Two days had passed and it was the day of the funeral. Seth stayed in his room a lot, as did Ryan. Marissa wasn't even allowed near the funeral.
A lot of people not from Newport were there. Most Seth had never seen. He did see Mrs. Stern, and she approached him.
"Hi, Seth." She greeted him as she wiped tears away from her eyes. She never ceased to stop crying now.
"Hi, Mrs. Stern. I'm really sorry about what happened." Seth apologized. He never thought he would be here. It was so surreal.
"It wasn't your fault. Here, I'd like you to meet my other daughter, Liz." Next to Melissa, was a girl, about 13 in age. Her hair was blonde, like Anna's, only it was long. Her face was sullen, like a smile hadn't formed on it in ages. She seemed lost in her own thoughts, her body at the funeral, her mind somewhere else.
"Hi Liz. I'm Seth." Seth introduced himself. Liz looked up at Seth, and he saw the striking resemblance Liz had with her sister.
"I heard." She didn't say much, not being in Newport a whole lot. She had been the first to move, Anna never mentioned her.
"I'm really sorry about your sister. She was a great person." Seth tried to talk to Liz, as Melissa soon disappeared into the crowd of Pennsylvanians.
"Yes, she was." Liz paused. "You know the girl who did it?" Liz stared into Seth's eyes, barely blinking.
"Who?" Seth knew who Liz was talking about, he just didn't want to discuss it.
"The girl who killed my sister. The girl who drove drunk and destroyed my family. The girl who made me lose the only person who knew me." In fact, Liz had been Anna's best friend, but it had all changed when Newport came. Anna had more friends, and Liz fell into the background of Anna's life.
"Oh. Marissa." Seth felt horrible, this girl really had a way of pouring on the guilt.
"Marissa. Cute name. Not really the name for a murderer."
"She didn't murder Anna. It was an accident. It was no one's fault." Seth tried to defend Marissa, but really it had been her fault. Who else's? Only Marissa's.
"She was drinking drunk. She ran through the red light. She killed my sister." Liz never met Marissa, but she already despised her.
"I'm sorry." Seth felt really bad for this girl, who he had only met a few minutes ago.
"Why are you covering for her? She's responsible. She should take the blame. And you know what? Your little friend, Marissa, is gonna meet with my parents. She'll have her stupid parents and some attorney, Cohen or something..."
"Sandy." Seth answered.
"Yeh. But they're gonna meet, and then, Marissa's parents and Sandy Cohen will lose and Marissa will sent to prison for the rest of her goddamn fucking life." Liz was about to cry.
"She wouldn't go to prison." Seth had nothing else to say.
"Then juvie. But you wanna know something, Seth? You're the reason she was here. And she always talked about you. She loved you. She came back for you. And now? That fucking bitch killed her. If you'll excuse me, I need to go sulk somewhere." Liz left, with Melissa reentering at that second.
"She's emotionally disturbed." Melissa tried to lighten the mood a bit, but it was really no use. It was a funeral, who could be happy?
"I noticed." Seth wanted someone to talk to. Maybe Ryan. He couldn't talk to Summer. He hadn't seen her since that night.
"Listen, Seth. We've all been going through a rough spot. And at first, I wanted to move right back to Pittsburgh, but I can't keep moving my family around. But we're emptying Anna's room this weekend. Sending most of it to the Salvation Army. But, I wanted you, and maybe some of her other friends here to maybe go in, you can have anything. I already took out what I wanted. But, there's probably some stuff that Anna wanted you to have."
"Thanks." Seth really couldn't believe he was attending Anna's funeral. This wasn't right. She was supposed to come back, and stay. Stay with Seth. But she left him all alone.
"I'm gonna go. Gotta meet more mourners." Melissa left him, breaking down as she turned away from Seth. He walked and found Kirsten, Sandy, and Ryan sitting in a pew, soon the funeral would start. He sat down next to Ryan.
"You cool man?" Ryan asked, sensing something was wrong with Seth. "Other than the obvious."
"After the funeral, my dad is going to meet with Anna's parents and Marissa's parents to talk about what's gonna happen to Marissa so they don't have to do the court thing. The Sterns are gonna try to get Marissa in juvie or prison. That's what I got from Anna's sister, Liz." Seth knew Ryan wouldn't be very happy about losing Marissa. But then again, they hadn't been on very good terms.
