Wondering and Illusions (Day 26)

“Just think of the idea, Abigail!” I told her. My eyes filled with sparkles at the thought that I could start my own studio.

“Abby, Joey… Remember that,” she curtly corrected me. “While yes, the idea for this is wonderful, I do believe that it is starting to go to your head now. What with all this talk about life being just a mere illusion in our minds and all.”

Abby was a sweet friend of mine, but she always was skeptical of my ideas. Nevertheless, she always was a charmer to those investors at the bank. I just couldn’t believe that she was seriously doubting my abilities and skills right now. Right, when we were so close to making MY dream our reality. I sighed as I gently placed my hands on her shoulders to reassure her.

“There is nothing to worry about, Abigail,” I began. “With your help and Henry’s, we will all be stars to the public eye in no time!” I proceeded to step back and took a good look at Abby’s expression: she was giving me a stern look, but that surely meant she wanted to help. I hope. “Why not this: you are very good at keeping things in order, so why not be in charge of our administration?”

“Joey, you know that I am as good an artist as Henry. I can help and work alongside him.” She suggested.

I frowned at her suggestion. I may have wanted to run the place, but I also wanted to be the one to work next to Henry as my work partner. He was the one to make MY creation become more palatable for the world to see. So, I should be next to him, NOT ABBY! I shook my head to clear my mind of any anger. I didn’t want to lash out at her over something this minor.

“Abby, while I do think that you’re suggesting a good idea, I think I should be the one to help him. Show him the ropes and all,” I nervously laughed to myself. “Plus I don’t want your pretty self to be all covered in ink just from doing the keyframes. So it is best if you would be our lead administrator.” I smiled, I was not going to let her ruin this chance.

She sighed and began to turn away. “You are starting to sound like all the other big execs and you don’t even have a dime to your name. I’m disappointed, Drew.” She shook her head, “either these dreams and illusions of yours are getting to your head that it has inflated your ego or maybe I just caught you on the wrong day.” She waved her hand in the air one final time as she began to walk away, “hope to talk to you again when you are in a better headspace, Joey.”

I meekly waved back before turning to face the abandoned building that would someday become my studio. I’ll show her. I’ll show her what it means to run a studio as great as mine. Everyone will remember me, Joey Drew, as the best god damn studio owner ever! Everyone will be running in the theaters just to watch another Bendy cartoon, I just know it. I let out a light laugh to myself before turning on my heel to walk back to my apartment.

Hate the Monster, Not the Man (Day 25)

Two paths, leading down two separate roads. One of love and one of corruption. I saw how the road of corruption burned right in front of me. I saw how my actions caused everyone I have known to either get hurt or killed. Now I stare into my sink, the water has grown and stagnant over the time I lost in my own thoughts. Not only had I pushed away my former friend and business partner, but I had pushed away my dreams.

I sighed, reflecting on the mistakes I have made in my life. “Oh Joseph, you’ve done it now,” I lightly scolded myself. “All you ever did was create nightmares with that pen of yours.” I muttered to myself more as more hate grew in my heart. But, the hate wasn’t directed at anyone else, it was directed towards myself. I only had myself to blame afterall. My corruption that I thought were dreams caused my studio to go bankrupt. My corrupted greed for fame made me hurt the kindest soul I had ever met in my life. Bless her heart, I hope she is being treated well in the Cycle.

“This is all your fault,” I told myself. “You’re the reason people have died! YOU HAVE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS! YOU ONLY BRING DEATH TO OTHERS AROUND YOU!” I screamed, slamming a plate into the sink. When I saw that the plate had broken into many pieces, I slumped over at the sink. I silently chastised myself as I turned to toss the plate away. I still lashed out at anything that never went right with me. “You gotta pull yourself together, Joseph. You’re acting like a toddler. Your father didn’t raise you to be like this,” I told myself.

I went back to washing my dishes to try getting through that simple chore that seemed to drag on forever. Why now at the end of my life am I seeing the wrong doings of my actions? Was I that blinded by greed that I couldn’t see what was wrong? I sighed as I placed the clean dish next to me on the counter, “you should’ve pushed yourself to do the right thing instead of relying on others to push you towards it.” Was all the fame that I had imagined just a mere illusion I created?

