Chapter 6 – The Morning After

The mood was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Holly stood, staring at a sign saying Jurassic Treetops. James was standing next to her, giving her a sour look. There'd been a big argument about James' behaviour last night; Holly. James had used one of his favourite tactics; guilt-tripping, promptly followed by weak excuses. They hadn't worked six months ago; she couldn't fathom why he'd think they'd work now. She just stared at him and chose to look out over the marvellous vista before her.

Jurassic Treetops was a large viewing area, resembling the viewing deck of a ship. The idea had been to allow guests to see the mighty creatures of the Jurassic face-to-face; you could even, for a small fee, buy a bag of fern leaves in order to feed them. However, certain things had not been accounted for. Holly was witnessing one of those things now. "Oi! Do something, you brainless lizard!", James yelled at the calmly browsing apatosaur, which took no notice. Angered that the dinosaur was not paying attention to his arrogant yelling, James picked up a small stone from nearby and hurled it at the browsing animal. His aim was off and the animal did not seem to register the human, nor the projectile that had been thrown at it; instead, it continued to browse. However, the rock landed near a group of small green dinosaurs (dryosaurs, according to the guidebook), causing them to scatter into the bushes. James smiled at this minor victory and Holly gave him an exasperated look; of all the things she wanted, attention at this particular moment was not one of them.

Suddenly, Holly turned round to see a woman wearing a Prehistoric Park keeper's uniform walking into the viewing area. She turned to James and said "Sir, please stop harassing our animals". James gave the keeper a sour look, "Oh fuck off, you frigid bitch." he sneered at her, with a raised middle finger. The keeper's eyes widened briefly, but she remained poker faced and said "Sir, disrespect towards staff will not be tolerated. Now either behave or leave." James looked at her sourly. "Fine", he seethed, "Come on Holly!" He stalked off, dragging Holly behind him.

Later, in Morrison Mumbo

Holly was sitting in Morrison Mumbo, trying to ignore James' arrogant moaning and keeping her attention on either her meal or the dinosaurs roaming about over the veranda. She tuned back in when he said, "Yeah, so Brandon was telling me that, ever since he dumped Sian, his life's massively improved. No more nagging. Getting rid of her was the best thing he ever did" Holly ignored him and cut her steak, her eyes directed to a brachiosaur walking past the viewing area. She gave him a withering stare; this was a topic that was sensitive for her.

Sian was Holly's best friend; they'd known each other since they were children. Sian had stayed at their house practically every weekend. Nathan had got to know her very well; in fact, he was closest to her out of all of Holly's friends. Sometimes, Holly suspected Nathan had developed a (not so) mild crush on her. Well, Holly full well knew that Nathan was the "secret admirer" who'd sent Sian a beautifully written card, a box of her favourite brand of chocolates and a bouquet of blue (her favourite colour) flowers last Valentine's Day. Well, her boyfriend at the time definitely didn't. It wasn't like him.

About a year ago, she'd started seeing Brandon, James' best friend. The relationship had ended recently; at Holly's 18th birthday, three weeks before, Brandon revealed he'd been cheating on her with one of her closest friends. He'd then yelled at her, implying it was her fault for finding out, before threatening to punch Nathan when he'd tried to defend her; which James found amusing. Sian had left crying; she'd been heartbroken at this betrayal and both Nathan and Holly had been a constant source of emotional support in the weeks that followed.

James' views on the matter were somewhat different. "The annoying bitch deserved to be cheated on", James sneered. Holly didn't give him the dignity of a reply; she just stared at him. That party had been the worst of her life; James and his friends joking about the death of her aunt's dog, Brandon "accidentally" ruining her late grandmother's wedding dress, one of her family's most valuable heirlooms, and James and his friends spending the whole night treating Nathan like a servant. Combine that with more alcohol drunk in 24 hours than was normally drunk in her house in a month, you had a recipe for hell. And indeed it was; half the house had been destroyed, several prize possessions had been broken, ruined or simply wrecked and the family car had been totalled after James had deliberately crashed it into the garage door – the repairs had cost over £1000.

