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: Ali's writing. I only edited and posted… Uh just a little note, this is from Kirsten's POV.
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"Two Extremes"
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Hospitals bothered me. I never did well in them, thank goodness I never had to stay in them long. Years ago, when my sister broke her arm and I had to stay there at the hospital, I passed out at a point when I saw a patient bleeding profusely. I had to stay overnight all alone, because Hailey got to go home and my dad had work the next day. At first I thought I was alone, but in came my mom. She was the greatest. Too bad she had no clue what her husband would do.
It had been a week since the accident, Ryan was lying lifeless on the bed. I had shed so many tears over the last two months, Seth had yet to talk to anyone. We knew where he was, but Sandy refused to go after him. I didn't understand why he wouldn't go after him, since Seth ran away without any warning or note, but Sandy just kept saying that Seth "needed time."
Summer had fallen asleep in a chair next to Ryan. She had been in the accident too. I could see the scar above her right eye so clearly. She had only gotten out two days ago, and she stayed in the hospital ever since. She barely left Ryan's side. Tears sprung up to my eyes again and I quickly wiped them away. I told myself not to cry anymore. Like that actually worked.
Everything had fallen apart after Seth left. I still remember that day so well. Talking to him as he drove away, arguing with Sandy, finding Seth's room empty. That may have been one of the worst days of my life. This time when he left, he didn't give us a note. He didn't call us to tell us where he was. I had yet to hear Seth's voice in two months other than his answering machine.
Summer stirred and woke up, and she pulled a lock of hair behind her ear with her broken arm. It had no signatures on it, since she really hadn't seen anyone. No one in school came to visit her, except for Marissa. But Marissa made a disappearing act every time Ryan was mentioned.
"Hi, Mrs. Cohen," Summer greeted me.
"You can call me Kirsten," I had grown closer to Summer, she really cared about........Ryan. That's who she was with. Not Seth.
"Right," I knew she was uncomfortable with calling me Kirsten. I didn't understand it. On too many occasions had she told me she felt like everything was her fault. It wasn't hers, and it wasn't Ryan's, nor mine or Sandy's. so what caused Seth to leave?
Summer looked to the sleeping Ryan, who had yet to open his eyes since the accident. It pained me so much to see him. The phone call about the accident was just about the worst. From what I gathered from the police report and Summer, the two had been driving when a car from the other side of the road, a drunk driver, crashed into them. Summer says she doesn't remember much, since she blacked out. As did Ryan. Except he has yet to wake up.
"Do you think he'll wake up soon?" Summer asked me, but I had no answer for it. I didn't know. It could be tomorrow, it could be next week. I looked to Ryan as well. His face was severely bruised, gosh, he looked dead. He was almost dead. They barely saved him. That was when I called Seth, my last attempt at trying to save my family.
"I hope so," I told her, barely lifting up her spirits. My cheering up didn't quite work. Damn. The depression that had enveloped Newport really sucked.
"Have you, told, um........Seth?" I hadn't heard Summer say 'Seth' in a long time. The only time I ever heard it was when we tried calling him. A lot of the times, we just avoided saying his name because it hurt so much. I missed him so much. Two months was too long to not talk to your family. I may have done that when I was younger, but I called. I never just left without any remorse and never calling.
"I called. Left a message really. That was the night when...." I didn't finish. Summer knew what I meant. She looked down, and I saw tears fall down her face. That was the night we almost lost Ryan. Both my sons had almost been gone. But they saved Ryan, just Seth never called.
"How do you know he's still alive?" It still confused me about why he left. I knew he found out about Summer and Ryan, but then he just left. I remember watching him drive away that day. He wasn't happy, and I didn't understand. I didn't stop him. I wished I had. It was my biggest mistake.