As I continued to clean up the dishes, I heard the door open to my apartment. A gentle voice came through the silence, “Joey? I got your letter. You said you wanted to talk.” I recognized that voice. It was Henry. So he really decided to come back into town to visit me again. But this was not going to end well, I could tell. I wrote the ending myself, so of course I knew it wasn’t going to end well! If only I had reflected on my actions before writing the hell that Henry was now going to endure forever on a loop.

“Henry, you’re early,” I replied. “Now, you’re just trying to impress me.” He always was a man to show up early to anything. Even when we had started the studio together, he’d show up thirty minutes early just to start on some simple keyframe sketches.

Henry sat down at the barstool that was next to my counter. “What is it that you wanted to talk about, old friend?”

“Who are we, Henry?” I asked.

“Pardon? I don’t think I quite follow what you mean, Joey,” Henry laughed nervously.

“WHO are we, Henry?” I asked again. “I thought I knew who I was… but I was sorely mistaken. In the end, we both followed two separate roads of our own making. You, a loving family. Me… well… I was left with my crooked empire. And Henry, my road burned all the way down to hell.. The success… It starved me. Nothing left but lines on an empty page. I let our creations become my life… It led to a corruption in my mind. It led to my dreams being shattered.” I sighed, “Can a man like me be even forgiven for the actions that has caused?”

“I believe that any person can be forgiven if they prove that they have changed for the better, Joey. You’ve always known that,” Henry responded back. “But Joey, why did you send me that letter? What was the real reason behind wanting to see me again?”

I turned around and slowly walked to the counter to face him. I leaned an arm on the counter to steady myself, “Henry, I want you to visit the old workshop. There is something I need to show you.” Slowly, I raised my other arm to point towards the door.

Henry nodded and slowly went through the door. Once the door closed, I faintly heard Henry say, “Alright Joey, I’m here. Let’s see if we can find what you wanted me to see.” His fate that I determined long ago was now happening. I could blame myself for doing this to him. Henry didn’t deserve this, but I only did because I hated how he left the studio still when we were first starting off. Now, he has to go through the hell I created with this god forsaken machine!. May there be an angel to guide your way, Henry.

The two musicians sat next to each other as they both tuned their instruments. Sammy with the bass, Jack with the violin. The two looked at each other before turning away, both blushing. Jack then sat down the violin and stood in front of Sammy. He pushed some loose strands of Sammy’s hair back. Jack smiled at Sammy before giving a light kiss on Sammy’s lips.

“Jack,” Sammy lightly huffed. “You know we can’t be doing this. We could risk losing our jobs.” Sammy was always the one who did his best to keep their relationship away from the eyes of the public. He knew how much the two would be ostracized if society did find out about this blooming relationship.

“I know, but I love you dearly,” Jack whined. Jack was never the one to hold back any secrets. Nor was he the one to ever have a good poker face when it came to love.”Just stop tuning the bass for a few minutes and give this bass some love.” Jack said in a flirtatious manner.

“I think the word you are looking for is bottom, not bass.” Sammy snorted.

“I AM NOT A BOTTOM! You know that, Sam. You may be muscular, but we all know that you’re bottom while I’m the top,” Jack retorted, booping Sammy on his nose. “You could basically call me the treble clef of this relationship, my darling bass clef,”Jack laughed.

“Oh god no… please don’t say it like that,” Sammy groaned. He tried focusing on finishing up tuning the bass.

After a few more moments of tuning the bass, Sammy stood up and placed it back where it belonged on the stage. He then turned towards Jack who had been patiently waiting for Sammy to have been done with the work. Sammy sighed and decided that he deserved this type of break from all of the hard work he has been putting into this studio as of recently. Sammy locked the door to the recording studio before sitting down in one of the chairs to relax. He patted his lap and Jack quickly came over and sat on Sammy’s lap.

“Better?” He asked Jack.

“Better,” Jack said as he pressed his lips against Sammy’s.

The pair then began to make out in that chair like this was a normal thing a couple does while at work. The light moans the two made sounded like music to their ears as they were lost in the sensation of love. The whole world seemed to have faded away when they were this close to one another. Jack then slowly nipped Sammy’s neck, allowing a gasp to escape his throat.

