Hotel OJ: Behind The Scenes

'Backfired' ⚠️

But one thing Oj was also curious about, was his letter.

Marshmallow seemed a bit out of breath, but she then slowly made her way to the table and dropped the few envelopes she had.
"There... there seemed to be one for everyone. But... there's... we found something else, too. There wasn't... it wasn't just notes there.."
Oj raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean?"

Marshmallow walked over to the couch and sat, panting.

"We... uh.. brought.. something. From it. We'll.. explain in more detail when.. everyone else is here. It's important." Pickle answered.
He then pulled something out from behind him.

It looked a little dirty, and it had some tears around the edges. It was a.. page, of somesort.

He noticed Paper making his way over, and standing a little further away from him.

Pickle then turned the page around, and it was obvious what it was.
A map.

But it wasn't just the map that was concerning...
It had many markings on it, in marker. Circles around certain areas, and annotations.
But what made Oj gasp, was the big red circle around...
Meeple HQ. 'The cloud', it was marked.
And in small writing beside it, 'Destination'.
But it wasn't Mephone's writing. It was neater, and the 'a's were different.

Oj stepped closer, and took the map from Pickle to get a closer look.
It looked like some sort of 'guide' or, a 'plan'.

"Where was this?" Paper asked, breaking the silence.
"We found it inside that cave. The blue one, down north. There were... there was a lot of other stuff there too. A whole table, hundreds of sheets, markers... supplies, even. There was water." Knife replied.

Oj had a thousand questions. But he thought he'd ask the one that concerned him most.
"Did you see anything that... that suggested Mephone was involved with.. whatever this is?"

"I uh... mentioned those sheets. And on a part of the map, in a small corner.. his uh.. his handwriting is there.." Knife continued, a slight shake in his voice.

".... He.. he's planning to go to... there?"

Oj remembered when Mephone had opened up to him.
He told him about that place, that company..
How much he, 'Didn't want to go back.'
Why would he...?

"... You're saying Mephone was.. planning to go to Meeple HQ? Who's.. the other person.. then?"
Knife shrugged, and let out a sigh of disappointment.

"Think about it Oj. If he was planning to go there, and there was no sign of anyone being there recently-recently..." Knife paused.
"He probably already left."

Oj felt like he would just shatter then and there.
But Knife was right.

".. Are you sure?" Oj asked, voice cracking.

"No heat. It was freezing. The paper, the pencils and markers showed no signs of being touched, everything written in marker was dry.. he has to already be.. either on his way, or there."

Oj stared down at the floor. The first thing he thought was, 'No, he couldn't be.' Mephone.. Mephone wouldn't go there.
But the evidence was there.

Oj curled his hands into fists, and put them down in the table.

"...Will.. will I call everyone else?" Marshmallow asked, quietly.

Oj just nodded, and stayed silent.
Paper turned back toward the stairs and followed Marshmallow.

- - - - -

"So you're like, saying.. like... he went up to that freakish place, and he wrote these for us?" Salt questioned.
Pepper stood beside her, arms folded.