You look like me!

Chamomile had wandered out from the safety of her den in search of the tastiest and juiciest wild berries. They were her favorite, after all. However, bush after bush that she found had been picked clean, a few stray berries splattered at the base. And so her rumbling stomach led her further and further out of the comfortable area she called her home. Finally a fresh bush full to the brim of large berries came into view, however it was just inside an old decaying chain link fence that surrounded an equally decaying old building. It looked horrific to Chamomile, and normally she would have turned the other way, but the berries just looked so tasty! She found a large hole in the fence and trotted over to the bush, humming happily. And they were the best berries she'd ever tasted! Chamomile chowed down happily, smears of red and blue across her beak. She munched and munched and munched, until the bush was almost empty of all it's berries. She couldn't remember the last time she was so full! Despite the scary building looming just behind her, Chamomile curled up in the sun on a bed of soft leaves and quickly fell asleep.

 

CRACK!

 

The sound of thunder and lightning above woke Chamomile from her dreams of berries and dancing in the flowers. Her head shot up, eyes wide as she peered into the distance. The wind howls and the trees shook, rain falling in sheets. She looked down at her feet, mud and berries mixed together. She stood up hurriedly, bellowing her fear and displeasure, eyes darting about to find safety and shelter. But she found nothing, but the harrowing structure just behind her. As she considered braving the storm, another crack of thunder startled her and she went running into the building, all but falling down the stairs into the basement.

 

It was dark, the only bits of light she could find was where light filtered in from the cracks in the ceiling. The lightning occasionally lit up the basement, but just enough that she could see in front of her. She walked deeper and deeper into the basement, occasionally bumping into this or that, trying to find a soft corner she could curl up in and hide until the storm passed. Another crack of lightning lit up the basement just in front of her, and in the distance she could barely make out another dinosaur. It looked like her, same plates and spikes and Chamomile gasped, her tail wiggling in eagerness. She'd never seen another dinosaur that looked like her! She bleated happily, her earlier fear forgotten and she trotted forward.

 

The other dinosaur didn't respond and Chamomile slowed to a stop, her brow furrowing. Were they not excited to see her too? Maybe other Dacen wouldn't like her. She shook her head, the little bell on her pink collar ringing as she did. The lightning illuminated the basement again, the other dinosaur was staring right at her! She lowered her head and tried to make herself look smaller and walked over slowly, maybe it was her eagerness that they didn't like! 

 

As Chamomile got close, her face bumped into something smooth and she pressed her beak against it, investigating in the dark. It was glass. She could barely make out the other Dacen just behind it and she let out a little triumphant bellow, her cheeks immediately reddening with embarrassment, she had just told herself not to do that! He still didn't respond and Chamomile tilted her head, pressing her face against the glass and trying to see through the liquid. "Are you okay?" she asked, but still he didn't reply. Chamomile frowned, unsure of whatever social cues she may have missed. "Is this your home?" Maybe she was trespassing, it seemed like it was a scary place but maybe it wasn't so bad!

 

Another crack lit up the room, and the dinosaur just in front of her. He was floating suspended in a tank, his eyes rolled back, partially decayed. Chamomile forgot all of her decorum and screamed, lashing her tail out behind her and knocking over several other smaller specimen as she did. Glass shattered all around her, liquid expending across the floor like the horror on her face. The lightning lit up the basement again and the realization of what she had found was terrifying and sudden. It was a graveyard. The walls were lined with specimen in large tubes, some were nothing more than bones but others were partially rotten and falling apart. Bones sat around on desks, some attached to walls. Her fear was palpable in the way she stood and the expression on her face.

 

Chamomile screamed and ran back the way she had come, ignoring the glass shards beneath her feet. She bumped into tanks and tables and other specimen, that came crashing to the ground as she did. And each time she could feel tears roll down her cheeks. When she finally got out of the building, despite her injured feet, Chamomile did not stop running until she was safe in her den, even as the storm raged overhead.