Okay, well, I'm typing this after seeing the preview for next week's episode, Ep. 9. And I now know that this idea is pretty different from what they're doing. That's good. Now, I know you all might hate me after this, and well, I have to do this. God, I sound like Seth in Kim's stories. Not good. Not good at all.
Kirsten heard footsteps. She sat next to Sandy in the kitchen, drinking coffee and calming down. Her tears had dried, finally. Both of her sons hadn't come out of their room and she felt responsible.
Seth appeared in her view, heading for the door. They weren't on good terms, and it might be a while until they were.
"Seth. Where are you going?" Kirsten didn't like letting Seth go anywhere. It just gave her a bad feeling.
Seth turned to them, and Kirsten saw him. He looked hurt, lost, in immense pain. His eyes held things she knew nothing of.
"You were gonna let me die," He told her plainly and she was taken back. How did he know that? Had he heard? He had been in the coma, was that even possible?
"Seth...." She started, but didn't know what to say. What could she say to him? What would make him feel better now that he knew?
"How?" Seth asked her. So at least he hadn't heard the whole conversation. But how could she tell him? Did she have to tell him at all? She didn't want to lie, but she didn't want to tell him.
A silence crept across them as Kirsten thought. Seth just stood there staring as Sandy looked at Kirsten with confusion.
"How?" Seth screamed at her, really wanting an answer. Tears began in her eyes, because she knew she had to tell him.
"We'd take you off life support," She whispered to her son after taking a deep breath. None of them really expected them to answer. Ryan saw Seth and walked slowly to the house.
"Great. Just one more person who wants me dead," Seth commented sarcastically and walked off. Ryan saw him leave and walked into the kitchen.
"Seth!" Kirsten called to him, but he just walked away. Maybe if she tried harder, or said, 'sorry,' he wouldn't have gone.
"Where's he going?" Ryan asked, and Kirsten and Sandy looked back. He had missed the conversation, and didn't understand why Kirsten had tears in her eyes.
"I don't know. But can you find out? Call him, or maybe he left a note. I can't do this anymore. I just want him home," Kirsten ordered Ryan.
"But didn't he...." Ryan objected, not understanding.
"I want him home," Kirsten demanded and left. Ryan got the hint and headed up the stairs, trying Seth's cell phone. Turned off. Ryan didn't understand why he was doing this, but he sensed Seth was really upset. The fight between him and Kirsten came into his thoughts.
Ryan opened the door to Seth's room. It was silent, and everything seemed fine. Papers were strewn all over Seth's bed and for a moment Ryan guessed they were a project. But when he got closer to them, he found they were the exact opposite.
First he saw the list, which creeped Ryan out a lot. Why did Seth have a list of all the people hurt or dead from the shooting?
Then he noticed the pictures. Ryan was officially weirded out. Seth had lost it. Ryan didn't even know his brother anymore. Who was Seth now?
Ryan's eyes ended on the yearbook. He picked it up, flipping through the pages. X's were everywhere, on people's faces. It clicked why Seth had the list. But why would Seth do this?
He went back to the page the yearbook had been lying on. Seth and Marissa were on this page. Ryan looked at Marissa, all smiles, then Seth. Seth was smiling, through a black X.
Maybe Seth just did it kinda by accident. No, you wouldn't accidently cross out your own face. It wasn't right. Something was seriously wrong.
Finally, Ryan saw the last thing on Seth's bed. A photo of Seth and Summer. On the pier. Ryan knew where Seth was.
He rushed out of his brother's room, denying what he thought. Seth wasn't that stupid. Or was he? Ryan had sensed there was something wrong with Seth for a while, never guessing he'd lose it. He was the last one. And he had lost it.
It was too close together, way too close, right? Seth would tink things through. And he hadn't done that. Or had he? Was that crossing out faces his thinking rationally?Ryan thought about it.
Shit.
Ryan told Kirsten and Sandy he'd be back and grabbed keys and went. He was jumping to conclusions, Seth might not even be there. Or he could. Every so often, he was pretty good at guesswork. Ryan prayed he was wrong.
It was dark, no one else was out. Ryan sped down the pier. He had to get to Seth.
