-Three Weeks BCC-

Breath catching in his chest, and heart pounding Darius looked around himself with confusion and malaise. The merger halo of illumination his flashlight provided washing over the nondiscript walls of the hallway as he pivoted back and forth. Something glittered in the darkness to his left. Giving his light source a shake the boy watched and waited to see if he could repeat the phenomenon, to his tentative relief he could.

"Well," he muttered to himself. "Here goes nothing."

Creeping slowly down the corridor his nerves on edge the teen found himself looking back over his shoulder more often than not. What was that noise? He wondered uneasily. It seemed to be following him, a low shuffling in the darkness, and yet, despite his efforts, the teenager was unable to locate the source of the sound. Tiptoing his way towards the object Darius reached slowly for what he could now tell was some sort of orb. Suddenly the reflective circle was eclipsed by something only to repeater brighter and in someway more sinister.

"Oh, no." the teen muttered to himself as it moved. Raising his flashlight Darius revealed the hideous maw of a Velociraptor lunging for him, the orb had been the reflection of its eye.

All at once he was being pulled back down the way he'd come. "Run!" Dr. Meriwether shouted in his ear. Darius could practically feel the breath of the creature hot and wet on the back of his neck. His legs tensing as if the need to flee was real, Darius thrust the joystick forward.

"Come on, come on!" he muttered teeth grit together. Light! With relief the boy spotted the way out, turning towards it hurriedly pressing the 'regroup' button to call Dr. Meriwether to follow him. Closer and closer they got, the sunlight blinding after so much darkness when- the whole world tilted as the headset was pulled from his face. His eyes squinting the teen glared up at his big brother protesting loudly as he paused the game.

"Darius, come on man I've been calling you for twenty minutes!" Brand said with annoyance as he tossed the expensive enquipment to the desk.

"Careful!" Darius gasped quickly accessing the headset to ensure that nothing had been damaged. Blinking as his eyes adjusted to the real world the boy found himself smirking at the sight of his bother looking like a dork. "Why are you wearing your uniform, Brandon?" he laughed reaching up and flipping his bro's name tag.

"Because genius, I got called in." he retorted before motioning with a thumb towards the door. "Dinner."

"It's a school night." Darius said perplexed as he took a moment to save and exit the game.

"And?" Brand yawned.

"I don't know I thought you weren't allowed to work on school nights, at least not this late." he shrugged trying to appear disinterested.

"It's fine." his brother assured, though Darius took this statement with a fair amount of skepticism. He'd overhead Brand and their mom whispering late at night after they thought he'd gone to bed about bills. Brand had offered to pick up more hours, but had been told that his education was more important. Clearly he didn't agree.

Darius chose to keep these thoughts to himself as he walked towards the dining room table, hands in his pockets. Sniffing the air, he recognized the meal as lasagna, but... not. Peering into the steaming bowl that awaited him Darius gawked at the small flat noodles in something that was supposed to marinara, some sort of white "cheese" sauce drizzled on top. The boy's heart sank into the pit of his suddenly nauseated stomach.

"Hamburger Helper again?" he groaned sliding into a chair and moving the food around with his fork.

"You know what?" Brand said taking a bite directly from the pan. "You make dinner sometime since your such a gourmet." Distractedly shoveling food into his mouth, Brand glanced at his phone. "Shit I'm gonna be late!" he swore while clearly burning his tongue on that last bite.

Running to the fridge he grabbed an energy drink before turning to Darius. "Do me a favor, save mom some of that, and do the dishes, there's not a lot. Don't go anywhere or open the door for strangers, if someone offers you drugs just say 'no,' to all my Brandamaniacs say your prayers and take your vitamins, don't do anything I wouldn't do, it's not you it's me," the older boy rattled with a cheeky grin as he headed towards the front door, spewing his ever growing list of farewell slogans as he went. "When the going gets tough the tough get going, good night and good luck!"

"Just get out of here already!" Darius laughed balling up a paper towel and throwing it at him.

"Hey, for reals, I love you man." Brand said pausing as he closed the door behind him. "See you in the morning."

"Love you too."

Shaking his head as he heard the deadbolt slide into place Darius picked at his dinner. After a few solitary minutes with only the dull tik-tok-tik-tok of the kitchen clock for company the boy grew restless and his thoughts turned, as they usually did, back to the game. The raptors had laid a trap for them, he thought, tapping the fork against his chin. Were they really that smart? he pondered. Everything he had read indicated that they likely were, but then again you had to consider how many liberties the game designers might have taken to make it more challenging for players.

What had he missed though? The teen thought irritably to himself as he ate his less than desirable meal. It had to have been hinted at earlier in the level which he hoped he wouldn't have to start over, though he knew he likely would. After all he hadn't located the canister of specimen samples which had been the main objective, other than survival of course. Perhaps, he thought suddenly the level was specifically meant to end in failure, as part of the storyline? Nah, Darius concluded to himself dismissing the idea completely, he must have missed something.

