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In the middle of a plain sat Hotel OJ, a hotel where all—or at least most—of the contestants of Inanimate Insanity resign in, including a certain salmon coloured object with a memorably high pitched voice who’s named Balloon. Among most of the contestants, Balloon was seen as a backstabber—a liar and someone who was so full of himself, and the contestants had every right to see him that way, even if it wasn't the full picture.
Until a few weeks ago, Balloon had been banned from Hotel OJ, mostly because of some personal issues with its owner and guests. Luckily there was someone who convinced the glass of orange juice to change his mind, especially since it was Christmas that day, which possibly tilted the odds in Balloon's favour. And since then, he’s been living in Hotel OJ. On one of the higher floors in one of the oh-so-similar looking rooms, next to a wooden table sat Balloon. The salmon object was occupied with writing in his diary, the only escape for his thoughts and frustrations. On his left side was a white mug with unusually sweet black tea in it. Next to it was a plate full of different foods, which included canned sardines, spinach, a spoonful of cottage cheese and two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. The choice of foods were odd, and Balloon knew it, but he just couldn't help it with his recent cravings.
Balloon was lucky that while obtaining all of the foods, there weren't that many objects around. But sadly, those who were in the kitchen gave him a few glances, which for Balloon felt more embarrassing than ever. Those that saw him seemingly also exchanged a few quiet whispers, making the situation feel even worse.
In the moment, Balloon was writing down about his recent feeling of vulnerability. Ever since the end of the show, Balloon has tried to keep up his character. But unfortunately, it was to no avail, and so he only recently started acting like himself again, being kinder, more open and welcoming, but it seemed that his past self didn't leave anyone to see how he really is. Instead, Balloon had only received cold and hateful glances combined with one or two insults. It was especially common with Nickel and OJ, which Balloon had no idea why Nickel—of all contestants—would be the one to express such hate towards him, especially with the fact that Nickel and Balloon weren't even on the same team. Meanwhile, it was clear as crystal why OJ did it, and it was probably the most painful part about it.
Despite the recent change in character, Balloon had noticed that the way he felt seemed different, almost more exaggerated in a way? He never saw himself to be very sensitive, but now whenever he is being glanced at he starts to feel like he's on the verge of tears. Most of the things he does make him feel uncomfortable and nervous, and all of this just seems very weird. After writing down some of his thoughts and feelings, Balloon grabbed the mug and took a sip. The warm, sweet tea slightly calmed down his thoughts before he got back to writing. Another thing that Balloon had noticed is that it's harder for him to get up the stairs, his body seemed slightly heavier than usual. Surely, it might be that his new eating habits have caused it, but it still seemed unusual. Speaking of eating habits, why was he eating such exotic food combinations? With that question in his mind, Balloon glanced at the plate—his eyes moving from food to food—locking onto sardine's bulging eyes as if looking for a written answer to his question. Balloon soon gave up on looking for answers in the dead fish, especially answers to something that could just be a combination of different odd behaviors and nothing more.
After such conclusion, the salmon coloured rubber object moved the plate a bit closer and decided to eat some of its contents. Chewing on the cottage cheese, munching the spinach leaves and crushing the sardines between his teeth—and to finish it off—enjoying the fresh cookies. Despite planning to only eat some of the food, Balloon ended up eating all of it, and after which he decided that he could plan to finish writing as he takes another sip of the black tea. Balloon has been using the diary almost daily by now, especially recently since every day Balloon has been feeling worse and worse; which could be due to his past mistakes and growing isolation. But at the same time, it's better than living in the woods and digging in the trash—the same trash that the diary came from. Presumably, it was a gift for Salt from Pepper. But then the question begs, why has everything been worse than before? After writing down his final thoughts, Balloon marked the date of his entry January 12th, 2013.
Balloon closed his diary and put it in one of the drawers as he got off of the chair to look around his room, which wasn't much different from other rooms in the hotel. It had a basic bed with white sheets and a red blanket, there were a few plants in the corner, a singular window with a view of the forest, a bedside table with an orange lamp and of course there was one bigger working table, which Balloon was just sitting at. OJ decided to go all in for the guests of the hotel, or more like for his ex teammates and opponents. And because of that, each room had its own bathroom, which wasn't too fancy or anything, it had all the essentials: a shower, a toilet, and a sink. Nothing more, nothing less. But it wasn’t too bad, at least it was better than having to share a bathroom with someone else.
The air in the room was stale and dry, but Balloon couldn't care less about it as he felt too tired to notice. He didn't even bother to take the dishes downstairs and wash them, but he instead turned off the table light and dragged his legs to the bed, slowly crawling on it and hiding under the blanket as he got ready for a good night’s sleep. His eyes closed and his mind started to drift away, meanwhile deep inside he knew that there was something wrong, but it was too late to try and speculate about it again. Little did Balloon know, there was an actual reason behind the weird occurrences, and it too stems from the same place as his problems from the past that he tries to distance himself from, along with the actions that he thought no one would care about...