Hey. I'm gonna be honest. This isn't my best work. You'll see. Sme parts are good. The next one will be better. Sorry this took so long but I'm gonna try to get the other ones out faster. Love Y'all. Eat some waffles. Tell your mom you love her.
"We're gonna have to get your driver's license in order." My mom said, diligently watching the road as we drove home.
"And my freaking YouTube streaming deal... I guess." I replied. "God, the world thinks I'm dead."
"Oh, don't worry. You're all over the news. They probably know."
I grabbed my phone from the cupholder and opened Instagram. If you'll remember, the phone I brought to camp was a phone specifically for filming. I'd never bring my real phone to a fucking island. I scrolled through Insta for the first time in half a year. Different posts, memes, and mentions welcomed me and the rest of the Nublar Seven Home.
"God damn it. We're viral." I said
"I thought that's why you were going to Jurassic World in the first place." My mom said with a smile.
"Yeah... Yeah, it was." I replied, unenthusiastically.
My mom was silent for a moment.
"It might just be the fact that you're tired but... Forcing your way back to a sense of normalcy is just gonna drive you crazy. Especially if your outlook on your normal life has changed."
"I forgot how well you're able to read me," I said.
"It's a gift." She replied.
"I don't know, I just... It's been a long six months."
"You don't have to worry about it right now just... be happy you're home, sweetie. I'm certainly glad. Oh! That reminds me. There's a surprise for you at home."
"Oh no," I said
"Don't say oh no. You'll love this."
"Is it your cookies?"
"No, but that can be arranged. No, this is a little more meaningful."
I rested my head across the car window, seeing the old streets I used to know. That all felt like a lifetime ago. So many memories flooded my mind. That first day... god I can barely remember. I bumped into Brooklynn for the first time. I let down my guard for her. The raptor cage... the first of many near-death situations. Sneaking off to see Toro and seeing the first sign that Kenji might be alright. Watching Sammy's desperate attempts to pull Yaz out of her shell. Revealing my online identity to Brooklynn. The funest day I had in a long time. Editing with Brooklynn. The start of the Yaz-Brooklynn stolen phone war... The Indominus... Falling... Arguing... The first of many speeches from Darius. Surviving the jungle. Bumpy shenanigans. The Van. Eddie. Escaping the Indominus. That thought for a minute that we were gonna get out after finally figuring out how to work together... only for us to crash and burn with the reveal of Sammy's betrayal. Pteranodons. The kayaks. The Mosasaur. The monorail. More Pteranodons. Going through a window. Losing Ben. The tunnels. Blowing Toro to hell. And looking out at the sun setting over an empty dock... with my friends close by, ready to face whatever was coming next... together.
"(y/n)." My mom said, impatiently, snapping out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, sorry, what's up?" I replied.
"We're here." She said, stepping out of the car.
I looked through the windshield up at my house. I barely recognized it. It had been a long time. Slowly I stepped out of the car and tentatively walked up the driveway toward the front door.
"You alright, honey." My mom asked.
"Yeah, I'm good," I said slowly up the steps to the door.
She came over anyway and wrapped me up in a hug. "God, I missed you so much."
"I missed you too Mom. Thought of you every night."
"It was just really hard. First your father and then you, I... God damn it, I'm gonna start crying again."
"It's okay Mom." I chuckled. " They're gonna have to throw a lot more at me than a stupid island to keep me away from you for too long.
My mom let go of me with a laugh and walked ahead of me to unlock the door. "Ready for your surprise?" she asked as she opened said door and revealed an empty hall.
"Ha, ha," I said in a monotone and walked into the house. "What's the surprise, air conditioning."
"What's up, man!" Johnny yelled, running around the corner and hugging me.
"Jesus Christ, can everyone please watch the ribs?" I asked
"Sorry, man," Johnny said, letting me go. "Christ, you look like shit."
"Island life will do that to you," I replied.
An awkward silence followed as we kinda just stared at each other. Then I started chuckling. "God it's so fucking good to see you."
Johnny smiled as I hugged him.
"Good to see you two picked up right where you left off." My mom said, walking past us.
"I wanna take a nap so bad, man." I laughed.
"Well... that might have to wait," Johnny said, beckoning me toward my room.
I followed, passing through the living room where the news was playing on the TV.
"We're getting word right now that the so-called 'Nublar seven' have been rescued and are reuniting with their families at an undisclosed location. They're alive! Rumors are swirling that the seven took shelter in a complex of underground tunnels that run beneath the abandoned theme park known as Jurassic World." the newscaster said
"Tunnels my ass," I muttered.
