p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"The heat was to a point where Zach had become so uncomfortable anything could have bothered him. It'd already been a bad enough day dragging his brother around this theme park only to figure out his parents ditched them on their Aunt so the two of them could work out a divorce. The older brother's mood had plummeted quickly, of all the times to be stuck babysitting Gray, this was the worst of them. He didn't want to go to this island in the first place, he wanted to stay home with his girlfriends and his friends, he couldn't care less about dinosaurs. He didn't want to find out his family was splitting up and have to take that information and have to help his brother through it, he could hardly wrap it around his own head./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"His he shut his eyes and tried to cover his ears to drown out the noise of everybody chattering. Gray seemed preoccupied counting the number of bones on one of the fossil recreations and comparing it to the actual dinosaur. The line for this attraction could not have been more agonizing. His eyes fell on some girls a few people in front of him. Maybe he could flirt and get ahead in line all in one go, that would work. He sat on the railing of the queue and smirked. "You excited for the roller coaster?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Gray glanced over to see his brother sitting on the railing talking to girls. The child rolled his eyes and looked over to the model of a "velociraptor" that was actually a Utahraptor that stood by the front of the line for this roller coaster. He stood in the line and then noticed one of the signs Zach had blown right by to get in the line. He tugged on his brother's sleeve. "Zach." He whispered. "You have to be 48 inches to ride."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Nobody cares." Zach told him, looking over to the girls. "Yeah that's my little brother, he's a little shy./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Zach it's against the rules, you have to be 48 inches to ride and I'm not…" Gray whispered, getting worried. He didn't want to get in trouble, or humiliated if one of the workers tried to measure him, or worse, die. Rules were there for a reason. "I can't ride it, Zach."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"His older brother grunted and glared at him. "Shut up, Gray, it'll be fine." He shook his head. "Why don't you just be quiet and go to the front of the line with that pass of yours, I'll stay here with my new friends."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""We're not supposed to be seperate…"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""I'm not mom or dad and I'm not here to babysit you so stop acting like such a mental case-" The second those words left his mouth he regretted them. He knew how sensitive Gray could be and even angry he knew that he'd pushed it too far./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Okay, fine." Gray croaked, he turned around and quickly started rushing away from the group of people off to who knows where./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"The two girls looked at Zach and scoffed. "Wow he uh, wow." They were clearly in a place where they couldn't say anything./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Gray had been wandering the park on his own, trying to find his Aunt's assistant. After all, she was the one ho had a cell phone. He could at least try and call home to talk to his mom or dad. He of course couldn't find the woman at all, and he decided simply to take a map and find his way back to the petting area where he could ride a triceratops. He stomped towards it as he recalled Zach earlier saying "I'm not dad and you're not five." He just kept walking a bit faster. "I am not a mental case." He grumbled. He'd had more than his fair share of people picking on him. He'd had more than his fair share of being isolated half the time because his interests were different than some other kids./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Some time had passed and he was sitting in the gyrosphere, awkwardly piloting it around weaving in and out of a herd of Apatosaurus. Until he heard an alarm telling all the guests the rides were closed and to please report to an evacuation route. His eyes widened and he started to speed it, he needed to find Zach./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"When Zach heard the announcement he was talking to another girl he'd managed to find after the roller coaster. She was throwing up in a garbage can and he got her some water. Now they were walking along one of the paths, chatting simply just about what each of them were doing at the park. When the alert came on he looked at the girl. "I'm sorry… I have to go find my brother." Zach told her, not even saying goodbye as he ran off, his heart pounding./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Gray!" He called into the frustrated groups of guests. "Gray!" He called until his voice was dry. He found one of the staff. "Please you gotta help me find my brother, he's eleven he-"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""I'm sorry but there's a lot of people here." The staff member told him, shaking his head. "If you're seperated from anybody you have to go to that booth over there, hopefully he'll be there."