18:00

45 : Unexpected Difficulties

The heated inside of the hotel was a relief when compared to the storm outside. It was dry, and a bit cozy in Taco's opinion. A nice spending of the million, even if she wouldn't have chosen anything near this to spend it on if she had won. Still, it was a luxury to be inside given where she had been living for the past few years.

Of course, she hadn't been able to enter immediately. She had been standing outside in the rain for god's sake. Luckily for her, OJ had decided that simply toweling herself off and leaving the tarp she brought outside would be enough for the time being.

As of now, she was sitting at the dining room table, which was apparently a custom for tough conversations in the hotel. Despite the time almost reaching into the early hours of the morning, she could feel a numerous amount of eyes staring at the back of her head. She knew coming into the hotel would cause a scene, but this many people at this late hour?

It didn't matter to her though. If anything, it was useful to have so many people down here. It made it so she wouldn't have to explain the same things over and over again.

"So he just happened to find you?" OJ asked, his hands folded together with elbows on the table. He was sitting just across Taco, taking the situation about as well as she had expected. It was hard to blame him with what she knew, but dealing with his impatience felt like it was thinning her own patience as well.

"Not exactly." Taco answered. "He didn't seem to know I was there. At first, I thought I'd leave him to his own devices, but most people don't tend to set up camp in the forest, especially not after such an extreme event at the hotel."

"You're not talking about..." OJ asked. He didn't have to finish the sentence for Taco to understand.

"Of course I know about Lightbulb and Fan. It's hard to not be drawn into a party with so much noise, and considering everything happened outside, it was practically a show." Taco said. "I assumed Trophy had been kicked out for the whole murder aspect before he told me what actually happened."

"And that would be?"

"You know well what happened."

"I know what happened, but I need to make sure you're not lying."

Taco groaned. She should've expected as much as this. "He and four other objects discovered that Test Tube could still be around, but upon telling the hotel, none of you believed him. Frankly, I find it strange you're still allowing two of the three objects who lied about Test Tube to still reside in your hotel."

"Finish the story before you begin pointing fingers." OJ grumbled. Despite his words, Taco could still see his gaze directed towards the crowd behind her for a second, and it didn't take a genius to tell who he looked at.

"Right." Taco obliged. "Considering all of the traumatic experiences he had gone through, the hospital's report of him having brain damage, and his lack of recovery from previous incidents, you assumed he was in some sort of psychosis. You managed to convince him that he was psychotic and put him on medication for the start of the year. Then, upon realizing that he was sane, on the very anniversary of when his traumatic experiences started, should I mention, he decided to run away. You can guess what happened from there from what I've already said."

OJ didn't respond for a good minute. At first, Taco assumed he was thinking about her response to see if it was something she'd only be able to learn if told by Trophy, but his pause stretched far too long for it to just be that.

"I'll believe you for now then." OJ said reluctantly. "What happened to Trophy, after you found him?"

"Well, for one, he didn't know how to set up a tent for his own life. Outside of that, he came rather prepared, so I can't complain too much about his survival skills. Judging by his small yet notable changes in personality throughout his stay, I believe he got what he was looking for by running away. That is, getting the medication to wear off." Taco quieted down, looked over to OJ. Unsurprisingly enough, disbelief was spread over his face. "...I have proof, if that's what you're looking for."