We walked into a room that... honestly felt foreign to me. Nothing had changed about it, I just...
"I've got 22 million people waiting for your live stream to start," Johnny said.
I looked at my computer and saw that he'd set up a live stream. "God damn it."
"I just thought you might wanna talk to everyone but if you don't want to that fin-"
"No, no. It's fine... I probably should. I'm taking a fucking shower first though." I said.
"That's fair. You smell like a sewer rat," he said.
"Fuck you," I replied, turning and walking toward the bathroom.
TIMESKIP
I shuffled back into my room with wet hair plastered on my forehead. Johnny sat by the computer waiting patiently.
"You ready?" He asked
I shrugged, very unsure of myself. "I guess." I sat down, sling and cast in full view.
"Okay," Johnny said, leaning over my second monitor and clicking a couple of buttons. "And... you're live, buddy."
"Alright, what's up assholes?" I asked as chat blew up. "Jesus, calm down everyone. Y'all gonna crash chat. And don't remember how to fix that shit."
The chat was filled with messages like "Welcome home!" "Omg, I can't believe you're alive." and "We saw you on the news."
I smiled. "Jeez, man. You all missed me, huh? Well, I just wanted to come on here and talk. Uh... any questions?"
"Straight into the Q&A?" Johnny asked with a chuckle.
"I'm too tired to come up with my own ideas," I replied.
Someone in the chat wrote, "How'd you survive."
"How'd I survive? Well... We got fucking lucky as hell. Nah, um... the seven of us just made a good team. Everyone had each other's back. Oh! The fucking news is saying we used the tunnels. Um... no. We didn't go into the tunnels much and every time we did we almost died."
"How'd you get hurt?" someone asked.
"How'd I get hurt? Well, you see, some dinosaurs wanted to eat me so... yeah. Y'all want an injury rundown? I'll do an injury rundown. The sling is for my dislocated shoulder. I got that from falling off... you know those big metal shipping containers? Yeah, I fell off some of those and tried to catch myself. The cast is for a fractured wrist and multiple broken fingers courtesy of me having to punch my way out of many situations. My ribs got broken by a speeding ankylosaur. Oh! And my back has a cool fucking claw mark scar. Other than that... Everyone else was pretty much fine. I mean, Ben had a concussion... Brooklynn broke her nose... oh! Yaz fractured her ankle at one point. So yeah, we all got fucked up."
"When are you gonna start streaming again?" someone asked.
"I know someone didn't just ask when I'm gonna start streaming again. Mod ban that motherfuc- Nah, I'm kidding. Um... I don't really know. Obviously, I'm hurt and can't really play right now but, I just don't know if I'll ever have the drive to do this again. I mean, I'll probably grow back into it but I just don't know right now. I changed a lot during my time on Nublar. I learned some lessons, found out things about myself, and uh..."
"(y/n)!" The familiar voice of Brooklynn called from down the hall. "I'm here. No one else is yet I- oh!" She trotted into my room just off camera and quickly stopped talking when she realized I was streaming. She put a hand over her mouth with a giggle.
"...and I made some... great friends along the way." I finished staring right at Brooklynn, causing Brooklynn to smile. "They showed me things about myself that I never knew and... really changed my view on things." I turned back to the camera. "I don't think I'll ever be able to go back to a sense of being normal. I think I'm just gonna do whatever's the most fun for me. But, um, yeah. That's all guys. Thanks for all the support for my mom while I was gone. I looked and you guys bought out all my merch. Thank you all for coming to the stream. Mods thanks for coming back, I'll talk with you all individually soon... It's good to be home guys. Love y'all. Bye."
Johnny ended the stream as I stood and walked over to Brooklynn.
"Sorry about that," I said as she gently hugged me.
"Don't worry. I did the same shit on Insta when I got to my hotel." She said.
"Oh!" I said turning to Johnny. "Johnny, this is Brooklynn. You know her from being famous."
"Ah, yes nice to meet you. I've been a subscriber for a long time." Johnny said.
"Aw, thanks," Brooklynn said.
"So are you two...?" Johnny asked.
"How the hell did you figure that out?" I asked.
"Just a vibe." He replied.
I sighed. "Yeah... we're dating... I think."
"You think?" Brooklynn asked, a little offended.
"Well, we've never been on a date so it's a bit of a gray area," I said.
"The internet is gonna lose their shit when they find out," Johnny said.
"They already are. Did you see that chat? Half of them were asking how much time I spent with Brooklynn."