"He sometimes uses the credit card he took. It's a little way we know he's alive," Seth always used the card for the stupidest things, a dollar Egg McMuffin, a pack of gum, the littlest thing he could possibly find. That's how I knew it was him using the card. I think, subconsciously, he used the card to tell us he was okay. Everyday we worried if he was alive, and we would have to wait until the end of the month to know if he was. So Sandy set up the account to send us a report every week. It didn't make us worry as much.
"Do you think he'll come back?" Summer stared up at me with complete and utter sadness in her eyes. I wanted to say something that I truly believed. But what did I believe? That he would all of a sudden come back and everything would be okay? By now, I had given up most of my hope that he would come back. He obviously was over with Newport.
"I hope so. It all depends on if he checks his messages," I could believe that. I mean, I did hope he would come back, and it did depend on if he checked his messages. Too bad I didn't believe myself.
"Yeah. But what if he has? And just, like didn't want to talk to us?" That I had not really ever thought about. He wouldn't do that. Would he? I was hoping he never read the messages. But honestly. Who doesn't check their voice-mail messages for two months? The not wanting to talk to us theory was a lot more logical than the one I kept telling myself in my head.
"I
don't like to think like that," I completely dismissed the idea.
If I doubted Seth would ever come back, I wanted to think he didn't
know how much he hurt everyone. Every single person we knew had been
hurt by Seth, for some reason. Alex, his supposed girlfriend, who
used to visit every so often in the beginning, hoping he was finally
home. They needed to 'talk.' Marissa, who felt horrible and
completely sorry for some reason. She never told me why. Lindsay, my
sister, called him a liar on multiple occasions. I didn't quite fully
understand that, neither did anyone else, Lindsay never said anything
about it.
I had recruited everyone to try to get Seth back, for a
while, I really thought he would come back, and be his old self. But
by now, he was grown up, he had to be. If he was alone in Sydney
trying to survive.
I
decided to leave Summer alone with Ryan, and I headed out to the
hall. I looked for Sandy, finding him quickly enough, talking to a
doctor. That couldn't be good. It was never good when you talked to a
doctor. Sometimes it was, but mostly it was bad.
"What was
that?" I asked my husband when he finished his conversation with
the doctor. Everything with my dad and Renee Wheeler and Lindsay had
just about ripped us apart, but when Seth left, we stayed together.
Strange actually, because that day we had been talking about getting
a divorce.
"Well, I was just asking the doctor if he any more
information on how long Ryan would be like he is," Sandy
answered. He kept asking the doctor, but it never changed. He just
did it to avoid Ryan's room. I didn't really understand why he didn't
want to go in.
"And?" I amused him, already knowing the
answer. Granted, I was quite sick of watching Ryan lie there,
comatose. But I knew it would take a while for him to recover. He had
taken a hard blow to the head. I wanted him to come out soon,
otherwise, I'd lose it. He had been in that damn coma for too long.
"Could be a few days, or a few years. It all depends," For some reason, I really had expected for the answer to change. It didn't. It wasn't right or fair for Ryan to be in a coma. He didn't deserve it. No one deserved to be hurt that badly. Physically, or emotionally. "You okay?" Sandy sensed my worry. Damn. He always did. I couldn't hide it.
"I'm fine," I tried to lie to him. Maybe he'll believe me this time.
"Come on. What's bothering you?" Oh well. I tried.
"Everything," I had to sit down. I knew Sandy would want more details. And I also knew I would spill everything. Every feeling I had until I had nothing to do but cry when Sandy would hold me and try to make it better when it couldn't.
"What do you mean, 'everything'?" Sandy wanted information. He knew what I meant. He just wanted to hear it from me. It was that attorney thing. Always have the person speak for themselves. What if they don't want to? I gave in and told him.
"Everything! My dad! Ryan! Seth! Everything is so messed up, and I can't stand it!" I broke into tears. I knew I would do that, but I didn't hold them back. I never held them back. I just turned into the sobbing mess. I always did.
"Calm down. It'll be okay. Ssshhh. Calm down. How about we go home? You can relax, and watch a movie? Over The Top? I'm always in the mood for that one. And you can be worry-free. If anything happens with Ryan, Summer will call," Sandy suggested. That did sound good. I did need to relax.
