Pretending

1: A Walk In The Woods

The next day had started. I woke up and pulled my blanket off. It was another day in Hotel OJ. Many of the residents here weren't too fond of me, but I could see why. I spent most of my short time on Inanimate Insanity Season 2 being horrible to everyone else, and I didn't care a single bit. At least, I pretended not to. Whenever someone looked at me, I knew what was going through their mind.

"Hey look, it's Trophy, the annoying jerk that thinks he's above everyone else. I wonder how he'll make my day worse this time."

I knew that's what they thought of me. I hated it. I wanted to change. I really did. But considering what happened to Taco and Balloon, I figured that change wasn't allowed here. If I stopped being the jock stereotype, they would treat me as horribly as them, if not worse. So, every day, I would keep up this act. I would pretend to be this annoying jock that everyone hated. But that wasn't me. When I was around others, I had to be like that, or risk being cast out like Taco and Balloon. At least he had tried. But it was too late for me now. I had used up all my time on the show being someone I wasn't. Balloon had a chance, and he took it. Even through Nickel's constant resentment towards him, he tried. I secretly admired him for that. But I couldn't tell him. I couldn't tell anyone. It would make me look weak and defenseless. That's the one thing the jock character isn't supposed to be. They're not supposed to be all soft and stuff. They had to be mean and annoying. They had to be the best at everything. I was only the best at making others hate me. Well, at least it was something.

I hadn't realized how long I was sitting here until Soap walked in to check on me. She cared about everyone here, even me. It was weird to have someone like you, especially when all you did to them was be horrible.

I always felt weird when I was around her. I knew it wasn't love, just...something. I couldn't tell what it was, but it was weird.

"Hey, Trophy!" she called out.

"Breakfast is almost over! You don't want to miss pancake day, do you?"

Every Monday, Paper would make pancakes for everyone, to try and kill the bad Monday mood. It always worked. I quickly hopped out of bed and ran downstairs, not wanting to miss out. I almost tripped going down the stairs, which made me think.

What if I did trip? What if I fell down the stairs, and everyone saw? I would get a laugh out of them for sure, but it would only make them hate me more. Hell, OJ would probably kick me out for making that much noise. He always tried to find ways to kick out Balloon, so I assumed the same went for me. I was one of the few objects that didn't think he was the scum of the earth. But I couldn't tell him that. I couldn't tell anyone. I had to keep the act up, or I could end up like Bow. Dead and forgotten. I didn't want to die. I feared being forgotten more. That part of my jock schtick always stuck with me. Everyone needed someone to care about them. Soap had ended up being that someone for a lot of us. I worried about her well being because of that. She always overworked herself to keep the hotel clean and everyone happy. I didn't know why she did it. I wasn't complaining about her helpfulness, but doing that much would burn out anyone. She couldn't have gotten more sleep than OJ, which is pretty scary. I swear, he doesn't even sleep most of the week. Paper always offered to take over as manager so he could get some much needed rest, but he always refused. OJ always insisted that he was fine, but everyone knew he was doing horrible. He had to have some secret stash of coffee to be able to get away with not sleeping 5 or 6 days a week. Or it was black magic. I stuck with the coffee stash for now.

I had made it to the dining area, and everyone was almost finished. I sat down between Fan and Microphone, when Paper came over to me.

"How many?" He asked me. I didn't feel like I deserved any, much less the choice of how many.

"..."
"2."

Everyone just stared at me. I had always taken 4 or 5 pancakes. To hear that number come out of my mouth must have really shocked them. I wasn't getting out of this easily. So, I kept my jock act up and said:

"If you wanna keep those eyes, you had better look somewhere else."

That had gotten them off me. As Paper brought me my plate, I couldn't help but notice him shaking. I knew he was scared of a lot of things, since paper got destroyed by almost everything, but I knew that he especially feared me. Well, who wouldn't? I was the jock, after all. But I knew someone who didn't. He thought that he was better than me, and he was right. Ever since he had said those words, I really questioned why I acted like this. I could still hear his voice, saying the words over and over again.

"You're a jock, and I'm a jerk."

I finished my pancakes and brought my syrup covered plate to the sink. Even when I pretended to be a jock, I still had some shred of decency. As I went to go back upstairs to my room, I looked out the window. I saw the Perilous Forest looking back at me. Maybe I needed some fresh air. After all, OJ did turn up the heaters a little too high during the winter. I walked away from the stairs and grabbed my scarf from a hook. I pushed the doors open and walked out into the snow covered Insanity Island.

The cold was refreshing. The heat inside the hotel was really getting to me. It could probably melt me if it was turned up any higher. But would anyone even care? I looked back to Hotel OJ, seeing it in the near distance. They wouldn't care. No one cared about the jock. I bet they're happy I'm out here. They would've not told MePhone to recover me and eventually forget I existed.

No. I can't be forgotten. I won't be forgotten. But I was deep in the Perilous Forest now. I couldn't find my way back. Every direction I looked in looked exactly the same. I looked up to try and see the sun, but the trees obscured it, making the forest extremely dark. So I sat down and cried. At least I was alone. I could finally let go of all the stress I had to hold onto. I finally felt like myself there, weak and vulnerable. I wasn't the jock I had acted like. I was emotional, I enjoyed the little things, I cared for people. But I didn't feel like I cared about myself.

I heard a loudspeaker activate from somewhere off in the distance. That meant it was challenge time. Baseball, Lightbulb, Suitcase, and Knife were the final in season 2. Over the loudspeaker, MePhone announced the challenge.

"Contestants, this challenge is very important. Taco is hiding out in the woods. I want her dead. Bring me her corpse. You'll get a bonus if you bring her back alive, so I can have the honor of killing her myself. You have 3 days, or you're all up for elimination. GO!"

Wait, Taco was out here? Then I remembered seeing Microphone walk into the forest many times. I connected the dots quickly. So that's why she quit. Wow, Taco must have been horrible. I've only heard about her, so I didn't think about it much. I was scared now. Taco was in here with me, and she could kill me at any moment. The contestants could easily mistake me for her too, which really wouldn't help. So I ran. And I kept running. And I didn't stop. I kept turning in random directions, not caring where I was going. I just wanted to get out of this forest. I saw some big mansion, but I didn't care. That wasn't the hotel. So I kept running. It felt like ages. I was running out of breath. I slowed down to a stagger.

Then I saw a light in the distance. I slowly went towards it, not wanting to alert anything that could be lurking there to my presence. I crept closer. It was a small cave embedded in a large tree. There was a wooden bed, along with a small nightstand. The light had come from a campfire. But something caught my eye. Something very peculiar. I looked under the bed, and saw masks. Masks of just about everyone here. I saw Fan, Balloon, Bomb, Nickel, and many more. As I lifted my head up, I heard a gun being loaded. Then I fainted.