Chapter Text
Jurassic World was your dream. You’d been obsessed with the original park since you were a child, absorbing every bit of information about it you could find. At first, there wasn’t much. The first guests were all under non-disclosure agreements for a time. But as the years went by, more and more details came to the surface. Dr. Alan Grant and Ian Malcolm both wrote books about their experiences and you stayed up late, devouring every word. Dr. Malcolm’s book had been nearly impossible for you to understand, but you kept trying as you got older. You read Dr. Grant’s books several times, hi-lighting bits, writing notes, folding the corners of certain pages.
It wasn’t enough for you. You couldn’t see the dinosaurs, couldn’t touch them, which you desperately wanted to do. Thankfully, Jurassic World eventually opened and you begged and pleaded with your parents to take you. You’d even worked several odd jobs for your neighbors, things like babysitting and raking leaves, just to save up money to go. Finally, though, finally you were on a plane, then a cruise ship, then the island itself. You were a bit disappointed to learn that nothing of the original park remained and that its facilities were all rotting in the restricted area of the island. But, as you were furiously studying the park map you’d received, you gasped, making your parents jump.
“Are you okay, honey?” Your mother asked, worriedly. You turned around to face them, an enormous grin on your face.
There was a very good reason for your excitement. “She’s here! She’s actually still here!” Your parents looked confused, but you just beamed at them and ran off through the main street of the park until you stopped in front of Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom. It was true. There was one thing from the old park that hadn’t been abandoned. Rexy had been re-contained and had become part of the new park. An announcement sounded from the speakers perched on top of the gateway into the exhibit.
“The next T. Rex feeding will begin in five minutes. Please make your way to Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom for viewing. Warning: this attraction may be too intense for children and some adults. Viewer discretion is advised.”
You wasted no time in heading into the exhibit and shoving your way to the very front, your nose practically pressed against the glass. You still had a few minutes before the feeding, so you pulled out your notebook, ready to sketch Rexy and write down literally everything about her. You couldn’t see the dinosaur just yet, so you began writing about her paddock.
You were situated in some sort of fake fallen tree inside the paddock. One side had been replaced with a large, glass window, providing you with a wide view of the area. The environment seemed to be mostly deciduous forest, though you noticed some redwoods as well. You wondered how Rexy had adjusted to a more authentic enclosure after roaming the tropical Costa Rican island for years.
You didn’t notice at first when your parents caught up to you, but eventually your mom’s nagging reached your ears and you looked up from your notes.
“Y/N, you can’t just run off like that. You could get lost.” You frowned and opened your mouth to defend yourself, but your dad came to your rescue.
“She’s just excited. You know how important this is to her.” You smiled at him. Your dad had always encouraged your dinosaur obsession, often helping you do research on Jurassic Park. He had helped convince your mom to go on this trip. You turned back to the exhibit as more and more people filed in. The feeding would start any second now.
Finally, there was another announcement telling you that it had begun and anyone who might find it disturbing should leave the area immediately. You trained your eyes on the enclosure, notebook forgotten, as a goat appeared on the ground below you and a flare was lit next to it. The ground began to shake as the Queen of Isla Nublar approached. The viewing area vibrated and you stopped breathing as the huge dinosaur stepped up alongside it before dipping her head down to snatch the goat up in her jaws. There were some disgusted noises from the crowd and your mother gasped and turned away, but you could only watch the tyrannosaur in awe, taking everything in.
Her skin wasn’t scaly, but leathery and about the same color as leather, too. The scars on her jaw line and neck were immediately apparent and you recalled the story of how Rexy had fought off two velociraptors in Jurassic Park’s visitor center. One of them must have clawed her badly, but Rexy had emerged victorious. Her head was bigger than your refrigerator at home. She’d been about 43 feet long when Dr. Grant and the others had visited Jurassic Park, and between 16 and 17 feet tall, but she seemed slightly bigger now. Or maybe it was just because she was so close. Blood dripped from her jaws as she crunched on the goat and you marveled at her teeth. They really were as big as bananas or steak knives!
The crowd began to clear out as Rexy finished her meal and you stood up, pressing yourself up against the glass again to see better. The dinosaur had turned to look at the viewing area momentarily and you waved frantically, trying to keep her from leaving. Her head rose up right in front of you, blocking out your view of her paddock, and a huge, amber eye blinked at you. You knew all about her eyesight disability. Because of her frog DNA, it was difficult for the tyrannosaur to perceive immobile prey. If you stayed perfectly still, you’d be invisible to her. Instead, you grinned and waved again. The eye blinked and its owner snorted, fogging up the glass, before plodding away into the trees. That was a little disappointing, but not unexpected. She was probably used to people waving at her all the time. You turned to beam at your parents, then plopped down on the ground to sketch Rexy in your notebook before you forgot a single detail.
“Honey.” That was your mother’s voice. “Come on. Let’s go see something else, now.” You frowned and looked up at your parents. There was no way you were leaving anytime soon after an encounter like that. What if Rexy came back to look at you some more?
“Mom, I’m sixteen. I’ll be fine by myself for a while. You and dad can go check out the other stuff and I’ll meet you at the hotel later. I have my phone and I’ll be here if you need me.” Now it was your mom’s turn to frown.
“Y/N, this is supposed to be a family vacation. We didn’t come here so you could only look at one dinosaur the entire time.” Before you could argue further, your dad put a hand on your mom’s shoulder.
“Let her stay here for a while. She’s old enough to look after herself. How about us adults go get a drink at Margaritaville and catch the Mosasaurus show? If someone wants to miss out on it,” he winked at you, “that’s too bad.” Your mother looked like she wanted to drag you out of there anyway, but she eventually relented when you agreed to answer any texts or calls she sent your way immediately upon receiving them and that you’d stay there and wait for them to come pick you up when you were ready to leave. They left you alone to finish your sketch and write more notes. You’d have pages of them by the time you left the island.
You ended up staying at Tyrannosaurus Rex Kingdom the entire day, witnessing several more feedings. Each one was as exciting as the last. Eventually, though, the sun started to set. The few remaining visitors trickled out onto the main street until you and one other man were the only ones left. You were still on the floor, working on a sketch of Rexy’s enclosure. Said dinosaur was actually hanging out fairly close to the viewing area and you found it difficult to stop staring at her long enough to work on your drawing.
“She’s magnificent, isn’t she?” A heavily accented male voice reached your ears and you glanced up to see an Indian man in a suit standing next to you. His gaze was on the tyrannosaur and he was smiling. You turned your attention back to the T. Rex and smiled as well.
“She’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. She seems kind of bored with her food, though. Maybe they should feed her something different every once in a while. Also, her scars seem to bother her sometimes – like they’re itchy, but her arms aren’t long enough to scratch them.” The man looked down at you.
“You pay very close attention to her. You are not afraid?”
You shrugged. “No. Seeing her and this park has kind of always been my dream. I wish I could get closer to her.”
His smile grew even wider.
“Good, good! Even the queen of an island needs someone to love her, someone to be her friend. Maybe you will be able to be closer to her one day.” With that, the man left, but you stayed there for a few more minutes. The man’s words had struck a chord with you and a crazy idea was forming in your head. It was hard to believe you’d never thought of it before. Grinning from ear to ear, you grabbed your notebook, waved one last time at Rexy, and raced outside to look for your parents.