Jurassic Attraction (DNF)

Chapter 3: The Museum

Last chapter for the first day.
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George POV.

I waited ten minutes for my suitcase to arrive, which ended up only being about five minutes instead of the ten predicted. I felt guilty that I was taking so long, especially since there was only one thing that I was really wanting something that would probably make me seem absolutely pathetic but who cares.

The entire time I’ve lived in America I found that the sunscreen from here sucked, instead preferring the UK stuff. When my bag was delivered to my room I thanked the woman who handed it over before applying it as I usually did. This was a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean after all.

While I had been waiting for the sunscreen to arrive I’d looked over the pamphlets that Karl had told me about, alongside the map with all of the different places and activities. I snapped a photo of the map to add to my article as well before making some notes about how beautiful the island's main street was.

“Sorry that I took so long.” I apologised to Karl upon arriving back downstairs. “I was just taking some notes and had to make a call to my boss.” I wasn’t going to tell him that I wasted about fifteen minutes of his time total, to wait for sunscreen.

“That’s perfectly fine.” Karl explained as he stood up. “How about we begin on the tour then?” I nodded. My notepad was in my pocket, nestled alongside my phone and wallet. I was prepared for everything and was honestly feeling really excited about having the opportunity to be here for the week,

This was like a fantasy to my six year old self. I had loved dinosaurs growing up, like quite a lot of kids did. Being able to see dinosaurs was something I had always wanted to witness. I had seen photos of the park obviously, but getting the opportunity to see a triceratops or a Trex myself will be a lot better.

“So today I am just going to be taking you to the Education Centre,” Karl explained. “It is the gateway to everything in our park… both literally and figuratively. It has information on every species we have here, whether it’s a dinosaur, or a plant, or an insect. Plus you have to walk through it to get to the dinosaurs.”

“Interesting.” I smiled, walking with him down the street. I took my time to look at all of the shop fronts, since I would be spending my time around here in between having a tour of the place and writing drafts for my article.

There truly was everything. Gift shops specialising in different toys, candy stores with huge ranges from all over the world, nature inspired playgrounds. There were also ways to spend your time as well, a cinema, an arcade, a large pool, or just going on a walk. I was serious when I said that it would be amazing to live here.

Although in between those buildings I was also looking for the restaurant where I was planning on meeting Dream. There were quite a few different ones, each with a different and somewhat… strange name. I spotted the one where Dream said he was going to meet me and took a long gaze into the window.

It was like half of the American diners that I’ve been to. There were lots of booths filled with families, all excitedly chatting between mouthfuls of food. It seemed that there were also tables behind it, for smaller groups.

Karl noticed my staring. “If you are feeling hungry, we can go and have something to eat.” He offered. “I will pay for you, of course.”
“No thank you.” I responded. “Food had been provided on the boat here.” It was a small lunch of sandwiches, cheese and crackers, an apple, and a bottle of water. It was surprisingly filling.

“From the education centre we also can walk through to the lab, allowing visitors like you to get a chance of looking at some of what goes on behind the scene. My boss should be there this afternoon and he was hoping to have a chance to meet you.”

We reached the steps of the education centre and I was immediately met with a giant T-rex skeleton, towering above the crowd of visitors. I stood there for a few moments, admiring the iconic skeleton which was on almost every photo and flyer for the park. I pulled my phone out to take a photo before just staring upwards.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Karl asked, to which I nodded with my mouth agape. “Well it’s nothing compared to the real thing, trust me.” His hand moved to rest on my back and he motioned towards the left passageway. “Over this way we have our state of the art museum, which has every dinosaur that you’ll be able to see tomorrow.”

He stopped in the entryway and I glanced over at him. “Will you not be joining me?” I asked, cocking a brow.
Karl shook his head. “I won’t be, sorry. I have to be managing the place, but I’ll meet you in about an hour to escort you to the labs.”

I nodded, walking down the passageway and taking note of the writing on the wall. It was all just an introduction, written in smokey grey letters. It was just an introduction, about how sixty-five million years ago dinosaurs last ruled the Earth. I skipped over this bit, since almost every museum I’d been around had this same opening line.

The first exhibit was of a species called dinosauromorph, one that according to the panel was what dinosaurs evolved from. Inside the glass casing was what appeared to be a wax model, one that seemed quite underwhelming when you considered the place where I currently was. I lowered my gaze to see a button.

I pressed it and then heard a low growl coming from a lou speaker along with a soft glow behind me. I turned around, seeing a small holographic critter circling around on the floor. It was quite small, just barely bigger than a house cat. It was moving on four boney limbs and a small smile grew on my face as it circled over a bit of flooring which had a different appearance to the rest.

The tiles were slightly lighter, a circle on the floor which it seemed that the digital creature was confined to. After taking a photo of the hologram I turned away from the dinosauromorph, going back to continue reading what the panel said.

The panel included everything from the lifespan, diet, habitat, behaviours, along with some facts. Alongside all of that was a diagram of the creature beside a map of the park with a habitat outlined in red, showing where I could see the creature if I went into the park. I took some notes before continuing along.

The holograph of the creature disappeared as I rounded the corner, eyes widening as I saw someone I recognised holding a small skull and giving a talk to a group of school kids.
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1219 words

Is that a dinosaur or a human skull?

Guess you guys will have to wait until tomorrow.