Destination?

We journey far from the herd. Far from safety. To a deep, dark jungle. Many creatures we can hear, but none that we can see. The brachiosaurus leads us to a clearing. It kneels down on its back legs causing us to slide down its back and onto the ground. It stands back up and cranks its head toward us. Once it realizes that we are unharmed by the fall it turns around and heads back in the direction that it came from. "Where are you going?" I shout out to the dinosaur. It does reply to my cries, it keeps going. "Why did it take us here?" I ask Olivia.

The Climb

Here is a little known fact. I can't get on a horse let alone ride one. Growing up in suburban Chicago, having such knowledge would have made little, if any significance. I could ride a bike. I could do all sorts of tricks. I would probably be able to remember some of those tricks too, but most likely it will not come as a surprise, a horse and a bicycle are two very different things. "How do we get on it?" I ask. " First, I would recommend you put down your shield." I look down at my yellow shield that I earned. "No way." "You can't climb with that." She says to me. " But its mine now." "I know, but you can come back for it later." I sigh and place the shield on the muddy ground. "Well'll come back back for it. No one will steal it." She assures me. "How do we climb it?" I ask. Olivia walks over to its tail. She latches herself onto it, and cups her hands in the groves of its skin. "This is probably the easiest way to go." She says to me while attempting to climb. I follow her lead. The groves in the dinosaur's skin creates perfect footholds for climbing. That's not to say the climb was a cake walk. I almost fell a couple times, but it was a lot easier than I thought it might be. We go to the top of the dinosaur. The view was spectacular. By this point, a reddish sun was waiting for bed time. Our long neck friend cracks his head to us. It does not appear upset in the slightest. He seems to welcome us as if he were expecting us. Olivia blurts out in excitement. "Take us somewhere with adventure." It nods slowly and whips its head back around and proceeds to walks forward.

Rough, Worn Leather

I was once told that the Blue Whale is the largest animal. Bigger than any dinosaur. I'm sure that if I were ever to come across one I would marvel at its size. I would wonder how one of those, let alone many could swim and live in the ocean. Yet if you were to tell me its exact size, it would mean little to me. It would be an abstract number that I would shelf somewhere in my brain only to be forgotten. But here we are, looking up at the mighty brachiosaurus. We are like ants in comparison. We barely reach its ankle. In case you were wondering, its skin is interesting. The closest thing I could compare it to would be leather. Rough, worn leather. I wonder if we feel like gnats to it. I know it feels us as it looks down every now and then. I guess it does not mind. It must innately know that we are not a threat. Now is when I make a bold decision. "Wanna ride him?" I ask. Olivia's eyes light up and she smiles big and bright.

Observing the Long Necks

We watch the giant creatures sip from the reservoir. "I was never into dinosaurs as a child, but now I can't stop watching. Why is that?" Olivia asks. "Because they're fascinating. Because it's something that's never been photographed." "A dragon has never been photographed." She replies. I shake my head. "Then it's fascinating because it's something new." I say. "What do you think it feels like?" "An elephant?" I suggest. "I never pet an elephant." She says, still looking at the dinosaur in awe. "Me either." Olivia springs up and starts to walk to the reservoir. "What are you doing?" I ask. "I'm gonna go pet it." "What about the predators?" "We can defend ourselves. Come on." She says, ushering to join her. I hesitate for a moment and then leap to my feet. Admittedly I am curious about the texture of dinosaur skin.

Local Wildlife

Absorbing my look a like took a lot out of me. I don't feel any wiser, but I do feel a change inside me. I rest on a rock outside the exit. I'm so exhausted I am unaware of my surroundings. I hear Olivia gasp in excitement. "What is it?" I ask. "You'll never believe me. Look up." I rub my eyes and lift my head. To my amazement, I see a group of brochiosaurses (long neck dinosaurs) drinking from a beautiful blue reservoir. "Are we still in Main?" I ask. "I don't know where we are." "They're beautiful." I say, astonished. "Do you think we should get closer?" Olivia wonders. I shake my head no with my mouth still wide open in awe. "No, I don't want to risk scaring them away."

