Hall 17

53 : Continue

"Are you sure you don't need any help?" Paper asked, standing off to the side of the dock.

"I'm fine, screw off." Trophy muttered, taking a step off the boat. Although he was slightly seasick, he wouldn't consider himself a liar. He walked onto the dock, one foot after the other, then off of it and back onto land.

The entire ride had been utterly exhausting. He hated seeing everyone already moving on, including the ones he thought would at least spare her a thought in the last few days, the ones who watched her die. He hated everyone asking if he was okay, and he hated not being sure if that was because he obviously wasn't or if it was because he didn't want their pity or false sympathy. And he especially hated how little everyone told him.

Nobody told him anything that wasn't straight pity anymore. No one told him Soap was dying, just like how no one told him Pepper was the one given the journals, or how she was also suddenly learning sign language. He had to find everything out himself, and if someone did tell him, it was after the point where he could've done something about it or just unreasonably late. Because apparently the doctors had known he had brain damage for a long while now, and only told him the day he was let out of the hospital.

Brain damage. He couldn't remember the specifics, no wonder why, but he had brain damage, and just today he found out. Not when he spent the entirety of last night going back and forth between his camera and tears. Not when he began questioning his own sanity because he kept on seeing things that weren't there, both back in that stained yellow room and out of it. No, only once all was said and done did he learn anything about anything.

He noticed he was putting things into lists a lot more, subconsciously but just enough so he noticed it himself. Maybe that was just his brain's way of coping with whichever pieces of it were destroyed. Or maybe he was overthinking things. After everything that had happened, he had a hard time being completely certain about things, so he wasn't sure.

However, he was certain of a couple things. And one of those things was that they were back on the island, and soon enough they'd be heading to the hotel. Hotel OJ, the place he guessed he could consider home, that building that had a view of the contestant fields that you may be able to catch some glimpses of in the background if you watched the show. Had it really only been a month since he last saw it? If Trophy hadn't known better, he would've sworn it had been years.

Needless to say, he wasn't excited about going back with everything that had been happening lately. He almost wished he could go back to the hospital and lay down in bed for a while longer, but that wasn't an option at this point. So instead, he patiently waited with the others while the last few objects piled off the ship.

Finally, Paper followed everyone off the dock, his bag in his hands. He waved over to those waiting, hastening his steps to reach them quicker. "Alright, just to make sure, you all have everything you brought along, right?" He asked. "If there's anything you might've left on board, now would be the time to grab it."

Trophy hadn't brought much along. It's not like he had much to bring along anyways, besides the camera slung around his neck. He took a look around the island behind them as the others checked they had everything they needed.

You may not expect it, but he was never the biggest fan of nature. Sure, he'd give it some credit for its 'beauty', but he could never see that beauty everyone else claimed to see in it. Maybe the animals you could find scurrying about the forest were unique, but apart from that, the island was just grass and trees to him, maybe with the occasional flower. Maybe looking at everything around him wasn't the most entertaining for him particularly, but there wasn't much else to do.

Luckily, he didn't have to spend long as everyone checked their bags relatively quickly. He lagged behind for a second as he hadn't been expecting them to finish that fast, but eventually they were all on their way to the hotel.