Bendy's POV
Charlie grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the line for the ride. He looked rather worried after bumping into that lovely lady. I don't know why though. In the line, I got too curious and taped him on the shoulder; if this was something that would give him another panic attack I wanted to be ready.
"Hey, Charles?"
"Charlie," he corrected me.
"Alright, Charlie, what's going on, pal?"
He looked around, as if making sure nobody was listening, then faced me.
"Ariel is a princess. She's supposed to be in Fantasyland, she doesn't fit in Liberty Square. And the Cast Member dressed as Ariel should know better than to be out of place in the parks," he explained.
"What if it's just a mom or something goofing around?" I asked.
The line moved so we started to walk and talk.
"That's the thing. People over the age of fifteen aren't allowed to come to the parks in costume, because there'd be a risk of children mistaking that person for the Cast Member. Imagine a random adult showing up dressed as Captain Hook and they ended up in the same place as the park's Captain Hook. That'd be a big problem,"
I could understand that. Kids would get confused and the magic would be ruined.
"So, why worry about that Ariel?"
"She's either an awol cast member or a guest that's breaking rules," the line moved again, "Mama told me about something where a bad person kidnapped a child by posing as Princess Jasmine and luring the child away. And I feel like that Ariel bumping into us was no mistake,"
A few kids close to us started to make a commotion; they were laughing at some weird, and morbid, statue of a bathtub with a body submerged in it that sneezed and splashed them with water. Charlie made an annoyed look and lowered his voice.
"Can I ask you something super weird?"
"I'm all about weird!"
"Have you..." he sucked in a breath. "...have you ever been hunted by government spies?"
I snorted and put my hands over my mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
"Government Spies? Really, kid!"
"I know that sounds stupid but I'm serious! I'm not 100% sure your creation was... legal. Are you sure bad people aren't hunting for you?"
Now that I thought about... really strange people used to come by the studio asking to see me... every time they came around, one of the artists would grab me and my pals and take us very deep into the studio...
Like they were hiding us....
"... well... actually—"
A pair of tiny hands grabbed my hair and pulled hard. I shrieked at the pain and tried to remove them, but was of no avail.
"Look, his hair's so weird! Mommy, see!"
A little girl had grabbed me and was trying to get her mom's attention. Charlie reacted quickly and grabbed the girls' arms, attempting to get her to let go.
"Let go, that's mean!" he yelled at her.
By now the girl's mom finally noticed and picked her daughter up.
"Kelly! Don't do that, hands to yourself!" she look at the two of us. "Are you two ok? I'm so sorry!"
I sucked in a breath, lucky my child form didn't falter, and put on a big smile.
"I'm doing dandy!" I said.
The mom gave a laugh, while her daughter, Kelly, gave me a rather dirty look. The line moved again and Charlie linked arms with me.
"She didn't feel any ink did she...?" he asked.
"No, don't worry, pal! It feels just like real hair, no need to panic!" I held a thumbs up.
Charlie looked uncertain but let out a breath before looking forward.
"When this ride is over there should be an hour before the first parade. We'll go to Tomorrowland and do one of the attractions there to kill time. By the time it's done the parade will be starting and we'll be right at the start of it by the Tomorrowland entrance," he explained.
The line moved again and we were ushered into a large room with a bunch of other people. There were four portraits of people on the walls and a voice began to speak, silencing everyone.
"Welcome, foolish mortals, to the Haunted Mansion! I am your host, your ghost host. Kindly step all the way in please, and make room for everyone. There's no turning back now."
The Cast Members had everyone loaded in the room, and the fun was starting. The "ghost host" was going on a monologue about the mansion, and the room was beginning to stretch, showing there was more to the portraits. One showed a young woman on a tightrope over an open mouthed crocodile, another had a man standing on a barrel of dynamite getting ready to blow. The monologue ended with evil laughter and the lights going off. A loud scream was heard, and up above the body of a person could be seen hanging on a noose. The second it got dark I gasped and felt Charlie's hand grip mine.
"They're just special effects, ok? Nobody's dead here," I heard Charlie say, "get scared easily?"
"A little. It's good to have reassurance," I grinned.
The lights came back on. A door was opened and we were being lead somewhere else. Charlie pulled me and I followed, sticking close to him, to a place where people were being loaded into weird chairs; doom buggies they were called. But right before we got in one, a Cast Member pulled us both aside.
"Do you little mortals have an adult with you?" he asked.
"My mommy said we could go on by ourselves!" Charlie spoke in that cute tone he showed me.
"I'm sorry, little ones need adults to ride with them! You don't want to end up alone in the grave do you?"
I glanced at Charlie to see his face screw up into a frown. Then he sucked in a breath and made the biggest, cutest puppy eyes and poked his bottom lip out.
"Pweeease? We've been waiting all day! Pretty pwease?" he begged.
The Cast Member was starting to look annoyed. But he sighed in defeat and faced the line of people.
"Will a single rider please come to the front? Any single rider please come to the front!"
Before I knew it, we were in a doom buggy with a young woman wearing a yellow sundress and humming to herself and messing with a fancy cellphone from today. I could tell just by Charlie's face he didn't want an adult sitting with us; I didn't have to ask to know it was because he couldn't talk to me about certain things.
We sat side by side as the ride went down an old hallway. Charlie was still holding onto my hand; I figured it was because he was still so young and was used to an adult holding his hand and dragging him everywhere. He stayed silent, but I could tell he had a lot on his mind.
"Are you ok?" I asked him.
"Fine. Just enjoy the ride," he replied.
The girl beside us held her phone up and a flash came from it, blinding me for a mer second. Charlie grit his teeth and faced the girl.
"Can you please put your phone away. Flash photography ruins the ride, the only flashes should be from the simulated lightning and thunder,"
"Ugh, can you mind your own business? I'm taking selfies for my boyfriend," the girl scoffed.
"There's thousands of beautiful gardens and pieces of history and fun characters to takes pictures with in the park, rides like this are NOT one of them!"
"You know what? Fuck off, kid!"
I put a hand over my mouth. Charlie breathed heavily and grabbed the girl by her hair, pulling her head down to his level.
"Why don't YOU watch your language, or I will not hesitate to make you the thousandth ghost in this mansion, do you understand me?!" he yelled.
"Y-Yes! Let go, that hurts!"
Charlie released the girl then faced me with a clam look.
"I already know what you are going to ask; a selfie is a photograph someone takes of their self and then they share it with others on the Internet; that being a large digital society that allows people to communicate with each other from anywhere in the world and do whatever they want,"
I stared dumbfounded. Then I grinned and began to laugh.
The rest of the ride, that girl stayed quiet and didn't dare pull out her phone again. Charlie explained to me the wonders of the Haunted Mansion, how they used holograms and many other light tricks. He even explained the magic behind the mirrors containing the hitchhiking ghosts; fancy computer graphics! By the time we got off the ride, I was still humming that catchy tune to myself and smiling. I haven't had such fun in so long...
"So, where to next?"
"I was thinking Stitch's Great Escape. You have to see the animatronic, it's so cool!" Charlie beamed.
"And right after, we find Mickey in the parade!"
"That's right!"
Arms linked, we took off towards Tomorrowland, both almost laughing. I was really beginning to enjoy Charlie's company; he was smart, funny, and fierce...
He was just like Henry...