Hello my beasties! It's time for another chapter of the little gift story that I'm making for my darling follower, Maria37321! So let's begin....

The high school had let out for the day. All of the students spilled out onto the streets, some laughing about events in the previous day, some heading off to meet family members or friends, and some rushing home to get started on the mounds of homework that they had awaiting for them at home.

Through all of this hustle and bustle a girl stood out in the crowd. Her hair was short and black and pulled back in a red hairband, her eyes were brown. She wore a red blouse and black pants, and red finger-less gloves on her hands. On her neck she wore a gold necklace with a red stone set in the center and a zodiac bracelet on one arm.

She was currently waiting outside the school, leaned up against the wall as if she was waiting for someone.

Looking around, she watched the various students leaving the building, until someone caught her eye.

It was a tall girl with short brown hair, brown eyes, and a wide smile that formed when she saw the girl waiting for her. The girl wore striped leggings, a black skirt, and a t-shirt with Jack Skellington on it.

The girl with the red hairband smiled back at her. "Oriana, what took you?" She said good naturedly.

The other girl approached the first girl. "So sorry I'm late Maria, Mrs. Dobbs wouldn't let me out of library volunteering until I had re-organized the whole Halloween book display stuff until it was absolutely perfect!" Her voice went into a type of sing-song witchy voice as she was doing an impression of the completely perfectionist librarian.

Maria laughed a little. "Yeah, I understand that. Remember the time she got mad at me for accidentally bending the page the wrong way on a book I read."

The two girls laughed at the teacher's craziness and began to walk home from school, talking about their day.

Maria and Oriana were the best of friends, they had been for years ever since Maria had moved into town with her dad in sixth grade, and the two girls had bonded right away over their shared love of reading, movies, and most of all, their love of cartoons.

As the girls passed through the parking lot, they saw one of their favorite animation teacher in the parking lot, getting ready to leave for the day. He was an old man, with white hair pulled into a long pony-tail, clear blue eyes, and he wore a suit jacket over his super-Mario shirt and dress pants.

"Oh hi Mr. Alder!" They both said. Maria set her backpack down on the concrete near where their teacher's car was.

The old man smiled. "If it isn't my two best students. Now tell me, what have you planned for the weekend?"

Maria shrugged. "Not much, probably whatever homework I have, maybe watch some cartoons, or get started on my new library book."

Oriana  nodded sheepishly. "Kind of the same for me, except I'm going to have to be spending a lot of time with my four younger siblings." She shuddered at the thought, because her siblings could be little terrors a lot of the time.

Mr.  Alder  smiled. "Well I wouldn't expect any less from you girls, just remember to get your projects in okay?"

Both of the girls nodded, and began to get ready to leave.

Maria lifted up her backpack, but then her things spilled out of it, due to the faulty zipper. Her papers fell all over the floor, and her pens and pencils immediately spilled out of her bag.

"Crap!" She made a motion to pick up her things.

"Let me help." Their teacher responded, and began gathering her papers. Oriana also helped and she soon had to go chasing after one of Maria's papers because the wind had picked up and had begun to blow it away.

Maria was so concerned with picking up her things, that she didn't notice Mr.Alder reach into the pocket of his suit jacket and pull up a folded slip of yellow paper, and placing it into the book that Maria had previously in her backpack.

After a while, everything was picked up and organized, and Oriana had returned back to Maria with the sheet of paper, very much out of breath.

Maria looked sheepishly at her teacher. "Thank you, I really need to get a new backpack..."

He cut her off, with a smile on his face. "It was no problem, I'm just happy to help a student in need." Then he smiled and motioned for them to get going. "Now go off and enjoy your weekend, girls!"

The two friends left the school, talking all the way back.

"So, are you on for a Bendy show marathon after we're done our homework?" Oriana asked mischievously.

The Bendy show was a favorite of the two friends. It chronicled the adventures of a cute little demon called Bendy and his bumbling but well-meaning friend named Boris the wolf. Along with a host of other weird and unusual characters, they had many crazy adventures in a dark-Disney style world. (Oriana described it as the love-child of old Mickey mouse cartoons and Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy)

The show had started off as three little shorts but had expanded into a regular cartoon in the 80's when Maria's dad had worked at the studio.

