"Emma Raynes?"
My focus from reading the 'Welcome pamphlet" to Jurassic World was broken as a perky brunette in a crease-free white blouse stood in front of me.
"Yes?" I responded, looking down at my name tag then back up and her lips rose, exposing her overly white teeth that matched her blouse.
"Hi, I'm Clarissa Ashford but I also go by Clari! I saw in the welcoming package on the list of new interns, you were listed under animal behavior as well." She lifted her hand in front of me for a handshake. Seeing as it was unavoidable, I placed my hand in hers and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Clarissa." She smiled back and looked at the chair next to me. "Would you mind if I joined you?" She asked and I waved my hand towards the chair, "Of course not." She dropped her bags next to mine and sat down immediately, her smile beginning to blind me.
We were on the top deck of the Ferry headed to Isla Nublar. It was a rather large boat and took a couple hours to get there so they divided it in half to keep everyone sane. Tourists would stay on the bottom where the best views and close up experiences were and the employees, interns and maintenance crew resided at the top. It was an enclosed area where the blinds were shut and pamphlets covered all the tables. InGen made it completely obvious to us that they wanted us to put our 100% focus on our jobs and duty rather than the scenery and park. They didn't want us to get the idea that we were headed to the park with the same conception the tourists had, we are there to work and keep the visitors safe, not treat it as a vacation.
It seemed as a vacation to me, though. I was far away from my depressing mother and the stress of 8 years' worth of blood-sucking student loans. Since my father died 3 years ago, my mother still hadn't graduated past the first step of recovery. Lucky enough, I had midterms when it happened so I wasn't obliged to stay after the funeral with her and witness the first day after it. I felt bad for my grandmother who stayed in my room for the couple of months after the incident; I could only imagine what my mother was like. As sad as this may sound, I'm relieved my father and I lost our close relationship once I chose my major as an animal behaviorist over being a doctor like him. He was upset-scratch that, 'overwhelmingly disappointed' when I told him what I wanted my future to be. He followed what his father did, his sister, my aunt, followed as well. So it was his father before that and his father before that, yadda yadda. But you can't impress everyone in life, am I right? Just a little 'overwhelmingly disappointed' that one of those people was my own father.
"So, what section of the park did they station you at?" Clarissa asked, breaking our awkward silence to start up a small talk conversation. I looked down at the package they gave us and flipped through the pages until I reached the page that was labeled 'Park Placement'.
I still hadn't read where exactly they placed me so this was new to me as well. I knew that I was placed in a Herbivores exhibit but the specific dinosaur was unknown. I read down a couple paragraphs until I found in all caps the word TRICERATOPS next to my name. "They put me in the Triceratops exhibit, how about you?" I asked as I looked up into her golden brown eyes that now lite up, "Me too!" She smiled in excitement, flipping through her pages to make sure and nodded when she found it. "How lucky am I to finally find a normal girl on this boat to work with." She looked down at her package, still sporting her pearly white smile. The corner of my mouth rose as she spoke the word 'normal'. I took it as a compliment, seeing as I thought the complete opposite at most times in my life. I am shy, quiet and have usually kept to myself but 'normal' never really crossed my mind when quizzes asked me what my personality was like when I was trying to figure out what 'breed of dog' I most likely would be.
"Have you managed to look outside yet? Do you know if were close to the island?" I asked and she shook her head, eyes now glued into reading her starter pack. I rose from my seat and took a quick glance around the room. It was quiet with the exception of muffled tourist at the bottom level, eagerly awaiting the arrival but it was exceptionally quiet. A couple groups were conversing softly amongst themselves but most of the room sat away from each other, on their phones, listening to the latest music. Why wasn't anyone excited, why wasn't anyone getting up and looking through the windows? Was I missing something, were going to an island to see some freaking real life dinosaurs!
I walked over to the front of the room where the blinds were and peeled them down to see what was in view, the sun bright as ever, causing me to squint. There it was, Isla Nublar. Not much to look at yet, just a large and faint green blob in the distance, but it was there and we were headed straight towards it. I couldn't believe after all these years of applying for internships, InGen chose me. Out of all the possible applications they must have looked through for numerous amounts weeks, they chose mine and, of course, Clarissa's. This just didn't seem like real life to me, I needed someone to pinch me and wake me up from this seemingly unreal dream. "Wow, there it is. I had no idea that I would actually be one of those people that said they've been to Jurassic World." Clarissa's voice made me jump, interrupting me from my thoughts. I guess that could count as trying to wake me up, allowing me to realize that it was indeed not a dream.
