𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐒𝐄𝐀|𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐓𝐄

𝐈.𝐈.𝐈.

We're in front of a medium-sized house. It's not exactly a mansion, but it isn't like Owen's wooden cabin. It's right in between. Just a normal house.

Suddenly, the door opens. A bearded man walks out. He's wearing a Polo shirt and khakis, just casual wear on a casual day. Nothing special. Normal stuff.

"Owen!", the man calls out."It's a pleasure to see you!"

"The pleasure is all mine, Ian!", Owen calls back. "Can we come inside?"

"Where are my manners! Sure, sure! Come in! Oh, and, um...who are ...they?", Ian says, pointing at Blue and me.

"Oh, they came with us. Can they come in too?.. if you don't mind?"

"Well...okay. It's fine, I guess..."

Why did he trail off like that?

I don't know about you, but that's kinda weird.

We walk into Ian's house. It looks pretty normal. Nothing is really out of the ordinary in this room. A few vases, a couch and a coffee table that has a notebook on it, a chair, and a few picture frames on the wall that were...empty. That's strange. From what I know, normally, a picture...goes in a picture frame. Well, other than that, I guess this place is pretty normal.

"Please! Make yourselves at home! Now, what brings you here Owen?", Ian asks.

"Right. So, basically, Blue here had a child. Her name was Beta However, Beta was kidnapped-or dino-napped-and we're about to go on a Mission: Impossible-themed rescue operation. But we want to find some more dino experts to come with us, and I was hoping you could come along. I mean, you have way more experience than me, and we could use that. So, can you come?"

Ian sits down in a chair, staring at nothing. He seems to be contemplating the decision, weighing out the two options, the pros and cons, yes or no. He sits for a few more moments, filling the room with silence. Finally, he breaks it.

"I'm sorry, I can't come. Surely there's someone else you could ask? Plus, you have plenty of experience. I'm sure you will be just fine. Plus, I've got like, a lot of work to do soon, so I don't have much time to go on a whole rescue operation."

Did I mention he looked kinda tensed up? Because this Ian guy looks kinda tensed up. I really want to know why, but I'm not some sort of mind-reader, and, it could be sort of intruding on personal stu-

"Why do you look so tensed?", I ask. As soon as the words come out of my mouth, I wish that I could take them back. Why did I say that?

"I-is it talking to me?", Ian stutters.

"Yeah. I think he asked why you looked so tense. Wait, why do you look so tense...if you don't mind me asking?"

Ian takes a deep breath, shuddering during his exhale, and takes a look at everyone in the room. First, the humans, and then us. He gives us all a look, a look that looks like it's saying: "Can we please not talk about this?" Eventually, Owen gets a clue, and figures we should get out before he cries his eyes out.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. We should probably get going, though. Nice meeting you, Ian."

We exit the house, wondering what happened to Ian. He seemed pretty cheerful and full of life, but a few moments later he looks miserable.

Nice going, Ripper. You probably just ruined the old man's life! What was left of it, anyway.

We get back to the Jeep, me realizing that I have to go back to my old spot in the cargo space.

No! No! NOOOOOO-

I consider asking if I could sit somewhere else, but then I scrape that idea. Where would I go if I didn't go in the cargo space? There is no other reasonable option.

As Blue and I get back into our spots, I look back at the house one more time. What was Ian thinking about? Is he hiding something? Did I trigger some sort of traumatic memory or something like that? Maybe he has PTSD.

You never know with humans these days. Who can you trust? Who are your allies? Who are your enemies? Who is doing the right thing, and who is doing wrong? Who is honest, and who is a traitor. You have to be careful if you want to live in this world. Or else you must hide from i-

"RIPPER!", Blue yells."Put your head down!"

"OKAY!", I yell back. I lay down, making me feel a familiar sense of uneasiness. But we're doing this. We're gonna keep driving toward our next destination.

Toward the truth.

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