No Words (BATIM)

10| Connection

Bendy's POV
I appear in the living room and lay Brooke on the couch. I stare at her, unsure what to do.
Her breathing suddenly increases and tears roll down her face. I kneel to her side. "Nightmares?" I ask softly. I glance at her hands, somehow folded over her stomach. I brush my hand over hers. "I'm here, Dear-erm,-.. Brooke." Something pounds in my chest near my heart at this slip up. I shake my head, deciding to ignore it.
She moves, only slightly. Her expression contorts to a scowl, and her breathing is faster. I frown. What is going on inside your head?
I move to touch her forehead. When I do, I'm suddenly transported somewhere else. Somewhere not in the studio. I yank my hand back and I'm back to kneeling beside the couch.  "What the heck?"
I look around, and take a deep breath.
I carefully touch her forehead again and I'm back in some room outside of my knowledge. There's a luxurious looking bed off in the corner of the room. Next to it is a desk table, and some sort of black brick is on the ground in front of it. And there's a closet that's closed.
I step out of the room. The bathroom is in the hallway, and the doors open. It appears empty. I continue down the hallway. I pass by another empty room, when a heart beat comes into earshot. My eyes widen. Brooke!
I race down the hall, finding a kitchen and two figures standing around the dinning table. The first is Brooke. The other is an adult female. As I draw nearer to them, I notice that Brooke is.. glitching. Every now and then she appears as an inky girl..

The adult is screaming at her, I can hear, and she's signing away. The inky girl is crying and Brooke seems to be also. She's frowning at the adult, mouthing words that would be better screamed in their face.
I stop next to the grey fridge, and watch.
"No, Brooke Myles, you are not!" Yells the woman. As Brooke mouths back silent words, I swear I hear a faint voice speaking with her.
"' Yes I am,'" She mouths. The inky girl looks just as upset and mad as she does. "' I'm going back there today, Momma!'"
Is the ink girl talking?
"Does he even care about you?" Her mother shoots back. What?
Brooke opens her mouth. "Does he care about you? Yes or no" Her mother says again.
I've met a few people like this. They piss me off.
Brooke breathes in deeply and glares at Momma. "'Yes. He does. I know he does.'" She mouths
"And how do you know that?"
"'He saved me!'" Brooke shouts
"How do you know that?"
"'Because he saved me!'" She repeats in her mothers face.
Mom isn't listening..
"Yea, when did he do that, Brooke Myles? In your dreams? In fantasy land? Because you're living in fantasy land!" She shouts in her daughters face. "'No, two days ago!'"
"You're living in fantasy land!"
Brooke's eyes are on fire. "'I heard you!'"
"Did you?-"
"'Yes!-'"
"I don't think you did!-"
"'Yea, I did! I'm not lying, Mother!'"
"Oh stop playing the defense, no body's accusing you."
Brooke closes her mouth and bites her lip, tears flooding from her angry eyes. I can't do anything..
"'You don't believe me.'" Brooke's faint voice states.
Her mother looks around, still fuming. "I don't need to believe you, I said-"
"'You've already said that! I don't live in fantasy land!'"
"Then stop acting like it, Brooke! You little victim!"

Brooke stares at her, swallowing tears. "Gosh fucking damn it, Brooke it's not all about you! The world does not evolve around you!"
"'I know! I never said that it did.'"
"Oh my gosh, are you listening to yourself? This is going nowhere! You did not go to some magical world, meet some ink creature and fall in love! That is not what happened!"
Brooke is shaking on her feet. "'You don't know what happened-'"

Love?

"Yes I do you have an active, dangerous imagination."
"'You weren't there! Damn it, can you listen to me for once and stop over reacting like a child??'"
Her mother smacks her across the cheek. I flinch.

Brooke looks down at the couch and her mother grabs her face, forcing her make eye contact. "Don't you ever speak to me like that again, little girl. Do you understand?? Because this is your final warning."

Tears form in Brooke's eyes again. She nods slowly. "I demand a fucking answer, Brooke Myles!"
"'Y-yes ma'am.'" Brooke whimpers. Her mother whips her around and spanks her butt. She's whipped back around to face her. "You know better than to use that stupid address, do you understand??"
Brooke is whimpering and crying out her answer. "Y-yes. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Her mother lets go, pushing her back, letting her slip to the floor.
"Go get your ass ready for school." Her mother demands.
I'm fuming as Brooke shakily gets up and runs back to her room. I chase after her. I stop in the door way, right when she is picking out clothes from the closet. I reach out to her as she walks towards me, but she phases through me.
I'm pulled back to the studio, still kneeling beside the couch.

Brooke has started to stir. "Brooke?" I whisper.
She shakes her head slowly against the cushions. I gently shake her. "Hey, Brooke, it's me. Please wake up."
She silently yawns but her eyes remain closed. I look around, pink on my face as the thought comes through. I peck her on the cheek and sit back, quickly. "Pet, please wake up." I say softly. She starts to move, and cracks open her eyes. She blinks a few times and jolts backwards into the couch as she realizes how close in proximity I am. I look around. "S-sorry. You appeared to be experiencing stress. Was it a bad dream?" I ask innocently. She simply nods, shivering slightly. I nod, looking at the ground. "You know,..-" I begin gently. "Joey wasn't the best person either.. he might've taken Henry's credit for me, but he was not a uh.. creator. Never should've been. If you-.. get what I mean."
She tilts her head. I hold out my gloved hand. She glances between it and me, before writing a response. 'How..'
I evaporate the ink.
How do you know about my mother?
I bite my lip. "I.. somehow was able to see your dream." I reply.
She gazes at me in a way I'd never seen her do. I feel a flutter in my chest, and I shake my head quickly. "So uh, what do you want to do today?" I ask, randomly. She doesn't respond. She just hugs me.

We pull away and she does a motion of her hand from her chin, out at me. I picked up some of her 'signs' when she and her mother where fighting. This one means 'Thank you'