Okay, here it is.... I know it's a little late, and I typed this REALLY fast so sorry if it has a lot of typos...But ooo, I can't wait to hear the reviews, and I hope you're happy with this... So read on, and I'm writing as fast as I can!
Ali
"So? Are you gonna tell me?" Seth looked from Ryan to Marissa, hoping for an answer. They both were hesitant, what might happen if he knew? "I swear to God if you don't tell me, I will hurt you." Ryan doubted Seth could seriously hurt either of them, but that didn't change the fact that Seth should know. "Ryan? How about you? Why don't you finally tell me what happened to Summer without changing the subject or talking fast." Seth stared at his brother, he needed to know.
"Well, Marissa knows better than me. She was there." Ryan got out of it.
"Marissa? Tell me." Seth looked to Marissa, who gave Ryan an evil and stern look.
"Well, she was okay, at first." Marissa stopped. She shouldn't be telling him, not now. Couldn't they just wait? Until he was better?
But they couldn't. They just didn't know that. That Summer was counting down to 9:00 the next morning to go.
"Come on, finish. I can take it. It's Summer, it can't be that bad." Marissa didn't answer, and he knew something bad had happened to Summer. But what? "Marissa, tell me." He was practically screaming, and she didn't answer, thinking about it made her feel the tears coming. "Marissa, tell me God dammit! What happened to her?"
"Seth, calm down." Ryan tried to stop a fight from developing, but Seth pushed him away. Ryan was taken aback, Seth was strong when he was pissed and worried about Summer.
"Just tell me! What happened?" Seth stared at Marissa.
"You really want to know? She fucking lost it Seth! She was fine when you were here, fawning over her like a lost puppy, but she lost it when you fell in that coma. We tried to help her, but she fucked herself up more. We haven't seen her in a month! We don't even know where she is." Marissa said it, now he knew. Seth didn't say a word, he looked down. Marissa stared at him, teas running down her face, clearly upset. Seth didn't know what to think. He knew Summer would be changed, he just didn't expect her to be like what Marissa told him. Summer was vulnerable inside, Seth knew what might happen if she really lost it.
"You okay man? Ryan asked Seth after about three torturous minutes of silence. Seth knew about Summer, no more lying.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Seth answered, still thinking about Summer.
"Sorry I yelled." Marissa apologized to Seth, she shouldn't have flipped out.
"No, it's fine. I pushed too hard, I deserved it." Seth could still picture Summer. Every feature, her deep, intoxicating eyes, the lush auburn hair, full lips, she was perfection in Seth's eyes. But what did she look like now?
"What's up man? What are you thinking?" Ryan could tell Seth was planning something.
"When do I get out Ryan?" Seth knew the anser, he just wanted reassurance.
"Tomorrow...." Ryan was suspicious.
"We're going to Summer's tomorrow. 8:30. Be here." Seth wasn't going to go home, he had to see Summer or where he could pay his respects.
"Seth, you need to go home....Summer can wait until later." Marissa argued.
"No. No, we can't." Seth shook his head. "If I know Summer as well as I think I do, and she's lost it as badly as you said she did, I don't think Summer is in Newport anymore." Seth hated the truth.
"I don't think she would've moved." Marissa didn't get it.
"I don't mean that." Seth said to them.
"Oh God." Marissa understood. "She wouldn't would she?" She asked, freaked out. Summer wouldn't kill herself. That was impossible.
"It's a possibility. A major possibility." Seth hated to admit that. The minute he got out of the hospital, he was heading to Summer's. He feared for her, he needed her to be safe.
"So you're getting out at..." Marissa hadn't been paying much attention to when Seth asked Ryan. She agreed with Seth, they needed to go over.
"Pretty much any time, but I think the earliest I can leave is 8 o'clock." Seth answered.
"We'll be here at 7:30." Ryan announced before Marissa could. She looked over to him, for a moment she didn't think he would help.
"Right." Marissa agreed. There was a silence in the room, the thought of Summer hushed them.
After a few minutes, Kirsten and Sandy appeared, they wanted to talk to Seth about leaving the hospital. Marissa and Ryan left them, relieved of being in the silence.
"So.......... he's awake. He's fully awake." Marissa commented, trying to start up a conversation.
"Yeah. Things are finally looking up." Soon, they would all go back to school and everything would be okay.
"Don't speak too soon." Marissa warned, "We still have to see what's up with Summer." Marissa paced. That's what she did if she was nervous. Either that or drink.
"She should be fine." Ryan attempted to reassure her, though he wasn't that positive.
