"Marissa," he shook her cold body. "Marissa, wake up." Ryan looked at the darkness around him. The car was still burning in the distance and the flames were getting stronger. His focus turned back to Marissa. Why wasn't she moving? Had she fallen asleep? "Marissa, it's gonna be okay. Just wake up." The fear in his eyes continued to grow stronger and the tears started to fall as the whole world around him slowly turned into his first night in Newport.
"Who are you?" she asked him as she stood at the end of the driveway, alone.
Ryan looked at her, blown away by her beauty. Who was she? "Whoever you want me to be."
The memory quickly disappeared and the reality sank right back in. Her body still wasn't moving. Ryan gently put his ear against her chest, but heard nothing. He crawled over to the side of her bleeding head and plugged her nose. Ryan leaned over and breathed into her, but nothing happened. Again. Nothing. Again. Nothing. Why wasn't she moving? This wasn't happening. Ryan's eyes moved up down her body, examining every inch of her, when her left hand started to move. Ryan jumped at first, before a smile appeared across his face. She was going to be okay. He looked back up at her eyes. "Marissa, wake up." He started to shake her body, but nothing happened. Ryan focused on her left hand once again, and soon realized the movement was nothing but a small body twitch. She wasn't going to be okay.
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Julie slowly poured the wine into her glass before tipping it back and taking a sip. She sighed as she pulled out a chair and sat down. After a moment, Neil entered the kitchen and saw her sitting, looking glum. "Julie?"
Julie turned her head to face Neil. "Hi," she weakly smiled.
Neil approached her and pulled out a chair for himself. "Are you okay?" he sat down.
"I will be," Julie nodded. "It's just a strange feeling to finally let Marissa go after eighteen years."
"At least she's not going to be alone," Neil tried to comfort her. "She'll be with her father. She'll be safe."
"I know," Julie looked down. "I'm going to really miss her. Practically everything I've done in the past ten years has been for her. The past three have been a bit of a rollercoaster ride."
"I know the two of you haven't always had the cleanest relationship, but I think you should be proud Julie," Neil took her hand. "She's a great young lady."
Julie looked up at him with a smile. "You know, even though she's left, I think I'm in as happy of a place as I could be. I've always wondered whether I've made the right decisions concerning her, whether I've been a good mom or not. And to be honest, I often think I haven't. But right now, the way things have turned out for Marissa and me, I'm really pleased.
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Ryan reached into his pocket, trying to find his cell phone. Maybe someone could get here in time. Maybe she could still be saved. He hands dug deep into all of his pockets, but nothing could be found. Ryan looked over at the burning car and immediately got up. He sprinted towards it and dropped to his knees once he was there. The heat from the fire was intense, but he didn't care. Ryan tried to look inside, but the fire was too distracting. Finally, Ryan saw something shining by the windshield. He reached in and grabbed his cell phone. Once he had moved away from the burning vehicle, he flipped open the phone. "Shit!" he yelled and threw his phone towards the fire. The screen had been cracked from the crash and the buttons weren't working, making the phone useless.
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"Did we just do it in a box?" Summer asked as she crawled out of the large cardboard box.
"I think we did," Seth laughed as he jumped on his bed. "I guess I can cross that off my list of things-to-do."
"Ew, you wrote sex-in-a-box on your list of things-to-do?" Summer lay down beside him.
"Well, if I had a list, I probably would," Seth smiled.
Summer reached over to Seth's bed-side table and grabbed Captain Oats. "Sorry you had to witness that Captain Oats."
"Don't worry about him," Seth said. "He's used to a solo show, so he probably liked that you were here to mix it up."
"Ew, Cohen!"
"So we have approximately two months together before you leave," Seth turned his head to face her.
Summer looked over at him. "And then before we know it we'll have Thanksgiving, and then Christmas, and then you'll be joining me in Rhode Island."
"For once, the future actually looks promising," Seth smiled as he took Summer's hand.
"Except for the fact that we won't see Coop for a whole year," Summer complained. "Honestly, I have no clue how she's going to survive on a boat for that long. She better hook up with some cute sailors."
"I wonder what that means for her and Ryan," Seth thought aloud. "If they don't see each other for a year, do you think they'll ever get back together?"
"I dunno," Summer said. "They clearly love each other, but they're way too dysfunctional together.
"Ryan should be getting back from driving her soon, so we may need to do some cheering up."
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Ryan crawled back to Marissa's body and sat beside her. What was there to do now? Nothing was in walking distance. And even if he did decide to walk, what would he do with her? He couldn't just leave her on the road. Eventually a car would come, he thought. Someone would come save them and everything would be okay. Everything. Ryan picked up Marissa's body and moved her to the side of the road. He gently lay her back down on the pavement and then slowly lowered himself beside her. Ryan lay down and took her hand in his as he slowly drifted in and out of sleep.
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