Before the ink

Part 18

Joey briskly walked down the hall, heading to Henry's old office to make sure he was gone. He opened the door and smiled.
The room was empty of anything that was Henry's. Except for a little demon sobbing quietly in his chair. "Bendy? What's wrong?" Joey asked.
Of course he didn't care, he was just curious if Henry told him or not. "W-why would ya c-care?!" Bendy spat.
"I just want to know why you're crying." Joey said. Bendy suddenly stood up off the chair, angrily advancing towards Joey.
His head dripped with ink a tiny bit. "Where the hell is Henry?!" He demanded. Joey backed up a bit. He'd never seen Bendy this...distressed, angry, sad, or panicked before.
But the horrible man got a horrible idea. "Oh, Henry? Didn't he tell you?" Joey asked, pretending to sound curious.
"Tell me what?" Bendy questioned. "Well, I don't think he wanted you to know then." Joey shrugged. "What?" Bendy asked.
"Henry left, do you want to know why?" Joey said. "W-what?! Why did Henry leave?" Bendy asked. "Because of you. Because of how obnoxious and loud you are, never leaving the poor man alone for even a minute of silence, it was so selfish of you to take all of Henry's peace away from him, and turn him into an angry man. He quit because he told me he couldn't deal with you anymore, he said if he'd stayed any longer he'd have killed you himself." Joey lied.
Bendy looked shocked. "N-no, Henry would never say that!" The little demon panicked. "Oh, but he did, he hates you three, especially you." Joey had a sick grin on his face.
"No...no!" Bendy stated sobbing again. But of course, why else would Henry have left? He loved his job. It was all Bendy's fault.
At least, that's what he thought. Joey felt proud of himself, putting Henry and that little demon in so much pain.
He knew they were great friends. But even he didn't know just how much Henry meant to Bendy. More than he'd ever thought.
Joey left Bendy alone to suffer. The demons thoughts raced through his head. Horrible thoughts of doubt, guilt, shame, hate, anger.
Joey resulted in abusing the demon again. "Y'know, I wouldn't get away with hitting you if Henry hadn't left, maybe one day you should get your revenge on him." Joey sneered.
That was his anger. His guilt and shame was because he thought he was the reason the animator left. And his hate was directed strictly towards Joey.
And then there was that little doubtful voice in the back of his mind. 'Henry doesn't hate you' 'Joey's lying.'
But Bendy ignored that voice. It was just his hopes, and he wouldn't listen to them. The demon grew more and more depressed and within his own mind every passing day.
Everyone was sad that Henry left. They often wondered why. But Joey just got worse, harming the studios employees and the toons. Bendy felt dead inside.
He was slowly going insane, just like everyone else. Sammy was even curious as to why Norman seemed more sad than usual.
He found the sad projectionist in his booth. "Hey Norm, what's the matter?" Sammy asked. He leaned against the railing next to the taller man.
"Oh hey Sammy. Nothings wrong." Norman said. "No, somethings wrong, please tell me." Sammy poked his arm.
Norman sighed. Sammy looked at him with big pleading eyes, wanting to cheer the projectionist up. Norman couldn't say no to that look
"Fine...it's just well...I've been noticing lately, since Y'know, Henry left, everyone's slowly going kind of...insane." Norman said.
"Yeah, I've noticed that too...I'm scared of what Joey will end up doing to those toons." Sammy sighed. "Hey, did you notice that Joey hasn't come to work this morning...? Isn't that weird?" Norman asked, looking at Sammy.
"Yeah...the hells up with that?" Sammy wondered. "I dunno, but I've got a bad feeling about today." Norman said.
The two shot straight up when panicked screaming came from down the hall. It was Susie. She ran down the hall.
"Stay away! What the hell is wrong with you?!" She screamed. Norman and Sammy raced out into the hall to see Grant following her.
But something was off. "HahahAHAHA!!! None of it adds up! The studios going bankrupt! Drew didn't pay his taxes! We'll all suffer! HAHAHAH!!!!" Grant laughed like a maniac.
"What the fuck happened?!" Sammy demanded. "I dunno, some of the ink pipes are bursting, and if they hit you, you go insane!" Susie said.
"It's like it alive!" Sammy screamed, pointing down the hall. A wave of ink latched into the poor workers, holding them tightly so they could barely move a muscle.
The three strained. "Grant! Help us!" Susie yelled. "It's too late! The ink has claimed us all!" Grant laughed.
Norman noticed his eyes had begun to glow, and he was covered in ink. He saw a projector in the ink, his from his booth.
He screamed as it slammed into his head. Sammy looked away, before he heard the screams stop. The musician glanced over, seeing a projector instead of a head.
"NORMAN!!" Sammy screamed. But ink tidal waves crashed everywhere. Sammy felt himself slowly begin to black out, he couldn't breath, he was drowning, floating away from Norman.
The ink claimed the workers, and it was only the beginning of insanity.