Chapter 2: Boat Ride

I woke with a start. Same dream. For sixteen years, it was always the same dream. A deformed, yet friendly face, stabbing me with a knife. How messed up was that? I sluggishly got up and swayed with the boat. After regaining my balance, I walked to the bathroom to get ready. I looked in the mirror at my reflection. My black hair fell over my unnaturally red eyes. I hated my eyes. I was always made fun of at school because of them. That and the fact that I was five foot ten in fifth grade, six foot ten now.

I took a quick shower and got dressed in a red shirt, jeans, Nikes, a pair of dark sun glasses, and my black leather jacket. As soon as I was ready, I made my way to the dining hall.

Upon entering, the captain of the boat walked up to me. "G' morning Dylan." he said in an Australian accent. "Morning Captain." I replied. I walked over to the seat nearest to the wheel, like I usually did. The captain and I usually talked in the mornings, but today he was silent. "You alright sir?" I asked. He nodded. "Just lost in thought."

I got up and went to the buffet. I was about to sit down when someone tackled me. "What the…" I said, getting ready to fight. I looked at my attacker and faced-palmed. "Justin… You my friend are going to get beat up one day. I swear." A smile spread across his face. "I know you'll never do it though." he replied. "Who says it's going to be me." He smacked my shoulder and sat down beside me.

Justin was the first and only friend I made on the trip from Florida to the island. He was, of course, shorter than me, with brown hair and green eyes. He had come from Alabama and left for the island like almost all other kids on the boat. He was an orphan. Both his father and mother died in a car crash. He lived in a foster home for most of his life, until recently he got a letter, again like everybody, to come live on the island.

We talked for a little bit when the other four people on the trip walked in. In total, three guys and three girls. They all sat in different areas. Three of them in one area (one guy and two girls) and the remaining girl walked over to a table in the far corner.

I noticed her behavior. She was trying to avoid everyone. Either she was shy or didn't want to be bothered, but I wanted to find out. I had lived sixteen years doing the same thing and trust me, it sucks.

She had blonde hair with red streaks running through them. She wore a black dress and a pair of boots. And oddly enough, her eyes were yellow.

I looked over at the table and smiled at her. She pretended not to see me, so I got up and went to introduce myself. Justin had his face buried in his plate, as usual, so he wasn't going to talk.

"Hi" I said, sitting across from her. She whispered a nearly inaudible response. I extended my hand to her and introduced myself. She looked at me weirdly, as if deciding whether or not I was joking about talking to her. Finally, she reluctantly shook my hand and whispered, "Nice to meet you. I'm Emily." We talked for a little bit before Justin joined. I introduced him and we all talked about the island and the activities.

After ate breakfast, the captain walked up to a microphone that was in the middle of the room. "G' morning ev'ry one. Hope you all are excited for today. Very shortly we will be docking on Vivosaur Island. The time it takes to get registered there is insanely long, so we will be doing it here on the boat." The dining room whooped in excitement. "Yes, very exciting. Now, all six of you will be cleaning and resurrecting a fossil right here on the ship…." One of the staff suddenly ran out of the back room, captain and whispered something into the captain's ear. "Oh no. Ummm… Make that only five of you. One of the fossils broke loose and got severely damaged. One of you will have to wait until we dock."

An uncomfortable silence swept through the room. I had a feeling no one was going to give up their opportunity so I got up and went to the captain. "I'll wait till we get to the island." I said. "Are you sure son? It'll take quite some time to get everything done there." I nodded and said "I'm sure I'll be fine." "You my boy are a saint." he said. He shook my hand and went back to the microphone. "Now that we have that dilemma taken care of, I guess we'll continue. All of you please head to the back room." He looked at me and mouthed the words 'ALL' again.

We all went to the back room and got into position. Naturally, I stood near Justin and Emily was in the next booth. The captain explained how to properly clean a fossil and in less than a minute, everyone was finished. The captain congratulated them and said "Now that you cleaned the fossil, it is time to resurrect it. If you will all follow me." We went over to a machine and everyone took turns placing their fossil in. A holographic image of different dinosaurs appeared on the screen with each different fossil. And to everyone's surprise, the newly resurrected fossil was held in a medal.

The captain congratulated everyone again and said all that was left was the battle test, which would be held at the Fossil Stadium. Everyone began to file back into the dining hall. Emily, Justin, and I sat at the same table again. "That was really nice of you to give up your chance at a fossil." Emily said. I nodded and smiled.

Suddenly something hard hit me in the back. I turned around and saw a fairly big rock lying beside me. The three friends laughed. I rolled my eyes and turned back to my friends. "Idiots." I said. Another rock flew, this time hitting Justin in the head. He blinked a couple times, turned really pale, and swayed. Justin had told me he had got a head injury in the car accident his family got into.

My temper flared as I got up and approached the group. "Do you mind?" I said through gritted teeth. All three of them looked like stereotypical rich snobs. They all wore white and had neatly trimmed blonde hair and had lots of expensive jewelry. They smirked and continued to talk among their selves. My jaw twitched. "OK. I don't think y'all heard me." I said. I slammed my fist on the table, causing them all to jump. "I said do you mind?" "I don't know what you're talking about." said the boy. I nodded and said "Well if you see anyone throwing rocks at us, tell them I'll throw 'em overboard if they do it again will ya'? Thanks."

I then walked back to the table. Justin was looking less pale and he nodded a thanks to me. "I'm really sorry about him" Emily said, "My siblings are jerks." "You don't need to be sorry" I said, "It's not your fault that's how they are." The captain got on the microphone again. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we have arrived at Vivosaur Island.