Same Story, Something New

2 - The Ink Angel

Hailey's POV

The Alice Angel plushie sat on a chair next to the projector. I grabbed and returned to the break room and placed it on its pedestal. Then, a sign next to the lever lit up with the words Low Pressure.

"Ok!" I exclaimed with a clap of my hands. "That is all of them! I just need to get the ink flowing somehow. Should be a switch around here somewhere. Then I can start up the main power. Question is, where is it?"

----

I spent half an hour looking for the switch, when I finally found it in the theater. I facepalmed myself. "Seriously? It was here the entire time?"

With a sigh, I pulled it, and returned to the break room, and the sign now said Ready. I walked over to it and pulled the lever. The lights dimmed as the sound of Ink flowing through the pipes could be heard, and the sign now said Running. I then returned to the ink machine, and noticed the doorway was blocked by wooden boards.

Confused, I slowly walked towards the blocked doorway. I reached out with my hand to touch a board when something jumped out. I let out a startled yelp as I fell backwards, then sat up. A woman with an imposing height of 7'2 stood on the other side of the boards, towering over me and my height of 5'10.

She was beautiful, yet very terrifying. Her long black dress flowed down her form before it came to a rest at the floor, and her matching full-arm gloves seemed to be connected to it. The manilla bow on the chest hung lowly from the front. Long black, curved horns popped out from behind her bangs, and her black mane of hair reached down to her knees as it flowed down her shoulders and back. Ink dripped from the choker around her neck. The golden, glowing halo around her left horn was melting and dripping golden ink. Her lips were painted black, matching the ink stains under her black-scelera, yellow pie-cut pupil eyes. In her hand rested a gold microphone with devil horns and two halos, one around the right horn, and the other at the bottom of the mic.

"Hello my darling creator." She purred. She grinned as she scanned me with her eyes. "I'm so... elated to finally meet you. I have to admit, I'm spellbound" I recognized her angelic voice as the one that sang the version of Lonely Angel from the theator's projector.

Frozen in place, I found myself unable to form words. This is impossible. It can't be her. It can't be. Cartoon's can't come to life...

"Aren't you happy to see me?" She asked with a frown. "I know I look very different, but don't you recognize your beloved Angel?"

"Alice?" I gasped as I found myself back on my feet.I desperately wanted to believe my eyes and ears. I wanted to believe that my wish had finally come true. But part of me refused to believe it. Part of me was unable to accept the possibility that my most precious fantasy was now reality.

"Are you real?" I whimpered as I slowly started to reach out to touch her.

Suddenly we heard loud groans come from the pipes in the walls. Fear made me freeze again. The pipes I had seemed old, and the studio itself was run down and abandoned. If they burst, this place could be flooded with ink. I fearfully realized.

Alice seemed to read my mind and had a calm expression on her face while she reached out to grab my hand, but she wasn't quick enough. Loud booms resonated throughout the halls as pipes ruptured, and torrents of ink started to flood the studio. My hand jerked away from Alice's just as she made an attempt to grab it. I started to whimper as I fearfully looked around and saw the ink level rising.

"Not again," I whined. "I'm getting the hell out of here!"

"Hey! Come back here!" Exclaimed the Ink Angel.