The ceremony started, so their conversation was stopped. Many people cried, but Seth didn't. He felt so much pain, but yet he couldn't get himself to really feel it. He just sat there, waiting for it all to hit him.
"Now, one of Anna's friends would like to say a few words." The priest announced and a girl got up. She walked to the front, she was short, about as short as Summer, with red hair and black streaks. She stood at the podium and stared at the crowd, preparing her speech.
"Hi, I'm Erin Thompson, for any Californians that don't know me. I've known Anna for most of my life and me, her, and another girl, named Milana were the best of friends. Anna was my neighbor and there was this tree, that actually stopped the fencing between our properties. We begged our dads to build a tree house, and when they finally did, they left this hole in the ceiling. We used to lay up there and just stare at the sky. We did a lot of deep thinking up there, we were the thinkers of our class.
"So one day, Milana asks us, 'How do you think you'll die?' and she said, 'I see myself as dying alone.' And her question was really, really deep and very strange. And me, being the opportunist that I am, answered with, 'I'm gonna live until I'm 99.'
"Finally, Anna answered with, 'I'm not gonna die old.' And I just wondered why. Why wouldn't you want to live forever? So she told me, 'I don't wanna die in a corner of a nursing home where I've been forgotten. I wanna die when I'm remembered. And people will say, "Why did she die? Not now. No one should die now." and not, "Oh well, she kicked the bucket. Bought the farm. Finally. I never thought she'd go." And I want it to be sudden, so I don't feel pain.' Her answer scared me that day. Hers was so in detail, and we wondered if she had ever thought hard and long about that.
"That answer still scares me. As does Milana's. Because they were true. I have been to two funerals in such a short time. I am the last of that three to be alive.
"When Anna had first left to Newport, Milana got really depressed and got into drugs. None of out friends had known. But when we found out, we told Anna. She dropped everything and rushed out to Pittsburgh, never really telling anyone why she had actually left. She came back, only to give the ulugy at Milana's funeral.
"Anna was my best friend. She would do anything for you. Even if she hated it. But along with that, she refused to be used or stepped on.
"On that day, in the tree house, she described her death as 'beautifully tragic.' and I think this is what that is. Beautifully tragic. So sad that her leaving us is beautiful. And hopefully, she's up in heaven, looking down at us, smiling." Erin was crying, and she quickly left the podium. The funeral ended soon, they would be laying Anna down in Pittsburgh the nest day. People began to leave, Seth quickly exiting, feeling more worse than he ever had. He opened the doors to find the sun glaring at him, making him shield his eyes. He walked to a nearby tree, and sat down against it. He was sitting there for a few minutes when a shadow came upon him.
"Hey." Seth looked up. Summer stood there, no makeup on, the scar in plain view. She hadn't seen Seth in so long, not since the accident.
"Hi." Seth couldn't believe what the accident had done to her. She didn't look anything like herself. Her eye was black and blue, like Summer had been in a fight. She knew Seth was staring at her scar, she looked away.
"How are you doing?" She asked once she had looked back at him. She couldn't see very many injuries, her side had received the most damage. Anna had been on her side.
"Don't really know." Seth looked down at the ground, not ready to talk to Summer.
"That girl's ulugy was really nice." She attempted. She wanted to be okay with Seth, but after all that happened over the summer, and now with Anna, she doubted if they could ever be close again. He was with Anna when it happened. Summer had lost him. He loved Anna. She loved Seth. Summer loved Seth. She didn't think Seth loved Summer anymore.
"Yeah, it was." The conversation wasn't going very well. Seth wanted to leave, to be alone, but he didn't think he would be able to.
"When did you get out of the hospital?" Summer wanted to be with Seth again, no matter how much he hurt her over the summer. She cared about him. Who would've ever thought Summer Roberts would care about Seth Cohen.
"Day after the accident." Seth never looked up at Summer, she felt unwanted.
"Me too. Did you already know?" Summer felt like hugging Seth, more so, being hugged. She felt horrible for what happened.
"Yeah, I did." All Seth wanted was Anna, to help him through. For once in his life, he didn't want Summer.
"I kinda feel a little responsible. I mean, if I hadn't asked you guys if you needed a ride, maybe she might still be here." Summer thought back to that night. The night that their lives were changed forever.
