Leaving Like A Father

"The Mosasaurus," the handler began, her voice echoing around the stands surrounding the lagoon, "was thought to have hunted near the surface of the water…"

Zach shifted in his seat, surprised to feel a thrill of almost childish anticipation shoot through him, his dark eyes eagerly scanning the surface of the still water for the first sign of movement. Gray and Morgan sat on either side of him, the three of them dressed in navy plastic capes, Zara having hurriedly draped them over their heads without a word of explanation as to why. She had then ordered them to meet her by the main entrance once the marine performance was finished, before tottering off, muttering under her breath as she moved about having just blow-dried her hair that morning.

As Zach glanced around, it was only to see everyone else in the audience was similarly attired, some filming the proceedings with their phones, whilst others took photos, a mounting sense of expectation filling the stands. To his annoyance, his own phone went off, blaring Ja Rule, Zach thinking it was Cassandra contacting him again for the millionth time. Glancing down, he saw it was just his girlfriend, Zach then turning the sound off and letting the call silently ring out to voicemail, not in the mood to deal with her on top of his aunt.

He had already texted Cassandra several times, answering her messages with a simple yes or no, being deliberately, belligerently brief. He wanted to ignore her outright, but even he didn't dare to go that far, not wanting to push his luck. He had been expecting Cassandra to rain hell down on him after his outburst earlier, but to his shock, nothing had happened. But his relief had been tainted by remorse, Zach now more than regretting what he'd said.

Morgan's father was a family mystery Zach had little interest in, not caring either way. Until a few years ago, he'd always assumed his erstwhile uncle had been Morgan's father. Despite David's charm and the expensive presents he'd showered upon his nephews, Zach had never liked the man. David, 'call me Dave', had always been the life and soul of every family get-together, but to Zach, he had always acted too enthusiastic, as if he was trying to hide how he really felt. When his aunt and uncle had divorced, Zach had been secretly relieved, sick of everyone falling for David's smarmy charm.

One Thanksgiving a few years ago, he had once overheard his father say to his mother that it was a shame David wanted nothing to do with a nice little thing like Morgan, and his mother had said quietly that David wasn't Morgan's father. Not long after that, when Zach and his father had once gone out fishing in a misguided attempt at father and son bonding, his father had recounted a smart remark Cassandra had made about his thinning hair. The insult had angered Scott, unable to let it go, even after all that time, and he'd snapped that no wonder Morgan's father had buggered off, that he would have done the same, dealing with a woman like Cassandra.

That his aunt had a smart mouth, Zach couldn't deny, being the butt of many of her jokes. Sometimes it went beyond joking and became an out-and-out insult on occasion. Cassandra often aired her opinions unasked, not caring if they offended or injured, or she would commence a running commentary where every second sentence became a smart-assed slur. She didn't give a damn if she grated on people; it just seemed to goad her even more into doing it.

Zach could remember a time when Cassandra had been downright twitchy, always squinting at him through her spectacles, her bolshy tongue at odds with her uptight manner, her dowdy dress sense reflecting her deceptively stern demeanour. He recalled someone once saying Cassandra had unfortunately taken after her father, inheriting the Dearing eccentricity from him. But when Morgan was born, she'd began to loosen up, becoming more fun to be around, even as she was covered in paint half the time, consequently developing a questionable fashion sense.

But lately, Zach had been struggling to keep his temper with Cassandra, Zach already super sensitive about everything without her ironic input. This trip - a trip he hadn't even wanted to come on, his mother mistaking his sullen silence for acquiescence - had been his worst nightmare, leaving him unable to escape his family like he could at home. And now he would have to deal with not one, but two aunts, Cassandra and Claire striking him as being cut from the same cloth.

His phone vibrated again, making Zach glance down with a heavy sigh, only to see his girlfriend had just sent him a selfie of herself looking prettily pensive and holding up a handmade sign saying 'I MISS YOU'. He cringed at seeing the love hearts she'd dotted around the words. She was the prettiest and most popular girl in his year, but she didn't hold his attention like Tori Higgins did. Tori was interesting as well as attractive, but he didn't have a chance in hell with her, all her energy focused on Lacey Peletier.

