Stranded Memories
Rating: PG-13 for language
Disclaimer: I own crap. They wouldn't even give me the bloody Lost poster at Disney, and that ruined my day. FOX owns all OC characters and OC related thingys… and ABC owns sobs all Lost related things… even my Charlie…
Summary: Little things can push people over the edge. That very thing happens to Seth Cohen, and he runs away (knowing that it worked before), but something happens sending him into a crashing situation. Lost/OC Crossover.
A/n: I actually thought about the part that I wrote after I read the part that Ali wrote and while watching the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King: Extended Edition… so I hope you like it :D
Oh, and you don't have to worry about not reading if you don't watch Lost… all the characters will be explained to some extent. Warning: This chapter may be long!
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"Please Forgive Me"
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Two months had passed. I had not talked to my family in those two months. I mean, that is the biggest time I never talked to them in. Last summer, I called, they called, and they knew where I was. Now they didn't. I was done with them, they were so three months ago. I mean, I think they had planned to make Newport hell, if it wasn't hell in the first place.
Every so often, my thoughts would fall on Summer, but then I thought of the asshole Ryan "Asshole" Atwood and Summer "Slut" Roberts. The perfect combo. I hope they were miserable.
I had made a life here in Sydney, and was quite content. At first, I stayed in a hole in the wall hotel, so I could earn some money for an apartment, since I had absolutely no plan on leaving. Now, I had the tiniest little one bedroom apartment. It was small yes, but it was perfect for me and Aerin.
Ah, Aerin. The thought of her made a smile come to my face. I had met her about three days after I arrived. Since then, we were inseparable. Total replacement for SSR (Summer "Slut" Roberts). I wish she had been Newport, man I would have obsessed over her. Haha.
So, it was another normal Saturday. Aerin was cleaning. Every so often she'd be a neat freak and go insane and bug me. But that was like once a month. So twice, I sat in our living room/dining room eating cereal. The room was small, we didn't earn much money between the two of us. And I tried to use the credit card as little as I could.
"What is this?" I heard Aerin complain from in the bedroom. She knew nothing of my background, since I never told her. She never asked. That was fine with me.
She appeared a few minutes, playing with a cell phone. Wait a second, he cell phone is charged. Maybe she grabbed it. I looked over. Crap, it was still there. Then where did she get a new one? I didn't have one. No! I did have one. Used to at least.
"Awwww… you were so cute. Who are all these people?" She asked, her Australian accent making me swoon. She was paging through my wallet (which she had never done before).
"Who are what people?" I asked her, trying not to sound worried. That wasn't supposed to be found. I got up to look at the photos that I hadn't looked at in what seemed like forever. She was flipping through the pictures of RAA and SSR and Marissa flashed by too. There were a few of Lindsay, Alex, Anna and Luke too.
"So who are they? Where are they now? You never said anything about your past." Aerin complained to me. I couldn't tell her about my confusing past. Confusing couldn't even describe it. It was so messed up. Everyone was related to each other! No wait. The evil couple wasn't blood related to any o the Cohens, Coopers or Nichols. I had to stop thinking about them. They didn't matter anymore.
"Old friends. Nothing special." I blew it off. She didn't' believe me. She continued to play with my old phone.
"Hey, you have like… fifty messages on this. Maybe you should check them." Aerin walked around, playing with that stupid phone. Couldn't she stop? I mean, it was mine. I don't use her stuff. Wait, I'm eating out of her bowl. Crap.
I ignored Aerin as I went into the kitchen to do the dishes. Yes, no dish washer. Aerin said that she had a bad dishwasher accident a few years back. Yeah right. She just doesn't want to spend the money.
"There's a lot of girls in these," she said, paging through he wallet pictures again. "Any of importance?" Maybe Anna was the only one.
"Not really. Two of them are my aunts. That's the only importance they have." Shouldn't have said that. Stupid mouth! Once it starts, it never stops.
"Aunts? They're your age!" Again, Aerin didn't believe me. What the hell? I didn't lie. Do you people believe me when I did lie?
