Of Course We Didn't Know
Of course we didn't know what we were doing. We were all seven or eight, and that is not a time to form large organizations.
Honestly, I should have told Auntie not to get my cousin that dinosaur egg. But she thought little girls like my cousin needed to have all kinds of different toys, not just the ones "society thinks she should have." But hey, Auntie gave her a dinosaur egg.
It came out after the piñata was broken and all the party favors were handed out. My cousin was excited with her spread of gifts: toys, candies, some books, clothes galore. The main thing she was excited about was her dinosaur egg, realistically cracked like it was ready to hatch. One of those humongous ones that took a minute for my cousin to pick up and carry to the backyard. Several of us -mostly cousins, I think- followed her outside onto the back porch to watch her open it. All of the uncles were out there, so it wasn't a big deal, even with the beer cans littering the area.
She broke it open so fast. You would've thought she was wired from the sugar in the candy. I didn't really notice because I was the last cousin to reach her out of the fourteen of us around that age. All I know was that I was knocked over by the thunderous wave of everyone falling over. Apparently, all of the other cousins -except me, obviously, since I was the last- were so close to her that when she stood up to show everyone, she knocked all of us over. All of us ended up with a scrape or a cut somewhere. But the stegosaurus that came out of it was really special. It was this silver stegosaurus with a holographic sheen. It had green eyes, which was cool too. She held it up so proudly. Then she saw we were all on the group and helped us all up.
If only she hadn't helped me up. If she hadn't touched me. Then the dreams wouldn't have started. The weird visits from my cousins. The startling calls on my phone once I got one. The random notifications for an app I didn't own. The letters I got in the mail. How was I supposed to know that the cut I got on my leg was supposed to be a natural contract to something -or maybe someone- else?
Well, sort of a contract. Because I was the last cousin, the dinosaur doesn't seem to care what I do as long as I occasionally give it plastic cards, kid's jewelry, and the random Play-Doh tub... I can do what I want. Boy, if only you could see my cousin. She is- Honestly, I don't know how she is. Or if she is still alive. I haven't seen any obituaries or social media posts. But who knows? Maybe I should ask one of my other cousins.