My Little Devil Darling

Moving Pictures

It has been a few months since Joey had the Ink Machine built and he has been hidden for a few hours every day; saying he's working on a special project. No one in the studio had a clue on what the man was doing; some tried sneaking in but were caught immediately. Sammy was the only one who continued when everyone else gave up, every time his boss walked out of the Ink Machine room, he would demand to know what he was doing. The only replies the music director was given was 'be patient' or 'you'll see soon'; he soon stopped trying after a bit. Charlotte was also curious about what her Grandpa was doing behind the closed door, but she never said anything. Most of her time during the work hours were spent drawing and playing the piano with Uncle Sammy. But she noticed a different person roaming the music department. It turns out a few days ago, Joey had hired someone to voice act side characters and she was lovely. Charlotte loved the women's voice when she sang; she was also going to be the voice actor for the new character named Alice Angel. Susie was doing her vocal warm-ups when she met the animator's daughter. She saw the little girl walking into the recording studio alongside Sammy. The voice actor walked out of the small room she was in to go meet Charlotte. The girl was introduced to Susie and she instantly started calling her 'Auntie Susie', causing her to give a strange glance.

"It's a thing she does," Sammy whispered into the woman's ear, "It means she likes you and is accepted into her family."

Susie gave a nod and waved goodbye to the child, going back to her work.

It was quiet in the studio, most of the work was done for the new Alice Angel cartoon, 'Sent From Above'. Susie was in her recording room, practicing the song Joey asked her to perform. Halfway through the song, however, there was a knock on the viewing window, causing Susie to stop. The singer looked around and found Charlotte standing at the window; smiling. Susie laughed a little and opened the door to let the girl in.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to see what you were doing," Charlotte answered.

"I'm just practicing a new song for a cartoon."

"I want to help, can I? Can I?"

The animator's daughter was cute, how could Susie say 'no'? She nodded and Charlotte cheerfully pushed a chair that she found beside Susie so that she could reach the microphone and see the lyrics to the song. Picking up the pencil she had on the music stand, the singer drew arrows beside the lines that Charlotte would sing. The performance went pretty well, Charlotte singing all the parts the had arrows. She found out that they were the same words every time, but she didn't mind, she just liked that she was hanging out with Auntie Susie. It was nearing the end of the song and the girl was ready for her last line.

"I ain't no flapper, I'm a classy dish, and boy, can this girl sing. This gal can grant your every wish..."

"I'm Alice Angel!" yelled Sammy as he banged his fists against the recording room's window, starling the voice actor and scaring the girl so much, she backed up to the wall behind her. The music director laughed and let himself into the room.

Susie was furious, "Sammy! You scared Charlotte, why would you do that?"

He put his hands up in defence.

"It was just a little joke," he insisted, "I didn't think I would scare her that bad."

Sammy turned to face the frightened child and gave a sympathetic look; starting to walk closer to her.

"I'm sorry, I really am, I promise it won't happen again."

Charlotte wiped the fallen tears off her face and slowly walked over to the man; wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

It was the end of the day and everybody had left, except for Henry and Charlotte, who have been asked by Joey to stay behind for a while. He lead the pair down the hallway, towards the Ink Machine room, unlocking the door and letting them in.

"Alright Joey," Henry stated when his friend closed the door again, "What is it that you wanted to show us?"

Charlotte was confused as to what Joey wanted to show them. Is it the thing he's been keeping a secret for so long? What was it anyway?

"This is something that I've been trying to perfect for some time now," Joey said, walking over to a door and opening it, "I feel like you two should be the ones to see the finished product first. Especially you, Charlotte."

Charlotte? Why her? Joey walks away from the closet, holding a wrench.

"I remember when you were talking to your father about it and I thought, why not? It'll be fun for you and be the best thing for this company."

The man turned his head to face another door in the room.

"You can come out now, it's okay."

The door that they were looking at slowly swung open and two feet were seen from the space under the door. The mysterious figure poked his black, horned head out just enough to show his big, pie-cut eyes to view the new strangers. Charlotte recognized those horns and eyes anywhere; she was astonished. The devil completely showed himself, still clung to the door, his cartoony smile being the focal point of the living character. Henry was speechless, he honestly couldn't say anything. His daughter, however, started to walk closer to the little devil, causing him to hide behind the door again. The animator still couldn't believe it, their star character in the show... alive. How and why?

"Joey, what have you done?" he finally stuttered out.

The girl was still trying to encounter the cartoon but backed away because she saw how frightened he was. She tilted her head to the side, frowned, then sadly made her way to her father's side; leaning up against him.

"Isn't he great?" Joey exclaimed, "I finally got him to be perfect; now Charlotte will have a friend to play with and we can use him for the cartoons at times."

"What you did is impossible and should not have been done."

"This is best for our company and our cartoons. Bendy being alive is a pure blessing and should be taken seriously!"

"Stop! Please," Charlotte interrupted, "We're all scaring him. He's hiding because of your arguing and everything being new."

The two friends looked at the child in amazement, not expecting something like that to come out of her.

"Can I meet him by myself?" she asked, "You want him to be my friend, right Grandpa Joey? I think it'll be easier with just a kid in the room."

The man sighed, but nodded, taking Henry and himself out of the Ink Machine room. The door was closed and so the room was super quiet, the low, quiet rumbling coming from the machine making the only noise.

"Bendy?" the girl called out, "They're gone, but you don't have to come out if you don't want to."

Charlotte went quiet again and decided to sit and lean up against a wall, having her knees up to her chest and head resting on her arms. Soon after she heard the floorboards creaking, but she didn't move. That was until she saw a shadow on her and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the little devil standing in front of her. Charlotte lifted her head and looked at the cartoon, he just stared right back, then he sat down and crossed his legs. Charlotte did the same and put her hands in her lap. What surprised the child was that Bendy started to mimic her actions. Curious, Charlotte experimented with the devil darling and did different poses, the next one having her hands flat on her knees. Bendy copied the girl soon after. This didn't go on for much longer but Charlotte did her last one a little differently... she held up her hand in front of her, sort of like a high-five, and the cartoon just stared blankly. He looked at the little girl's hand and then to his own; then he slowly moves his white, gloved hand to the skinny, tanned one. He finally pressed his hand onto Charlotte's, making her smile. She looked back at Bendy; a smile still planted on her face.

"Best friends forever."

Henry was sitting on the couch in the living room, Charlotte already in bed sleeping, and his mind was full of thoughts about what Joey did. He was calm and okay with the living cartoon now, since Charlotte became friends with him; the demon also became familiar with his creator as well. But there was still a feeling in the back of the father's mind, telling him that something's going to go wrong. Joey said the machine was safe, plus having a cartoon brought to life with nothing bad happening, made him push the thought away. Henry will like having the dancing demon around; playing with his daughter.

"I guess having Bendy around won't be so bad after all."