"Yeah, well…" If she kept talking about Newport, I'd leave again. I walked away from Aerin, and she knew that I was angry.
"Sorry," she apologized. I couldn't look at her. Because I knew I would forgive her. I tried to get away. Not much luck. I hate small apartments!
Aerin gave up on the cell phone. I heard something being placed on the table. Good. She was done with it. Finally. I couldn't stand that stupid cell phone.
I went into the closet-like bedroom and collapsed on the bed. I began to think. Maybe I should check the messages. Maybe Newport felt sorry. Doubt it.
"I'm sorry," I felt Aerin come and lie next to me. She laid her head on my chest. "Can you forgive me?" I looked down at her and saw her crystal blue eyes. Crap. I melted.
"I forgive you." I held her close. This new life was so much better than the old one. "I think I'll check my messages now."
"Good. Then maybe I can meet your family!" Aerin smiled.
"Uh… no…" I answered as I got up. She followed me, which I didn't really mind at the moment. I was so lucky to have Aerin, I mean, she really gets me. Understands me. Doesn't' cheat on me, unlike all those other girls. Oh wait! Anna and Marissa never did. Ah, well, Marissa might have… and Lindsay never did either.
"Are you going to call them? Like after you check the messages?" Gosh, Aerin was cute. She cared so much about my family, yet I cared so little. They all betrayed me.
"No. Unless maybe something horrible happened to them." Would I even care? I mean a lot probably changed since then. So who cared if something bad happened?
I grabbed my phone. Dialing the password, my breath quickened. Why was I doing this again? But I still put the phone to my ear.
"Hi Seth. It's Summer..." I rolled my eyes. "Listen, I think we need to talk. Everything is just so screwed up. And I am like… really really sorry. Call me back, bye." It was from the day that I had left. The day my life fell into hell.
"Hey man, it's Ryan. Um… we need to uh… talk. Definitely. So, I guess I'll see you tonight then. Bye." Dumbass! How stupid were they? Honestly. I listened again.
"Seth, it's Alex. I'm sorry. I guess I should've told you. Call me back, okay?" Three cheaters in a row! Good job guys! I kept listening as my mom and dad yelled at me. About a week had transpired in calls.
"Seth. It's mom! Please come home Seth," she was sobbing. "I can't stand losing you again. We're all sorry for what may have happened, but just please come home. We'll sort through everything and we miss you so much. Seth, come home. I love you Seth." She cried through the entire message. I tried to hold back the tears that were trying to come out. Mom hadn't done anything, actually sort of, but she wasn't the one wanting a stupid divorce.
Aerin looked up at me. "What's wrong Seth?" she asked. That was when I noticed that some of the tears were falling.
"Nothing. Nothing, I swear," I said, trying to keep from tearing up even more. I continued listening. I wondered if they did get a divorce. I continued on until it had been about three weeks. Number nineteen.
"Hi Seth. It's Lindsay. Um… I guess… um… come home. Your mom gave me your number. She's been recruiting everyone to get you back to Newport. Plus, I thought Cohens laughed through their tears and made horribly timed jokes during traumatic events. Not run away. We all want you to come home. So please… I don't think Newport will last much longer without you." That message hurt. It hurt more than the one that my mother had left me. Lindsay even called, even if she did call because her "sister" asked her to. And she kind of called me a liar. Was I a liar? I guess I sorta of was.
"Seth. Come home. I can't stand this. Please." My dad begged. His messages were all short, sweet and to the point. But they got the point across.
"Hi Seth, its Marissa. Come home okay? Everyone really misses you." Now I was feeling really bad. By that time I was sitting, listening to all these messages. I guess I had hurt these people. Number thirty-eight came up; a little more than six weeks had passed.
"Seth, it's Ryan again. You can't avoid this forever. It's not as bad as you think. Well, now it is. Kirsten's lost it. Sandy's about to… everybody's just lost. Newport needs you man. No comic relief anymore. Everything sucks here. So, come home. We miss you… bye…" Yeah, well they deserved to be miserable. Or not. Crap, now I felt worse than ever.
