“You look familiar,” Drew said. “Were you in a movie or something?”

The dinosaur tilted its head, but did not answer.

“Why are you here? What do you have to tell me?”

When it finally did speak, it did so in a muffled, distant-sounding voice, like when you’re dreaming and someone is speaking in another room in real life. He felt like he was underwater. “That thing that happened to you wasn’t your fault, but your choices after it are your responsibility,” the great beast said.

“What?”

The silence returned.

Drew felt disconcerted, disappointed, and some other dis-isms. “That’s it? You’re not gonna, like, give me powers or something? Not even an employee of the month award?”

The creature simply smiled at him.

And then he woke up.