"It's not your fault. You weren't the one driving." Seth wasn't going to cover for Marissa. He followed what Liz had said to him earlier. She caused this. She killed Anna.
"Are you saying that it's Marissa's fault?" Summer had known Marissa all her life, she never thought Marissa would do this. But Marissa had been drunk and she had a problem with drinking. It was wrong. But Summer still would never betray her best friend.
"She's the one being charged with it. She was the one driving. Drunk." Seth hated Marissa. She was just an annoying, murdering, selfish prep with a drinking problem.
"Cohen..." Summer started, trying to object Seth talking about Marissa.
"Don't call me that name." He told her harshly. Summer felt as though she didn't know Seth anymore. He had changed so much in the past three months, she was talking to a stranger.
"What?" She didn't want to hear it. Calling him that was the only thing they had left the last year now.
"Don't call me 'Cohen' anymore. It bugs me." Seth just wanted to left alone, couldn't she understand that?
"Never did before." Summer couldn't remember the last time she hadn't called him "Cohen." It had just always been a thing she did. He never objected, she swore he actually liked it. Obviously not.
"Well, it does now." Seth paused, thinking about Anna. "'Confidence, Cohen.' She always used to say that to me." Damn, Seth missed her. He couldn't believe she was gone. It wasn't right. He should've gone instead.
"You miss her." Summer realized how much Seth really cared about Anna. He loved her immensely, not Summer. She was just there to fill up time. Anna had probably felt like that before. But she had been the one who should've had Seth. Summer didn't deserve him. He was too good for her.
"Yeah, I do! She was my girlfriend! And now...... she's dead." Seth snapped at Summer. She was taken aback a bit, Seth barely ever rose his voice. He felt bad, Summer didn't deserve his backlash. "Sorry."
"No Seth. You shouldn't be. She was your girlfriend. You guys were great together. You guys were perfect." Summer knew dating Seth hadn't been good, she learned that a long time ago. But now, she knew she should've never been with him. He belonged with Anna, but now, she was gone. Summer and Seth weren't right. It was Seth and Anna.
"We weren't perfect. We broke up before." Seth felt bad for Summer. He knew this conversation wasn't the greatest.
"Yeah, over me. I budded my way in, and broke you up. I was just jealous. I should've never done that. You guys belonged with each other. We should've never been together. It was a huge mess. I'm just pretty selfish. You deserve better." Summer felt the tears forming. She hadn't wanted to cry, but she knew she would. This was too painful, she felt small, and useless. She began to walk away, when Seth got up.
"Summer....wait." Seth didn't want to see her go. She was just being too hard on herself.
"Why?" Summer turned around. "Why should I wait? There's nothing here." She wanted to fall into his arms so badly.
"I'm here." Seth figured they could never go back to the way they had been. But he did love Summer. She had been his first love.
"I know. That's why I can't be." Summer turned and ran, tears falling down her scarred face. She loved Seth so much, and she couldn't be with him. Seth wanted to run after her, but he knew he couldn't stop her. She ran far away, to nowhere. She had nowhere to go, nowhere to be. Her world was falling apart. Her best friend was being charged with murder, another of her friends was dead, and her ex-boyfriend barely talked to her. She didn't want to be in Newport anymore, she wanted to go somewhere else. Meet new people, have a new life. Forget all about Newport, Seth, Marissa, Ryan, Anna. She didn't want to remember them, they hurt her too much. Summer reached her car and turned it on, but not going anywhere. Her tears were falling too hard. Over Seth. Who would've known last year she would care this much about Seth Cohen? Last year about this time, she hated him. No, scratch that. She was falling into his arms. Over Marissa almost being dead. Last year this time, they had been in Tijuana, their lives had almost been ruined then. Marissa almost died. But this summer, Anna had died. She was gone. Summer felt it was her fault, why had she asked them? Oh right, she wanted to talk to Seth. Make Seth and Anna break up. She was jealous. A little, annoying, selfish child. She had wished for them to break up. Well, that happened. Anna was dead, and Seth was broken. He had a broken heart. Because of Summer. She hated herself for wanting this to happen? If she had known, would she have wanted this? She ruined Seth, herself, Marissa, everyone. It was her fault. How could she go on living in Newport? Knowing her best friend was being charged for something that was Summer's fault? She finally stepped on the gas, getting away, as Seth watched his whole life leave him.