As soon as we knew it, we were there. After long talks about Clarissa and her ranch back at home, telling me how her favorite horse, Delilah, got away one morning and with hours of searching, found her in the barn eating all the grain, a park representative walked into the room and announced of our arrival. Everyone got up, gathered their luggage and of course the mounds of papers InGen provided us with, we headed down the stairs of the Ferry. Clarissa remained close to me and I was happy she did. Even though she's not exactly a girl I would stick around with, she was new on a mysterious like me so I let it slide. We made it down the docks and followed off to the left where the park representative who announced our arrival, was waiting for us. As soon as we reached her, a fake smile rose from her lips, and began the same script she must repeat all the time to the new faces of the island.
"Hello newcomers, my name is Janine Newman and I am one of the park representatives that will help you with any questions you will have. To the left of me, there is the Visitors entrance which leads into Main Street. There you will find most of the food stands and the ever so helpful Samsung Innovation center." We all looked over to the left where she motioned and saw the crowds of people pushing against each other, anxious to get in. "Getting food on Main Street isn't required as for the building you are staying at will have a full kitchen on the bottom floor that will be open 24/7. But, if you wish to venture off when your shift is over, by all means, enjoy the freshly prepared meals Main Street offers." Her smile was beginning to look painful as she waved over a couple men, the one in the center holding a clipboard. Her smile finally dropped as they moved in front of her and I saw her quickly move her lips around, getting the feeling back in them.
"Okay guys, here how this works. New maintenance crew will go to Anderson here on my left and the new employees will go to Clark here on my right. I'll be taking care of the new Interns so everyone go to your assigned supervisor; we have a lot to do already. The group of 20 or so people we were in split up and Clarissa, me and 3 other people followed behind as we went up to the man with the clipboard. The other supervisors smiled as their new members met up with them, they all split up to different areas but clipboard guy remained where he was, no smiled added. I guess it would make sense though; no one seemed to like interns and always gave them crap for it so I guess I'm just going to have to accept this behavior from here on out. "Hello interns, you can call me Mr. Mendoza. I'm sure you already got a nice welcoming from Newman so let's get straight to business. Here, I have a list of where you are to be assigned and where you should head to in order to get there." He tapped the clipboard with his pen and continued. "Okay, Howard and Samantha, you are a part of the nursing internship so you are assigned to the Medic center on the east side of the island. The Monorail back inside of the Innovation center will take you there in 20mins." Two of the strangers from the ferry walked together past us and joined up with the tourists heading into the entrance. "Okay now for the Animal behaviorist interns, Clarissa and…Lewis, you will be headed towards the Triceratops territory. Get onto the same monorail as the other two and get off on the stop after theirs. And Emma, is it? You'll be headed towards the Velociraptor paddock with me."
My heart dropped, I looked at Clarissa and then back at Mendoza. "Uh, no this is a mistake. My placement in my welcoming package clearly states that I'm in the Triceratops section of the island." I said and I took out my papers, ruffling through them, dropping a couple as I did so and pointed at what it said. Mendoza looked over at it and then back at to the clipboard in front of him, shaking his head. "No I'm sorry, Emma. It says here that you are assigned to the Velociraptor enclosure." He said and I quickly picked up the papers I dropped, feeling lost now more than ever. "Okay guys, I suggest getting to the monorail as fast as you can, being late on the first day wouldn't look the greatest on your Day 1 report." He said and Clarissa gave me a weird look, slowly walking away as Lewis was in front of her, ready to get the day started. I couldn't believe this was happening. I looked back at Mendoza and he had his clipboard now tucked under his arm.
"Are you ready to go, or are we just going to stand here all day?" He asked, I didn't realize I was still staring at the now empty spot where Clarissa and Lewis walked away to. My mind was blank, this was some huge mistake. How could they mix up my placement, especially on an intern with no experience with dinosaurs, carnivorous to say the least? I knew once I got to wherever I was going, everything would be straightened out and I will be in the Triceratops enclosure with Clarissa in no time. I nodded to Mendoza and we headed out towards his right, down the stone path.A Jeep Cherokee awaited us as we approached a dirt path behind the buildings. He opened the door for me and I got in, the driver looked back at me and gave a small, welcoming smile. He knew where we were going was rough and tried to lighten it up a bit. "I have some things to do, so step on it." Mendoza said, a bit agitated, to the driver and I reached over for my seat belt. My hands were shaking as I tried to buckle it and finally on the third try, got it secured. After the driver heard my seat belt click, he sped off.