The noise of keys gently rattling on a key ring was heard as Wally attempted to open the door to the recording studio in order to clean the place up. Wally opened the door to see the intimate scene that had been happening there for a few minutes now. Wally gently knocked on the door and that knock was enough to spook both Jack and Sammy. Poor Jack fell over and off of the chair because of it.

“Umm… sorry to bother you fellas with…umm whatever it was that you were doing, but I just need to clean the trash cans out right now.” Wally said, embarrassed for walking in on such a scene still.

“Oh yeah, go right ahead, Wally,” Sammy said, straightening out his shirt.

“If you two don’t mind telling me, what was it that you two were doing?” Wally asked. The two looked nervously at each other about revealing such sensitive information to Wally since they both knew that Wally can have a Freudian Slip when he speaks and releases information he shouldn’t be releasing to others. Wally saw the worry and reassured them, “don’t worry, I won’t tell Mista Drew about this. I know how you two love your jobs and frankly I like to keep my life. So whatever secret you two are keepin’, just know it is safe with me.”

Jack sighed before coming closer to Wally. “Wally, look Sam and I.. we’re kind of a thing, y’know? Like a cupid thing.” Jack didn’t want to come off strong and just openly say that Sammy and him were in a homosexual relationship.

“So you twos a dating then, right?” Wally asked, trying to confirm what Jack was implying.

“Yes, we are doing that,” Jack sheepishly admitted.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it. You two are in love, enjoy it! I have been trying to find me a misses for a while myself, but no luck as of right now.” Wally laughed as he changed out the trash bags. His key ring fell off of his belt loops and went straight into the trash.

Sammy cleared his throat as a way to grab Wally’s goldfish attention span. “Wally, your keys. They’re in the trash again.” He always hated hearing Wally complain that he lost his keys again when they always fell in the same place: the trash.

Wally then looked in the trash and saw his keys in there. He quickly took them out and reattached them to one of his belt loops on his overalls. “Thanks Sammy. Say, does anyone else know about this little fling you two are in?”

“Oh well, only Shi truly knows. Norman and Susie, I think, are only guessing it for now,” Sammy admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.

“So you and Ms. Campbell was never a thing?” Wally asked confused because he could’ve sworn he saw magic happening when he saw Susie and Sammy talking privately one day. “I could’ve sworn I saw magic in that room.”

“The only magic in that room was me praising her for hitting the correct keys when we were recording her vocals for ‘Lonely Angel/I’ll Be Your Angel’,” Sammy said, bluntly. He had never once been attracted to Susie in their time of working with each other. Sure she was sweet, but Sammy never liked her in a romantic fashion.

Wally nodded, finishing up with changing out the trash cans. “Well I guess, I’ll leave you two to go back to what you were doing before,” he nervously laughed before heading back out.

Sammy was already walking to the exit of the recording studio as well, “I was thinking of just heading back to my office. Those stupid cartoon songs don’t write themselves, you know.”

Jack then also piped up, “I also got lyrics to finish writing and the sewers aren’t going to smell any better, so I better go while the stench is bad down there still.” He laughed before running out the door before Wally. Sammy was the last one to leave, so he locked up the recording studio for the day. Everyone went back to their respective places to continue finishing up their work for the upcoming deadline.

TW: Death, Blood, Knife, Torture, Gore Body Horror

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Justice for The Falsely Accused (Day 22)

I breathed heavily as I ran through the endless corridors, trying to find a way to escape the ever approaching Ink Demon. I heard him aggressively slam into walls as he made sharp turns around corners just to catch up to me. I didn’t even know why I was his target. I didn’t do anything wrong. Hell, I even stayed away when he was around! I zipped past any corner in hopes of escaping him. Then, I ran into a room locking myself inside it. When he got near the area, I saw him sniff the air and let out a low growl before turning to walk away. Was there something here that he was disgusted by? I looked around until I heard faint giggling coming from the corner of the room I was in.

“Who’s there?” I called out, gripping the axe I had in my hand. Slowly I saw the figure stand up and approach me. I sighed in slight relief that it was just Shi, but what on earth were they doing here? They are usually with Sammy. “What are you doing here, Shi?” I asked, still keeping my guard up just in case they try to attack.