Glancing up at the clock on microwave teen realized that his mom wouldn't be home for another two hours at least. That was plenty of time, he thought. Eagerly wolfing down the pasta Darius dropped his bowl into the sink making a mental note to come back for them after he had solved the mystery that was the InGen on-site genetics facility.

After several more strenuous attempts Darius and his sole companion on the island were racing across an open field, Dr. Meriwether calling for extraction, raptors hot in their trail. A chill ran down Darius' spine at the blood curdling scream that filled his ears without warning. He turned this way and that looking for the adversary only to begin to make out words. A dinosaur that talks? Oh! Maybe another survivor! But then as he listened more carefully the teenager's stomach did a summersault, he knew that voice.

"Mom?" he called with worry exiting the world of virtual reality and running to the bedroom door. Opening it he found himself suddenly enveloped with a cloud of putrid black smoke. Fanning it away from his face, coughing and choking on the plume, lungs burning, Darius felt a rush of real mortal terror. "Mom!"

Socks skidding on the floor as he ran Darius slipped, clipping his shoulder painfully into the wall before scrambling back up and darting into the kitchen. Through the haze he could make out the figure of his mom thrusting a frying pan into a sink of running water where it hissed and bubbled vengefully, black smoke billowing into white steam. Hacking against the miasma herself the woman moved to open the back door, Darius eager to help rushed away and began opening windows.

"Darius Alexander Bowman!" the woman yelled as she spotted him. Still coughing Monica seemed to think better of the situation, marched over to the boy and nabbed him savagely by the ear dragging him out into the fresh night air to let him have with full lung capacity available.

"Ow, ow, ow!"

"Don't you dare ow me!" she said angrily. "What the hell do you think you were doing?"

"I'm sorry it was an accident, I just got too busy playing Jurassic Wo-" Darius began smiling weakly even though he knew there'd be no talking himself out of this one.

"Enough with that God damn game!" she shrieked fanning the front of her scrub top as if overheated, by the smoke or pure anger the boy couldn't tell. "I'm going to throw that stupid thing away."

"It was an accident!" Darius shouted with frustration, eyes watering as he rapidly blinked away the fumes.

"Don't." his mother warned. "Don't you raise your voice to me, not after I come home to that!" she pointed with a trembling hand towards the house, her voice just as shaken. "If I had- if I had come home any later..."

"Nothing would have happened! Jeez I don't get why you're over reacting." he scoffed in spite of how his own heart still raced. He regretted his combative response almost immediately as his mother turned away and stalked back into the house. "Where are you going? Mom?" he asked following her as she charged furiously into his room.

"What are you doing?" he then howled in shock, rushing to stop her as she began yanking cords out of the back of his PC.

"Don't touch me." she gritted as the boy grabbed at her hands. "Don't," she said again trying, unsuccessfully, to fend off tears. "I am not ready to bury you next to your father, not over a stupid videogame!" she sobbed. The woman's words lanced her son through the heart, he stood looking at her in a stunned silence. "Take a shower, don't take a shower I don't care anymore, just go to bed." she went on waving him away as she left.

"Mom..." Darius said meekly, his own eyes welling as he watched her leave.

Falling onto his bed as a few rogue tears escaped him Darius couldn't help but feel that a great injustice had been done against him. So he forgot one little pan of food on the stove, and it got a little burnt. It wasn't like the house was going to catch on fire. He wasn't stupid either, he would have gotten out even if it had. Sure he might be obsessed with the game, more than he probably should have been, but he got his homework done and helped around the house. Besides, it was the only chance he had of ever making to to Jurassic World now that his dad was gone... and that was another thing, he thought with indignation, she didn't have to bring dad into it. Failing to understand why his mom had to blow things out of proportion the way she had, the gamer brooded solemnly.

He was glowering at the wall still resentful, when Darius heard the first heartbroken sobs coming from the other end of the hall. A sudden pang of guilt washing away the anger the boy got up and crept back towards the epicenter of all of the night's drama, nose wrinkled against the still pungent air. With a thick foam of bubbles stretching up to her elbows his mother braced herself with both hands against the sink, tears raining down on the dirty dishes. Darius watched her for a moment, hating himself for making her cry.

Walking up behind her the teen wrapped his mom in a hug, resting a cheek against her back. Listening to her heartbeat, and mournful weeping in tandem Darius felt hollow with shame. The pair stood alone in their grief and fear the rest of the world falling away for what seemed like an eternity, a turbulent ocean of sorrow threaten to drown them. After several minutes the woman took a deep breath to compose herself, and without warning the crying stopped abruptly under her sheer force of will.

"It's alright, I'm alright." she said patting him on the forearm and pulling out of the embrace. "It's late, and I need you in bed."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright, just get some sleep ok?" the nurse smiled softly. "I love you."

"Love you." the boy muttered, gaze downcast. Finding his way back to bed Darius lay playing through the events of the day in his mind, and how he could have, should have done better. Eventually, he fell asleep.

