His mother had warned him against going near the strange flickering lights, but his attraction to them was stronger than his mother's advice. Now Rex'd seen two of the large dinosaurs go right through it: one nice one, and one mean. He longed to know what was on the other side.
The light wasn't always there. It disappeared at times, sometimes for a few hours, sometimes for weeks, but it always came back. Each day, Rex allowed himself to creep just a little closer to it. Watching the other two go through just made his curiosity even stronger. It was five hours later that he could hold back no more. He took a few steps back from it and then darted through as fast as he could.
The first thing that Rex noticed was that there were a lot more trees here than there were at home. It was a lovely place, he thought to himself as he flitted up into one of them. He could see the nice dinosaur grazing gently by a large puddle a few dozen feet off. The mean one was nowhere in site, and that was just fine by Rex. He floated from tree to tree for awhile, eagerly exploring, tasting new leaves that he had never seen before. Some he spat back out, but some were so sweet he could have eaten the full tree if he didn't know better.
After a few hours, he dared to drift down to the ground, to see what he could find on this lower level of the forest. Almost instantly he realised his mistake. He'd landed almost directly beside a creature he'd never seen before and he panicked as the creature scooped him up in his forearms!
Rex sensed instantly that this creature was a carnivore and he struggled to get away, but the creature's grip on him tightened and strange sounds began to emerge from its throat. "Wow! Cool! What are you? My name's Ben. I'm gonna show you to all my friends."
Rex froze in his fear as the creature stood and began walking on just his hind legs, using his front ones to keep Rex firm in his grip. He wondered where they were going and if the creature was going to eat him by himself or feed him to his family. All the while they moved, the creature continued to make the same strange communication sounds that Rex couldn't understand at all.
Rex sat on the highest perch he could find, hoping to keep out of reach of the creature who had finally let him go, sort of. He was in some sort of large box and there were little colourful statues of dinosaurs all over it. Was he going to be turned into one of these lifeless figures?
So far he, obviously, hadn't been eaten. The creature, who seemed to answer to the strange sound of "Ben", was showing no interest in making Rex his supper, and that was a bit of a relief, but Rex would starve here if he couldn't get out of this place and find some proper food soon. The platform he was on seemed to be made of tree, but there were no leaves on it and the wood was dead. The Ben came and went and sometimes he put some of his own food in front of Rex, but it wasn't edible at all: bits of meat and a bowl of milk. After a couple of days, Rex lapped thirstily at the milk.
Rex couldn't be sure if this new creature staring at him was the same type as the Ben or not. She was certainly of the same shape as him and she communicated in the same strange sounds, but she was much taller and her colours were very different. The Ben called her an Abby. She stared at him through bright blue eyes and something inside Rex stirred at her look. He had this strong gut feeling that the Abby could be trusted. The Abby loved him as much as his own mother did. She'd make sure he got some proper food, if she had to die doing it. He liked the Abby.
The Abby and the Ben took him back to the forest and the Ben had left. Rex struggled in Abby's grip, and tripped and let go of him! He was going to escape and find his own way home through the glowing light, but when he'd flown up into the sky he'd seen that the light wasn't there right now. He wasn't scared, he knew if he went to the right spot it'd always come back, but then he'd seen something out. The mean dinosaur was roaming straight towards the Abby!
He panicked! The thing would make a meal out of the Abby in no time! All thoughts of his own escape vanished as he flew back down to warn her to hide. He knew he'd be captured again, but he liked the Abby and he liked to think of himself as some sort of hero. The light would come back soon enough and maybe the Abby would see that he saved her and let him go home.
The Abby was smart. She gave him some proper food, little red and white fruits that were like proper candy and more delicious than anything he'd ever tried before. He really liked the Abby.
The next few hours were a bit of a whirlwind. Rex lost track of time and he wasn't sure what was going on. More creatures had appeared, all alike, and yet very unlike. They were back inside one of the strange boxes and people were poking at him. Rex was a little bit scared, but more so angry. He'd figured out that, carnivores though they might be, these creatures were uninterested in eating him. He wasn't sure what they wanted him for and wished they'd just let him go. He could see the Abby watching the other creatures and getting mad too, mad for his sake. The Abby was always on his side.
At one point someone let go of him and he took the opportunity to dart away. He circled around the building searching for away out. At one point he found himself in a shiny box with lovely sounds playing that made him want to bob his head. He didn't understand it, but the sounds made him happy and the creatures weren't around here. It didn't last long, the box broke open and then the people were there again, trying to get to him. A small breeze near the top of the place caught his attention and he flew towards it. Freedom at last!
Only it wasn't the forest outside that he'd been expecting. The air was filled with strange sounds, honkings, roarings, other things he didn't recognize. There was metal everywhere, but nothing to eat. He panicked, terrified of this strange place. And then he heard her, the sweet sound of the Abby coaxing him to come back. She sounded distressed and he knew it was because the Abby loved him. He darted back to her and she caught him and he buried his nose against her, drowning out all the scary strangeness of the place he was in now.
And then they brought him back to the forest again and they took him to the light! It was back! They knew where he belonged and they were taking him home. The Abby said goodbye to him and a creature called the Nick actually carried him back through the light, though Rex would have preferred it if the Abby had come with them. He wondered why she didn't.
The Nick let Rex go immediately. He was free! He was home!He eagerly flew to the spot where his parents lived, and then he froze. No! This was wrong… this was very wrong!
The trees, they'd been little here, babies, and now they were tall. Grown up for over a hundred years. His parents weren't here either. Dead, the thought struck him. This wasn't his home! It was, but it wasn't. Too much time had passed since he'd been here. He didn't know anyone! Something had changed while he'd been through the light. He couldn't stay here! Too many memories, too much to drive him mad.
He looked back at the light. How had this happened? How had so much changed? The world on the other side of the light was scary, but this one was devastating. He could see the other lizards like himself floating through the sky, but they were strangers, not friends. No one knew him, no one cared for him. He'd go crazy here wondering what had happened to his home. It wasn't the Abby's fault, or even the Nick's. They had no way of knowing that something had changed. They didn't know how it was before, but he had to get out of here! At least on that side of the light he had his Abby.
He slunk to the ground sadly and darted through to his new permanent home in the Abby's arms, just before the light went out.