Though you annoy me, I'd take your hand in mine any day [REWRITE]

Bad Timing

OJ wandered into the cave slowly, and cautiously. He honestly wasn't sure why he was here in the first place, really. A number of reasons, or maybe none at all, but... He was just curious.

It was evening right now, and he had decided to take a break from what he was doing, and go out on a walk. A good way to think about things.

There was a lot to think about these days, even approaching a year after... Well, his, and everyone else's existences were revealed to not be so... He wasn't sure how to put it. He didn't want to use the word real to describe it. He felt real. The connections he made felt real, and despite not having pasts, or... Families, who said they couldn't make any themselves?

But that wasn't the point right now. Honestly, OJ didn't like thinking about all that. He liked going about his day, and continuing to do his hotel work, but with more breaks than he used to give himself. He used to work so tirelessly. Not giving himself time to rest, because everything had to be perfect, even for the following day. Skipping rest, skipping meals, hell, skipping chances to have a social life with most of the others, but...

After all this, he was trying to change that.

Tonight, his mind had wandered to MePhone. He should hate the guy. Most of the others still do, even after all this time, but he just didn't think it mattered much at this point. He'd at least like to believe he didn't hate the guy, at least. He supposes he'd only really know if he ran into him again. Everyone was making good progress in being something beyond the 'stereotypes' they were made with-- as MePhone had put it so long ago, and OJ still had his own things to worry about, so what was putting any energy into holding something against someone going to get him?

He was getting off track again. He shook his head, trying not to get so distracted again as he slowly made his way further into the cave, flicking on the flashlight he brought with him, the light outside of the cave not pouring far in at the moment, considering the sun was busy slinking behind the distant hills on the island.

Curious, he had come here to see if MePhone was even still here. None of them had really seen him around much since they had all been brought back, because he was insistent on giving them all space, but he still seemed to stay in the cave, from what some of the people still sticking around were saying. Sometimes someone would say they saw him just hanging out by the old contestant grounds, or sitting in the grass outside the cave, just keeping to himself.

OJ wondered how anyone could isolate themselves like that for so long without it driving them crazy. He felt like that would be so terribly lonely, which was why he was so glad there were still people staying at the hotel, even if a good amount of the residents had moved on to try and actually build up a life beyond the island. Beyond all of this. He couldn't imagine dealing with that level of lonely. He was glad he didn't have to.

And maybe it sounded a little selfish, but this check-up was more out of curiosity than actual worry for the guy. He didn't hate him, no, but he didn't tend to think about him much at this point either, unless someone else brought him up. He figured he'd just come and see since he was out and about, and well, if he wasn't there, oh well. He's probably finally moved on or something, or--

OJ came to a stop as his shoe came into contact with something sticky. He moved to take another step, but the noise was unpleasant enough to notice, as he glanced down. A small, tiny puddle of... Something dark. Almost had a blue tint to it, but it was hard to tell. Looking down, he noticed it wasn't just one. There was a trail of it. He led the light of his flashlight up the trail of whatever this was, before seeing it turned a corner he couldn't see around.

Honestly? Incredibly creepy. Possibly the start of some horror movie, or something really bad was about to happen to him, yet he slowly followed the trail anyways, though he was incredibly hesitant to peek around the corner.