Blood and Ink

Chapter 19

Aiden, Lukas, and Kate were quiet as the ride car moved forward, taking them through the start of the haunted house and separating them from the others. As they sat down in their seats, they were unamused by how cheesy the ride appeared to be. It seemed to be a standard haunted house attraction, with very little things jumping up from behind tombstones to scare them.

But the three could care less about the ride. They didn't like how they had to sit in a secure amusement park ride car. They were in a rush to save Boris from Susie, and Susie had rigged the ride to make sure that they couldn't walk down the tunnel.

And as the three were going through the ride, they could hear Susie taunt them some more on her speakers.

"It's a funny thing, how so much can fall apart so fast," said Susie. "We never really had control at the studio. Either you're in someone's pocket, or you were putting someone into yours."

"Based on all of those old tapes, I believe that..." Lukas muttered.

The group could see that up ahead, it looked like Boris's shadow was in sight. They gasped, and even called out his name. Boris didn't move, which made them worry that they were too late and he was already dead.

"I just wanted what was promised to me! I just wanted to be beautiful! Surely the three you, of all people, could understand that!" said Susie angrily.

The ride came to a left turn for the three. They saw that what they spotted wasn't Boris, but a plushie seated right by a light. The plushie's shadow was just big because of how close the plushie was to the light bulb. They were relieved that it wasn't really Boris, but that meant that Susie still had him hostage.

"You three...three young people who have never even heard of this studio, or Joey Drew, until you have fallen down here... out of all people, why are you here?" Susie said.

"You know well why we're coming for you!" Lukas shouted.

"I didn't mean that. I meant, why are you here in the studio in general? We're all dying to find out..." said Susie.

The three fell silent. This whole crazy adventure, falling down into hell, encountering ink monsters, and fighting for their freedom, and now their new friends' freedom to, all began because of an invitation. A job offering. A trick and a trap.

But even they didn't know the true answer to what Susie was really asking.

Why did Joey want them to come to the studio? He was someone they never met before, nor heard about until they were offered the job. When they knew very little, didn't know the truth about what a greedy, possibly manipulative man, Joey Drew was.

Why did Joey bring them to his old stomping ground?

"Do you all just enjoy the terror of the drop into hell? Because if that's the case... hang on tight... I've got a surprise..." said Susie.

She went silent after that point. The three were nervous with her sudden silence. Kate tried to lift the safety bar for their car, but she couldn't get it up. Knowing Susie, the three knew she was going to try something else now. The three didn't want to be locked into their seats. Aiden and Lukas tried helping Kate lift the safety bar, but it still wouldn't budge.

The ride brought them through another set of doors, bringing them to an open room in the ride. There were lots of boxes and cobwebs in the room, however some furniture was also present. It appeared that the designers of the ride were trying to go for a spooky ballroom for the haunted house ride.

As cool and relaxing as the ride felt now, the three didn't try to pay attention to it that much. They knew something was coming, so they tried even harder to get out of their seats. The safety bar was secured tightly.