Welcome To Jurassic Hell

Ch. 17: Outstretched Arms

Note: A majority of this chapter wasn't edited, I apologize!

We spent the majority of the night in a small shed near the docks, which was half-empty with a small handful of shovels and tools left. There was barely enough room to fit us all, but we managed, even though none of us slept as much as a second.

Of course, they were all for different reasons:

Kenji, no doubt, couldn't sleep because of his homesickness and missing his fancy-ass mansion with his expensive-ass stuff.

Brooklyn probably couldn't sleep because of her lack of phone and internet, of which she hadn't had access to for almost a full day (oh, the horror!).

Sammy...I can't really guess what she was thinking; her ranch and family, most likely.

Yasmina was the hardest to predict, so I didn't even try.

And then Darius was probably about Ben, being stuck on the island, about...well, about it all! About how we were all alone, scared, and without one of our team — it wasn't his fault, but I knew that's what he was thinking.

Ben's death was...was all my fault. I let go. I sent him falling to his inevitable death, where he was probably chewed up by the pterodactyls.

It was me, not Darius.

It was me, Kenji, Brooklyn, Yasmina, and Sammy who were to blame.

And that's the reason I couldn't sleep.

Screw the island, and our being trapped on it!

Screw the dinosaurs that were scattered around, threatening to eat us without even knowing we were out here — except Toro!

Screw everything and everyone, because they didn't matter!

The only thing that mattered now, to me, was the dark cloud that was fogging up my head. Survival was an instinct, something built into my fearful, teenage blood that I didn't have to think much about unless I really needed to — like with the pterodactyls and Indominous, for example. So I didn't have to think for making it out alive until last minute, or until I was distracted — which, since we were alone in the dark silence of Isla Nublar night, I didn't have.

Instead, I focused mainly on Ben and mom.

Ben, the boy, my brother and best friend, who deserved so much longer and to live a happy life without having to be afraid of anything. Ben, who lost that potential too early.

And mom, the woman who sacrificed so much and kept us going, who was probably worried sick about where her children were. She didn't even know Ben was gone, or I was alive.

She might even think we were both dead.

And that she was alone.

She was, and I was.

Alone and afraid.

And...lost.

And cold.

I haven't felt this depressed since I figured out I liked two genders, which had taken a great toll on my mental health, only adding to the impact of my father's absence. It was a feeling I thought I wouldn't have to deal with anymore; a dark feeling that I hated so, so much.

At least the voice wasn't back.

Not yet, anyway...

Anyways, continuing with the horrible night — which was spent with images of Ben's terrified face flashing through my mind, and silent tears secretly falling from my eyes — we all "woke up" exhausted at around sunrise, to a terrifying screeching coming from outside.