The Consequences of Cliff Diving

A Blockbuster Rewrite

Chapter 13: A Blockbuster Rewrite

"The park. Really?" Luke apparently had this whole elaborate amazing day ahead of us planned and he brings me to the park.

"Yeah the park." He retorts, bounding up the playground steps. I stay on the ground and look up at him. "C'mon Meg." He urges, waving a hand. Reluctantly, I follow him to sit under a pavilion-like roof.

"This is your idea of fun." I confirm in disbelief, examining the play set. He nods, spinning a pirate ship wheel with one hand.

"You don't like it?" To be fair, this park was one of the cool ones. The kind with a seesaw, bouncing bridge, roundabout, gliders, telephone/speakers, and even those movable stepping stone things. Kat would love this.

"I just think that it's an interesting choice of location." I reply calmly, looking up to where he stands.

"Here. Let me show you something." Luke reaches his hand out to help me up before pulling me over to the monkey bars. "Okay, watch carefully-" He prepares to climb the metal ladder in front of us. Taking my opportunity, I brush past him and climb up the ladder, hoisting myself on top of the equipment. Luke just shakes his head in amusement before climbing up next to me. He looks at me expectantly.

"I don't get it." I say dryly, slightly disappointed in the fun this 'journey' was allegedly supposed to bring.

"Don't you feel like you just conquered the world?" He asks dramatically, gesturing to the floor beneath us. I only raise an eyebrow and he sighs at my lack of amusement, looking back into the distance. Luke takes one of my arms and pans it across the horizon. "Everything the light touches is our kingdom-"

"Okay okay, I get it now." I laugh, pushing him lightly on the shoulder. But one of his hands was gesturing to said kingdom along with me, and his balance was nowhere near stable. Luke wobbles forwards before regathering himself, and I laugh.

"You dare push me dear peasant?"

"Did you seriously just call me peasant?" I ask. "I thought I was a princess."

"That's ridiculous. If there is a king, the princess means nothing." He says this in a mocking, snotty tone so that I knew he was joking.

"What did you just say?"

"I said that it is the king's job to run the kingdom." I push him harder this time, though his grasp abandons him entirely. But to my disappointment, Luke only drops several inches and swiftly on his feet. "C'mon!" I whine. "You're not going to ruin kids' dreams falling like that Mufasa." Amused, Luke rolls his eyes.

"Okay fine. Let's take it from the top." He jumps to grab the metal bar once more, but I cleanly slide down from my seat at the top of the monkey bars.

"Moods gone Legacy. You ruined it." Luke throws his arms up in the air.

"C'mon Meg! I have to know what happens next!" I hold in a smile and grab his arm.

"Spoiler alert. He dies. Let's go do something else." Just as we step forwards, I feel something drip softly on my head. "Of course it has to rain." I mutter, pulling my jacket closer to my chest. Almost as if my words had set off an alarm, the rain began to fall heavier by the second. Luke grabs my arm and pulls me up the stairs, leaving us protected under the playset's roof. The plastic of the pavilion echoes through the sky with every drop of rain, drowning quiet sounds out. Luke walks to the edge of the playground, peering over a metal railing at the ground below.