Wait! I Wrote That?

Story One: Messummer (Through the Wormhole and Messummer 1st Draft)

Song: "The Lost World" - John Williams

Genre (s): Short Story/Historical Fiction

Written When? 8th Grade

Prologue

        I was born into the world as a reptile, but not exactly a dinosaur. My name is Messummer. My brothers and sisters died before they could hatch. Therefore, I was an only child. I lived in the Valley of Green with my mother and was two years old. I was a Pteranodon.

Pteranodons are a pretty wicked species. We grow to be about six feet tall at the hips, with a wingspan ranging from twenty-five to thirty-three long, and the adult Pteranodon weighs about fifty-five pounds. All Pteranodons have a crest on the tops of their heads, a short tail, and no teeth. We are carnivores, and we eat mostly fish.

Since I was only two, I was still growing, so I had not yet reached my adult height. My wingspan was sixteen feet. Although I have to admit, I was one of the best flyers in the Valley of Green. I learned when I was very young, and I practiced every single day. I was even more skilled than my mother, Laurasia. Well, Mum didn't fly that much anymore since the death of my father, who died when I was six weeks old. No one knows the cause of his death; we just know that he flew to the outskirts of the valley and never returned. Some dinosaurs claimed a Tyrannosaurs Rex ate him. Others say that either the Earth swallowed him during an earthquake or a volcanic eruption incinerated him. The mystery remains. I'll admit that I sometimes wish I knew my father, but I doubt I ever will.

Dinosaurs in the Valley of Green lived in peace. We were safe from–brace yourself–continental drift, Tyrannosaurus Rex, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions. Our Earth was a fragile place. It was nothing like the Earth the trilobites and tetrapods lived in during the Cambrian and Devonian Periods. While it was safer, it still shared its dangers.

Nevertheless, all dinosaurs in the valley felt our world was perfect and that nothing would go wrong. However, we spoke too soon. What the Valley of Green didn't know was that the reign of the dinosaurs was nearing its end, and only the luckiest organisms would survive the mass extinction.

***

Mom and I lived at the top of the tallest, oldest rock tower in the entire valley. Mum told me the rocks we lived on dated back to the Ordovician Period, so they were very old.

I personally really liked the tower we lived on, only because from up there, we could see the entire valley. The view was gorgeous. Many other rock towers surrounded ours, but they're not as big. All towers in the valley surrounded a river with rushing water and arches. The river flowed down a long way until it finally emptied into the watering hole, where most dinosaurs, birds, mammals, and reptiles went to drink.

Usually, I was the first one to wake up in the nest, but that day, I overslept. When I finally woke up, the sun had already drifted halfway across the sky. Our nest was located inside the tower, in a large, cool cave. Most Pteranodons slept and hatched their young in caves like that. Up there, we didn't have to worry about Gallimimus robbing our eggs. Therefore, it was one of the safest places to hatch young'uns.

It took a while for sleep to leave me, but when it did, I stared out the mouth of the cave to the beautiful day. The sky was blue, and other Pteranodons were out on their midday flight.

I twisted my neck to find Mum grooming her wings. Clearing my throat, I said, "Ahem. Hello, Mom." Standing, I brought my wings in front of my breast, and my claws gripped the rocky surface of the cave. I hobbled over to Mother, who looked up from grooming herself.