BATIM: Memory's Twisted Lane

Chapter 6

"Look around," Alice instructs me as I walk across a bridge of wooden planks, "It took so many of them to make me so beautiful. Anything less than perfect was left behind."

I laugh mentally as I pass a giant figure of Alice's head in the ink below. So your face is less than perfect?

"I had to do it." she explains, "She made me."

I quickly record another audio log from Susie Campbell, "Who would have thought? Me having lunch with Joey Drew! Apparently times are tougher than I thought.
For a moment there, I thought I'd be stuck with the check.
But I gotta say, he wasn't at all what I expected.
Quite the charmer.
He even called me Alice. I liked it."

I dismiss Susie's log as I go through another door. I enter a room to find that same woman standing in front of a control panel. The control panel is most likely meant to control whatever is torturing the poor Charley I see strapped to a plank of wood. (I don't know what those things are. Please don't judge me.)

"Hmm..." Alice sighs as she stops the machine, giving Charley a break from all that pain he must be feeling. "Now we come to the question... Do I kill you?"

Well... not quite the impression one would expect from a celebrity.

"Do I tear you apart to my heart's delight? The choices of the beautiful are unbearable. How's a girl to choose?"

Alice chuckles as she observes the anxious expression on my face.

"Take this little freak for instance!" she gestures to Charlye aggressively, "He crawled in here... trailing his tainted ink to my door! It could've touched me! It could've pulled me back!"

Alice's voice becomes distorted as her emotions shift from anger to anxiety. "Do you know what it's like? Living in the dark puddles?"

Alice's voice grows deeper again, "It's a buzzing, screaming well of voices! Bits of your mind, swimming... like... like fish in a bowl!"

It seems like Alice's voice grows deeper as her anger grows, "The first time I was born of its' inky womb, I was a wiggling, pussing, shapeless slug. The second time... well... It made me an angel! I will not let the demon touch me again. I'm so close now. So... almost perfect."

Alice sighs in satisfaction before focusing back on me, her voice returning to its' original pitch. "Yes, I will spare you. For now..."

I step forward, "What about my dad?"

Alice pauses, "Your father?"

"My dad worked here. His name is Henry Stein. He's the animator you told me about. You know where he is?"

Alice smiles, "Well yes and no. Tell you what, if you do some favours for me, I'll take you to him, and you can both leave this place."

I nod without hesitation, "Deal."

Alice straightens her posture and gestures to the door, "Return to the lift. We have work to do."

With that, she pushes a button, letting two sheets of tin block my view to her and Charley. I hear Charley screaming as the machine starts up again.

I stand outside Alice's lair until she gives me my first task.

"My machines are hungry. Gather me some spare parts!"

A dropbox to my right opens and offers me a wrench. I take the wrench and board the lift.

"There are so few rules to our world now. So little truths." Alice explains to me, "But there's one rule we all know and respect down here. Beware the Ink Demon. Stay out in the open for too long and he will find you. For if you see him, you'd better hide. If you don't, well, I'll send your regards to Henry."