Tate sat on his roof, looking towards where he knew Centennial Park was, in an attempt to keep from being able to see where he knew his father would be, working late at Atlanta, Georgia's CDC. He didn't know what his father worked on when he stayed long after closing, working in secret with his small team of only 5 other men, but he knew his father cared more for the work than he ever had for Tate or for his mother, Sarah. Before he realized what exactly he was thinking about, Tate was thinking about the car accident that had claimed his mother and nearly him only 6 years prior. He remembered riding in the car with her, in the rain. They were arguing over what music they would be listening to, and he had just changed the radio and turned it up loudly. Again. Then he saw the flash of twin headlights, heard the crunching of metal, and woke up a week later in a hospital room alone. He knew it had been his fault, if he hadn't kept changing or turning up the radio, his mother would never have gotten distracted, and she would have seen the semi headed straight for them. Sighing, he looked back at the park, where he had spent most of his life.
"Hey, Tate!" Tate looked down, trying to locate the voice that had distracted him from his thoughts. Seeing who it was, he grinned.
"Hey Cassie! What's up?" he slid his way off of the roof, grabbing his longboard on the way down. He landed beside his blond-haired best friend.
"Come look at what I found! It's really, really cool! Grab some rope and follow me!" she said, before turning and taking off down the street on her longboard. Hurriedly, Tate grabbed the rope he kept hanging in his garage for occasions such as this. You never could tell what Cassie was going to do.
Tate finally caught up to Cassie near the bridge over Peach Tree Street. He paused for a moment, out of breath, with his bright blue eyes sparkling, before standing up and looking at what Cassie had seen that she'd found to be so interesting. Looking up, he couldn't see anything out of the ordinary on the bridge, but he trusted his friend.
"Tate! Good, you brought the rope. Now follow me!" she said, before taking off towards the side of the bridge, towards the spot they'd usually stash their boards and climb onto the side of the bridge. Tate followed, suddenly interested in whatever she'd found. Before the pair started climbing, he made sure that the rope was tight snugly around both of their waists, and slipped securely over the railing on the pedestrian path over the bridge. They climbed up, careful to not let their feet slip on the thin metal catwalk. Reaching the middle, Tate turned towards Cassie.
"All right, what's so very important that you were in such a hurry?" Tate asked, clearly amused, before turning back to look out towards the city with his back to the bridge.
"Look!" was the only reply he got.
Looking back towards his friend, he let his eyes follow her gaze, stopping finally on his beloved Centennial Park. He saw the cranes sitting next to the arches of his favorite park. Leaning forward, he said, "What are they doing with those-". Tate never got to finish.
