Some Sunny Day [ A JTW SEQUEL ]

Part 10: The Apology

Balloon just got away from Fan, sighing. He doesn't get all the hype. He's come back to life before, why is this so cool to everyone? He pushes through the crowd.
"Sorry- Excuse me- Don't take this to heart-"
He just wants to get to the wall, or a gap, or SOMEWHERE where he can take a breath.

Luckily, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him out. Before he could see who it was, they twirled him as if dancing, making him a bit dizzy.

"Owww.."

"Oh- My apologies. Instincts, my dear, they plague me sometimes."

Wait. He recognized that voice! As soon as they let go of him, and he got a breath in, he looked at them with a smile.
"Hi, Candle, hi!!"

After he spoke, she gave a small gasp.
"Balloon? I hardly recognized you! You're very.."

"Yeah, I, uhm, I get it, I get it. I'm made of.. mostly paper mache. Only because Test Tube couldn't piece my latex back together without something to keep it in place."

"Quite ironic, in my opinion. I remember you and Paper being enemies in season one. Although, he wasn't there for most of the season, but you both probably argued on the elimination island a lot."

He took a moment to process that.
"Wait, you're genuinely a fan?? I thought.. I thought MePhone was making that up for the title."

"Oh, no, I used to watch it all the time. I never kept up with season two much after episode 7, though, so I don't remember much about, well, that. Fan had told me before that those earlier seasons were some pretty impressive special effects at the time. Episodes eight, eleven, thirteen, seventeen, and eighteen were all great in that aspect."

"Oh. My. God."
He sighed.
"Next time you see him, tell him he has to stop telling people that season one was special effects. If he can get abducted by ALENS, nothing that happened back then should feel that unrealistic.

"Ah. My apologies, then. On a separate note, how are you and N-"

Suddenly, someone else had pushed through the crowd, walking over to the both of them.
"Hey guys! You, uh, seemed like you were having fun, so I wanted to join in. Hope you don't mind."

Candle kept quiet for a moment before responding, the smile on her face fading away.
"Hello, OJ. I do not mind you staying, no."

Balloon glared at him, growling.
"I sure do. Leave us alone."

"Hey- No need to be so aggressive!"

"YEAH. NO NEED TO BE AGGRESSIVE, OJ!"

OJ took a few steps back to put space between them both. He was.. very nervous. He didn't know what to say for a moment.
"Thank you..? Anyway, I have to say some very important things to you guys."
They both stayed quiet, so he continued.
"I've been thinking about what I've done lately. As in.. what happened when I went kinda cuckoo. I wasn't all there, I was stressed, and I guess I needed something to blame for my struggles. So I blamed a hallucination. I thought this- this thing was the root of all my problems, something to be.. eradicated. Killed. I never wanted to hurt you both, honest. It was a random and horrible decision both times and I can't live my life thinking about it. I'm so, so very sorry. So very, very sorry."

Balloon stared him down, crossing his arms.
"I don't believe you."

"..What?"

"You heard me. I do not believe you. You always do this same routine, OJ, it makes me sick. Sick to my stomach. You do something wrong and then you make up an unbelievable sob story to get some pity points from the ones you hurt. You've done it so many times, I just can't bring myself to feel sorry for you or forgive you."

OJ stayed quiet, staring at Balloon. He didn't know how to respond to that.
"It's true! Why would I lie about that??"

"A hallucination? Really? I'm not stupid. You're one of the most mentally stable out of all of us, OJ, you're probably trying to push the blame. Just as you said you did before."
Although Balloon stepped forward, trying to close the gap between him and OJ, Candle stood between them, keeping them apart.

She sighed.
"I- I am so terribly sorry, OJ. I think what Balloon is trying to say is that we.. we can't forgive you just yet. We just came back, after all. We need some time to think. We also have lives to live. Many people missed us.. most of us. Let us have some time to readjust."

"Oh. Well then, I, uh.. I had something important to do.. somewhere. I'll try to remember what it was. Bye, you two!"
He waved to them, walking away and up the stairs.

Balloon's sour expression sweetened slightly after he left.
"Ugh. I hate him."

"I assure you, most of these people do. You aren't exactly alone there."

"I know, it's just- All of the other people who were killed by him got their deaths drawn out somehow. Made it feel like it mattered. Me? He didn't even LOOK at me! It made me feel so- So minuscule. So unimportant. Like I didn't even have to be killed, but he did it anyway."

"You should feel luckier, you know. He was telling the truth when he said he wasn't all there. When I first confronted him, his aura was an overwhelmingly deep red. It wasn't like that before that day. It was originally a bright blue. I don't know what happened to him for that to occur."
She looked somewhat nervous, continuing.
"I.. also saw a red glow come from behind him."

"Something was there?"

"No, not just something."
She took a deep breath.
"Someone was there."