Aerin looked at me as I put the phone down from my ear and took a deep breath. She didn't say anything, but the look on her face was one of utter confusion.
I looked down and put the phone back up to my ear.
More messages from my mother, one or two from Summer, some from my dad, one from Lindsay. I made it to message forty-six. I hear a beep in my ear. I looked at the phone. Low battery. Shit!
I put the phone up to my ear, and my mother was sobbing uncontrollably. I could barely understand a word she was saying. There was so much noise in the background, and she was crying so hard. "Seth… Seth… damn it to hell Seth… turn on your cell phone… I know you have it off!" She was crying so hard, I felt tears springing to my eyes. What had I done? My family hadn't torn each other apart. I had torn them apart.
"Seth... please… don't… Seth… its Ryan… Seth… its Ryan… he's… Ryan… he's…" she couldn't get it out. Shit. Something really really bad must have happened. What did I do? The phone cut off.
"SHIT!" I cursed as I saw the phone say 'Low Battery. Powering off.' I threw it at the wall.
Everything that was happening around me turned into a blur. I couldn't make sense of what was going on in my mind. I ran my hand through my hair quite a few times, and I heard Aerin say something, but it was all a jumbled up mess, and I couldn't understand any of it.
I fell back onto the bed and felt the hot tears falling down my face. Was Ryan dead? It sure as hell sounded like it. Mom wouldn't get all upset over nothing. He had to be dead. There was no other explanation. Then there was the mental tangle. Ryan was dead, and I knew deep down that I needed to go back. I had to go back. Somehow, this was my fault.
Then there was the part of me that still felt as though Ryan had gotten exactly what he deserved and that I shouldn't have felt sorry for any of them. But I did. Aerin laid down next to me and started messing with my hair. It still was sinking in. Something happened to Ryan, and I needed to go.
Quickly, I sat up, catching Aerin completely off guard. "Can I… can I use your cell phone?" I asked, sounding so pathetic. I sounded like an idiot.
"Seth, what's wrong?" she asked.
Awkward silences. "Something happened… and I need to call home…"
"Home?" she asked.
"Newport, California," I said simply, reaching for the cell phone that she was reaching for. She simply handed it to me and didn't say a word. She must have been thinking about how big I was in trouble for not telling her anything.
I dialed the oddly familiar phone number of my house. I hadn't called it in so long.
Ring. Ryan was dead or dying… and here I was… sitting across the fucking Pacific Ocean, playing a game of phone tag!
Ring. My glance went back over towards Aerin. She was just staring at me blankly as if trying to figure out what was going on in my mind. Fat chance.
Ring. What the hell? Normally people pick up by the third ring. And I was getting no answer. Then again, the message couldn't have been that far in the past… maybe they were at Ryan's funeral. This was what I got for running away again.
Ring. They mustn't be home. I knew for a fact that they weren't home when the answering machine picked up.
You've reached the Cohen's. We're probably out, so leave a message and we'll get back to you ASAP. I heard the beep. "Mom… Dad… its Seth… what the hell is going on? What happened to Ryan? I'm sorry that I left, but Ryan is just Ryan… I don't know what I'll do if he died. Uh… call me back, correction. I'll call you back." I took a deep breath. I was rambling. "I'm getting a plane home…"
I looked over at Aerin. She looked utterly broken. Crap.
"And… and… there is someone else coming too… just I hope you can forgive me. And I really hope that Ryan is not dead, but it sure as hell sounds like it. I'll talk to you later then…" I added before hanging up the phone.
My eyes met Aerin's. She just gave me that look. Damn it. "You have some explaining to do…" she said, her arms crossed.
Better get it out quick than forced. I handed her her phone back and sat down on the bed. She sat down, but a distance away from me.
