Museum Trip

Micheal Peterson:

"Okay," I say while chewing on a chocolate bar. "So this isn't totally bad."

I take a look around and sigh.

"Oh, who am I kidding? This sucks."

I lower both my hands and my head. I sadly chew my chocolate arm as I walk around the National History Museum. Walking through the current chocolate talk and tasting exhibit, I look to my left and right.

"I doubt Mick is after anything here."

I stop for a bit and look down at my hand. According to one of the educators, the chocolate bar I'm eating is made from some fancy chocolates from Peru. Thinking it over for a bit, I take another quick bite.

"Okay. This chocolate bar is super delicious but I doubt it's what Mick is after. Thought seriously, I need to grab a few more of these."

Walking through the crowd, toward the free samples, I think back to all the exhibits I've seen today at the museum.

"Butterflies," my head tells me. "Colorful. Beautiful, but no. Dinosaurs. Awesome. Big fan of Jurassic Park. Fossils are expensive, but there's no way Mick can sell stolen fossils. Los Angeles Underwater. Aquaman. I don't really like fish. Hmm. None of these seems like likely targets for the leader of the 23rd Gang. So what is Mick after?"

I shake my head as I reach for some more chocolate bars. About to grab them, another hand comes out from nowhere and hits me.

"Oh sorry," a familiar voice says.

I look at the voice's owner and see a familiar face.

"Juliet."

"Oh," Juliet says, pulling her hand back. "You're Micheal, right?"

"Yeah," I say, clearing my throat and coughing into my fist. As I cough into my fist, something small tickles my chin. Looking down, I see a handful of mini chocolate bars.

"Uhh," I say, looking at the chocolate bars and then at Juliet. "Uhh. These are for my friends! I'm not hogging chocolate bars! No!"

Moving fast, I shove all the chocolate bars into my pockets before clapping my hands together.

"Your friends," Juliet repeats. "Wait, uhh, Brian and that girlfriend of yours?"

"Ash isn't my girlfriend," I say. "She's just one of my best friends. Is your brother here?"

"Yeah," Juliet answers.

"Oh, in that case, I guess I'll leave then. See you."

I wave at Juliet and try to leave but Juliet grabs my hand and stops me.

"Hey," she says, pulling me back so I'd face her. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what," I ask.

"Don't judge my brother like that," Juliet says, looking at me with V-shaped eyebrows. "I'll admit, my brother can be a little...much at times, but he's not a bad person. If anything, he's the complete opposite. It's just that he cared about me. A lot. Okay?"

"Okay," I say, slowly nodding my head. Feeling a switch turns on, I look at Juliet in her soft blue eyes. "I understand. I'm not going to ask what that means or what happened, but I do understand. Some things are better left in the past."

The same switch turning off, I step back and shake my head.

"Ahh, that hurts."

"Are you okay," Juliet asks, stepping forward.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Anyway, since we're both here, and at least, I'm by myself, do you want to walk around for a little bit?"

As soon as I said those words, I immediately felt like slapping myself.

"Why did I ask that," I scream at myself. "Why! Why did you ask something so stupid like that? What is wrong with-"

"Sure," Juliet says with a smile. "I would actually like that."

Blinking a few times, just to be sure I'm not having an out-of-body experience, I replay what Juliet just said.

"I would actually like that," Juliet said. These were her words. These were her exact words.

Shaking my head and clearing my throat again, I nod and smile.

"Okay. Uhh, let's go then."

With that, Juliet and I walk around the museum. For some reason, walking through all the exhibits with Juliet felt better than walking through them by myself.

When Juliet and I were in the butterfly exhibit, we stood side-by-side and watched butterflies fluttering away. A few butterflies actually landed on Juliet's hand, and she asked me to take a picture. Not wasting a second, I took a quick picture of Juliet with a butterfly crown. We both laughed as we looked at the picture I had taken. When we finished with the butterflies exhibit, we moved on to the dinosaurs.

"I have seen the Jurassic Park movie trilogy at least a dozen times," I started, "And I have never once seen any dinosaurs with feathers."

Juliet and I were sitting with the audience in a small seating area. We were surrounded by little kids and their parents, and were watching various dinosaurs come onto the stage.

"You know those movies aren't scientifically accurate," Juliet whispered.

"Yeah, but still. The T-Rex in Jurassic Park is way better than that one."

"Agreed," Juliet said with a nod.

We finished the show and looked at some fossils before heading to the final exhibit.

"I'm not going to lie," I said, first looking at the fishes as they swim in circles before turning to Juliet. "I'm started to feel a little dizzy. How are you doing?"

"Same," Juliet said, wobbling slightly. Hanging onto each other for support, I pulled Juliet in and we steadied ourselves.

"Ahh god," I said, "I hate the sea. I hate fish. I hate the beach. I mean, I still want to see a blue ocean with fish swimming around happily, but I rather do it from land."

"Come on," Juliet said with a laugh. "Let's go."

Juliet started pulling me out of the Los Angeles Underwater exhibit.

By the time we're done with all the exhibits, it's already the evening. The sun is setting, the sky is orange, and people are leaving.

"Well, that was fun," I say, walking with Juliet to the exit. "I wouldn't mind doing that again."

"I wouldn't mind it either," Juliet says.

"Sooo it's a-"

"Jules," someone yells, cutting me off. This voice I also recognize. Turning my head, I see James running toward Juliet and me. Pushing people out of his way as he runs, he reaches me and pushes me back.

"Juliet," James say, turning around. "Where have you been? I'm been looking everywhere for you. I was on the verge of breaking into the room the announcer's room."

"Sorry," Juliet says, grabbing James arms and calming him down. "I was still...looking around when I bumped into him."

Juliet points at me and James turns around. The second he sees me, his face turns red and steam begin shooting out of his nose.

"Uhh hi," I say, waving at James. He doesn't wave back. Instead, he steps toward me and holds out a stern finger. He opens his mouth to say something but before he can say it, Juliet stops him.

"James," Juliet says, grabbing his arm and pulling him back. "It's time to go."

James looks at Juliet before turning to me. He nods his head before leaving the museum with Juliet.

As the two walk away, I see Juliet turns back to look at me. She gives me a nodding smile. I give Juliet my own nodding smile. I watch the two for awhile, until they disappear through the exit. When they're gone, I look around some more before shaking my head and sighing.

"There's nothing valuable here," I say, following the crowd toward the exit. "At least not valuable for a gangster leader to steal. So what does Mick want here?"

Mick:

Hitting the security guard in the back of the head, I knock him out and throw him onto the floor. Turning back, I see my boys dealing with the two other guards, kicking and punching them until they pass out.

"Come on," I say, taking the key from the guard's belt. "It's 1 at night. The guards should be half asleep now. Easy money, boys!"

"Yeah," my boys cheer as they watch me unlock the door and walk right in. Following me, each armed with either a baseball bat or a gun, we make our way into the museum's storage.

Vengeance:

Waiting until the last thug is about to enter, I run out from the shadow and grab the thug from behind. Putting him into a headlock, I choke him out. Slamming my hand over his mouth, keeping him silent, I throw him against the wall a few times until he stops moving. Throwing the unconscious thug to the side, I follow after Mick.