Ryan jumped out of the car and ran to the empty pier. He had never seen it so empty. And there was Seth. He was standing by the edge of the pier. Ryan walked up to him. He stood relatively far behind him, but Seth still sensed Ryan was there.
"So you found me," Seth announced as he stared out into the dark horizon. "How'd you figure it out?"
"Took the clues you left on the bed," Ryan answered and walked a little bit closer to Seth. "What are you doing?"
"Well, right now, just staring out into the ocean," Seth told Ryan. Some part of him was pissed that Ryan had found him, but another part was glad someone cared and followed. Too bad.
"Oh," Ryan relaxed a bit. He was glad his ideas were wrong. That he wasn't right. Sometimes being right sucked.
"Why? Was there something you thought I'd be doing?" Seth didn't look back at Ryan quite yet. He couldn't, it would be weird.
"Sort of. I don't know. Just some stupid assumption," Ryan blew it off. He had to. Seth wasn't that dumb, right?
"Oh. What did you think I'd be doing?" Seth wasn't sure if he was ready to do this. This was huge. Really huge.
"That you'd.........never mind," Ryan paused before answering. It didn't matter, Ryan thought as he walked even closer to Seth.
"That I'd what?" Seth turned around to his brother. He wanted to hear this. One last thing. It was strange looking at Ryan, knowing what was going to happen.
"Nothing. It was stupid," Ryan was just glad Seth was okay. He was okay, right? He had to be.
"No, come on. What did you think I'd do? This?" Seth joked and climbed the rail. Ryan knew Seth was kidding. Ryan kinda missed Seth's humor. A lot of it had disappeared since waking up from the coma.
"Kinda, yeah. Now let's just get home. Come on, get down," Ryan began to turn around, with no worry in his life. Everything was okay. Seth was, Marissa was, Summer sort of was, and he also was. No problems.
"Nope," Seth said simply as he stood looking over the ocean. Ryan stopped. What? No, this wasn't happening. Was Ryan right?
"Come on, Seth, stop joking around. Get down," Ryan turned back around to his friend still balancing over the side. Seth looked back and Ryan saw the seriousness in his face.
This was happening. Seth was gonna do it. Oh crap.
"I'm not joking," Seth told Ryan. This was it.
"What?" Ryan was dreaming. This wasn't happening again. What was wrong? Didn't people know suicide isn't the way to go? Ryan learned that a long time ago.
"I'm not joking. I'm doing this. You can't stop me," Seth was trembling. The January air grew colder.
"Seth, get down," Ryan wasn't ready to deal with this again. Obviously people liked him being at their suicide. What was this? Four?
But Ryan should've seen this coming. Seth hadn't been himself since he woke from the coma. Seth had lost it a while ago. It had just been a matter of time until he did it.
"No. I have to do this. Everybody wants me dead," Seth couldn't face his parents anymore, every time he spoke to them, he got into a fight. He knew he wouldn't see Summer. And he was going insane because of her. Killing himself because of her. Just like she tired to kill herself because of him.
"Nobody wants you dead," Ryan objected.
"Yes, they do," Seth didn't understand why he hadn't done this so long ago. It wouldn't be as he thought.
"Who? I don't want you dead, Summer doesn't want you dead, your parents don't want you dead..." Ryan didn't get him now.
"You're wrong there. My parents did want me dead. They were gonna take me off life support. You should remember that, Ryan, you were there," Ryan did remember, but how the hell did Seth?
"How did you...?" Ryan asked, confused. Seth had been in a coma. But that had been the day he woke up. Only around three weeks ago. Yet it felt like three years ago.
"Strange, huh? I remember that. I guess you can hear things while in a coma," Seth yelled back. He wanted to get this over with, wouldn't Ryan let him?
"Yeah. But Seth, this isn't worth it. What about Summer?" Ryan tried to get Seth down, which was really difficult.
"She's gone," Seth missed Summer. They did this to each other though.
"She's in a facility for two months, Seth! She's not gone," Ryan told Seth, trying to understand him.
"I put her in there. Me. It's my fault. I did it," Seth remembered when Summer tried to kill herself. She almost succeeded. But they saved her. That wasn't happening with Seth.
