Why is Love so Hard? |BENDY X HENRY| (OLD)

Farmers Market

The clank and clatter of dishes fill the air as everyone dumps the porcelain into the sink.

The air is still thick with tension, and I feel kind of bad for Henry. The ink demon won't even look at him, but maybe Henry deserves it.

I turn to Linda. "So uh, you got any sites around here that would be good for a day out on the town?"

The woman pauses washing dishes to think. "Well Sammy, there is a farmers market close to here, and a library, but that's a bit further away."

"Alright, we'll go there, c'mon Alice." I grab Alice's arm and she looks up at me with a frown. "But what about Henr-"

Rolling my eyes I elbow her. "They just need some time alone to figure things out- Linda, could you come with us? I don't know the way around town."

Linda smiled. "Alright, sounds like fun. Honey, me and these two are going out for the day, you want to come?"

"No thanks. Have fun though." Henry called from the kitchen as we headed out the front door and into the early afternoon.

The twisted angel hissed at the sunlight, as we stepped outside and I found myself grimacing as well.

We all got into the car and she started the engine, pulling out of the driveway. "Has the sun always been that bright?" Alice asks, squinting out the window at all the green shrubbery.

"You guys have really been in that studio for a long time haven't you?"

Me and Alice just look at each other, then she breaks out in giggles, collapsing and rolling onto the floor of the car. "Have we? Mmm, I don't know, we were only in there for what? Over ten years?"

Linda looks back at us in the rearview mirror, a concerned look on her face. "Instead of going to the market, do you two want to apply for therapy or something..?"

Inky tears spill down the twisted angel's cheeks as she pulls herself back onto the seat beside me. She grabs her knees rocking herself back and forth.

"..why amn't I perfect enough after all that time, why doesn't anyone like me still? ..am I not a lovable character? ...I'm a monster...a hideous monster.." I put an arm around her shoulder, holding her closer to me.

"I don't- I don't think that would work." I muttered. "We've been through too much. Too broken to be fixed."

Linda goes silent, and the only sound other than the running car is the angel's demented laughter and quiet whispers.

The car pulls into a parking lot of a hospital and Linda gets out, saying she'll be right back.

And about ten minutes later she is. She has a gift bag in her hand, the top of a white stick poking out of the decorative tissue paper.

By this time Alice has pulled herself back together and asks what's in the bag.

The woman smiles excitedly. "It's a surprise for Henry."

"Oh." Me and the angel look at each other in concern for everyone's future safety.

We get back on the road and keep driving and soon we reach the market. Me and Alice get out of the car, the warm sun on our backs and lush green grass at our feet.

The farmers market is bustling with people, children chasing chickens around their ankles.

The woman gives us both five dollars for spending, and then leaves.

"Be back in an hour!" Linda calls and heads off into the crowd, but me and Alice hang back. "So, do you want to split up or stick together?"

The twisted angel's hand grips mine tightly, her nails digging into my knuckles. I sigh, and head off into the moving crowd.

People stare at us as we walk through the market, and I recognize several of them from the signing. I glance away, looking back at Alice.

She's shielding her face with her hand, an uncomfortable grimace on her face.

"I know you won't believe me, but you don't look any worse than anybody else here, so you don't have to do that." I say.

The angel doesn't respond, but brushes her hair out of her face and puts her hand down. Looking over the sea of heads, I frown. "We don't have to stay, in fact we can leave right now and start walking back."'

Alice shakes her head. "No, we're already here so we may as well do something."

"Like what?"

She shrugs, now leading me through the crowd. "I don't know, but that corn back there did look pretty good, and I haven't had a cooked meal in heaven knows how long."

"Sounds good to me-" I start to agree, but then one of the chicken children shoves past me, causing me to lose my balance and fall.

Alice catches me under the armpits and we stare at each other for a moment, then she roughly drumps me on the floor.

I roll my eyes, picking myself up from the floor and picking straw from my inky hair "Wow, thanks for nothing."

"Whatever, just get up so we can stick it to that dumbass kid that knocked you over."

Working in children's entertainment seemed to have left almost everybody in the studio with a disdain for children in general, although I have never liked kids much anyway.

Standing up, me and Alice pushed through the crowd, following the kid.

Eventually we cornered him by the hen house, and he had cornered the chicken. He reached for it, grabbing the bird by its plucky wings.

We watched as the chicken squirmed in his grip, then got the upper hand and scratched his cheek with its talons.

The kid yelped, clutching his cheek and let go of the chicken, it ran for its life, before seeing us and cowering in place.

Alice picked the petrified chicken up and the kid turned around, motioning for her to give it to him.

I watched as the angel bent down to give it to him, before shooting back up like a basket-ball player and chucking it up onto the metal roof of the nearby hen-house.

We shook with muffled malevolent laughter, the kid just standing there in shock.

The kid just stared at us with the most blank ass stare I have ever seen, and then started screaming.

"Oh-um, calm down you child," Alice scrambled, trying to get him to shut up before someone came over to see what was wrong. "Y-you see, we're actually um, magical beings who came to save you from that evil chicken."

He sniffled, wiping the snot from his nose and we let out a sigh of relief, turning to leave.

Alice and I stared at each other, then broke out laughing. "What a ridiculous kid..."

Going back into the main market area, we quickly found a station selling corn and got an ear each.

The corn tasted magnificent, better than I remember any food ever tasting, but maybe that was simply because I didn't remember the last time I even had real food.

As me and the angel ate, we made our way back to the car, sensing that the hour was drawing to an end.

When we got to the car, Linda was just getting in. We finished the corn then got into the car and started driving home.

Henry's car was missing from the driveway when we got back.