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Gray could see something wrong with the animals as they ran around in a panic, he had to pilot carefully to keep from becoming their soccer ball. Judging from the behavior of the creatures here it was no wonder the rides were called in. The ball could only move so fast it seemed and then he saw it. There was a large animal like no dinosaur he'd ever seen, sinking it's teeth into the neck of one of the apatos. He screamed and quickly started directing the ball the other way but it felt like the creature was seeing, targeting, him./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Zach knew if Gray wasn't already at that booth he was somewhere and in trouble. That kid was so nervous about that shit, he wasn't going to avoid a command to go to a safe place. Zach grabbed a park map from one of the other customers and ran, eying over the attractions and trying to remember what Gray had wanted to do. It was faster than he had ever run as he darted through the petting zoo, nobody. He checked the map and thought about everywhere else Gray might be. He'd seen the t-rex, he probably wouldn't have gone back and the other thing he was excited for was that hamster ball ride in the valley. He didn't have time to catch his breath, running deeper into the direction everybody was running from./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"His lungs burned but he still called his brother's name, hopping off from where the ride launched from he dashed into the valley. "Gray!" He screamed. "Gray where are you?" Dinosaurs ran like wild, enough to scare even Zach into hiding. He threw himself under a muddy log as some big spiky thing tried to run over him and then he heard a disgusting roar, his eyes wandered over to a creature, maybe some sort of mutated t-rex chasing after some of the dinosaurs. It was headed closer to the park but once it was out of sight Zach didn't care. He got up and kept moving. "Gray!" He called, "GRAY!" He shouted as he saw one of the balls crashed besides a dead triceratops, Gray's favorite. "No." Zach cried./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"He ran up to the machine and saw a head of ashy brown curls tangled up in the seatbelt. Zach bolted over, the thing as broken and cracked every which way. Inside was what he had feard, Gray hanging at an odd angle, his face pale. "Gray?" Zach croaked walking over and pulling his brother from the seatbelt. He was still warm. He was breathing. "Gray, can you hear me? Are you hurt?" Zach asked. His brother stirred but didn't move much beyond that. "Come on. There's some crazy t-rex trying to kill everything."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Gray's eyes opened and he tried to move from Zach's arms and fell, slipping to the ground, unable to try again. Zach picked him up, he could tell Gray was barely concious, so he held him and he carried him, moving slightly slower in an attempt to get him to some sort of medical help without attracting too much attention. Gray would groan, occasionally mumbling something incoherant. At one point he was too exhausted, Zach sat on the ground and held his brother's head in his lap. Occasionally his blue eyes would peek up at Zach before fluttering again as he fell out. "You'll be okay, okay? I'm here…" He chewed on his bottom lip. He was there with his brother when he heard an alarm like a siren and he knew something was very wrong. He once again lifted Gray into his arms and ran with him. They'd reached the edge of the valley and were going along the path when he could hear the screaming of the large mass of people, he looked up and saw the prehistoric birds spiraling over them./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"He ran towards the crowd shouting, trying to make his voice heard over everybody else. "Help!" He screamed. "My brother's hurt! Somebody help!" He cried out, dodging birds as they swooped left and right, he felt a pull on his back and he was lifted a few feet in the air. He held Gray tighter and screamed in desperation when suddenly the bird dropped him and he fell to the ground, doing all he could to coushin Gray's fall./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Zach? Gray?" Claire's trembling voice asked, she was standing besides a man who seemed generally concerned, holding a tranq gun he'd used to shoot down the bird with. "Are you two okay?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No…" Zach croaked, feeling pain ringing through his whole body. "He's been in and out of it… I found him out in the valley like this…"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Shit you were out in the valley?" Owen questioned, he motioned for Zach to let him see Gray. As the man moved around his brother's bloody hair and showed Zach a bad mark on the boy's head. "Get him to a med tent, show them, fast." Owen barked, Zach picked up Gray again and complied./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Zach was sitting besides a cot where Gray was laid up with some hastily done stitches in his head. They kept checking on him, trying to get responses but aside from eye movement and the occasional groan there was nothing. Zach couldn't talk from how badly his throat hurt, all he could do was look over to Gray and sniff back tears. It was only when some of the rescue hellicopters came and he was told his parents would be at a hospital waiting on the mainland that Zach was able to cry entirely, only when he was seperated from his brother would he cry. "What if he dies?" Zach asked a nurse. "The last thing I called him was a mental case."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Doctors saw him to fix up a few scrapes and bruises, his back was fairly cracked up, he'd narrowly escaped a very serious injury. It'd been a while until he was told Gray was responsive. He ran to the boy's room not caring about the pain at all. He saw his brother sitting up in a bed, his head lopped to the side and his eyes staring confusedly at Zach. "We don't know uh, we still have to see how bad the trauma is?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Trauma?" Zach asked, looking at his brother. "Hey Gray, Gray I am so sorry… I'm so sorry."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Zach?" Gray asked slowly, "Where's this?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""We're in a hospital, man. You cracked your head open." He said, his heart immediately dropping from Gray's confusion. That wasn't like him./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Can you tell us your name?" A doctor asked, shoving Zach to the side./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""G-Gray Mitchell." The boy said./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Do you know what the date is?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No…"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Do you know the day of the week?