Chapter 1
Sandy whistled to himself as he prepared his morning coffee. Another great morning and he'd managed to catch some amazing waves. He looked over to the pool house and could faintly see Ryan through the glass.
He was standing up, talking to someone. He grinned slightly, checking his watch. Poor kid, it was probably Seth wanting another early morning chat about Summer.
He poured another cup for Ryan and made his way across the patio. He knocked quietly and opened the door.
"Morning guys," he called out as he entered the room.
Instead of being greeted with the sight of his two sons, he was rewarded with a rather startled, very much alone, Ryan.
He frowned slightly and noticed Ryan looking down sheepishly.
"You alright, kid?" He asked and received a slight nod.
"You're up early," he continued and received a shrug in return.
"I got you some coffee." He handed the steaming mug over to him and he gave a brief smile.
"Thanks," It was only a whisper but Sandy took it as a victory over the silence.
Sandy sat down the chair next to Ryan's bed. He could sense something was up, and it was more than just Ryan being embarrassed over being walked in on whilst he was talking to himself.
Ryan watched him and Sandy noted the look of dismay when he realised Sandy wasn't going.
He leant back in the chair, his own mug of coffee balanced on one knee. Ryan just stood, watching him.
He looked at Ryan carefully. It didn't look like he'd got much sleep. His eyes were blood shot and his face was harshly pale.
"Are you feeling okay, kid?" he asked worriedly. He got a quick nod in response but Sandy didn't feel satisfied.
"You look exhausted," he commented.
"I'm fine," he answered softly.
He began to pick up odd bits of clothing and Sandy frowned when he realised what he was doing.
"I'm gonna go have a shower. Wake myself up a little bit." Ryan mumbled and Sandy nodded.
He watched as Ryan closed the bathroom door behind him and felt his frown deepen. He knew something was up but he just had no idea what.
He was just about to get up and make his way to the kitchen, when he heard a murmur coming from the bathroom.
He didn't mean to eavesdrop but he was hoping that maybe he'd be able to work out what was wrong.
He couldn't hear much due to the running water from the shower.
"Marissa… please… come back…"
Sandy froze. Marissa?
He thought back to when he had seen Ryan talking earlier. He had thought that Ryan had been talking to himself but what if…
He was jolted from his thoughts by a voice from the door way. He jumped and turned around.
"Dad? What are you doing in here?" Sandy looked wide eyed at Seth and tried to contort his face into a smile.
Seth looked at him questionably.
"Okay, earth to dad. What are you doing? Where's Ryan?"
He stepped further into the room and flopped himself down on the bed.
Sandy notice with how much ease Seth came into the room and how at home he felt in Ryan's room. The two of them were truly brothers in every way but blood.
"He's in the shower," he said, indicating towards the bathroom.
Seth began absently rifling through a comic book that Ryan had on his bed side table, nodding vaguely.
Sandy stood up and subtly moved closer to the door to try and listen more but it seemed Ryan had stopped talking. If he hadn't stopped, his words were too quiet for Sandy to hear.
He turned around to see Seth watching him strangely.
"I'm gonna go back to the kitchen." he said and began hurrying out of the room. The look remained on Seth's face and Sandy gave him a quick smile before shutting the door after him.
Kirsten was standing at the kitchen counter when he entered the kitchen and she looked up as he came in.
"Hey honey," she greeted and he kissed her tenderly on the forehead.
"You okay? You look a little flustered." she put her arms around him and he leant into the embrace.
"I'm not sure," he answered. She pulled away and frowned at him.
"Have you spoken to Ryan lately? I just… I'm feeling a little worried about him," he began filling her in on what had happened. He knew that Seth would be keeping Ryan occupied and so they wouldn't be walked in on.
"Maybe you misheard," she scooped a stray piece of hair back from her face. "Maybe he was just talking to himself. Everyone does it sometimes."
"I don't know. That's what I originally thought but I definitely heard her say his name and it sounded like he was talking to her." He shrugged,
They both turned with their backs to the counter thinking.
"I just assumed, now he's with Taylor that we'd got through the worst of his depression." Sandy could hear the guilt in Kirsten's voice as she spoke and he squeezed her hand.
"Me too,"
They were quiet for a few minutes.
"But I mean, what can we do? We may just have this all wrong." she asked.
Sandy looked at his hands. He had no idea. They couldn't exactly go up to Ryan, and say "I saw you talking to yourself earlier and am worried you were trying to talk to Marissa."
He looked over at Kirsten and saw her eyes furrowing in thought and her eyes looking down at the ground.
"Maybe we could offer him someone to talk to. A shrink maybe?" She offered.
"I don't think Ryan would really go for that. He barely opens up to us let alone someone he doesn't know." he replied and she sighed softly.
The two almost jumped out of their skins when a voice spoke up from the doorway.
"What? Why would Ryan need a shrink?"
Sandy turned around slowly and chanced a nervous look at Kirsten. He knew the expression on his face mirrored the one she wore.
There in the doorway stood a rather confused looking Seth and a very flustered looking Ryan.
Ryan suddenly turned around and began hurrying back to the pool house.
"Ryan!" Sandy called after him and began quickly following him out to the pool house.
He felt Kirsten moving right behind him and hoped she knew what to say when they caught up with him.
TBC…