Broken Down (A Bendy & The Ink Machine Story)

Chapter 8: Stress & Alcohol

Joey had spent hours cleaning up the studio for Henry's visit, HOURS! And now, in the short space of a few weeks it was back to its messy self. It had been two months since Henry took Bendy, and he was slowly forming a plan in his mind to get back at him, but coupled with the alcohol he kept forgetting what he was supposed to be doing.

There was no use getting sober, drinking got rid of his feelings, made him forget, and removed the voices in his head telling him he had fucked up everything.

All he had wanted in life was a cartoon series that would take over the world like that Mickey Mouse character had, but where Walt Disney had succeeded, he had failed.

Joey picked up the half empty bottle sitting on his desk and took a big gulp of the strong liquid, letting out a groan as he looked at all the unpaid late fees "I'LL GET TO IT WHEN I CAN!" he screamed, shoving the unopened letters off his desk. They floated around the small room and landed on the floor in odd places. Joey banged his head on the table and screamed loudly.

~

The first time Joey had left any permanent scars on Bendy's body had been on the second year that the studio had been inactive. The demon had done his best to avoid the man, running away whenever he was nearby and hiding. He had found a safe place to gather his stuff and items he found, food, objects, whatever caught his eyes was taken back to his secret den. Joey had caught Bendy taking some cans from the storage to his hidden room. Grabbing him before he could try to escape and locking him away in the small empty room next to his office.

He had used the edge of one of the empty soup cans to punish Bendy for his disobedience and blatant attempts to avoid him for the past couple of years. Bendy had sobbed and bleed, weakly trying to avoid his drunken behavior. "You are to stay here, I'll bring you food" Joey growled, slamming the door shut and locking it behind him.

Bendy sat up shakily once he deemed it safe too, using the ink melting on his head to cover the large wounds on his back and chest like bandages, they would harden when he had calmed down. He knew the wounds would scar, the edge of a tin was very sharp, and the thick cuts they had made were deep.

Over the course of the next twenty years, he survived the abuse from Joey Drew. He starved, and grew lonely with bordem, hoping that one day someone would free him.

And then, a few weeks after he had tried to escape, Henry had come along.

~

He had been here for about three months now, three blissful months of happiness, food and good sleep. Linda worked in the evenings some days, so him and Henry had the house to themselves occasionally. It was late one night when Linda was working later than her usual, that the power had gone out. Bendy tapped Henry on the arm as they sat on the sofa, the movie they had been watching no longer playing "What's going on?" he asked, blinking in the darkness,

"Just a power cut, it'll come back on soon," Henry said, picking him up.

Bendy thought perhaps Henry was going to find a light source to make it easier to see, when instead, Henry opened the front door and walked onto the lawn, pointing up "Look, can you see more stars now it's darker?"

Bendy gasped as he followed Henry's finger to the star-filled sky "Yes! There's so many! Where were they before?" he asked, drinking it all in.

"Light pollution makes them hard to see at night." Henry explained,

"Is that bad?"

"It is if you like stars, but it's not harmful."

Henry put him on his shoulders and Bendy reached up as if he could touch one, a contented smile on his face, "Thanks Henry."

~

Bendy smiled as he hummed along to the song playing on the radio, Henry was busy making dinner while he drew, the delicious smells wafting through the kitchen. The demon was remembering the starry night sky Henry had shown him last night and he wanted nothing more than to capture it on paper, so here he was, covered in pencil shavings and eraser bits, and focused.

The ink demon looked up in shock as the music turned up, and Henry started belting out the song lyrics loudly, using the spatula he was using to soften the onions as a microphone. Bendy burst into laughter as Henry 'danced' across the lino, trying to get Bendy to sing with him.

"No! I don't want to!" Bendy cried, giggling loudly.

"Come on! It's fun!" Henry said, insistent. Bendy shook his head, refusing to adhere to Henry's weird request. The man shrugged "All right, I guess I'll have to sing and dance all by myself," he said, dipping his head dramatically. Bendy giggled "You do that"

Linda came home from work a few moments later to find her two boys dancing around the kitchen and singing the words to the song playing on the radio, both having a very good time it seemed, "What is going on in here?" she asked, a smile on her face. 

Henry grabbed her and brought her closer, spinning her around, his face a little red from all the exercise. Linda giggled as Henry dipped her "Glad to see your having fun dear, but dinners burning" she said affectionately, patting Henry's face with her hand. Henry gasped and let her go, pulling out the lasagna just in time, the top only slightly singed.

"Close call" Linda said on the floor, Bendy laughed and Henry grimaced "Sorry, dear, are you okay?" he asked, putting the Lasagna down and taking off the oven mitts,

"Fine" Linda said, propping herself up with one arm, and giving her husband a smile as he helped her up.

~

Joey got into the back of the taxi, his backpack shoved at his feet. "Where too?" the driver asked.

"Pasadena?"

"Gonna cost ya" The Taxi man said, Joey growled "Just drive!" he hissed. The man shrugged and drove off down the street. He knew better than to argue with a drunk man.

~

"Wake up!" Joey growled, giving his side a good kick. Bendy woke from his REM cycle a little confused, yelping at the pain as his Creator's foot connected. He curled up on the pile of blankets Joey had shoved into the corner of his bedroom atop a foam mattress "I-I'm up!" he cried. 

It had only been four months since Joey had started punishing him for misbehavior, training him for the future, and it scared him. He didn't understand why he was hurting him, he was trying so hard for his Creator. 

Joey mentally sighed as Bendy looked up at him in slight fear, trembling. He had to tell himself that this was important, that Bendy needed training and discipline if he ever wanted to make it in this road he was travelling. "It's time to film. We got three new episodes for our first season to get started on, the first three were a big hit, we got a lot of money for it," the man said, leaning down to make sure Bendy had tied his bow tie properly. Bendy flinched and Joey quickly let it go at his creations discomfort,

"Just follow me" he said.

~

Bendy didn't understand why his legs wouldn't work right, and he was trying so hard to follow the paper's instructions. Joey growled and yanked the paper from his hands. "Why won't you just do it right!?" he growled, he was far too stressed for this right now. Bendy whimpered "C-Can I have a b-break? Please?" Bendy asked, Joey's eyes turned to him sharply and Bendy flinched, stepping back. "Get back to work" Joey hissed, his eyes bloodshot from lack of sleep.

Bendy hurried over to the stage.

~

One hit, two hits, three, Bendy's punishment for his failure to do his acting right, Bendy cowered on the floor "I'm s-sorry Joey, please, p-please don't p-punish me! I'll do b-better! I swear!" the demon cried, Joey stopped, "You always say that, but you never do, your useless to me, Bendy, and I did have such high hopes for you"

Bendy looked up at him with tears in his eyes. Joey left the room and Bendy sobbed in the silence.