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Do you remember what happened to you."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""I was at uh, I was, uh- the place, you know." He made a motion with his hand. "And I was like a uh, the dinosaurs were… they were uh, like."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"The doctor just shook his head and wrote something down as Gray continued to mumble. The more he went on the more Zach's throat burned. He knew Gray was faster than that, smarter than that. He remembered how after his grandfather had had a stroke he forgot words the same way but he couldn't remember what it was called for the life of him. As Gray slurred out word after word he only seemed to be more confused. Zach jumped in./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Gray, count to your age?" He asked desperately. Counting, that was the one thing he knew that had that would always be his thing. "Just count to eleven." He said./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"A doctor looked to him "Maybe you should head out for a little while."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No." Zach told him./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""One… two… three… three… three…" Gray let out a frustrated cry, slamming his hand into his head. "I ca- I can't." He sobbed. The doctor scoffed and lead Zach out of the room./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"He could barely stand looking at Gray when they took him home. He still wasn't the same, they said he probably wouldn't be. Gray could hardly talk without crying frustratedly, he couldn't write anywhere near like he could, his words were slurred and he just seemed depressed./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"One night Zach head a loud bang from Gray's room and rushed in to find his brother crying, one of his schoolbooks on the floor besides him. "I can't do it right anymore, Zach. I used to be, I used to, I…" He pulled out some of the flash cards some of the doctors made him to remember words, he took a blank one and wrote down an A+./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""You still are." Zach told him. "Okay? You are the smartest kid I ever met…" He said, he'd had troble holding back tears in these past few weeks, but now he especially had to stay strong. When he got upset in front of his brother Gray would get even more upset. "Look, don't worry about those books, look how good you're doing, see?" He pointed at the A+ card. "You wrote that."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"The child nodded. "You used to not like me." Gray croaked, laying his head on Zach. "You c-called me uh a uh."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""I called you a lot of things I didn't mean." Zach told him. "I was a bad brother, okay? I'm so sorry, Gray. I'm so sorry I didn't mean any of those things."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"He put his arm around his brother. "You'll get back to where you used to be." He told him, messing up Gray's hair. "You'll always be my dorky little brother, okay?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Will we be like we used to be?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No." Zach told him. "We're gonna be better, okay? I promise you it's all gonna be better."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"His he shut his eyes and tried to cover his ears to drown out the noise of everybody chattering. Gray seemed preoccupied counting the number of bones on one of the fossil recreations and comparing it to the actual dinosaur. The line for this attraction could not have been more agonizing. His eyes fell on some girls a few people in front of him. Maybe he could flirt and get ahead in line all in one go, that would work. He sat on the railing of the queue and smirked. "You excited for the roller coaster?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Gray glanced over to see his brother sitting on the railing talking to girls. The child rolled his eyes and looked over to the model of a "velociraptor" that was actually a Utahraptor that stood by the front of the line for this roller coaster. He stood in the line and then noticed one of the signs Zach had blown right by to get in the line. He tugged on his brother's sleeve. "Zach." He whispered. "You have to be 48 inches to ride."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Nobody cares." Zach told him, looking over to the girls. "Yeah that's my little brother, he's a little shy./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Zach it's against the rules, you have to be 48 inches to ride and I'm not…" Gray whispered, getting worried. He didn't want to get in trouble, or humiliated if one of the workers tried to measure him, or worse, die. Rules were there for a reason. "I can't ride it, Zach."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"His older brother grunted and glared at him. "Shut up, Gray, it'll be fine." He shook his head. "Why don't you just be quiet and go to the front of the line with that pass of yours, I'll stay here with my new friends."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""We're not supposed to be seperate…"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""I'm not mom or dad and I'm not here to babysit you so stop acting like such a mental case-" The second those words left his mouth he regretted them. He knew how sensitive Gray could be and even angry he knew that he'd pushed it too far./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Okay, fine." Gray croaked, he turned around and quickly started rushing away from the group of people off to who knows where./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"The two girls looked at Zach and scoffed. "Wow he uh, wow." They were clearly in a place where they couldn't say anything./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Gray had been wandering the park on his own, trying to find his Aunt's assistant. After all, she was the one ho had a cell phone. He could at least try and call home to talk