"Okay," I nodded in agreement. I got up, and headed back into Ryan's room. Summer was now standing at the window, staring out of it. Ryan hadn't changed unfortunately. "Um, Summer?"
Summer turned around to look at me, startled.
"Listen, I'm gonna go. Um, if anything happens with Ryan, just call. You have my number," I didn't think I could leave. I wanted to be with Ryan. It was hard leaving. I took a deep breath and hugged Ryan, he didn't hug back. Go figure. Then I hugged Summer, she had almost become a daughter to me. Sandy stood in the doorway, still not going into the room. I left Ryan with Summer and walked out of the room. I held onto Sandy as close as I could as we walked out of the hospital and to the car.
Sandy drove, I still had tears blurring my eyes. I didn't say a word as Sandy put on his favorite radio station, that played show tunes. Not all the time, but enough to get annoyed of Sandy belting them out. Now, he did it either to just annoy me or to cheer me up. Both usually worked, because I would be pissed at him as he sang, but once I looked at him, I couldn't help but crack up. Today, a smile didn't form on my face.
He noticed that I was sad, and he stopped singing. Something he rarely does. He payed attention to the road, as I stared out the side window. It was taking forever to get home. I was going insane. I just wanted to relax and sink into the couch, and watch Over The Top.
Sandy unlocked the house door once we got home, and we were greeted by a rush of emptiness. The house was dark, relatively cold, and empty. Now it was only me and him. With Seth and Ryan, I never noticed how big this house was. But it was really big. Without them or Seth's big mouth, we just had a gargantuan of a house all to ourselves.
There was no comic relief anymore, nor brooding. Well, Sandy and I occasionally brood, but not like Ryan did. I made myself laugh a little. On the inside. I don't remember the last time I laughed.
"I'll check the messages," Sandy told me as I headed into the kitchen to pour myself a drink. I had taken one sip, when I heard Sandy scream. "Hey, CayCay called! You gotta hear this message!" I took my drink and went out into the family room to see Sandy pressing the back button on the machine. He put the volume up to the top, so I could hear perfectly.
"Kiki, we need to talk. I was thinking that we could have a dinner. One with all my girls. Julie had Marissa and Kaitlin oblige, so I just need you, and Hailey. Where is Hailey anyways? Well, get her here, okay? Oh, and the last one...." I heard my father command me.
"Lindsay, Cal. The last one is Lindsay. Honestly, you can't even remember all of your daughters' names! I'm amazed you remembered my name!" Julie complained from in the background. Okay, that put a tiny smile on my face.
"Yes, Lindsay. So, tell me what you think of that and call me back. Bye, Kiki." Caleb hung up. I didn't much care what he wanted. I hadn't talked to my father in a while. Ever since Chrismukkah, I hadn't talked to him a lot. I avoided him at all costs.
"That's pretty bad, don't you think? Not even remembering your kids' names. But I can see the problem he has with remembering it. I mean, he only kept her a secret for sixteen years." Sandy joked. I didn't say anything and let him ramble. I knew if I said a word, we would get in a fight, and I didn't want that. I wanted to relax. "Hey, can you pour me a drink?" Sandy asked me with puppy dog eyes. I rolled mine and went back into the kitchen to pour him a drink.
I
grabbed a wine glass and took the liquor in my other hand. I began to
pour him a drink.
"Mom.......Dad......its Seth....." The
words echoed through the house. I gasped a little bit, and the wine
glass fell from my hands. "What the hell is going on? What
happened to Ryan?" I set the liquor on the table, and walked out
to the family room again. Sandy just looked at me, stunned. "I'm
sorry that I left, but Ryan is just Ryan......I don't know what I'll
do if he died," Tears poured from my eyes. It was my baby. He
had actually called. "Uh, call me back, correction, I'll call
you back." I went to Sandy who held me close as I took it in.
