I asked Margo about the meaning of the words, but she just sent me a smile which contained a message— "You cannot understand". She didn't answer my question but inquired of my appearance and my name as well. Knowing that I began my venture on the next day of my birthday, the lady, who said her name was Margo, became silent for a while and uttered calmly, "I don't like to celebrate my birthday at all."

Margo continued, "Every birthday, many people would come to my house to join the party and give blessing to me. But I felt that most of them just wanted to 'do their obligation' as being a person who was kind enough to bless me. I am enough of the fucking fake people and life in that paper town!"

I listened and recalled the memory on my birthday, and found out what she said surprisingly matched my feeling entirely. Margo kept stating that she was on her journey to find and live in the world where she didn't need to care about others and she could be her real self. She also said to me that "Succumb to the world is not the only way to live. We can find the ideal world or just create our own world!"

I followed Margo and left the building. Before we parted ways, Margo locked the door of the building and fixed a broad over the entrance. She started the engine, yelling "Fighting! Do not submit!" as she drove away. I stood still, viewing her car getting smaller and smaller then finally disappeared. Not knowing how long I zoned out, I awakened from shock and determined to achieve the mission of the venture. Meditating the dream-like experience, I kept forwarding on the route shown on the atlas.

It was on the way to my "hometown" that I imagined how different it would be. Even though there was once an under-control community where the residents did not have real feeling and freedom, I still believed that it had turned into a warm and colorful town after Jonas escaped from there and released all the memories and histories of the community to all the residents.

In the following days of the venture, I met few people and the animals, either. All that accompanied me were my perseverance and the image of my hometown which got more and more splendid with the words from Margo repeating again and again. I visualized that I would meet my parents or some relatives there and owned a complete family just like most people did, dreaming about that people there were all kindhearted and sincere, not paper-like, so that I could make lots of "real" friends and warm my heart…Relying on those fantasy, I conquered all the challenges I encountered, and the distance I passed in a day got longer than the previous one. Day by day, I could feel that the more I approached the determination, the more hopeful I became.

Finally, on the twelfth day of my venture, some structures far away from me came into sight. Under that cloudy day, I speeded up my pace forwarding with my heart beating crazily. I just felt like finding out a cave full of treasure! Getting all up tight, I stepped into the town with the chill wind breezing. The first house was large and white, but it was vacant; the second one contained no people…As I progressed slowly, the tranquil atmosphere brought me a familiar feeling. Suddenly, piece of small sheet falling down in the air, and I picked it up out of curiosity.

THIS IS A PAPER TOWN

I froze for a moment, and it was not until the next second that I realized that all my fantasy came to naught eventually. Here was not my hometown but a county made deliberately to mislead people, especially their enemy.

"Ha! Ha! Ha! I am a fool who takes this fake town as a treasure! Whatever! Now I'm the only one in this brand new world, and I will no longer be the strange one!"

I heard my ecstatic laughter faded in the wind.