“Oh you know, doing the usual: leave offers for the Ink Demon, find and love on Jinx, find sacrifices, go back to the cult, repeat.” They laughed. “Why do ya ask?” They looked at me perplexed.

“Oh it’s just that I never see you in this area. By the way, do you know why the Ink Demon didn’t come in here? He just sniffed the air and left.” I thought that maybe they would have the answer, but then again they could always just tell me some lie just to bait me into being a sacrifice.

“That would be because of me. He smelled my scent and he usually doesn’t like to get near areas where Sammy and I are in. Especially when he is pissed off like that.” They clarified. Which honestly made sense. I also wouldn’t want to be around two nutjobs who worshipped me like a god when I was already angry. They then got closer. Their voice was much colder this time, “Speaking of which, why was he ticked off? What did you do, sheep?”

I put my hands up in defense, “I did nothing, I swear! He was just targeting me for some reason.”

“Where were you when he spotted you?” They asked.

“What does that-”

“Just answer the question,” they demanded.

“I was near the entrance to Heavenly Toys. Just simply sitting on a couch to rest.” I answered honestly, hoping they wouldn’t get upset with me as well.

“Well, there is your answer as to why he was pissed. Someone broke his cutouts and now he is ticked off. There are plenty in that area that you were in, so naturally he is going to target the first thing he sees in that area.”

I felt them grab my arm and drag us out of the room that we were hiding in. “Where the heck are we going?” I asked, panic filling my voice. Were they really just going to throw me at the demon like this? I mean, I know they are insane, but never thought this insane.

“We, my little sheep, are going to correct this. I know who broke them and frankly I don’t want you to be falsely accused for something you didn’t do. That is… if your story is even true.”

“It is, believe me. I know better than to break those things.” I replied.

“Good. Now come on, we have ourselves a demon to find.” They said, tugging me back to Heavenly Toys.

Once we were back at the entrance of Heavenly Toys, Shi motioned for me to stay hidden while they went up to the Ink Demon. “M’lord, may I please speak to you for a moment?” They asked. Are they just that comfortable enough to just straight up walk to him?! Oh wait, they work with Sammy. I should know better. I made a silent groan hoping this plan of theirs didn’t go South.

“What do you want? I don’t have time for any of you praising nonsense. I have to find Henry and you damn well know that!” The Ink Demon growled back.

“Yes, m’lord. I do understand that,” they began. “But I do have information regarding that sheep in particular.” Oh sweet honey iced tea, I am so done for. They’re definitely throwing me under the bus. I began to shake a little waiting for any responses.

“Then speak it,” the demon replied.

“He didn’t break the cutouts, m’lord. It was a different foolish sheep. I already have them cornered for you as well.” They stated. “They tried to rebel against your will and decided to take their anger out on your precious cutouts. But worry not, m’lord, I’ll go ahead and replace them for you” They bowed towards the Ink Demon.

“While I do appreciate that honestly, that still doesn’t explain why Henry was near the remaining evidence.” He growled back.

“He was merely resting, m’lord. Surely, you understand that. Please forgive him. He did nothing wrong.” They pleaded.

“Alright, fine. But just this once,” he said. “And don’t think about killing him either, Shi. I need him alive.”

“Yes, m’lord. Anything for you, m’lord.” They said before scampering off back to where I was hiding. “See, it wasn’t that hard. Now he won’t hunt you as aggressively anymore.”

“Thanks Shi. Honestly, I kept thinking you were going to throw me under the bus.” I laughed a little, admitting to the silly assumptions my brain was making this entire time.

“Look, I may be insane, but I’m not dishonest. I said I was gonna clear this up, didn’t I?” They said, looking at me.

“Yeah, I guess so. It probably was just my brain going wild, I let out another nervous chuckle. I then saw them beginning to leave. “Hey! Where are you going?”

“Gotta replace the broken cutouts, sheep. Our lord must be appeased,” they replied simply before walking off to a nearby storage closet. I still couldn’t believe they believed in that much vindication to just prove that I didn’t do anything wrong. I shook my head and began to walk back to the elevator. I needed to go pay Norman a visit.

A Voice Full of Shame and Regret (Day 21)

TW: Mentions of abuse bruising and SH scars.

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