My Little Devil Darling

Alice's Final Bow

The young woman stood among the giant lever beckoning her to pull it down. Once she did, the gates to the haunted house entrance slid open, revealing the carts and track inside. A loud haunted laugh echoed through the speakers of the ride, inky writing ahead of her warning her to turn back. She refused the advice and carefully climbed into the grinning cart in front of her. The protective bar closed on Charlotte as the ride came to a start on its own.

"And now, the ride truly begins," the Angel's voice rang through the speakers, "Come in, and pretend it's all just a bad dream."

Hearing Alice's voice within the ride was scarier than the attraction itself; she jumped as the ghosts popped out from behind the graves, worried that the Angel would appear instead.

"It's a funny thing. How so much can fall apart so fast. I just wanted what was promised to me. I just wanted to be beautiful! I just wanted to see her face just one last time. I'm sure you couldn't possibly understand the feeling of disgust I had when I heard you broke in here, Impostor!"

Charlotte groaned as she was once more called an Impostor. If they would only listen, they would understand that she is who they think she is. Although at the same time, the girl was impressed that these people remembered her in the first place. They have been trapped and drowned in the studio for quite a long time. She was so young when she had to leave. Charlotte jumped again as another ghost appeared from behind a grave. The eerie silence was deafening as the cart continued down its planned track.

"Tell me...why are you here? We're all dying to find out. Do you just enjoy the terror of the drop into hell? The feeling of pain inside everyone around you? Because if that's the case. Hang on tight. I've got a surprise."

The way she sounded about this supposed surprise was sinister. Of course, Charlotte expected nothing less out of this twisted Angel. A gate in front of her slowly swung open and revealed a huge room filled with scattered furniture and wooden boxes. They were probably parts of the attraction that never got set up. The walls held frames of haunted drawings, ugly wallpaper, and boarded windows. As the cart reached the end of the room, another gate opening to a dark path, her ride came to a sudden stop. Charlotte attempted to step out of the ride, but two gigantic hands reached out from the darkness and blocked her. She was horrified by what she saw in front of her.

"Boris?!" the young woman could barely contain her tears, "Oh no, what did she do to you? Boris. Buddy- Ah!"

She felt the cart shake, and she was lifted into the air with ease by this monstrous new Boris. She got thrown across the room, and the cart shattered into pieces from the impact. Charlotte groaned and ached as she forced herself to stand amongst the monster in front of her.

Alice cackled as she watched her creation chase after the rotten Impostor. "Meet the new and improved Boris!" She spoke through the microphone, "I took what I wanted, and in return, I gave him so much more! And this time, there's no Ink Demon, no friends, no escape. You're mine, Impostor; you will pay with your life for the pain you've caused me!"

Her anger grew stronger as the memories of her past flooded in. It was sickening and overwhelming. She had never remembered so much until she saw the girl's face for the first time. She was so familiar, yet she was not who she once knew. That life was long gone, and so was Charlotte. She knew what had happened as well, and she was devastated. She growled and screamed to herself at the thought of an impersonator breaking into this studio. This girl was going to perish for it.

"Boris, tear her apart! Leave nothing!"

Charlotte cried in fear as she ran from the Brute Boris charging at her. His path seemed constant, following her until he ran and hit the wall ahead of him. There has to be a way to defeat him, Charlotte thought, catching her breath. As much as it pained her to attack and destroy her closest friend, she felt it was the only way to escape this haunted house alive. As the girl dodged another one of the monster's charges, Charlotte noticed a familiar ink machine. It was the same one she used to create the gear to get across the endless pit. The next question was where Charlotte would find the thick ink she needed to make a weapon. Boris once again ran towards the young woman and hit the wall behind her. That's when she found her source of ink. The monster stood holding his chest while whatever the Angel forced inside of him pulsed and rejected from his body. Charlotte took the time while he was stunned to find a small pile of thick ink and ran towards the machine to make a weapon. As she flipped through the options, she came across a pipe.

"That will do." She huffed and pulled the lever to create the weapon just as Boris composed himself for the next attack.