to his mom or dad. He of course couldn't find the woman at all, and he decided simply to take a map and find his way back to the petting area where he could ride a triceratops. He stomped towards it as he recalled Zach earlier saying "I'm not dad and you're not five." He just kept walking a bit faster. "I am not a mental case." He grumbled. He'd had more than his fair share of people picking on him. He'd had more than his fair share of being isolated half the time because his interests were different than some other kids./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Some time had passed and he was sitting in the gyrosphere, awkwardly piloting it around weaving in and out of a herd of Apatosaurus. Until he heard an alarm telling all the guests the rides were closed and to please report to an evacuation route. His eyes widened and he started to speed it, he needed to find Zach./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"When Zach heard the announcement he was talking to another girl he'd managed to find after the roller coaster. She was throwing up in a garbage can and he got her some water. Now they were walking along one of the paths, chatting simply just about what each of them were doing at the park. When the alert came on he looked at the girl. "I'm sorry… I have to go find my brother." Zach told her, not even saying goodbye as he ran off, his heart pounding./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Gray!" He called into the frustrated groups of guests. "Gray!" He called until his voice was dry. He found one of the staff. "Please you gotta help me find my brother, he's eleven he-"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""I'm sorry but there's a lot of people here." The staff member told him, shaking his head. "If you're seperated from anybody you have to go to that booth over there, hopefully he'll be there."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Gray could see something wrong with the animals as they ran around in a panic, he had to pilot carefully to keep from becoming their soccer ball. Judging from the behavior of the creatures here it was no wonder the rides were called in. The ball could only move so fast it seemed and then he saw it. There was a large animal like no dinosaur he'd ever seen, sinking it's teeth into the neck of one of the apatos. He screamed and quickly started directing the ball the other way but it felt like the creature was seeing, targeting, him./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Zach knew if Gray wasn't already at that booth he was somewhere and in trouble. That kid was so nervous about that shit, he wasn't going to avoid a command to go to a safe place. Zach grabbed a park map from one of the other customers and ran, eying over the attractions and trying to remember what Gray had wanted to do. It was faster than he had ever run as he darted through the petting zoo, nobody. He checked the map and thought about everywhere else Gray might be. He'd seen the t-rex, he probably wouldn't have gone back and the other thing he was excited for was that hamster ball ride in the valley. He didn't have time to catch his breath, running deeper into the direction everybody was running from./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"His lungs burned but he still called his brother's name, hopping off from where the ride launched from he dashed into the valley. "Gray!" He screamed. "Gray where are you?" Dinosaurs ran like wild, enough to scare even Zach into hiding. He threw himself under a muddy log as some big spiky thing tried to run over him and then he heard a disgusting roar, his eyes wandered over to a creature, maybe some sort of mutated t-rex chasing after some of the dinosaurs. It was headed closer to the park but once it was out of sight Zach didn't care. He got up and kept moving. "Gray!" He called, "GRAY!" He shouted as he saw one of the balls crashed besides a dead triceratops, Gray's favorite. "No." Zach cried./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"He ran up to the machine and saw a head of ashy brown curls tangled up in the seatbelt. Zach bolted over, the thing as broken and cracked every which way. Inside was what he had feard, Gray hanging at an odd angle, his face pale. "Gray?" Zach croaked walking over and pulling his brother from the seatbelt. He was still warm. He was breathing. "Gray, can you hear me? Are you hurt?" Zach asked. His brother stirred but didn't move much beyond that. "Come on. There's some crazy t-rex trying to kill everything."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Gray's eyes opened and he tried to move from Zach's arms and fell, slipping to the ground, unable to try again. Zach picked him up, he could tell Gray was barely concious, so he held him and he carried him, moving slightly slower in an attempt to get him to some sort of medical help without attracting too much attention. Gray would groan, occasionally mumbling something incoherant. At one point he was too exhausted, Zach sat on the ground and held his brother's head in his lap. Occasionally his blue eyes would peek up at Zach before fluttering again as he fell out. "You'll be okay, okay? I'm here…" He chewed on his bottom lip. He was there with his brother when he heard an alarm like a siren and he knew something was very wrong. He once again lifted Gray into his arms and ran with him. They'd reached the edge of the valley and were going along the path when he could hear the screaming of the large mass of people, he looked up and saw the prehistoric birds spiraling over them./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"He ran towards the crowd shouting, trying to make his voice heard over everybody else. "Help!" He screamed. "My brother's hurt! Somebody help!" He cried out, dodging birds as they swooped left and right, he felt a pull on his back and he was lifted a few feet in the air. He held Gray tighter and screamed in desperation when suddenly the bird dropped him and he fell to the ground, doing all he could to coushin Gray's fall./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Zach? Gray?" Claire's trembling voice asked, she was standing besides a man who seemed generally concerned, holding a tranq gun he'd used to shoot down the bird with. "Are you two okay?