"Yeah, and Brandon was going on about how Phoebe…"

Holly snapped, "No. Don't bring her up."

James grinned at the response and said "Why? What's wrong with me bringing her up? She's family, isn't she?"

"Just don't. She's no family of mine. Not anymore. You, of all people, should know that."

Nathan was sitting on the train, heading to Isla Muerta, looking out of the window at the churning sea, seeing if he could see anything in the waters below. Well, looking out the window was better than listening to the person across from him. "I'd have loved to have seen it when Holly came back last night. But then, I do love a tense atmosphere.", Gerard smirked. Nathan gave him a withering look. Gerard typically avoided "tense atmospheres" when he was needed and made unfunny jokes when he wasn't. Case in point; three months ago, there had been a "tense atmosphere", when Molly died.

Molly was a yellow Labrador, owned by Wendy, Nathan's aunt. She was a replacement for Jasmine, a black Labrador, who died suddenly at the grand old age of 13. Molly's life, however, would be a lot shorter and more fraught. Molly had some genetic disorder which meant her immune system didn't really work properly. She was very weak and sick and had to have injections every month to boost her immune system. Molly was only six when she died; she'd had a fit, which she didn't come out of. Everyone was crying… well not everyone. Gerard, when informed, briefly gave his sympathies and said, in the tone associated with brutal honesty, "Well, I can't say I'm surprised in any way. We all knew it was going to happen someday. I'm actually surprised it didn't happen years ago; that she lasted as long as she did. I'm sorry, but that's true." At least that was some attempt at consolation. James had said, out loud, "Plague Dog FINALLY kicked the bucket?" Wendy had cried.

Nathan briefly clenched his fists at the memory. At Holly's 18th birthday party, the bastard and his friends had been joking about Molly, with that hateful… pig Brandon saying that "I'd have wrung the stupid thing's neck. The only thing it was good for was a throw rug". In order to get his mind off the thoughts in his head, he decided to look at the window, when the monorail suddenly jerked to a stop and the doors slid open. He looked to see Muerta Main Station in blue text on the roof. He looked, shook his head and walked out the doors.

Gerard, Liz, Lauren and Jack were some distance away. Nathan chose to lag behind, sometimes pausing to look in curiosity at a nearby animal. What he was really thinking about was the Night Tour last night. For the first time in two years, he'd spent time with Holly. The real Holly, not the one that had appeared when she'd started dating James. The funny, kind, sociable Holly. The Holly who'd always looked out for him when he was a child. The Holly he knew. The Holly he loved.

Nathan, looking through the crowd, briefly squinted to see a man in PP keeper gear. He was in his late twenties/early thirties with ruffled, short brown hair, a slight beard and a solitary demeanour about him. Nathan's eyes widened. He knew who this was. Dr. Owen Grady. His personal hero. Nathan opened his knapsack to see a copy of Dr. Grady's book, Being The Alpha, a world bestseller. If he wanted it signed, this was his best hope.

Nathan calmly sidled up to Dr. Grady and "E-Excuse me…", to which Dr. Grady responded with a "What?". Nathan brandished his copy of Being The Alpha like a shield and asked "I wondered if you c-could be k-kind enough to s-sign it?" Grady shrugged and went, "Yeah, sure." Nathan smiled awkwardly and handed him the book. "T-thank you, Dr. Grady", he stammered.

"Owen. Only assholes call me Dr. Grady". Nathan felt panic. He had been experiencing this warm feeling with Owen, but now he sensed it was dissolving away, as if he had gotten an algebraic equation wrong in front of Mr Mortimer, a notoriously short-tempered maths teacher who had little tolerance for what he perceived as stupidity – and for him, there was no greater show of stupidity than confusing x and y in algebra. Again. He decided to salvage the conversation; point out a bit of the book he'd liked. Flatter him. Nathan said "I l-liked the bit where you talked a-about calm-assertive leadership and its relevance to being an alpha. It appealed to me a lot." To this, Owen smiled; "Well, if I knew I was going to be popular reading amongst your age group, I'd have put in a few vampires."