"It isn't going to happen with Tori," Gray said abruptly with his unerring knack of reading Zach's mind. "She likes girls and only girls."

"I told you, it's just a phase," Zach muttered, all too aware of Morgan's twitching ears. "She dated Ben Mayor last year."

"Yeah, for a week."

"Well, I'll just have to be happy with worshipping from afar, won't I?" Zach said sarcastically, stowing his phone away. "I won't say anything and I won't do anything – I can't anyways, remember? I'm taken."

"So?" Gray snorted. "You don't act like it."

Zach pulled a pained face, irritated at Gray's moralising. He only looked, and discreetly at that. He never touched either and he never would, not without consent and a girlfriend in tow. He had been brought up right in that respect at least, even if everything else was open to debate. But here at Jurassic World, where he was constantly surrounded by hot girls, was like being a kid in a candy shop. Wherever he turned, there was always one in his eyeline. Right now, he could count at least ten within spitting distance.

"Why isn't anything happening?" Morgan whined, kicking the back of her seat, where her diplodocus helium balloon was secured, the vibration making it fly wildly from side to side, bouncing off Zach's head.

"Cut it out, will you!?" Zach snapped, knocking the balloon aside, only for it to rebound and hit him in the eye.

"Man, you need to listen to this, it's fascinating!" Gray exclaimed as the handler continued to intone on at length about the Mosasaurus's many murderous virtues.

"I don't want to listen, I want to see!" Morgan pouted as Zach wrestled with the balloon, clutching his eye at the same time.

Cursing, Zach finally got the balloon under control, ignoring the dirty looks of the people sitting near them. Morgan had been acting up ever since her mother had went off with Claire, testing Zach's patience to the very utmost, Gray doing the same on a lesser scale. It had been thanks to Gray that Morgan had inadvertently witnessed the T-Rex devouring a goat during one of the park's hourly 'T-Rex Feeding' sessions, Gray bewailing the fact he'd missed the sight, whilst Morgan wept at seeing it.

To calm her down, they'd gone to see the baby dinosaurs, Zach thinking hell must be a dinosaur petting zoo filled with shrieking midgets. Morgan had been in her element riding a baby triceratops, whilst Gray kept demanding every two seconds that Zach lift him up to see stuff. Zara had soon started to get sniffy about missing the marine performance, but Morgan had refused to leave, Zach literally having to prise her finger by finger from a baby diplodocus, Morgan clinging to the creature for dear life, her arms wrapped around its long neck in a death grip. They'd bought her a balloon as a bribe, Zara promising to bring them back afterwards, Morgan making her solemnly promise to 'cross my heart and hope to die.'

Now they were here, waiting for what, Zach didn't know, but he now knew why Zara had been so keen to come, using it as an opportunity to get rid of them for half an hour so she could catch a break and get back to planning her wedding. Zach couldn't say he blamed her for bailing, since babysitting wasn't part of her job description, but he had no intention of trailing after Zara for the rest of the trip. Silently resolving to break loose at the first chance he got, Zach leaned back in his seat, his dark gaze scanning the still water again, feeling that same surprising thrill of anticipation once more.

"Okay, folks," the handler said as a dead shark hanging on a hook was manoeuvred out into the middle of the water, "let's see if she's still hungry after already eating today."

Zach's phone vibrated again, making him exhale sharply. Pulling it out of his pocket, he kept one eye on the lagoon and the other on the screen, only to see Cassandra had texted him again. Jaw tightening, he opened the message, expecting another slew of questions, only to see she had written, get over yourself. "Whoa," he muttered, "and she's meant to be the mature one."

"Zach, you're gonna miss it!" Gray warned, tugging on his arm.

Rolling his eyes again, Zach stowed his phone away, putting the message from his mind, and focusing his attention on the water, everybody around them doing the exact same. Even Morgan fell still, her small face scared. Nothing mattered in this moment, not Cassandra, their fight or the mystery of Morgan's erstwhile father. And when the mammoth Mosasaurus finally broke the surface, twisting in mid-air as it caught its prey, showering them with a cascade of water, Gray and Morgan yelling at the top of their voices in exhilaration, Zach thought maybe Jurassic World wasn't too bad after all.

Maybe.

Because I knew everything

When I was young…