Charlotte held the pipe close to her as she dodged Boris once more. She needed to wait until he was stunned again to take a swing at the beast; that would gain her another pile of ink as well. It was going to take a lot of patience to get through this. Boris hit the wall again as his body rejected his modifications, and Charlotte charged towards him and hit his chest with her weapon. It shattered immediately on impact, and the monster swung his giant hand and knocked her away. Her body fell and slid into one of the wooden boxes hard. She groaned as she attempted to recover. Through her blurred vision, she saw Boris reaching for something moving on the track. Adrenaline rushed through her as she rushed to stand and run just seconds before the metal cart crashed into the box. At this point, her life was too in danger for her to worry about the pain throughout her body. She picked up the ink and made another pipe; just as she picked it up, the Brute Boris threw another cart, and it crashed into the little machine, destroying it.

"This is my last chance," Charlotte muttered, panicked, "I hope it's enough."

She quickly dodged the last cart, and the beast stood still for the last time. Charlotte charged for the last time towards him and hit his chest with the final pipe. He grunted as his body rejected all of the Angel's wrongdoings, and he fell back onto the ground completely still. The young woman couldn't help but kneel next to Boris, tears in her eyes, as he faded away.

"I'm sorry, Buddy..."

All of a sudden, Alice grabbed Charlotte from behind and squeezed the girl's throat.

"Why can't you ever just die!" she screamed, "Who do you think you are? Do you think you can waltz in here like you own the place? You don't belong here! You deserve to rot in hell!"

The young woman struggled to speak as she tried to pull Alice's hands away from her neck. In a failed attempt, she decided to try and find evidence that she wasn't an impostor. She rummaged through her bag to find the paper of the old song she remembered, and when she did, Charlotte held it up in front of her face for the Angel to see. Alice's gripped softened and gained the girl access to free herself from her grasp.

"You remember this, right?" Charlotte started, keeping her distance, "I remember it too. I remember us together in your recording booth; we sang this together. Sammy scared me, and you comforted me and scolded him. I remember."

"How dare you!" Alice ran towards Charlotte and clawed at her blindly as the girl dodged the attacks. "You're a liar! An Impostor! I hate liars!"

"My name is Charlotte Stein!" She was starting to lose her breath. "Henry Stein's daughter. Why would I lie about that? I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be this far for no reason. I'm trying to remember my past!"

"Charlotte's dead!"

"I'm not dead, Susie!"

Alice's working eye widened at the sound of her real name. She thought for a moment. Although the tone of the girl's voice was angry, the way she said her name was so familiar. She was still for a moment looking straight at Charlotte. The girl had a point, how would she know all this personal information?

"You're not going to ask me specific questions, are you?" Charlotte asked, breaking the silence. "I still don't exactly remember everything yet."

"Huh?" Alice awoke from her thoughts. "N-No. I do have two questions, though: Why are you here? And how did you know to come here?"

"It's a pretty long story." Charlotte reached into her bag and pulled out the Bendy doll. "I found this many years ago, and I've kept it ever since. One of my school friends recognized it and told me about this studio. I feel like someone wanted me to come here, and they hid this for me to find. I know it wasn't my father, he tried keeping this part of my life from me, and I don't know the reason for that, either."

"You shouldn't have come here."

"Well, I'm sure there's an exit around here somewhere. But I don't want to leave anymore." Charlotte put the song sheet and toy back into her bag. "I want to remember all of my past here and figure out who wanted me here. I have so many questions, and yet there are no answers for them yet."

Alice's expression softened at the girl, and she was super relieved that Charlotte wasn't dead. At the corner of her eye, she noticed a shadowy figure creeping towards Charlotte. Alice had to think fast.

"Charlotte, watch out!" She shouted as she pushed the young woman aside just as the stranger swung her sword and stabbed the Angel right in the chest. Charlotte gasped at the sight and watched as Susie fell to the ground as the stranger lay down their sword.

Charlotte took a few steps back as the stranger turned their head and stared right at her. They slowly moved toward her, and she continued to step backwards, unknowingly realizing that someone else was waiting behind her. They took the back of their axe and hit the back of Charlotte's head with it. She fell to the floor, and before she passed out, she saw the two figures stand tall above her.

"Tie it up. We have to hurry back to the safehouse; it won't be long until he finds us here."

She felt herself get picked up by one of them, and she groaned as she finally lost consciousness.