"You didn't Seth. It wasn't your fault," But Ryan had a feeling that it had been Seth's fault. Seth and Summer were so close, that they couldn't live without each other for long.
"Yes, it was. Sorta like dominos. I fall, she falls. She falls, I fall," Seth looked down. They were right over choppy water. They were off coast, so it was a few feet deep. Seth guessed about seven. The pier went out pretty far.
The water was black, so you really couldn't see how deep it was. But Seth didn't care. He was going to figure out how deep it was.
"But you can end it. Don't jump, it's that simple," Ryan pleaded with Seth. He didn't want to lose his brother. Seth didn't understand how much he had hurt everyone before. Doing this, he would destroy them.
"No, it's not. I have to do this, Ryan. What's left here?" Seth looked back and knew what Ryan would say. Live for his parents, Summer, him, Marissa. But really, they could live without Seth. They already had.
"Your parents, Summer, me, Marissa...." Ryan rattled off a few things. Bingo, Seth got them all right, and in correct order.
"Whatever," He turned back to the ocean. He was getting nervous. Was he actually doing this?
"Seth don't," Ryan knew his attempts at saving Seth weren't working. What would stop him? Nothing. Oh wonderful.
Seth looked back one last time.
"Bye," Seth told Ryan and gave him the look. The one that told Ryan that he was about to jump.
Ryan ran closer as Seth shut his eyes and jumped off the pier. Ryan watched in horror from the rail as Seth was submerged into the ice cold ocean.
It was the coldest Seth ever felt. There was no warmth left in him, and that scared him. He continued to fall deeper into the water. He grew blue as he began to reach the bottom. Damn, it was deep. Deep enough to freeze him.
Seth hit the bottom eventually, head first into a nice rock. He slammed into it hard, but he didn't feel a thing. His body was numb from the cold and he couldn't breathe anymore. What a perfect ending.
Ryan panicked when he didn't see Seth's head come back up. The undertow would definitely pull him out.
"Shit," He said to himself and ran down the pier. He ran fast, all the way to the end. Ryan turned and went under the pier from on the beach, pushing himself the hardest he could.
When Ryan got to the water, he searched for Seth. He saw something come up from pretty far out. Ryan ran into the water, his body turning to ice immediately.
The waves hit Ryan and tried to take him back to land, but he kept pushing. The water had to be way below freezing. And Ryan kept going to the slightly visible Seth.
He couldn't believe this was happening. Not again. Number four. Ryan was about to end his own life just so he wouldn't have to witness anymore. But he should've known with Seth. Hints came so many times, and he ignored them. Good job, idiot.
Ryan was slowly getting closer to Seth, who wasn't moving. Not good. Not good at all. Ryan was fully in the water, and dove under a wave and swam to Seth. If he ever got out of this alive, he'd never take a single thing for granted. If was the important word there.
Ryan was only a few feet away from Seth. So damn close. Seth was unconscious, drowning. Ryan felt Seth. Thank God. He grabbed him and pulled his head out of the water. Ryan noticed Seth's bleeding head. Crap.
His muscles were beat. Ryan could barely move. He pushed himself too hard. No. He had to get Seth out of the water. If they didn't drown, they'd freeze to death for sure. That was so welcoming.
Ryan tried to set Seth out. He was going so slow, he was so tired. He had to keep Seth from drowning. Good work, Seth. Get yourself hit on the head so you don't have to put in any effort.
Ryan pushed his weak body to get him and Seth to the beach. The waves helped a bit, but they always took them both under water.
He didn't think they'd make it out of this alive. Ryan was just too tired. His eyelids were falling, and he tried to keep his grip on Seth tight, but that was hard. Ryan was slipping on Seth, and this was the end for both of them.
The end. Ryan was welcoming it by now. He didn't mind sleeping forever. Sure, he' hurt people, but they would live, right? Of course. Life goes on. Just not for Seth or Ryan.
A wave came crashing into them and the last thing Ryan saw was crystal blue eyes illuminated in the distance.
I know, incredibly short chap! It was going to have two parts, but I thought I'd leave you at a cliffhanger. Almost literally. But the next chap will be possibly the longest I've done. Almost certainly. Please review, I love them!
