…