"You weren't wrong, your room is pretty messy," Brooklynn said.
I sighed in defeat.
She giggled. "Come on, grumpy. Show me around," she said, gently pulling on my arm.
"Show you around? I need to be shown around. I don't remember shit." I replied.
TIMESKIP
Everyone eventually arrived at the house. My mom brought out snacks for everyone and wine for the parents.
Kenji arrived and immediately started talking about how his crib was better before catching himself and apologizing. I didn't mind. That's just how he is.
Sammy begged to see where I recorded my videos. I showed her and let her mess around by recording different cringey intros.
I introduced everyone to Johnny. They all got along with him swimmingly.
Yaz walked in last with her mother and immediately handed me 15$. "I think that's what I owe you." She said,
I chuckled, "Pleasure doing business with you."
Eventually, everyone moved out to the patio. The adults sat at the table talking with each other about their jobs and how great it was for all of us to be home. They kept us close by at first, not wanting to let us out of arm's length after being apart for so long. But, eventually, the seven of us migrated over to the chairs on the other side of the patio. We slumped into the chairs, all incredibly tired. Brooklynn and I cuddled on the long chair while everyone else plopped down into the single-person chairs, except for Yaz who sat on the floor in front of Sammy who started playing with her hair. We looked like the shawarma scene from Avengers.
Seven tired and beaten down heroes, finally getting some much-deserved rest, except for Johnny who looked around at the confusing lack of celebration.
No one else knew what we had really been through together. The only ones who'd know us as heroes would be each other... and that was enough for us.
Suddenly Yaz perked up and reached for her pocket. "I forgot to give this to you." She said, handing a folded-up piece of paper to Sammy.
Sammy opened it and gasped. "Oh, you drew another one! You're the best Yaz." She turned the piece of paper around to show us a drawing of us all standing together on the first day of camp.
Yaz shrugged. "It was a long boat ride."
"Everyone put your contact info on this before we leave. Oh, I'm gonna miss you all so much." Sammy said.
"I don't know how I'm gonna survive without waking up to Kenji singing in the shower every morning," Ben said.
"I'd be happy to record something for you." Kenji offered.
"Hell no," Ben replied, making everyone giggle.
"We're gonna be in our real beds for once. God, it's gonna feel weird." Darius added.
"How are we gonna fit into society now?" I asked. "We're all feral."
"That's just you." Brooklynn joke.
"Haha. I'll show you feral." I replied, tickling her sides.
"No! (y/n), stop!" She laughed, trying to escape me.
It was no use as I pulled her into a tight hug.
Everyone laughed. After so much pain and struggle it felt odd to see everyone so happy but... it felt right.
"Y'all gonna have to tell me some stories about how you survived. I can't even fathom what you must've gone through." Johnny said.
Yaz chuckled. "God, where do we even start."
I let my mind wander again, remembering our past adventures. Activating the beacon. Building the clubhouse. Discovering the watering hole. Meeting Mitch, Tiff, and Hap. Brooklynn's suspicion creating tension. Ben's return with Bumpy. Mitch and Tiff turning on us... Hap's sacrifice... for a group of kids he didn't know. Using the backup control center to fuck with Mitch and Tiff. Saving Darius... Getting shot. Slowly recovering as we tried to find a way off the island. Bad plans. Gyrospheres. So many gyrospheres. Stargazing. Hidden Adventure. Too many stories to tell and not enough time.
The rest of the night was chill talk and banter. You know, what movies we wanted to see now that we were back, etc. But eventually, everyone needed to go off to bed. Everyone filed out, wishing each other goodnight.
"I missed you, man. We'll talk later." Johnny said, dapping me up as he left.
"For sure, man. Thanks for the welcome home party." I said.
"Latter, (y/n)."
He walked out the door, leaving me with Brooklynn. Her dad and my mom chatted as they prepared to leave.
"My flight leaves tomorrow morning." She said, hugging me. "I'll miss you."
"Don't worry. We won't be apart for long." I replied, kissing her head. "I'll wake up early and come see you all off at the airport."
"Okay." She said, "See you tomorrow then." She pecked me on the lips. "I Love you, stargazer."
"Love you too, superstar," I replied.
She released me as her dad walked up.
"It was nice to meet you, (y/n)." He said. "Everyone talked very highly of what you did on the island to protect everyone. Thank you for keeping my daughter safe."
"Dad." Brooklynn groaned, embarrassed.
"It was nothing, sir," I replied. "It was a team effort."
