BATIM: Memory's Twisted Lane

Chapter 16

"Do you have... a three?"

Dad sighs has he hands me his card.

Bendy, Dad, and I are playing "Go-Fish" while Tom observes Allison's map. He's still looking for anything that Allison might have missed.

Dad looks at me after I place my cards down, "So, this 'living-with-Bendy' thing... how was it?"

"Oh, gee," I look up at the wall as I think back to the throne room, "Well, I had Bendy draw for a little bit. He's pretty good for a beginner."

"You mean he's never even scribbled on the walls all this time?"

Bendy shrugs, "Well, I understood the writing thing. Sammy never really had any shame when it came to writing to me. I think he was writing to me. I wish he wasn't . It's disturbing."

"The most writing I've seen directed toward you is the 'he-will-set-us-free' one."

Bendy looked down at his cards, "I smudged ink over the others. You don't wanna know the thing's I've read."

"Anything else you've done, Heather?"

"Well," I think again, "I told him funny stories from my childhood."

Bendy chuckles, "One time her friends threw her into a lake while on a camping trip."

I continue, "And I got to explain the function of a joke. I think he's almost died five times from laughin' so hard."

"Then," Bendy interrupts me again, "when she's really bored, she just keeps throwing her doll across the room. She won't stop even after I return it."

Dad gestures to Bendy, "That's called 'Fetch', Bendy."

"Well, either way, she should really be more careful with her things. She could've broken the doll."

"I wish I had a flashlight, though," I add on, "It would've been so much more fun."

Bendy chuckles and looks down at his card, "Heather, you got any..." he lowers his hand, making his deck of cards visible to me and Dad.

Dad looks away while I correct Bendy's hand, "No, ya ain't supposed to show your cards."

"Oh."

"What were you askin' for?"

Bendy looks at his cards again, "The one with two weird, heart-looking things."

"Two," I surrender my card and help him place the pair down beside him.

Dad turns and looks at Tom, "Hey, Tommy, found anything yet?"

Tom shakes his head without facing Dad.

Dad walks over to Tom and begins observing the map with him, "See anything that could help?"

Tom points to the area neat the Lost Ones' Village. It was the same area that Dad fell through before finding the Film Vault.

Everyone's attention is pulled to the door as Allison bursts through it. She's terrified and out of breath from running.

Tom immediately runs to comfort Allison.

"What happened?" asks Henry.

Allison pants as Tom helps her sit down, "Alice... she's alive."

Bendy jumps to his feet and runs to the fence of the cell (he's too short to look over the boarded-up doorway), "Excuse me, the bitch is WHAT?!"

Allison pauses to catch her breath, "She wasn't in the ballroom when we left her; and when I tried to find a way into her lair I heard her humming. She's alive."