Charley And The Swap Machine: Re-Ink'd

CHAPTER 3: Part 1 - (Sort-Of) Safehouse

The Voice Of Henry Stein

Only two weeks into this company, and already it's gotten interesting.

Joey is a man of ideas, and only ideas.

When I agreed to start this whole thing with him, I thought there'd be a little more give and take.

Instead I give, and he takes. I haven't even seen Linda for days now.

Still, someone has to make this happen. When in doubt, just keep drawing, Henry.

On the plus side, I got a new character I think people are going to love.

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Above all else, Henry hoped this was a dream.

He was hoping that Joey ended up forgetting he existed, and he never got that stupid letter in the mail.

He was hoping that he didn't really see a corpse, a monster, several more smaller monsters, ANOTHER dead body, and some drug addict cultist.

And he was especially hoping that he didn't just meet one of the people who was supposed to be one of the corpses from earlier.

Yes, when he woke up, he would be back home, in his bed, with his wife and daughter waiting for him......

...

Henry opened his eyes, and saw the exact opposite of that.

"....Well, shit. This is real. Okay. Cool. Mhm. Yep. Nnnnnnot distressing at all."

He sat up and rubbed his forehead, taking in his new surroundings once more. He was sitting on a cot of some sort- Why does Joey even need a cot?- in a small room. A hammock hung in one part of the room, and when he looked to his left, he was greeted by one of the posters he saw before. 'Sailor Sillies'. Now that one I remember.

He got up and made him way out of the room, going to the end of the hallway and looking to his right.

There, at a table, sat Barley. He was leaned over and staring off into the distance, barely noticing Henry as he walked into the area.

Henry grabbed the ukulele next to him, and sat down in the chair across from the sailor, making him nearly spring out of his seat upon noticing him.

"AH! Y-You're- You're awake! I-"

"What, you thought I died?"

"N-NO! Of course not..." He looked away for a minute. "...Well, maybe I did, a little bit...."

"Well, I did pass out in front of you, so I guess I can't blame you."

Henry leaned back and strummed a few sour notes. "This thing's tiny."

"Well, I'm not a very big...uh....'person'." Barley nodded his head to the instrument. "....Can I have it back?"

Henry handed it back to him, who carefully set it down next to him. "...I've got a million questions ever since I've walked through that studio door, and I think you can answer a few of them."

Barley looked up at Henry with a perplexed expression and pointed at himself. "M-Me??"

"You're the talking cartoon character over here."

The cartoon sighed. "I hate answering questions....Fine. What do you want?"

"First of all, let's talk about the elephant in the room. How in the hell are you here in the first place?"

Barley froze up. "....Well...I.....I don't...."

"You certainly know, with the way you're acting."

"...How do I explain this without s-sounding insane....u-uh..." His eyes darted around the room. "...All I know is that we came from, well, where we usually live. It doesn't...have all these colors.."

Henry tilted his head. "You mean like..a cartoon world?"

Barley gave a shaky sigh. "I g-guess you could say that. I don't know...how we even came here.....all I know is that these big, goopy hands came and.." He indicated a grabbing motion. "One b-by one, over t-time. First Charley, then a few weeks later, me..."

"Okay, so now I know that some weird magic shit happened, and you guys got taken into our world. Okay. But....HOW? Did Joey do some, like.....ritual?"

The sailor flinched at the word 'Joey', and was silent for a while.

"Barley? Barley, answer me. Shit, did I break you? I'm sorry, I-"

".....H-Have you ever s-seen a dead b-body?"

Henry's eyes widened. "....Ever since I got here, I've seen, like, two...don't...don't tell me..."

"...Daniel Lewek. That was his name, but he told me t-to call him...Buddy. H-He used to...talk to me...but....he's gone now. I...I don't..."

"Joey used..real people..to make you guys. Okay. Cool. What else is new." Henry sighed, rubbing his forehead.

Barley was shaking in his seat at this point. "...I..I s-saw a bit of it....o-once. S-Some lady...she...died to make....E-Edgar...J-Joey put her in th-the Machine...."

"He....what? Wait.....Edgar? He's alive too? Where is he?"

Barley buried his face in his gloved hands, despondent.

Henry got up from his seat. "Barley? I asked too much, didn't I? I..."

"....I-I just w-want them b-back......"

"What..?"

He curled up in that seat. "..Th-They're...d-different now...th-they won't t-talk to m-me....."

Henry huffed and bent down to his level. "Hey, bud, listen. How about we do each other a favor? You help me get out of here, and I'll help you get your friends back." He held out a hand for him to shake. "Okay? Promise."

The cartoon peeked through his hands, and limply shook Henry's, still covering his face with one hand. "...Okay.."

"Alright, little buddy. It's a deal. Hey, you wanna...play some cards or something? Pass the time?"