"I'm not so sure about that. We haven't seen her in a month. A lot can change." Marissa was amazed at her calmness. Seth woke up, Summer could be dead, yet Marissa was fine.
16 hours left......
"She was okay last time Seth left." Ryan tried, but it didn't really work.
"That was only for two weeks. This was for a month and two weeks. More than that I think, I don't know. But still, Summer first goes into bitchy mode, then she's like a nervous wreck as we saw. But I never saw her like she is, she never went this far." Tears fell down Marissa's face again, she had promised she wouldn't, but she did.
"Marissa, breathe. She'll be all right." Ryan said.
"I don't think she will." Marissa sat down, still shaken up, and Ryan sat with her. "How come everything always fucks up when something good happens?"
"What?" Ryan didn't know what she meant.
"I mean, Seth wakes up, and now we're freaked out by Summer. Nothing ever goes right."
"Well, Seth woke up, we got out of the school alive. Those are good things." Ryan wanted Marissa to be at least a little happy.
"Seth almost didn't make it out." Marissa was way too pessimistic.
"Okay, I know it's really easy to be depressed and shit, but you can't. I did that my whole life, but that time, I had a bad life. Nothing ever went right and I hated my life, and there was times when I just wanted to die because life sucked so bad. But here, not everything sucks. We're all alive, Seth is awake, this should be a good day. Tomorrow may be a bad day, but we don't know that. But today isn't the end of the world, so don't go acting like it is." Ryan wasn't going to let Marissa bring him down, Seth was awake. Marissa didn't say anything, Ryan had stopped her.
"Sorry." Marissa eventually said after a minute or so.
"It's fine." Ryan brushed it off.
"No, it's not, otherwise you wouldn't have said anything." Marissa objected. "So I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize." Ryan didn't want it.
"Then what am I supposed to say?" She snapped. God, things were weird with Ryan, when weren't they? Something always interfered. Sometimes Marissa thought they shouldn't be together. Sometimes she wondered if she never borrowed that cigarette. Or if she never went wandering for new things and found Ryan? What would life be like if Marissa never found out about Luke? If she hadn't ODed, or met Oliver? Their lives would be so different. If Marissa never met Oliver, Ryan and Marissa wouldn't have broken up, he wouldn't have gone to Theresa, she wouldn't have gotten pregnant. If Marissa had chosen Luke, and not found out about him, she would be living a fake life. A lie, a life her mother would approve of. But still a life with problems. Just the problems would be hidden, like they always used to be, not out in the open.
"I'm just gonna go get something to eat. You want something?" Ryan asked, getting up.
"No. I'm fine." Marissa shook her head.
"All right." Ryan walked away. When had things gotten strange with Ryan again? They were okay, but then they weren't. She just wanted a normal relationship. But nothing was ever normal.
Marissa felt uncomfortable in the silence. She hated being alone, those were the times she wanted a drink. To bring her the ringing in her ears, to blur the truth to numb. Marissa should be happy, but yet she wasn't. Seth was awake, she finally had the time to think about it. All that fear that had taken a grip on her body, was gone. The worst hadn't happened, was that even possible? Bad things always occurred in Newport, it was just a black hole of shit. The whole town hid it, until Ryan came. In a way, Ryan saved them all.
She begged for Ryan to come back. She wanted the silence to end, she wanted something,. Bit it didn't seem like anything would some. Marissa was ready to leave, and nothing came to stop her. Marissa was free to leave, no one would miss her, no one would stop her. She waited for something to make her stay. Like she needed a reason to be at the hospital. She was visiting Seth, wasn't that a good enough reason? Marissa was impatient, her eyes darted around, her leg shook she was okay in hospitals around other people, Seth even while he was in the coma. But when Marissa was alone, that was when she was afraid. She hated being alone, she did drastic things. Not thinking about things. Or she over thinking about them, either way it wasn't good for Marissa.
She wanted to leave, but where could she go that she wasn't alone? She had nowhere to go, no one. But she couldn't stay. She would come back tomorrow, Marissa could leave now.
So she did. Marissa walked out for no reason, afraid of the moment when she would have to talk to Seth alone.
Long after everyone had left, and most of the world fell asleep, Seth stare at his ceiling, moonlight shining in. He couldn't sleep, his thoughts lingered on SUmmer. What would he find in the coming hours?
Only 9 hours left....
He had amazed himself last night by falling asleep. Hadn't he been sleeping for the last 51 days? But Seth knew he needed sleep, and he was kinda tired. So he closed his eyes to see what would come.