Nathan managed to raise a smile and chuckled; "Believe me, you're not popular reading. E-everyone calls me a geek for reading your book. Everyone laughed at me in an English lesson once, because I said Being the Alpha was my favourite book. My English teacher snapped at me when she found I was reading it. S-she said I was reading 'c-chauvnistic drivel' that encouraged "masculine dominance". She was a complete feminazi, though." That was true. Ms. Porter was terribly feminist; she'd yelled at him after class when he'd tried to point out that all of Shakespeare's plays were not about "female oppression".

Owen smiled at him back, "Yeah. I've got into trouble with them a few times. All your life people have problems with your accomplishments – what you say, how you say it, what you do. My advice; never let them see that they get to you". He handed the book back to Nathan, "Here you go. Have a nice day", and calmly walked off. Nathan opened the book to see Owen Grady's signature on the front page. Nathan was so overjoyed, he couldn't move. His personal hero had signed his book! He had never felt happier.

He practically skipped the remaining distance towards his waiting relatives, who all looked at him as if he was from Mars. "Why are you so happy?", Gerard said. Nathan recounted the story of the past five minutes; how he'd had his book signed by Owen Grady. "The raptor trainer you like? Good for you.", Gerard said in a distracted, apathetic tone. Liz gave him a look and sneered, "I'm surprised he could actually understand anything you said. Half the time I c-can't understand a w-word you're s-saying. Is he fluent in gibberish as well?"

Nathan gave her a look; she was mocking his stammer. Nathan had had a stammer ever since he could talk; it was particularly noticeable when he was excited, scared or anxious. He'd gone to a speech therapist in order to rectify the problem when he was a child, but it still remained. He found s difficult and had occasional problems with e, but the words he really struggled on were hard c's and k's.

Gerard laughed awkwardly, scratched his head and muttered "You know, he had to go to speech classes for that…" Jack sniggered and Lauren gave Nathan a look of pained sympathy. Liz turned to Nathan and said, in a tone just dripping with venom, "They didn't work then, did they?", before stalking off.

There was a slight pause after that, interrupted when Gerard suggested a ride on the Gyrospheres and they headed off for the nearest station . Nathan, after a few minutes of walking, noticed something was wrong; there were no sarcastic or "witty" comments. Nathan turned around to suddenly notice… Gerard was gone! The bastard had stranded Nathan with Lauren and Jack. He turned to Lauren to ask "Where's Gerard?" Lauren, who appeared to be very sad, said "Dad left. He said he had things to do." Jack was standing in a wordless huff, arms folded. Seeing Lauren's dejected expression, Nathan decided to cheer her up. He smiled at her and said "I know just where to take you".

He led them to the entrance of the Gryosphere station near the San Antonio Walkways. He briefly paused to look at the vehicles in the loading station. The Gyrospheres, made by Masrani Tech, looked like enormous transparent hamster wheels. Despite their ridiculous appearance, there was point to them; they were created as a means to provide up-close and personal experiences of dinosaurs and other animals. They were user-controlled, but followed invisible tracks built into the enclosures, in order to avoid any… adverse incidents with the larger animals. Nathan, Lauren and Jack sprinted ahead and bundled into the first; Nathan taking the pilot seat and Lauren and Jack taking the second. Suddenly, the track whirred and the station doors opened, as the autopilot took them out of the station and they all looked upon a neverending vista; a reconstruction of the Early Cretaceous of North America. And all throughout this panoramic view roamed herds of giant dinosaurs. Lauren gave a little awe-inspired gasp, as she looked out of the window. Nathan smiled at his two cousins and moved down the track towards the dinosaurs.

As they went along the track, Nathan gave them a little tour, identifying the various animals they saw: the giant sauropods were Sauroposeidon, the large armoured dinosaurs Pawpawsaurus, the small dome-headed dinosaurs Texacephale and the large ornithopods Tenontosaurus. As they drove near a Sauroposeidon, Lauren waved at the column-like legs and yelled "Hi there!" As if in response, the enormous sauropod bent down its head to look at the driving vehicle, giving a bellow in response.

