Today was a pretty nice day.
The clear blue ocean perfectly mirrored the bright marshmallow clouds floating lazily in the air. A gentle breeze swept across the island that managed to cool the late summer heat. Flocks of gulls flew screeched together in harmony as they flew around the two towering mountains that sandwiched the airway leading towards the ocean.
But today was a sad day.
Ethan stood side by side with Dr. Malcolm, watching one poor man dragging a huge pile of luggage into the small plane. Ethan had deduced three quarters of that luggage belonged to Claire. And the last one-fourth of it was the pink backpack slung over Layla's shoulder, crammed with the various dolls she owns. But Mr. T Rex will always be tucked safely in her arms, ready to be used incase she needs to whack someone with him.
Though, right now, Layla didn't really feel whacking anybody with anything.
As Ethan knelt to the small human's level, she rushed into the dinosaur's embrace without a moment's hesitation. His scales were a bit rough and his loud purr can be easily mistaken for a threatening growl, but love was clearly written all over the two.
The two stayed like that for what Ethan wished would be an eternity of just listening to her soft breathing and nuzzling against her even softer skin, but all good things must come to an end.
"Layla, we got to go!," Claire called from the steps of the plane that roared to life. "Your father won't let me hear the end of it if I leave you here!"
"But Mommy, what if I don't want to go!" she whined and Ethan tightened the embrace.
Deep down, he wished he could support her innocent cause, but he had to face the facts. She's human, and compared to him, he's nothing more than what her kind would consider a monster. Not only that, she has a life outside of the island where she can go to school, make new friends and memories, and discover her place in life. And Ethan? He had already accepted his fate to be forever contained in this island and experimented just like any creature, and in a way, he felt content with that kind of life. "Once you grow up and make actual human friends, you probably won't even want to see me again..." he accidently slipped out.
"What?" Layla pouted. "You know I'll never leave you alone because you're my friend you big dummy! I'll see you next summer just like a promised, remember!"
He was almost tearing up at this point. "Why? Why would you waste your precious time seeing a simple animal like me?"
"Because I love you, stupid."
Hearing those sweet words, the dino felt no reason to hold back any of his restrained tears as he quickly removed his glasses to make a futile attempt to wipe away his dripping tears. "Arigatō… Layla-san…" he whispered, not louder than a breathe.
"Hold on, before I go, I wanna give you something."
Ethan had to blink to make sure he was seeing it right. Held out and sitting comfortably in the palms of Layla's small hands was… Mr. T Rex?
"My mommy said Santa made him for my birthday, but I want you to have him."
The dinosaur used a few good seconds staring into the other dino's googly eyes.
Sup fam a strange voice said in his head that` he quickly shook off. Once he got over his shock, he found Layla already at the steps plane, waving her hand off. "Bye Ethan! I'll miss you!"
"Bye…" he croaked just about as weak as his own waving hand was.
A gentle hand touched Ethan's shoulder. "Listen, I know now might not be the best time for presents," Dr. Malcolm said as the plane took off through the road tortoise speed, "but the system asked me to ask you to record the feelings, thoughts, and experiences you had with the kid, so I thought I'd give this." A tape recorder about the size of a trading card was placed into Ethan's hand. "All right, so I admit that the tape recorder's not as fancy or expensive as Claire's damn tablet, but I'll have you know that little gizmo there can fetch me a few 20 bucks on ebay, so don't you go breaking that thing on me, got it?"
Ethan wasn't listening. He was too busy staring blankly at his gift. Was he really suppose to record every single moment of fun he had with Layla into this little device? His new experiences? His new happiness? Then say it all ended with him saying a simple bye?
He shifted his gaze to Mr. T Rex who, as always, stared at him with googly eyes.
My mommy said Santa made him for my birthday, but I want you to have him.
No! He will not let things end with a simple bye! It's unthinkingly nonsensical deficient puerile inane moronic ridiculousness!(BTW: I Googled these words) Or in simpler terms, it's just plain stupid.
His eyes darted back to the speed growing plane and his pupils dilated into feral slits.
"Ethan, what are you-" Dr. Malcolm began, but the dinosaur was already off rushing towards the fleeing plane with incredible speed.
Each second the plane grew ever faster, but so did Ethan.
The wind smacked at his face, the rocky road graveled his feet, and the loud roar of the plane pinched his hearing, but he still ran at full unwavering strength,
Let the power of love inspire you! his heart cheered.
Just run faster his brain said, imaginary arms crossed.
Soon, the dinosaur managed to be side by side with the plane and he could see clearly Layla sticking her face out the window with a dumbfounded expression all over. Ethan smiled and waved.
However, the aircraft soon took off at the point where the heavy waves crashed against the island's edge, thus stopping Ethan in his tracks, but with his prepared muzzle between his hands, he felt ready to shout out what he wanted to say… what he truly wanted to tell her. And Layla was practically merged with the window ready to hear his final words that will echo across time itself.
…
…
…
...
"SANTA CLAUS ISN'T REAL!" he roared, shattering the very heavens, and pretty much Layla's heart.
Log 1
I suppose an explanation is in order for why I probably destroyed a child's dream.
Santa Claus is foolish legend told to foolish children about an overweight man who breaks into people's houses by somehow fitting through the chimney. I couldn't stand by and let my friend be tricked into believing such a ridiculous tale.
That aside, I guess should start with what my caretakers intended for me to do in the first place.
My time with the child has certainly changed me. I suddenly want to entertain myself in the park, make an entire world with dolls *cough cough* I mean… action figures… heh heh… , test out my masterful skills of cooking, and win at least one game of play fight against my rival. Because of that, I can feel myself becoming more human each day, but I know just one look at the mirror I remind myself of what I really am.
So I'm starting to ponder, is this a good thing?
Whatever the case, I'm glad to have met Layla. And what I truly TRULY wanted to tell her was that…
I love her too.
To answer some questions, the events that's been happening is when Layla's still a 6 year old kid and Ethan's about 13, and I kind of like to call what's happening right now the Child Arc, then it will start to move on to the Teenage Arc. You know, when Layla's a stupid teenager. That's right, I called teenagers stupid, but to be fair, I am a stupid almost 16 year old currently in high school.
Anyways fav and review plz.