Soon, Seth was in his school hallway. It seemed normal, except no one saw him. His eyes moved to the wall next to him. A poster hung there, it was for a missing teen. Seth walked closer to it to see who the teen was. It was him. He read the poster over and over, never noticing the bold, dark letters at the bottom. They had at first bee invisible to him, but now he saw them: Presumed Dead. Seth was horrified. No wonder no one saw him, he was dead to them. But he was alive. Dead, but alive.
Seth looked down the hallway. He squinted to see a tiny lone figure far off. The figure was crying, something upset it. Seth squinted harder, and he could see it was Summer. He could see her mouth Cohen, but not to him, she was looking down. Seth ran to her, trying to save her, but she kept getting farther away. Her crying increased, and now he could tell they weren't normal tears. They were tears of blood.
He broke into a sprint, she was disappearing, becoming faint. He needed to get there, what would happen if he didn't?
Seth could see Marissa and Ryan near Summer, but they didn't acknowledge her. She was invisible to them. He wanted to hit them, make them see, but he couldn't get to any of them. He kept running, people just glided by, Summer wasn't getting any closer. Blood poured from her eyes, staining her porcelain face. Time was ticking away, she would be gone soon.
Summer wasn't getting farther anymore, Seth was finally getting closer. Maybe he could save her, he had to. Otherwise life wouldn't be worth living.
Seth was getting so close, no one saw him or Summer. It was just them, no one else mattered. He loved her, nothing could change that. She didn't stop crying, a puddle had formed at her feet. Seth wanted to stop her tears, her pain. He wanted to take it all away, then they would be okay. They weren't okay without each other.
When the hell would he reach her? The hallway wasn't that long, was it? Marissa and Ryan still were there, but they weren't talking to each other. Marisa was drinking, Ryan was now curled up in a ball in the corner.
Was this what had happened to them when he was gone? Were those the secrets they never told him? If they had been hiding this, what were his parents hiding?
But how did he know this stuff? How had it gotten in his brain? What told him about this? Had they? Had they told him everything, wanting someone to listen, but hoping Seth wouldn't really hear them? He was so close now, they were near him. He would save Summer. But then something happened Seth didn't think would happen. Summer fell.
He couldn't catch her, he couldn't save her. His feet splashed in blood. Seth looked down. The floor was covered in blood. Summer's blood.
Seth slowed his pace to a walk and went to Summer. She lie there, blood poured from her body, no one saw. Marissa continued drinking, Ryan never looked up. Seth was the only one to see her, Seth was the only one who noticed her. She was at peace, nothing disturbed her.
He hoped she was just sleeping, but no. He shook her, no response. Seth kneel by her, blood seeping through both their clothes, but who cared? Seth couldn't save her, she was gone.
Seth had been too late.
Seth jerked awake, breathing heavily. Sweat poured down and he heard a yelp. Seth looked over to see Marissa trying to catch her breath.
"Jesus, Seth, you scared me half to death." Ryan was leaning on a wall, looking around drowsily, obviously he had been sleeping.
"What are you doing here?" Seth didn't think he had slept that long.
"We said we would be here at 7:30." Marissa explained.
"What time is it?" Seth feared he was too late.
"7:45."
75 minutes left....
"We have to go.....Summer....we gotta get over there....now." Seth rambled. His dream scared him, what if he was too late now? He tried to get up, but Ryan pushed him down.
"Seth, calm down. You have to get discharged. We were waiting until you woke up to start the papers." Marissa told him.
"What? You haven't started them yet? We have to go..." Seth needed to see Summer.
"I'll go tell Sandy." Ryan began to leave the room to tell Sandy to start the discharge papers.
"Wait, my dad's here?" Seth asked them.
"Seth, how did you expect you were gonna get discharged?" Ryan joked.
"I don t know, but he won't want me to come home right away, will he?" Seth didn't want to go home. He wanted to get to Summer.
"Seth, maybe you should stay another day. You need to calm down, you're rambling." Marissa wasn't so sure.
"No, I can't. We have to go to Summer." Seth shook his head. Ryan had already left to talk to Sandy.
"C'mon. You need to relax. She can wait." Marissa tried to calm him down.
"How can you say that? You were the one3 who told me how screwed up she got. We need to go over." Seth argued. Soon after that, Sandy and Ryan appeared.
"Seth! You ready to go home?" Sandy asked excitedly.
"Actually I wanna go to Summer's first. Is that cool?" He asked.
"Oh sure. How ya getting there?" Sandy wondered.