"Even so, thank you. We'll see you at the airport I assume."
"Of course," I replied.
"Alright. You ready to go?" He asked Brooklynn.
"Yeah. See you tomorrow," she said, giving me one last hug before walking out.
I smiled as she walked out the door to her car. I didn't look away until they drove around the corner. I sighed. "Damn, I'm already whipped as hell," I said, walking back inside and closing the door. "I'm going to bed, Mom," I said.
"Ok." She came over and hugged me. "I'm glad you're home, honey. Get some rest."
"Love you, Mom," I said, walking to my room flopping onto my bed... my noticeably comfortable bed... and barely slept a wink, thinking about the past. The hang gliders. Yaz being braver than me and telling me her feelings. Finding the boat. The Yacht Party. Dislocating my shoulder. Failing to talk to Brooklynn. The penthouse. The blue raptor. Kenji trying to be 'In charge'. Meeting the Scorpius for the first time.The claw mark and the spines. The dreams about my dad. Ben's bitchy nonsense. Getting stalked by the Scorpios. Making it to the boat. Percilla. Dropping a building on the Scorpiuses. Dr. Wu. Brooklynn getting kidnapped. Going back for her and getting the snot beaten out of me by Hawkes. The rescue plan going so wrong that it succeeded. Getting chased by Toro... And... me and Brooklynn's first kiss.
TIMESKIP
"Text me every day," Brooklynn told me.
"Also we need a video call every day," Sammy said.
"How about once a week," Kenji said.
"That seems fair," she replied. "I just love you guys so much."
"We love you too Sammy," I said. "Call me when you land, okay?" I told Brooklynn
Brooklynn nodded.
"Awww. You two are so cute." Sammy said.
I flipped her off.
Sammy gasped in mock shock. "After everything I did for you."
"Alright, settle down everyone," Darius said. "Bring it in."
We huddled together.
"Runner?" Darius asked.
"Here."
"Texas?"
"Here of course."
"Jungle boy?"
"Here."
"Mr. VIP?"
"Here."
"Superstar?"
"Here?"
"Stargazer?"
"Hey! Only I can call him that."
"Fine. Hoodie?"
"Here."
Everyone looked around at each other.
"Dino nerd!" Everyone said to Darius.
He laughed. "Here."
"Camp fam for life," I said.
"Camp fam for life!" Shouted tightening into a group hug.
We split and started to say our individual goodbyes.
"Ben, please get your head fixed," I said.
"I plan to." He said, hugging me.
"Was I right or was I right?" Sammy asked.
"You were right," I said hugging her.
"See you around, man," Kenji said.
"So you're going with D?" I asked.
"Yeah. His mom is nice enough to let me stay long term so... I think I'll find my feet."
"Well, I'm only a few hours away. Maybe we can hang out sometime."
"Of course," Darius said, walking over. "We'll miss you (y/n)."
"Thanks for getting us through Nublar, D. I'll miss you too." I hugged them both.
I turned and saw Yaz.
"Well..."
"Well?"
...
"I'm gonna fucking miss you so much," I said.
"Me too," Yaz said, wrapping me in a huge hug.
"Sister from another mister."
"Hell yeah... Thanks for pushing me to get with Sammy."
"Thanks for pushing me to get with Brooklynn."
We hugged one last time before I walked to my girlfriend.
"I wanna come visit you."
"I expected that. Nothing can keep you and me apart for too long."
She hugged me for a long time... not wanting to let go. "I'll think of you when I look up at the stars."
"I'll think of me, too," I said.
"Asshole." She laughed.
"I love you, superstar."
"I love you, stargazer."
As my friends walked into the terminal I was sad but... I knew it wasn't the end. As they waved, thoughts rushed back to me. The boat crashing. The desert. Falling into a canyon. Mae. Almost escaping... but not quite. Yaz's breakdown. Kash. Hacking the BRADS. The baby dinos. Kenji telling Brooklynn how he felt. My breakdown. Meeting Mr. Kon. His fake hospitality. Sammy's Breakdown. Kenji turning on us. Brooklynn's Breakdown. The core. Darius' Breakdown. Reconnecting with Brooklynn. Kenji return. Finally defeating Kon. And telling Brooklynn how I felt.
Half a year of my life. It felt like so much more. My life was forever changed by the islands and by the people I spent the time with. If I could do it 100 more times... I wouldn't change a thing. In the beginning, I didn't know what was to come. If I did, that past me would've never picked up the phone. But If only that past me knew... I was to meet the people who completed me. Camp fam for life.