disclaimer: none of its mine
the slow descent
"Cohen! Are you kidding me with this stuff?" Summer flashed the bag of marijuana in front of Seth's glazed over face.
"Huh? What? Woah, where did you get that?"
"I got it in your room. In your desk. Where you apparently stash your… stash! What the hell, Cohen?"
"Ok, I can explain this one Summer, just slow your roll. I was stressing out over the whole Brown thing and…"
"I don't want to hear it. I can't believe you actually have this stuff."
"Yeah, ok, speaking of this stuff, how about we get it out of my parents' living room and someplace a little more user-friendly."
"Oh yeah, I'll relocate it, don't even worry about it." Summer marched toward the door,
"No, no, I meant upstairs. Where are you going?"
"I'm taking care of this," Summer stared into Seth's eyes with disappointment, "I can't believe you would do this, Seth. I mean, Marissa and I would partake back in the day, but you? I expected more out of you."
Summer closed the door behind her and left Seth alone in the house. He threw his arms up in disbelief and sulked back upstairs. But instead of thinking about Summer's blatant disillusionment, all he could think about is where he'd get his next joint.
two months later
The group is getting ready for their senior prom. The situation with Seth and Summer has not been discussed since it occurred and all assume Seth has stopped smoking pot. Ryan, Marissa are at the diner and Summer walks in with a magazine.
"Hey Coop, which dress is best? The orange or the purple?"
"Both are really cute," Marissa says.
"Oh my gosh, who am I kidding? They both look like vomit. I'm never going to find a dress by next week." Summer pouted as she slid into the booth beside Marissa.
"You still haven't gotten one?" Marissa asked surprised.
"No! That's why I'm freaking out! Like, complete meltdown overload!"
"Well, maybe we should all just skip prom this year." Ryan suggested casually.
"What?" The girls exclaimed in unison.
"Well, it's just a week away and we have nothing planned, just thought it would be a---ok, nevermind, the evil death stare indicates I stepped over the line."
"Uh, yeah! It's our senior prom. Nothing is going to stop it from happening or ruin it while we're there." Summer said with a smile as she flipped through the magazine.
"Hey, where's Seth?" Ryan asked as the drinks came from the waitress.
"He was having lunch with Sandy," Summer replied. Ryan looked up quizzically,
"Really? I thought Sandy was meeting with investors today."
"Maybe Cohen went along? I don't know, that's what he said. Oh, Coop! Check this one out!" Summer moved on from the Seth query and focused on the dresses that lay before her on the pages of her magazine.
Seth is walking along the pier and nods his head to a man standing several feet away.
"What's happening, Marco?" Seth yells out to a hippie looking guy selling ties on a cart.
"Not much, Seth, how've you been man? It's been a couple days, thought you weren't coming around anymore."
"Naw, I'm your go to guy, don't even sweat it. So did you get that imported tie I asked for?"
"Right on, man, I got it right here. Italian silk, it's some fine quality, so the price is up there."
"Oh come on, Marco, I've been buying ties from you for the last two months, you can't cut me a deal? Ten percent discount maybe?"
"All right, all right. Originally it was going to be sixty, but I'll sell for forty. But nothing lower than that man, I've got to make a living."
Seth leans in drops the cash to Marco's hand and says in a whisper "yeah, illegally, but whatever. Is it what I asked for this time? Last week you stuck me with Alprazolam and that did nothing for me, man."
"I got you covered this time, you got the rock and the pills you like."
"Now that's what I'm talking about Marco, you're a champion."
"I do what I can. Be careful with that stuff, man. It ain't healthy."
"I'll take that risk with these ties, Marco. They're premium goods." Marco hands him a small shopping bag.
"Thanks, come again." Seth walks off with the bag in his hand and a grin on his face.
"Cohen, you better have that tie on straight." Summer yelled from the bathroom.
"What? What tie, I didn't buy a tie!?" Seth explained worriedly.
"What? I got it for you yesterday, you didn't lose it did you?" They were running late for prom and were getting ready together at the Cohen's house.
"Oh, right, that tie. Don't worry about it, I got it covered. Hey, Sum? I'll be downstairs all right? Come on down whenever you're ready!"
"It's gonna be a few minutes! And I'm not coming out until it's completely perfect."
"Take your time!" Seth yelled back to her. He turned to his drawer and pulled out a book. He flipped it open and in the middle was a perfect square cut out of the pages in which a bottle of pills and a vile of cocaine lay. He pocketed the container and opened the bottle of pills. He popped three back and swallowed them without water—he had done this all before. He closed the book and headed toward the door.
"I'll be downstairs!" He sauntered down the stairs where his parents greeted him with smiles and a camera.