"I live in Newport, California, I ran away from home… Sydney was as far as I could go… so I came here… and had no intentions of going home. Everything went crashing down, which is why I ran away… my girlfriend cheating on me with my step-aunt… my ex-girlfriend making out with my brother… it was all really weird, and that was why the phone was off, that was why I tried to hide everything about my past, because it sucked. But you convinced me to check the messages, and I got a really bad one from my mom… and then the phone went dead… and I think that Ryan is dead, and I really need to go home… and you can come back with me, I don't care, I just need to make sure everything is okay, because the last thing I remember thinking when I saw Ryan was… well… I wanted to kill him… but please… I'm really sorry, and if you hate me, just tell me because I kinda hate myself right now and…" I cut myself off. I still had a tendency to ramble.
Awkward silence followed that long, confusing, yet very true story. I could understand the silence as I sat there and looked at her. She was looking into her lap.
After a few minutes, she looked up. "So about that plane…" she said, grabbing some of her things and shoving them into a nearby suitcase.
"Wait, what?" I asked, my mind snapping out of the daze it was in.
"You said that I could come with you… so I am coming with you, the sooner we leave, the sooner you get home to your brother…" she said, grabbing me and giving me a hug. I woke up. "Now get packing…"
I shrugged. "No need to pack," I said simply. It was true. I was ready to go at that moment. What did I have that I didn't have at home, other than Aerin? Nothing.
She was finished packing in a few seconds and we hopped in her car and headed for the airport. It was an awkwardly silent ride. I just stared out the window, thinking of absolutely nothing. Sooner than I had imagined we were at the airport.
"Seth… Seth… get up…" she said, shaking me lightly. I wasn't asleep.
"I'm awake…" I said dully, getting unbuckled and heading out to the airport.
"Seth, are you really going to walk to the airport?" Aerin asked. I turned around and she was giggling. Always the optimistic one, wasn't she?
"How else are we going to get there?" I asked, raising my eyebrows. She simply pointed at the taxi that was pulling in. It was one of those moments when I didn't know what the hell was going on.
"Called the taxi while you were asleep."
"I WASN'T ASLEEP!" I shouted angrily, before realizing that I was yelling at Aerin, who was really the only person I knew anything about (seeing as I didn't know what the hell was happening at home).
She only giggled. "Sure you weren't, now hop in," she said, getting into the taxi and moving over. I hopped in as well.
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It was another five minutes to the airport, and I zoned out again, but I knew exactly when we were there, and Aerin refused to let me pay the taxi guy, so I just got out and went in. The taxi had left us out at Oceanic again. That was the airline that I had flown in on. They seemed like a good airline. And they were cheap.
I ran up to the counter. There were many other people there too, but they were all just waiting around, so I went up. The guy next to me was talking about transferring his father's body back to L.A. and it brought tears back to my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.
"Good morning, sir. How may I help you?" the lady asked.
"I need two tickets on the soonest plane leaving to L.A." I said quickly and simply.
"Sorry, I can't do that." she said.
"WHAT!?" I snapped angrily. They had to be fucking kidding me!
"There is only one ticket left on the flight…" she said.
"Take it Seth…" I heard someone from my left speak up. I turned to come face to face with Aerin. "I'll get on a later flight…" she said.
"Are you—" she cut me off.
"Yes. Take it…"
"I just need a photo identification, a passport and a credit card." the lady said. I nodded and reached into my pocket and pulled out my wallet. I got out the credit card and the School I.D. Now where did I put that passport? I reached around into my backpack and pulled it out of a back pocket.
"One second," she said, taking all three. I turned to look at Aerin.
"Just go Seth, you need it more than I do…" she said, looking straight into me. How could I fight with that? I simply nodded. She grabbed me and hugged me tightly, her blonde hair getting into my face. I hugged her back. She was my foundation, and I leaned on her.
The lady called my attention back to her. "Now I just need your signature here… here… and here…" she said, pointing to three spots on the paper. I didn't worry about reading them, I just signed it.
"Thank you Mr. Cohen. You are on flight 815, and it leaves in… half an hour. I would hurry Mr. Cohen." I nodded a thank you and grabbed Aerin.