Leg sticking out from under the blankets, blissfully cool while the rest of his form was snuggly bundled only the discomfort of a full bladder roused Darius from the realm of nix and into the warm glow of morning. Sitting up he rubbed an eye with a groan before turning to his alarm clock to assess the time. The blank face of the device didn't click with his brain at first glance but the surge of adrenaline that flooded through his body when it did sent the boy flying from his bed. He was going to be late for school!

Quickly running to the bathroom he took a much needed leak before frantically pelting back to his room and searched along his nightstand and under the edge of his bed for his phone, discovering the unplugged power cord of his clock in the process. Groaning with frustration when he came up empty handed the teen got dressed, hurriedly throwing on something he hoped was clean before shouldered his backpack. Swearing under his breath he wondered with accusation, why no one had checked to see if he was up before they'd left for the day?

It was a he hopped on one foot, struggling to put his shoes on that Darius realized the tv had been left on in the living room. He raced to turn it off before leaving.

"Excuse me?"

"Ahh!" Darius screamed turning with wide eyes to see his mom, still in her pajamas lounging on the sectional. "Mom?" he panted. "Uh school, late for... what's going on?" he trailed off, his eyebrows coming together as he took in the room, making note of the baskets of clothes and the trio of cell phones his mother had surrounding her. "No, seriously, what's going on?"

"Well, for one thing you just turned off my favorite soap, and for another it's about time your lazy bones rolled out of bed. It's..." she paused fishing her phone up from the floor and glancing at its screen. "10:37. Do you know how bored I've been? I actually folded the laundry! When does your mother ever fold the laundry? I mean come on that's a job for you little peons."

Blinking as he failed to understand a single word his mom had said Darius found himself staring.

"Surprise!" she said with a laugh. "I switched schedules so we could hang out, and I called you out sick from school so you better work on a cough or something. I'm sorry about last night." she went on with a sigh, sitting up and patting the space next to her. "But at least now we know that the fire alarm needed new batteries, and got that taken care of. So the next time you and Dr. Flora get too busy running from dinosaurs the whole house doesn't burn down."

Darius couldn't help but smirk as she wrapped an arm around his shoulders when he sat, "Mom, it's Dr. Meriwether."

"All I know is he's named after one of the fairies from Sleeping Beauty!" she rolled her eyes giving the boy a hug. "Now put Brandon's phone by his bed and change shirts while I get dressed, your mama wants to go to the pier!"

The teen winced, ducking his head slightly. "Can we afford a trip to the pier?"

"Darius, your mother wants funnel cake and you almost burnt the house down last night. If your butt is not in the car in the next ten minutes one of us is going to regret it." she announced. "Do you understand me?"

"Yes ma'am." the teen laughed as the stress between from the day before melted away.

"Good, now go change and don't wake your brother up, I have no idea what time he got in last night." she instructed handing him Brand's phone before scooping up a basket of her clothes and heading for her room.

Depositing the cell on his brother's dresser, Darius found himself feeling guilty as he noticed the guy hadn't even changed out his uniform, still smelling like french fries, before he'd crashed. He might piss him off from time to time, but he really did have a great big brother, he thought. Taking a moment to plug Brand's alarm clock back in for him, Darius reset the time before walking back to his own room and repeating the process.

In the car mother and son chatted about what each other had been up to, the nurse having been so busy with double shifts lately that she felt out of touch and estranged in her son's life. Darius was sure to fill her in on all of the happenings in school, what he'd been doing in his free time, and even the scandalous truth that Brand had, had a girl over last Saturday.

The pier itself was loud and full of life energizing the boy by proximity alone. Purchasing the two of them unlimited wristbands it was clear that Monica planned on making a day of it. Grabbing her hand Darius began to run leading his mom with childlike glee through the crowds, forgetting that at nearly sixteen he was supposed to act 'cool' in public. Riding rollercoasters, playing likely rigged arcade games, and downing corn dogs the two quickly lost track of time.

It was on the teacups though, that Darius got his revenge. They were already spinning so fast that his mom had taken her hands off the wheel, her eyes plastered shut and teary, laughing so hard she couldn't catch her breath. Waving desperately to tell him to stop Darius grinned mischievously, throwing his full weight behind turning the wheel, spinning them faster and faster, until he himself couldn't take the momentum and let go, being pressed back in his seat by the centrifugal force. The world spun and tilted as the two stumbled away from the right, both of their faces aglow with laughter they were having difficulty recovering from the ride.

"Alright, Darius," the woman said finding something to lean against. "Just for that, I'm keeping the headset 'til tomorrow!"

"Worth it!" the boy laughed jovially.

After one more pitstop to satiate his mother's craving the two went home, plopping down, and flipping on the tv to watch a movie. Almost immediately however, the woman fell fast asleep exhausted by all the excitement and activity of the day. Smiling fondly Darius pulled the throw off the back of the couch and draped it over her, before making himself comfortable with his head on her shoulder. Startling him at first Brand, bundled like a wayfaring traveler shuffled into the living room, blankets dragging on the floor. Without a word he flopped himself down on the other side of the sectional and went back to sleep. The family happily relishing the nearness of the others. Darius smiled.