Looking To The Past To See The Future

Participants:

trask_icon.gif f_rebecca_icon.gif

Scene Title Looking To The Past To See The Future
Synopsis In rememberance
Date April 16, 2019

Standing in Front of the Columbia 14 Memorial


It is a nice sunny day in the park that was once the ruins of midtown manhatten. Norton Trask, one of the Columbia 14 is out for a morning jog. He is actually a little sight seeing, he recently saw a statue of himself, with ski mask and all standing in the park, and it caused him to want to check out the memorial in the middle of the park a little closer. He jogs up to it, and pauses taking in the scope of it all, and moving to touch the engraved names he knows.

The weather is nice and Rebecca decides to go for a walk. She normally walks everywhere, unless she has to take a cab, but today she just felt like walking. There's no anniversary or reminders of the 14, but for some reason they weighed heavy on her heart today. She stopped by a local vender and picked up a bouquet of flowers as she walked by. She steps through the park on her way to the memorial, thinking that without today being some sort of reminder, it should give her some time to pay her respects. She normally tends to avoid crowds and finds an off day to visit. Her friend Grace was one of the tragedies and she feels like she needs to take each year to pay her respects so her friend knows she was not forgotten. When she arrives, she notices someone is already there and so she stands a good distance away as she watches him touch the monument.

Trask stops when he feels eyes on him, he turns and blushes slightly, "Um…hi…sorry….." He steps back, not sure what the protocol with this thing is, as he does you can tell the name he was touching when he was caught was actually Grace's.

Rebecca steps forward then and nods. "You don't need to be." She bends at the knees as she lies the flowers at the base of the monument. She even attached a small card that has Grace's name on it. She makes sure the flowers are 'just perfect' before rising to her feet. She turns and gives a sympathic smile to him as she turns back and looks at the monument. She's been here before and will come again, but she reaches forward and places her hand over Grace's name as well. She takes a deep breath before finally saying, "I miss her too." she says softly as she stars as her fingers trace each letter.

Trask says, "She…." He sighs, "She did a lot…she never got credit for. She was as much one of them as anyone. It was her actions that meant they could do thier job. She is the real hero, the one who never asked for recognition for it."

She doesn't turn to him yet. She starts tracing the last name now, starting with the M and moving to each letter. "She was always available to me. I mean, I don't think I ever really got to know here, but we did spend time together. I always had a feeling that she did more than she was letting on." While Becca and Grace had mostly a working relationship, there was a friendship there. "I wish I had taken the time to get to know her better."

Trask says, "She was a good person." Trask can't have been more then a high school kid, maybe younger when Grace died. "Very dedicated…very focused, she was the heart and soul and she is why so much good got done.""

Becca finishes with the final N and lets her fingers trail down the remainder of the monument before she turns around. Her eyes are moist, though there are no trails from fallen tears to be seen yet. She no longer wears glasses, having ditched them long ago for contacts, plus to reduce the risk of a flashback. "Sounds like you knew her well."

Trask says, "Well as anyone I think…she had closer friends…but…we worked together a lot…she was always busy. I was always busy…we never sat and chatted…that's something maybe I would change."

Rebecca smiles, though it's not one of those smiles that proves any sort of happiness, but one of remembrance and reminders. "We talked, but mostly about work. Very rarely about ourselves. I was.. shy. Afraid to reach out. I suppose I still am to some extent, though I've been able to reach out more since she's.. " there's a pause as she glances upwards. "Since she was taken from us." She lets out a puffy breath of air and reaches out her hand. "You look familiar.. I'm Rebecca."

Trask takes the hand and shakes it, smiling, "People call me Gerard." The truth maybe, but maybe a touch of deception there. "I have one of those faces that everyone thinks they know." He looks up at the monument. "They really did quite a piece of work in building this."

Rebecca tilts her head curiously. The name doesn't ring a bell, but.. "Gerard. Nice to meet you." She lets her hand linger a moment before pulling it from the handshake as she turns her head and looks at the monument. "It is an important thing they did here. This country has had so many tragedies and for a long time everyone just forgot. I don't think forgetting was ever the right way to go. It takes something like this for everyone to remember."

Trask nods, "Time is a funny thing…history…every piece of the puzzle fits just right, every brick layered on each other…take one little stone from the dam. His fingers touch Alex's name, Helena's, Norton's. "And there is a chance it could all come crashing down."

Rebecca watches as he touches the monument again. She turns to watch, "Seemed as if the dam might come down all on its own sometime. Things were so complicated back then." She looks down at the flowers she laid down and bends down to straighten them a little more before standing. "It's hard to look back and remember that time. So much, so fast. And somehow it all led to here."

Trask nods, "It did…but…how small a thing can history turn on." He sighs softly, and closes his eyes shaking his head. "Sorry…I'm a little retrospective today. Ever get that way? Feel like you are reliving the past in search of some hint of the future?

Rebecca can't help but smile at the question. "More than you will ever know. I tend to relive the past on almost a daily basis." She's not talking figuratively either. "But it's okay. Sometimes you have to look to the past before you can look forward. It's important that you look into the past, sometimes the answers for the future are there, if you look hard enough."

Trask smiles and nods, "Then maybe that is what I am doing wrong…looking for the answers to the past, in the future."

Rebecca slips her hand into a pocket and pulls out one of her cards. "I have a knack for finding things hidden in the past. If you think there's something I can help you with, please let me know." She extends the card out towards him that states her occupation as the Head of Forensics for NYPD.

Trask smiles and looks it over, shaking his head, "What I think I am looking for isn't going to be there…not yet." He smiles, "Thank you though…" He looks back at the Memorial, "I am sure she knows how much you care, or she will…or did…or…" He shrugs musing at the pronouns and tenses. "I am pleased to meet you Detective"

Rebecca dips her head, nodding. "And I'm certain she knows how much you cared for her." Her gaze glances down the list of names again. "They all do." She tucks her hands back into her pockets as she prepares to leave. "Take care of yourself, Gerard."

Trask looks around, then says over his shoulder, "They like what you've done to the place….they are really proud of what…you did with what they left you…and …if they had to do it all over again…knowing the cost, they will gladly pay it. " He heads out in the opposite direction, his voice having cracked a little at that last bit, and leaves exactly what he means a mystery.


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