BATIM: Memory's Twisted Lane

Chapter 13

I stare at the Bendy doll as I sit at one of the tables in the room of Lost Ones from the fourth chapter. I'm waiting for Henry to find us.

I have my hood pulls up, almost covering the top of my face. I don't want to risk being caught here. Who knows if one of these Lost Ones has some sort of alliance with Alice.

I continue to stare at the doll. I brought this doll with me. I only planned to leave it at my dad's desk. Now... I'm praying that I won't have to. I'm hoping that I can bring it back with me and my dad.

I hear the door open as Henry finally arrives. Just like all the other times before, he's shocked at the sight of us. He then expresses sympathy for us.

He finally gets the courage to walk through the crowd, he glances in my direction, quickly noticing me in the puzzle of people.

I pretend to be excited as I motion for him to sit across the table from me. I'm shocked when he listens. I've watched him walk through here many times, and he's never noticed my until now. It must be because he recognises me from Level P.

My dad sighs with relief as he sits down, "It's good to see a familiar face."

I smile, leaning toward him over the table, "What's gotcha down today?"

Henry sighs and shakes his head, "It's Boris... You were right about keeping him off the lift."

"I saw him with you as it went up. I hoped you were just finishin' one of Alice's tasks... guess I was wrong."

"Alice made the lift drop. I don't know how far we fell. When I woke up, Boris was gone. I don't know where he is. I think Alice has him."

I feel guilty as I confess, "I saw Alice draggin' him up the stairs. I think I have an idea where she took 'im."

Henry looks up at me in expectation, "Do you have any ideas as to how I can get him back?"

"Well... usually when Alice gets one of us, all the rest of us can do is wish him farewell and say goodbye to anything we could've done with that poor soul in the future."

Henry sighs.

I smile and lean back in my seat. "But, I do have a plan; and it will require some trust. Ya up for that?"

Henry looks at me in confusion, "Just one question... Why do you want to help me? What makes you want to help me when everyone else wants to kill me?"

I pause. I don't know what to say. It's too soon to tell him who I am. He'll become protective and try to take me place. I can't risk it. "I'm Ellie," I say, "I'm a character of virtue and kindness. It's basically my calling."

"And Alice? What about her character traits?"

"Alice chose to go against her own character. It's her problem."

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Henry eventually agrees to let me help him. I guide him through the vent maze and let him find Bertrum's first audio log.

"So..." Henry thinks aloud as I lead him toward the storage room, "This is that project Joey was working on?"

"Yep."

"So... why didn't Joey consider the financial state of the studio before going forward with this?"

"I don't know. I guess he's just eager to bring joy to kids..."

We enter the storage room and find the control panel to the haunted house ride.

I watch as Henry takes this room in for what could be the thousandth, or even the millionth time. I don't know how many times he's had to go through this nightmare, but I'm sure that this will be the last loop. I'm just sure of it.