Chapter 3
PTSD
Later that day, Tracker, Xochitl, Jura, and Rex were hiking along a jungle trail. As they progressed, Tracker and Xochitl pointed out and identified every plant and animal they could see. At last, they arrived at their destination, a great escarpment which Carlos said provided an excellent view of the jungle. As they moved toward the edge, Rex began to get more and more agitated, a fact that did not go unnoticed by Jura.
"What's wrong Rex?" asked Jura, as he reached toward the edge. As he looked out, he was suddenly hit with flashbacks of going over the bluff shortly before meeting Rex. As a result, he began to walk back nervously himself. Carlos looked back at him, noticing both him and his agitated stepbrother.
"What's wrong," he asked out of concern.
"Well," began the heavily panting cockapoo, "being so close to the edge reminded the two of us of our accidents."
As soon as he realized, Carlos apologized, "sorry, I did not know that this would remind you of that."
"I don't think we did either," stated Jura.
As, soon as they got back to the camp, Rex made a beeline for the tent. Almost immediately after, Jura followed after him, only to find his stepbrother crying. Jura immediately threw his forelegs around Rex and hugged him tight.
"There, there, it's all right, Rex," he consoled.
"It's just looked so much, sniff, like that cliffside back in the Dino Wilds, sniff, I miss when I could walk, sniff, it's been so long, sniff it's, it's, it's," cried the Bernese.
"Calm down, Rex. I'm here for you," he emphasized. "If you need to talk about it, I'm here.
A teary-eyed Rex looked back at him.
"Now Rex, I know this is something you need to get out, so please, talk about it with me."
"I don't know," hesitated Rex. "I've never talked to anybody about this before, and Dr. Turbot is the only other who actually knows what happened," he said cautiously. "I'm not sure."
"Come on, Rex. You can trust me. The fact we relate to each other so well should make that evident," he added.
"But we're not actually related?" he asked.
Jura almost sighed. He found it rather frustrating how literal Rex could be. "Well, yes, but, okay, that was a bad example. Let me start over. Rex, do you remember when I had that dream about being able to walk again?"
The Bern nodded.
"That morning, you told me that for so long nobody understood. Now you do have somebody who understands, someone who loves you, someone who knows you better than almost anyone," expanded the cockapoo. "If there was anybody you could ever open up to about this, it would be me," he promised. "What do you say, let's face that big scary demon together," he proposed, before giving Rex a kiss on the forehead.