"Are you sure…" I asked her once again. She nodded again. "Don't worry about me. I will take care of everything. And I guess that I'll see you in Newport again…it's only a few hour flight." she laughed.
I put my arm around her and we headed over towards the security check. This was where we had to depart. I turned around and looked deeply into her eyes. I had to go home, but I didn't want to leave Aerin. "It's only a few hours Seth…" she said laughing.
I kissed her. Passionately. I just had a bad feeling about all of this. She pushed away. "Just go Seth… you'll miss your flight." she said.
I turned to leave when the thought hit me. "Aerin, can I use your cell phone, one last time?" I asked, giving her the patented Cohen 'pity me' look. It worked and she chuckled as she handed me the phone. Quickly I dialed home. Once again, I got the answering machine, and it only made me worry more.
"Mom… dad… I'm coming home. I'm on Oceanic Flight 815… I'll be home by… well I'm not very good with time zones, but I'll be home soon. Please forgive me…" I hung up and Aerin took her cell phone back.
"You're going to miss your plane silly," she laughed, her accent coming out quite well.
Once again, I nodded and proceeded my way through the security check, trying not to upset myself. This seemed so familiar, but last time… Anna was leaving and I was looking through the glass. Now Aerin was looking at me.
She waved goodbye and I waved as well. Then I turned around and headed towards the gate. There was no turning back now.
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It wasn't very long until I found myself sitting on the plane, next to a blonde girl who refused to stop fighting with the man sitting next to her. It reminded me somewhat of how Summer and I would bicker like that. It made me laugh.
The pilot began to talk and I zoned again. Who needed that stuff anyways? Before I knew it we were taking off. My ears popped and I flinched. But we were soon in the air at a reasonable altitude, and the blonde girl and her.…whatever he was were fighting once again. I rolled my eyes; this was going to be a long flight.
My mind went back to Aerin who had to get another flight. Then it went back to Newport. Ryan was gone. Could I have possibly wished him dead? It certainly seemed that way. I remember wishing that he was dead, and now he was. There wasn't much I could do but go home. Which was why I was on this plane. I put my headphone jack into the matching one in my CD player, put in the DriveShaft CD that Aerin had bought me, and turned it up as loud as possible.
Slowly, my eyes closed and I fell asleep.
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My eyes reopened quickly as the blonde girl was shaking the hell outta my arm. She had already torn the headphones out of my ears. That was when I noticed the yellow oxygen masks a few inches from our heads. Quickly I put it on. What the hell was happening?
I began to panic. I was going home. This wasn't supposed to happen. What had I done to deserve this? Was the plane really crashing? Why else would the oxygen masks come out? Oh shit. Oh shit. Oh shit.
I had expected to be going home to Newport… but now… that didn't look very good. I looked over towards the window and saw land. Oh shit. We were all going to die. Shit. What was I going to do? I couldn't do anything.
My breathing quickened even more as I felt myself being pulled back on the chair. If I would have looked back, I would have realized that the entire tail of the airplane had broken off. But that would have made things even worse. There was nothing.
I felt nothing. My body went numb as the girl next to me began to shriek. Newport? Fat chance. I was on my way straight to hell. Everything went black.
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A/n: This is Kim… and I cried when I tried to type "Ryan was dead" and I was like… holy shit, what am I doing? I need to write in my other story too… which I will probably do after completing this one… then I have to send it off to Ali for checking. And I learned how hard it was to not type bloody. I am such a Charlie writer…
Oh yes… the next chapter will be specifically Newport so Ali will be writing that… and then it is my turn. laughs evilly
alexis – Poor Seth? Poor Seth? What the heck? Hota ka!
i-luv-the-oc-and-smallville – Haha! That was my idea (being Kim) because it was originally Mandy.. and I changed it. GO SUMMERAN!!! Sorry, that was random and I meant to type Alex/Marissa, but it didn't come out…
Daniela – Happiness doesn't last forever.
