Everything afterwards is a blur.
You remember leaving the feline exhibit in a sprint, desperate for freedom, as you made your way back to the center of the zoo. The zoo was packed with people. Another usual day for the popular tourist attraction. Surprisingly, most pay no attention to you and your odd appearance of a man covered head to toe in a strange substance, sludgy footprints left behind as you walk. For the ones who do, they don’t say anything. They were there for the zoo after all, not to involve themselves with a weirdo.
The sun and heat eventually dry the slime over your body as you wander aimlessly, completely lost. After what happened, you didn’t trust asking a single zoo employee for directions, in spite of how much you needed them. The zoo was humongous and you were worried that the zookeeper from before would catch you at any second. So you were more than happy when you ran into a familiar map.
“Another lucky break!” you think as you look the map over and find the path to the exit. Memorizing the directions, you take off once more, brushing past the large quantities of people in the zoo. Eventually you reach the exit and hail a taxi, your car having been towed long ago from its entrance parking spot. The driver doesn’t say much as you tell him to drop you off at the police station. As long as he was getting paid he didn’t care how strange you looked nor your destination.
After paying the cabbie and telling the authorities your identity, you’re bombarded by people. Doctors. Detectives. Even your family. Immediately reappearing after missing for a month certainly had the ability to cause an uproar.
You spout lies when you’re questioned, deducing that nobody would believe your actual account. You fabricate a story about not remembering much besides the fact that you had planned to go to the zoo the day you went missing and that you had awoken outside the zoo this morning, covered in slime. The doctors deduce you have amnesia while the detectives suspect you of being kidnapped. You just go along with it.
Returning to your life take a bit of time as you deal with the authorities and your family. You tell them to keep the whole thing under wraps, afraid of what would happen if word got out to the zoo. Luckily the media is so preoccupied with the zoo’s popularity that they pay no attention to your return. However, your family was paying extra attention to you. They refused to let you return back to your apartment and have you temporarily move back with your parents as you recover from the ordeal.
Within a few weeks everything had settled down. Your family lets you return back to your apartment and your workplace even gives you back your old job. You go back to your life, although it’s still more hectic than usual as it shifts back to normality.
During this adjusting period you get to know your apartment neighbor better. A kind woman around your age who was concerned for your safety after you failed to return and were declared missing. You both engage in long conversations and intimate dates before actually becoming engaged, shortly moving into a singular apartment. Your marriage leads to two children, a son and a daughter. And the four of you eventually move into a proper home where you settle as a family, your memories of the zoo fading as time passes.
***
“Did anything come in the mail today?” you ask.
“The only thing that came in the mail was this,” your wife Ashley says as she hands you an unmarked envelope, only containing your name and address on it. You take it from her and open it despite being in the middle of dinner with your family.
“That’s strange,” you say as you unearth the contents.
“What is it?” your 14 year old son Oscar asks, nearly done with his plate of spaghetti as he looks at you in curiosity.
“Is it money?” your 12 year old daughter Vanessa asks, glancing away from the cellphone hidden under the table and toward you, a newfound interest in the envelope.
“No, it’s four tickets to the zoo,” you say and hold the tickets in front of your family as your children begin to express excitement.
“No way! Now we have to go to the zoo!” Vanessa says with a small clap, thrilled at the sudden surprise.
“Yeah! You won’t believe how many people think I’m joking when I say I’ve never been,” Oscar adds with an annoyed expression.
The zoo had only grown in popularity over the years, becoming the most lucrative destination in your town. It even led to the expansion of your town as it expanded to suit the large masses of people that came to visit. But visiting the zoo was now more difficult. The tickets were more expensive and there was even a waitlist now, customers having to book ahead of time to visit. However, those weren’t the reasons you refused to let your family visit the zoo all these years.
“Sorry, kids. You know how your father feels about the zoo. I don’t think we’ll be able to go,” Ashley explains, eradicating your children’s excitement as they look at their plates with disappointment.
“I know,” Oscar says glumly. He begins to finish his spaghetti as he sighs. With the tickets he thought he had finally received the opportunity to go to the zoo, but he should’ve known better.
Meanwhile, Vanessa goes back to her phone. She knew she shouldn't had set her hopes up, already aware of her dad’s negative opinion of the zoo, as she returns to texting her friends.
You notice the change at the table as the air becomes cold and distant. Your kids looking as if you had personally crushed their dreams. Even Ashley looks a bit dejected. She personally knew why you refused to return to the zoo, unlike your kids, but she couldn’t help but feel bad for her children.
You grumble internally as you look at the tickets and your family before coming to a decision.
“The tickets say they’re booked for this Saturday… and we don’t have any plans.” You wave the tickets in front of everyone. “So… maybe we…”
“No way! You’re the best dad!” Oscar exclaims happily as he grabs a ticket. Vanessa swiping one a second later. Dinner finishes peacefully and eventually you all head to bed.
“Hey, are you alright?” Ashley asks you with a concerned tone. You’re laying next to one another in bed, struggling to fall asleep as you toss and turn repeatedly.
“Yeah… I just… there’s something not quite right about this,” you say as you think about the suspicious tickets that had arrived.
“Maybe we should cancel the trip? After what happened, I wouldn’t doubt if you associate negative emotions with the zoo” Ashley says sympathetically. “The kids will probably understand. And you can even tell them your reasoning… that is, if you’re ready for it.”
“No. I… I don’t want to disappoint the kids. I’ll take them to the zoo and then explain what happened to me in the past afterwards. Overcoming the zoo might be the first step to explain my past kidnapping.”
“As long as you’re okay with it.”
She gives you a kiss on the cheek and drifts off as you’re left wide awake. Over the years you’ve forgotten most of your past experience of the zoo, now fully believing the story you were given by the authorities. However, your old feelings remained. The zoo gave you emotions of trepidation and fear. There was a reason you refused to return to the zoo and you weren’t sure why. But it appeared that you would soon be returning.