"Oh, Seth, you look so handsome!" Seth smiled awkwardly and replied with a quick thanks. In came Ryan and Marissa and their attention turned toward the happy couple. Pictures were taken of the group after Summer came downstairs ready to go and here's where the picture montage takes place….
It was a prom like none other, and only one that Harbor High could master. The foursome entered the cavernous hall and exchanged happy glances with passersby and each other. Before they could make it to the photo stand, Seth spoke up to Summer, "I'll be right back." She gave him an annoyed glance, but then saw a friend and greeted them with a wave.
Seth enters the bathroom at the prom and locks the door behind him. He takes out the cocaine and lines it up on the counter and then busts out a rolled dollar bill already in his pocked. He sniffs the coke and looks up to the mirror and looks at himself. He looks in disbelief for a few moments, but then sets up another line of coke and takes it. He does this three more times until it all runs out. He leaves the bathroom and goes back to the dance floor.
"Want some punch, Cohen? I'm pretty sure someone spiked it, which makes it that much better." Summer handed Seth the cup and he drinks it in one gulp.
"Damn, Co, what's up with the chugging capabilities?"
"Nothing," he stares out to the dance floor with a glazed look on his face, "let's dance." He drags Summer out to the floor and they dance alongside Marissa and Ryan. An hour later the group sits at a table drinking punch and watching the dancers.
"Well this is nice, I'm so glad we're all here together," Summer says to the group,
"Don't go all sentimental, Sum," Marissa warns her.
"I know, I know, but seriously guys, this is the last dance of high school, ever. We're growing up." Seth looks up to his friends and mumbles something.
"What Cohen? Don't make fun of me for this, I'm allowed my five seconds of looking back fondly on high school, which technically isn't even over yet."
Seth stared aimlessly against the circulating lights and Ryan noticed his gaze.
"You all right, man?" He said softly, grabbing Seth's shoulder, which helped him to stay upright as he began to lean forward.
"Yeah, ok, I'm gonna go upstairs for a bit." Seth gets up and trips a bit over his chair,
"I'm fine, I'm totally fine." He says and sets the chair back in its original position and staggers away.
"What's going on with him?" Marissa asked the group.
"I don't know, but I'm finding out," Ryan said with determination.
"Don't worry about it, he's been acting like that all night. I think it's the punch, I can't believe the chaperones haven't caught onto that one yet," suggested Summer.
Ryan looked unsure and stood up, "I'm just going to check on him." He walked up the grand staircase, aligned with alternating flowers and twinkling lights. When Ryan reached the top of the stairs he saw Cohen hunched over near the railing to his left, his hands gripping at the banister.
"Hey, Seth, you all right man?" Ryan scurried over to his friend.
"Ryan, I did something stupid."
"What, what is it?" Seth winced in pain and looked Ryan straight in the eyes.
"Don't tell Summer."
"Don't tell her what, talk to me Seth."
"I'm so stupid, this is so stupid." Seth tried to make his way toward the stairs, "I should go, I have to go."
"What are you on, Seth?" Ryan asked with genuine concern and realizing something was messing with Seth's mind.
"Coke, pills, everything. Anything" He started slurring and then fell backward, crashing to the ground in a mangled heap.
"Seth! Seth, come on, man!" Ryan whipped out his cell phone and dialed 9-1-1.
"Ambulance, I need one out at the Harbor High prom, we're at the Jacob's plaza." He paused and then hung up the phone, leaning over Seth and trying to shake him back to consciousness.
Ryan stood up and looked over the railing and caught Marissa's attention and waved her up. She tapped Summer's shoulder as they sat at the round table and pointed toward Ryan as they got up to meet him.
All Summer could see once she reached the top of the stairs was Ryan leaning over a passed out guy in black, with a crowd of onlookers surrounding. "Seth…" she whispered to herself.
"Oh my god, Seth!" She yelled and pushed her way through the burgeoning crowd. "Ryan, what the hell happened?" Ryan looked at Summer with concern and then his eyes darted to Marissa.
"An ambulance is on its way, go out and wait for it." Marissa made her way back through the crowd and rushed outside to flag them down.
"Ryan! Answer me, what's going on?" Summer said in a fluster, unable to tear her eyes away from a broken Seth.
"He O.D.ed." A hushed mumble escaped throughout the crowd and they started to whisper what Ryan had said to one another.
"What?" Summer's breath quickened and she grabbed Seth's hand, which fell limp in her own. "Ryan, is he even breathing? Ryan!"
"I don't know what to do, there's nothing I can do." He yelled back, looking over his shoulder for the paramedics, who had yet to arrive.
"I can't lose him, Ryan. Not to this, oh god." Tears streamed down Summer's face in disbelief and horror as Seth started to convulse.
It was then Marissa ran in with two paramedics following her, pushing a stretcher and medical bags. She pointed toward the crowd and they ran across the foyer toward Seth.