Maria smiled and laughed a little at her friends expression. "Yeah, but can we do it at your house? Remember what happened when we did that last time?"

Oriana's smile faded a little as they remembered the last time they had watched the Bendy show.

They had been sitting in the living room of Maria's house watching some episodes and eating candy, when the front door opened and Maria's dad came in.

His smile immediately faded and was replaced with horror when he saw what they were watching.

"Oriana, I'm going to have to ask you to leave." He said, his voice barely a whisper.

Oriana, who clearly knew this was a family matter, collected her things and left.

Maria's dad walked over and switched off the T.v.  Maria looked up at him in confusion.

"Dad...."

Her dad's voice became angry. "I thought I told you not to watch that show in this house."

Maria cast her eyes down. "Dad, I know you don't like the show because of something that happened between someone and you at the studio where you worked, but I don't see why it's so bad. I mean, some of the characters Joey Drew created are pretty great, especially Bendy..."

Her dad looked horrified at the name. "I told you to never mention that!"

Maria flinched, and her dad calmed down. He walked over to Maria and put his hand on her.

"Look honey, when I worked on the cartoon with Joey Drew and the others, that was in the past. Sure, it was fun while it lasted, but I needed to eventually move on with my life. And that included leaving the studio."

Maria looked up at him, confused. "But that was your dream wasn't it? Why did you give it up?"

Her father's expression darkened. "Some dreams may seem wonderful at first, but some dreams are really nightmares in disguise. That's why I had to leave. I eventually woke up, and realized that my dream had turned into a nightmare."

Maria was still confused, but she nodded. Her dad hugged her.

"Now how about we turn on your favorite movie okay?"

Maria still remembered that clearly.

"Yeah, let's do that at your house this time." Oriana nodded and her eyes lit up as if remembering something.

"Oh! Did you remember to finish that book I recommened to you?"

Maria smiled at her friend's excitement, and nodded.

"Yeah, it was pretty good. I liked how it was love that saved Meg, Calvin and Charles from the darkness at the end of A Wrinkle in Time." Oriana nodded, understanding, and Maria reached into her bag to get the book out.

As she got the book out, something caught her eye.

"Huh? What's this?"

It was a slip of yellowed paper, tucked into the center of the book.

Maria looked at Oriana. "Did you leave something in there?"

"No way! I didn't touch that since I lent it to you."

Maria unfolded the piece of paper, and the two girls read the words on the note.

Dear Maria

It seems like a lifetime since your father and I worked on cartoons.

30 years really slips by you, doesn't it?

If you are interested, come and visit the old workshop.

There's something I need to show you.

Your best pal,

Joey Drew

The girls finished reading the note in shock. Then, Oriana broke the silence.

"Omg. You just got invited to see the workshop where they made the Bendy Show! And by the creator of it too! Maybe there's a huge fortune down there, and since he probably doesn't have any living relatives, he wants to give us the studio!"

Maria looked up at her. "I know, but I don't know how I'll even get to the place. People said it was located somewhere remote in the words, remember? And I don't know if my Dad would let me go even. Remember what happened with the cartoon? If he knew I was contacted by one of his old animation pals, he'd probably lock me in my room until I was 80."

Oriana's excitement faltered for a moment, then she thought. "But what if he didn't know? What if he thought we were going out for a day trip to the mall or something tomorrow? That way, he wouldn't worry about where we were! And I can get a map from online. There's a pretty accurate pinpoint location from those "scared teens" who made that video five years ago. "

Maria thought for a while, then she agreed. "Okay, but we have to be back before sunset, because I don't like lying to my dad like this."

Oriana squealed in excitement, then the two girls hugged.

They were going to see something many fans of the Bendy show had only dreamed of! What could go wrong.....

Well, I'm done the first chapter! I hope you enjoyed it Maria!

I'll see you soon in chapter two....