At least the drive was a bit peaceful. We drove through a large open land where I could just barely see the top of a Brachiosaurs' head move in the distant. After a couple minutes of driving through the field, we entered through a pathway that led into a forested area. The drive through the forested area went on for about ten minutes and as soon as I knew it, we were there. The Jeep stopped with a jerking halt, causing my head to bang against the head rest and the driver apologized for it. I gave a small smile in response, knowing if I talked I would probably vomit everywhere but I kept telling myself that everything would be straightened up as soon as I spoke to whoever was in charge. I unbuckled my seat belt and stumbled out of the car, dropping a piece of luggage on the ground. "Leave your luggage in the car, Adam will be your driver that will take you from your hotel, to here and back. He will drop off your luggage and make sure it gets to your room safely." Mendoza said as he got out of the car with me and gave Adam a look. "You've got it! Not a scratch!" A goofy smile played upon Adams face and gave me a wink. I nodded and Mendoza walked up to me. "The building to the left of the paddock is where Owen stays, he's basically in charge of this area so bring your papers with and check in with him. I have a lot of things to do so I'm sure you'll be fine, right? Just don't stick your hand in the cage like you would with the petting zoo! I highly recommend you don't."
He got back into the car and like that, they were gone. I was left stranded on an unknown island in an unknown dangerous area, great. I looked at the large enclosure that was in front of me and it made my hands shake even more. The walls looked to be about two stories high with even a large metal fence extending higher for extra precaution. A couple people were walking along the top on metal bridges, designed for what seemed like interaction with the velociraptors but not actually close enough to touch. I clamped down onto the papers in my hands and took in a deep breath. Just think about those triceratops and everything will be okay, you will be okay Emma. With all the will power that was left in me, I took a step forward and headed towards the little building on the left.
I walked up to the door that led into the building and turned the knob but it was locked. I turned it again but even harder, just to see if it was a knob that got stuck all the time but again, it was locked. I moved towards the window and cuffed my hands over my eyes to get a better look and it was dark and empty. "Hey! What are you doing?" The voice startled me as I took a step back and looked behind me. A black man came jogging down the metal stairs from the top of the enclosure and stopped in front of me. "Who are you? You're not supposed to be in this area." He said with his very thick French accent. "I, um, I'm a new intern and Mendoza sent me here, but-"He cut me off as his mood changed, a smile now on his lips. "Ah. Yes, the new intern. I'm Barry, let me get Owen. Come with me, girl." He said and before I would explain to him I didn't belong here, he was waving me along as he headed back up the metal stairs. I hesitated but followed up the stairs after him.
Once we reached the top, I couldn't believe what I was looking at. There they were, the raptors. I counted only four but even one alone was terrifying. They were bigger than I expected and all were different colors. I noticed all of them had their eyes on one thing, a dead rat in a man's hand that was standing on the metal platform above them. He had a clicker behind his back, clicking every time they looked away, as though he was training them, but how was that possible? "Echo, eyes up here, I see you eyeing Charlie." He clicked and the bronze raptor looked back up. He threw the dead rat down and the bronze raptor, Echo leaped up high and snatched it in the air. My body jumped at the site and the man raised both of his hands to let them know he had no more, clicked the device twice and they dispersed. Barry laughed and jogged over to the guy with the raptors and patted him on the back. "Great work, Owen! They seem to be listening to you more every day." He said and they both walked back over to me. "They will do what I say for the food, but if I ever once stepped in there, you'd have to be the new alpha!" He said with a smile as he looked up at me and then gave Barry a look. "Oh, right. This is the new intern, uh.." He looked at me now and realized he didn't know my name. "Emma. And before we say anything, I'm not supposed to be here, they assigned me with the Triceratops so this must be a mistake." I said and handed Owen my papers.
He furrowed his brows as he looked at them. His short, sandy brown hair was stuck to his forehead as sweat droplets slid down and onto the sides of his head. His tan skin from being out in the sun so often, glistened from the sweat on this overly hot day. He was attractive, I won't lie, it's just a shame I won't be working here but instead on the other side of the park with Clarissa. He flipped through the pages once more and handed them back to me. "This will probably, without a doubt, upset you. But, the park does this thing where they 'assign' people to positions but actually mean a different area. Do you see the 'RA' in parenthesis after Triceratops? It means re-assign. No one actually wants to work with dinosaurs like this so they make it seem like a 'miscommunication error'. You must know something they really like in order to put you in a place like this. I'm sorry, Emma, but welcome to the Raptor pit." His voice had the upmost sincere in it and I believed it, but this couldn't be happening. He smiled, rubbed my shoulder and walked passed me with Barry on his tail.
What just happened?