(2002 December) The Back-story
Sandy and Kirsten Cohen sat silently beside each other on one side of the standard issue Mahogany table in the conference room. They hadn't said a word in the last hour as the Last Will and Testament of Jimmy Cooper was being read aloud by the overworked lawyer sitting across from them.
"And as a final gesture of thanks, Mr. Cooper has set it up so that all his life savings will be transferred into a Trust for his daughter Marissa. Whereupon the age of eighteen she will have full access to it but must use it for college tuition and expenses." The lawyer ran a hand through his gray hair and sighed. "I've already drawn up the adoption papers. I just need your signatures."
Kirsten looked up to the lawyer and nodded. "We'll be glad to take full legal responsibility for Marissa.." She wiped a tear from her eyes and turned to her husband. "Sandy?"
Sandy nodded. "Absolutely. Where are those papers?"
At the Cohens Mcmansion, Seth pretended to be absorbed in the video game he was playing with Marissa Cooper, but in reality he was on pins and needles waiting to see why his parents had been summoned to that law firm this afternoon. The funeral was in another three hours for the Coopers and they had to be back by then.
Marissa stared with blurred vision at the tv screen as the character she was controlling did a number of auto moves. The funeral was today. Her parents funeral. She was officially an orphan. She bit her lip and concentrated on the screen. Anything to get her mind off of the last week's events. All distractions welcome. So where were Kirsten and Sandy, anyway? She offhandedly addressed Seth. "Shouldn't your parents be back already?"
Seth nodded. "I'd have thought so."
Within the Chino Center for Runaways and Unfortunates, Ryan Atwood sat alone on his nondescript single bed with a scratchy comforter and a flattened pillow. His blue eyes were trained on the window in front of him. What was it like to have ones own room? With ones own window? Such trivial pleasures for most people were the stuff of dreams to him.
He'd been here since he was eight. Six lousy years in an orphanage was enough to suck the life out of anyone..ever.. By now he was certain he'd be here till he was eighteen. That was just two more years anyway.
Later that day, Marissa sat numb to the world as the priest gave her parents' eulogy. She had no more tears. She no longer felt sad. She no longer wished she'd died too. No. Now all she felt was numb. Emotionless.
Seth awkwardly had draped his arm around Marissa's shoulder in a comforting gesture as the time had passed. He couldn't help but notice her lack of tears and far-off stare. It was almost like she wasn't in her body. Like she had died too…in a way.
Sandy held Kirsten's hand as she cried into his shoulder for her best friend, Jimmy Cooper. She was going to take this very hard. He glanced over to Marissa and felt his heart break. Poor girl. An only child and now an orphan. Sure, they had adopted her this afternoon. But that never changed the fact that he and Kirsten were not and could never be Marissa's parents.