They spent about twenty minutes on the ride, watching the different herds of various species mingle. They all wore large smiles; they felt like they had really been transported millions of years back into the past into a vanished world. When the alert came to take the Gyrosphere back to the station, they couldn't help but be disappointed.

Nathan and Lauren both exited the station smiling, Lauren practically hanging off Nathan's shoulder. Nathan wasn't really surprised… he and Lauren had always been pretty close; they were, out of all the cousins, closest to each other in age. Jack, who was standing some distance away, suddenly turned to Nathan and said "You're cool." Nathan smiled at him; this was the first time Jack had ever told him he was cool.

They walked towards Gerard and Liz, who were waiting for them outside the Gyrosphere station. Liz gave him a sour look, "What are you smiling about?" Nathan briefly thought of giving a response, but dismissed her. Today was going very well for him; he'd got his personal hero to sign his book, he'd spent time with his cousins… he'd had a great day, one of the best he'd ever had. Why let her ruin it?

Linda Jackson was sitting in the Cuban Canopy Aviary. She blew a blonde hair out of her eyes and opened her book. She noticed some teenage boy looking at her, waggling his eyebrows to his disinterested friend and muttering "MILF alert". Hearing this, Linda was suddenly reminded of a day recently, when one of Nathan's teachers had told her that, apparently, when a "guidance" person asked Nathan's class to list their greatest dreams and ambitions, the majority of his male classmates had written "Shagging Nathan's mum"; needless to say, the guidance person in question had been shocked. She didn't know whether to be amused, disturbed or flattered by this – for a forty two-year-old mother of two, she looked pretty young.

She turned to watch a beautifully coloured macaw land on the bench beside her, giving her a curious look; it wanted her to give it something. Giving it a smile, she shook her head and said "No, I haven't got anything for you". In response, the macaw threw back its head and squawked "DRINK! FECK! ARSE! GIRLS!" Linda chuckled briefly and shooed the bird away – someone had been teaching the parrots rude words. She couldn't blame them (whoever they were) for doing it, though – she and her sister Barbara had done that with their family's parrot when she was a kid. She turned to see Andrew, her husband , walk towards her, carrying two ice-cold Diet Cokes.

People were giving them odd looks, to be sure; two adults at a bar called Macaw Margaritas having Diet Coke. But neither of them had been the "drinking" type – for Linda, the reasoning was personal. Her family were all drinkers – her father, especially. Oh, he wasn't an alcoholic per se – oh no, the idea of being drunk morning, noon and night would be horrendous for a man who considered it "ungentlemanly" to smoke indoors. But he was fond of drink, particularly on social occasions, in which he drank to excess. It hadn't done him any good; in his fifties, he'd developed what he jokingly called "the tingles" for the rest of his life – shaky hands caused by nerve damage in his fingers. He had to take medication for the condition for the rest of his life. Besides, he was two years dead – a victim of a brain tumour.

She didn't like drinking because of what had happened to him in later life – at the age of sixty, before he started taking the medication, his hands were shaking so much he could barely hold a glass. They thought he had Parkinson's disease.

Linda picked up her iPhone to check for texts; from either Holly or Gerard. Andrew sighed, running his hands through his short black hair, "They're not five years old anymore, Linda. Let them grow up." Linda gave him a sour look and said "I'm worried about them. I don't care how old they are; they're still my children. There's nothing in the brain that switches off when a child gets past 13; you never stop worrying about them. I don't know if I'm stopping them from living their lives." Andrew chuckled and said, "Lynn, if you were stopping them, they'd be here with us now." Linda smiled at that.

Sorry for the MASSIVE delay, but things in my actual life meant I didn't really have time to do this chapter. Get the reference in what the Cuban macaw is shouting and you win a cookie! And sorry Zane, but I'm not allowing political discussion in the review section.