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No…" Zach croaked, feeling pain ringing through his whole body. "He's been in and out of it… I found him out in the valley like this…"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Shit you were out in the valley?" Owen questioned, he motioned for Zach to let him see Gray. As the man moved around his brother's bloody hair and showed Zach a bad mark on the boy's head. "Get him to a med tent, show them, fast." Owen barked, Zach picked up Gray again and complied./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Zach was sitting besides a cot where Gray was laid up with some hastily done stitches in his head. They kept checking on him, trying to get responses but aside from eye movement and the occasional groan there was nothing. Zach couldn't talk from how badly his throat hurt, all he could do was look over to Gray and sniff back tears. It was only when some of the rescue hellicopters came and he was told his parents would be at a hospital waiting on the mainland that Zach was able to cry entirely, only when he was seperated from his brother would he cry. "What if he dies?" Zach asked a nurse. "The last thing I called him was a mental case."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" /p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"Doctors saw him to fix up a few scrapes and bruises, his back was fairly cracked up, he'd narrowly escaped a very serious injury. It'd been a while until he was told Gray was responsive. He ran to the boy's room not caring about the pain at all. He saw his brother sitting up in a bed, his head lopped to the side and his eyes staring confusedly at Zach. "We don't know uh, we still have to see how bad the trauma is?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Trauma?" Zach asked, looking at his brother. "Hey Gray, Gray I am so sorry… I'm so sorry."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Zach?" Gray asked slowly, "Where's this?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""We're in a hospital, man. You cracked your head open." He said, his heart immediately dropping from Gray's confusion. That wasn't like him./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Can you tell us your name?" A doctor asked, shoving Zach to the side./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""G-Gray Mitchell." The boy said./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Do you know what the date is?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No…"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Do you know the day of the week?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Do you remember what happened to you."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""I was at uh, I was, uh- the place, you know." He made a motion with his hand. "And I was like a uh, the dinosaurs were… they were uh, like."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"The doctor just shook his head and wrote something down as Gray continued to mumble. The more he went on the more Zach's throat burned. He knew Gray was faster than that, smarter than that. He remembered how after his grandfather had had a stroke he forgot words the same way but he couldn't remember what it was called for the life of him. As Gray slurred out word after word he only seemed to be more confused. Zach jumped in./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Gray, count to your age?" He asked desperately. Counting, that was the one thing he knew that had that would always be his thing. "Just count to eleven." He said./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"A doctor looked to him "Maybe you should head out for a little while."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No." Zach told him./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""One… two… three… three… three…" Gray let out a frustrated cry, slamming his hand into his head. "I ca- I can't." He sobbed. The doctor scoffed and lead Zach out of the room./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"He could barely stand looking at Gray when they took him home. He still wasn't the same, they said he probably wouldn't be. Gray could hardly talk without crying frustratedly, he couldn't write anywhere near like he could, his words were slurred and he just seemed depressed./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"One night Zach head a loud bang from Gray's room and rushed in to find his brother crying, one of his schoolbooks on the floor besides him. "I can't do it right anymore, Zach. I used to be, I used to, I…" He pulled out some of the flash cards some of the doctors made him to remember words, he took a blank one and wrote down an A+./p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""You still are." Zach told him. "Okay? You are the smartest kid I ever met…" He said, he'd had troble holding back tears in these past few weeks, but now he especially had to stay strong. When he got upset in front of his brother Gray would get even more upset. "Look, don't worry about those books, look how good you're doing, see?" He pointed at the A+ card. "You wrote that."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"The child nodded. "You used to not like me." Gray croaked, laying his head on Zach. "You c-called me uh a uh."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""I called you a lot of things I didn't mean." Zach told him. "I was a bad brother, okay? I'm so sorry, Gray. I'm so sorry I didn't mean any of those things."/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"He put his arm around his brother. "You'll get back to where you used to be." He told him, messing up Gray's hair. "You'll always be my dorky little brother, okay?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""Will we be like we used to be?"/p
p style="color: #000000; font-family: arial; font-size: 10px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;""No." Zach told him. "We're gonna be better, okay? I promise you it's all gonna be better."/p