Blockage

"If we continue down the path we're stuck in a loop, but what if we turn around?" I ask. Olivia glances over her shoulder and sees the darkness behind us. "It's worth a shot." She says. We turn around, and attempt once more to leave the tunnel. At first it feels much like when we entered. No light, and relying purely on sound to guide us. It soon felt confining though. An intense pressure was forcing itself on us from every direction. Boxing us in. The air became thinner. Despite, or because of the lack of vision, it felt more and more like we were walking in place. "I can't breathe!" I shout out. "Me either, let's turn around." Almost immediately the pressure dissipates as we head back down the path. We keep walking and my doppelganger reemerges in the same exact spot. "I think this is something we have to deal with." Olivia tells me. " Yep." Olivia fires a pink heart into his chest. He doesn't budge, but I feel a warm glow and a smile on my face. Olivia notices right away. Curious, Olivia tries an experiment. She reaches over to my doppelganger and carefully flicks his ear. He doesn't flinch, but I react as though it were mine, grasping my right ear. "You're him, and he's you." Olivia explains. "No way." "Need further proof?" Olivia slaps his face. "Ow! That hurt." I exclaim. "Sorry, just proving a point." "Ok, we're one in the same, but what do we do?" I ask. "I don't know. We can't hurt him because that would hurt you, but we can't move past him either." I step closer. My face is inches from his. Our eyes are locked on each other. "There may be a third option." I say to Olivia without breaking my stare. "What is it?" She asks. "We go through." I walk on and crash against him. To me, he does not feel like a person, but rather a heavy wind. A heavy wind that tries its best to keep me away. I persist and press on. His head becomes one with my head. It is painful at first. Then it is like nothing. Like a ghost. No, lighter than a ghost. Before I know it, my doppelganger is gone. Enveloped in me. Olivia looks on in amazement, and I stare straight ahead towards the exit and natural light.

Tunnel

Chilled to the bone. Chilled to the bone. Winter is not for the faint of heart. Am I being dramatic? More than likely. The days are getting longer, and this isn't cold. At least not in my strictest definitions of the word. This here, this is freezer burn. A sharp, icy bite to wake one from a deep slumber. Olivia and I have been walking for what feels like miles. We talk about everything and nothing. Crunching the snow beneath our feet. We walk and walk till the sidewalk ends. It's not quite like in the Shell Silverstein sense of the word we're were hovering over a void with land somewhere below us. This was merely just an unfinished sidewalk. Stopping a few feet in front of a dark tunnel. It almost looked as though the city planners did not want any one to go through. With no light emanating from the inside, it certainly did not look welcoming. But we would not be scared off. Not today, and not so easily. The grass leading up to the tunnel was hard and freezing. A wind whistled from the mouth of the tunnel. Ushering us in. We clench our fists and enter. There is no light. All we can do is rely on our hearing. Paying close attention to our shoes clanking against the pavement. We walk in darkness for a few minuets, holding each other's hands. Slowly a light begins to appear in the distance. It is faint a first, but becomes brighter the closer we get. Eventually we can make out a silhouette. "Is someone waiting for us?" Olivia asks. "I don't know." "Who are you?" Olivia asks as we continue to walk. The silhouette does not respond. "Do you think it's hostile?" I query. " I don't know, but I'm preparing." Olivia opens her palm and faces it in the silhouettes direction as we walk ever closer. All of the sudden something catches my eye. I see the silhouette has a hood. I run up to it and notice that this person, this thing is my doppelganger. From my hood and cape, to my shield, to my expression. It's me, or a look a like. He doesn't move though. He just stands there , motionless. Olivia looks at me then the doppelganger. "Which one is you?" She asks. " I'm pretty sure I'm me and that is something else." I respond. Olivia examines it closely. "He follows me with his eyes." "Can you blame him?" I tell her. Olivia smirks. "I mean his body doesn't move. His eyes do though. He's like the Mona Lisa." "Huh, weird." I say while walking past him. "That's it?" Olivia questions. "He doesn't seem like a threat. Let's keep going." Olivia is slightly disappointed that I brush of the incident so easily, but she continues past the doppelganger as well. It looks as though we are about to exit the tunnel when it unexpectedly grows dark again. Just like before we rely on our hearing to guide us, and just like before we are met at the end of the tunnel by a silhouette who looks remarkably like me. Olivia turns to me. "He may not be a threat, but we have to find out how to get out of here."