"What's he on?" The first paramedic automatically asked, assuming the worst and being right.
"Um, he said coke and pills." Ryan confessed.
"He was drinking, too. The punch, it's spiked." Summer offered up and Ryan looked at her with widening eyes.
"He was drinking, too?" Ryan stretched his hands behind his head and closed his eyes, hoping the scene unfolding in front of him would be a nightmare and not reality. But when he opened them, it just got worse as the paramedics stuck a tube down Seth's throat.
"We need to get him to the ambulance and pump his stomach. St. John's hospital, tell his parents, any of you family?" The second paramedic asked.
"I'm his brother, I'll go with him," Ryan said, following the stretcher.
"What about me?" Summer pleaded, her voice soft with shock.
"I'll drive, let's go, Sum," Marissa offered, shaking the keys in her right hand. She grabbed Summer with the other and led her to the parking lot, where they got in their car and followed the blazing red and blue lights all the way to the hospital.
Marissa went to open the door, but noticed Summer's stoic position in the passenger seat.
"Why?" Summer asked innocently.
"Come on, let's go in and see what's happening."
"Why would he do this?" She stared blankly out the front windshield.
"I don't know. Only Seth can answer that."
"We should call his parents," she said, shutting her eyes. "How do you tell them something like this."
"Ryan probably called already, you won't have to tell them, it's ok."
"How could I not know?"
"Maybe tonight was his first time, how were you to know."
"I knew he was smoking pot," Summer started.
"Summer, we both know that smoking pot is meaningless."
"But not for Seth! Seth doesn't do that, or at least I thought he didn't. I should have talked to him about it instead of just getting mad. It's not something he does, I don't know why I didn't just see it."
"Come on, he'll be all right, let's go in." As they walked toward the hospital sliding doors, Sandy and Kirsten ran toward the entrance from behind them.
"Girls, is he all right?" Kirsten asked, worry stricken.
"We don't know, we…" Marissa stopped mid-sentence as Sandy and Kirsten ran ahead of them through the doors. In the waiting room, Ryan was pacing back and forth, staring at the ground.
"Ry," Sandy went over to his son and gave him a hug. He pulled back and grabbed his shoulders and stared at him. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah, Sandy, I'm fine. Seth, they uh, had to pump his stomach. He, uh, was really bad." He looked back at the ground and relived the moments within the ambulance.
"What the hell happened?" Sandy asked softly, yet with a hint of sternness.
"Before he passed out, he said he did some cocaine and took some pills. There was alcohol in the punch and he drank it, they said he overdosed."
Sandy took his hands off Ryan and covered his face in anguish and disbelief. Kirsten stood behind him with similar shock written all over her demeanor. They stood there for a few moments until a doctor came out, "Seth Cohen?" The group of five made their way to the doctor,
"Sit down, kids," Sandy motioned toward the seats in the waiting room. He turned to the doctor, "How's my son?"
"So, he's in a coma." Summer stated, rather than asked, as Sandy explained what happened.
"He's in the ICU and has a chest tube. He isn't breathing on his own. They need to watch him really closely for the night," Sandy elaborated.
"Sandy, I'm so sorry," Ryan said, pleading with his eyes.
"This isn't your fault. This is Seth's fault."
"Sandy…" Kirsten said, a bit disapprovingly.
"What? This is the dumbest thing he could have done. Drugs? How didn't we know this. Did any of you know this?"
They all shook their heads and Summer looked up at him, "If I knew, I would have said something. I've been so obsessed with making prom perfect, I had no idea…" she trailed off, tears emerging.
"Ok, kids, why don't you go home. It's been a long night, you need to rest."
"No," they said in unison. "Ok, well at least get some coffee or something, I need to talk to Sandy." The three got up and went to the hallway to find a machine.
"Kirsten, can you believe this?"
"I guess it runs in the family."
"What? Honey, come on, don't think like that."
"It's just the truth. We both have addictive personalities. If he doesn't come out of this, I'll never forgive myself," Kirsten collapsed on one of the chairs and Sandy placed his hand on her back.
"You can't blame genetics. We'll get to the bottom of this, don't blame yourself. If you're going to blame anybody, blame him!"
"Sandy, he's just a kid. They do drugs, they drink alcohol. It happens."
"No. No! Not our kid. You don't get to generalize this situation, we expect more from our kid."
"Well, maybe there's the problem," Kirsten retorted. "We put so much pressure on him to do well."
"So he resorts to cocaine? Kirsten, I understand pressure, but come on! Take a walk, watch a movie, you don't snort a line of coke." Ryan emerged with two cups of coffee and stared at his parents.
"Here I, uh, got you some coffee."
"Thanks, Ryan," Sandy grabbed the coffee. The three of them sat down and stared against the wall.
"He's going to be all right," Ryan said resolutely. "He has to be."