Bendy and the Ink Machine: Who's Laughing Now?

3

I saw Dot the day after, from a distance. She was small, pretty and looked confident. I saw her holding the door for you, Buddy, which was strange since you never said anything about getting a job at the studio. I rushed to catch up but, as soon as I reached the door, you were both gone. I followed suit and was immediately lost. At least I wasn't lost in the dark. It drains me of my free will. Lost in the void of never-ending blackness. There were so many people in the foyer and I felt like I couldn't breathe. People all over the place; walking left, right and all in between. I had a severe case of claustrophobia, and just standing here in it all wasn't making things any better. I needed to sit. I needed to breathe. Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, the room was empty.

I was sitting on a chair near the entrance with a woman staring at me. "Are you ok there?" She asked. I nodded this usually happened when I got claustrophobic. My mind shut down. Taken over by some unseen force. "Are you Peter Dolivo?" I nodded again, still trying to regain my consciousness. "Mrs Elizabeth Walsh," she stuck out her hand for me to shake. I didn't. I couldn't. It was asleep. "I'm the head of the story department. If you'll follow me, I'll show you to your workstation." I couldn't get up, but I had to follow her.

Mrs Walsh glided down the hallway. Not walked, glided. It was strange to see, but I staggered on after her. We got in the elevator and headed up a few floors. It was all the same as before. The elevator halted to a stop, like it had done the first time, and snapped me back to reality just in time to enter story. We entered a room with heads bent over desks. No doubt working on the latest Bendy stories. "Everyone, listen up." Mrs Walsh said, getting the attention of the entire room. "This is Peter Dolivo, our new writer."

"Another writer?" Someone asked. "We have tons already!"
"Joey put a stop to new hires, didn't he?" a man named Mike called out. This was awkward. It was like being the new kid at school. Entering your class and the other kids would immediately make an opinion on you. It was unnerving, but that's how it happened. And no one can change that. "He's the one who hired Peter." With that, everyone stopped talking to Mrs Walsh and got back on with their work. "You can take that desk over there, next to Dot." She said. "Luckily it's the last one we have."

The desk was cosy. Very little space, but just enough to cover the length of it when you spread out your arms. Not too big, not too small. I liked that. "Hi," I leaned in towards Dot. "I'm-"
"Peter, I heard." She was very direct, Dot was. Knew just what to say and how to say it. I liked that in a girl. "So what am I meant to do here?" I knew I was meant to write stories so the art department could add a scene but I never thought that I may need permission. "Just write something." Dot replied. "But once you've written it, it needs to go through me for spell checks then Joey next." I got it now.

Suddenly, I heard the elevator open. I quickly got back to my work just in case it was Mister Drew. But it wasn't. Buddy entered the room and started talking to I was guessing Mrs Walsh's secretary. "Hey, I'm Buddy," I heard from afar "I'm new here. I was told to deliver this folder?" Buddy must have got a job here too. Maybe even the same day I did. "Take it over to Dot." I heard the secretary reply. "Who's Dot?" I heard him reply back. I looked up. Buddy was definitely in a pickle. "The only female writer in the room." I looked around. The writers were all men. Dot was the only odd one out. Buddy started walking over and we caught each other's eye. I decided to get back to work before I got in trouble.