"I'm driving Seth and Ryan...." Marissa cleared the question up.
"Okay. Well, let's leave Seth so he can change and I guess I'll see you guys later." The three of them left Seth and when he came out all four of them exited the hospital. It was weird leaving the hospital with Seth, so many times Marissa had left alone. And next they were heading to Summer's. the teens separated from Sandy and they pilled into Marissa's car. No one said a word, Marissa turned on the radio. It was tuned to an alternative station, no one objected. Sum 41's "We are all to Blame" came on and that was a little strange. Sum 41 couldn't really be considered alternative, could it?
Marissa was glad Seth decided to sit in the front, and not Ryan. It wouldn't feel right. Soon, Marissa pulled into the Roberts' driveway. Marissa had a bad feeling, and so did Ryan and Seth, but they all got out and went to the door.
"Hi, Marissa." Neil Roberts greeted them. "Uh...." He knew Seth, but not Ryan.
"This is Seth and Ryan." Marissa answered. "Um, Mr. Roberts, is Summer here?" She looked at him and an upset look formed on his face.
"Why don't you come in." Neil let them in, and they went to the living room, where Sarah, Summer's step-mother was already sitting. Neil sat next to Sarah, while Ryan, Seth and Marissa sat on a couch. "We're actually really glad you came."
"How is she?" Marissa asked, Seth was afraid to speak.
"Well, I don't really know. The last time I saw her was when I left her to go on a trip the day before that carnival you took her to." Marissa had been the last one to see her. "Now, we gave her some space, seeing as the shooting really shook her up. But she never left her room yet. We've been putting food at her door and she does take it in, but we don't know if she's eating it." None of them expected to hear that. " I talked to her mother and we decided if she didn't come out fo her room today, we would take her to a facility. I do have a key to unlock her room, I just never wanted to use it." They had gotten there just in time. If they had waited any longer, Summer would have been gone.
45 minutes left.....
"Seth," Neil began, "I know before I've said that you weren't right for Summer, but I saw her crying over the summer and all sorts of things and I could tell she really cares about you. I also saw that you were injured in the shooting...."
"I was in a coma." Seth told him.
"Well, it's good to see you out of it. But during this time, I suspected Summer wasn't upset just about the shooting. Especially after a call from Marissa about you. A lot happened to her. I remember getting the call from the hospital after that carnival saying she was hurt, but I couldn't get there. And I know she cares about you, and I think you might be the only one to get her out of that room. So here." Neil took out the key from his pocket and handed it to Seth. "Go get her."
"Thank you." Seth grasped the key and him, Ryan, and Marissa got up. They went up the stairs and to Summer's room. Marissa knocked on the door and called for her. When there was no answer, they used the key.
30 minutes left....
Summer heard them as she hid in her closet, and she knew she couldn't wait any longer. It was now or never.
They opened the door to reveal a room that they once knew, but not anymore.
Summer was nowhere in sight, and the room was trashed. Books and torn pieces of paper littered the floor, and everything was thrown about. A mirror was broken, reminiscent of the carnival.
"Sum?" Marissa asked as she walked past the closet and into the bathroom. All the mirrors in there were broken. Waiter still filled the tub, and like the bedroom, everything was thrown around.
"She's not here" Seth said. Ryan just observed everything.
"The window's broken." Marissa noticed and they walked over to it. "Maybe she ran away."
"No. There's no evidence she ran away." Seth told her.
"This window has been broken a long time." Ryan inspected it.
"How can you tell?" Marissa questioned.
"The seat is all dirty and it's still a tiny bit wet. It's been broken a while." Ryan explained.
Summer thought she heard Seth, but that wasn't possible. He was in a coma. He couldn't be in her room.
"Well then, where is she? She's obviously now here!" Marissa exclaimed while Ryan stared at the closet. He remembered when he was little and afraid. He'd squeeze himself into his closet and cry.
"Check the closet." Ryan said without looking away from the closet.
"What?" Marissa didn't know why.
"Just check it. Trust me." Ryan was afraid of what they might find. Summer could be dead.
Summer was scared. She didn't want to be found. She didn't want to see them, nor go away. She wanted to die. They couldn't change that. She had to go, it was her destiny.
The three walked closer to the closet, and Marissa clung to Ryan's side. Seth walked towards it, so did the other two. Seth motioned to Marissa to open it, but she shook her head. Seth was scared. Seth took a deep breath and opened the door.
"Summer?" Seth asked upon finally seeing her.
"Cohen?..................You came back."