"I'm getting a plane home....." Those were the words I had
waited two months for. He was coming home. Really coming home.
"And....and… there is someone else coming too…" I
didn't care. My mind was spinning. "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…" The message
ended.
"Sandy....."
I whispered, I couldn't believe what was happening. Seth was coming
home. Really coming home. That had to have been the single greatest
moment in my life.
"I know. He's coming home. Really coming
home," Two months we had waited to hear from Seth, and we missed
it. But that didn't matter. He called. He was coming home. With
someone else, but none the less, it didn't matter. My son was really
coming home. We had waited so long, and finally, our wish was coming
true.
"I can't believe it," I was in total shock. I was going to see my son again. We would hug, and we'd tell him Ryan wasn't dead, and then Ryan would wake up. We would be a happy family again. These two months could disappear.
"Mom… dad… I'm coming home." Seth's voice filled the house again, and I felt myself crying harder. This was it. He was actually coming back to Newport. "I'm on Oceanic Flight 815…" A flight I'd never forget. Those numbers would be burned in my head, the flight that would bring my son home. "I'll be home by… well I'm not very good with time zones, but I'll be home soon," I still couldn't believe it. I mean, this was something I dreamed about. "Please forgive me…" More tears ran down my face as I heard him hang up. I did forgive him. How could I not? He was my son, the person me and Sandy had raised. I'd love him no matter what. And he was coming home.
"Sandy, he's really coming home. I can't believe this!" My mind was barely wrapping around what was happening. Seth was coming home. Seth was coming home.
"I know. And by the time he recorded this, he might be waiting at the airport now." Sandy pointed out. Holy crap. I didn't think it would happen this soon. I just got used to the idea.
"Let's go," I told my husband. He agreed and we ran to the car, heading out. I was in shock, pure amazement that this was actually happening. I mean, we had waited two months to hear from Seth. And he was finally coming back. I couldn't say it more. I mean, we almost lost Ryan, and I would die if I lost a son.
Sandy pulled out of the driveway and that was when I realized Seth never said the airport he would be at. Oh crap, that isn't good. We had no clue.
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"Sandy, where are we going?" I asked him. What if we went to the wrong airport? How could he get in touch with us. He had called off some strange cell number. Sure, he could call us,, and that would be great, but what if he forgot our cell numbers? No, he wouldn't forget them. He remembered our home number. That was enough proof.
"LAX," Sandy simply answered as he turned onto the highway. I couldn't get him sometimes. He would just guess and see what happened.
"How do you know he'll be at LAX?" I wanted to know. I wanted to know how my husband magically knew what airport Seth was at.
"Well, I'm pretty sure Oceanic Flights is at LAX, and not anywhere else near here," Sandy replied as he passed a very, very slow person on the road. Why was it that when you had to get somewhere, that everyone else just decides to go ten fucking miles per hour?
"Oh," I said a little bit stupidly. How did Sandy know these things? I couldn't understand that. He just knew useless information that would one day come in immediate handy.
Sandy began to turn off the highway on the exit for LAX. We were getting so close. I would see my son again. The person I never thought I'd see again. He had left so suddenly, not caring who he hurt, and never talked to us again. But he came back for Ryan.
Then I began to think. The only reason Seth was coming home to see if Ryan was okay. He didn't want to leave, he felt it was his responsibility. No, I couldn't think that. He truly wanted to see everyone, because he apologized. Why would someone apologize for something they weren't sorry for?
I could see LAX in the distance. We were so fucking close. My head was going a mile a minute. Sandy didn't say a word. I looked over to him. He held no emotion on his face, shouldn't he be ecstatic? I sure as hell was.
"How about I wait for him while you park the car and then I call you when they're coming out?" Sandy had parked in front of LAX. My son wasn't far away. I thought this day would never come. But it had.
"All right," Sandy answered and gave me a kiss before I got out. Clutching my purse, I ran as fast as I could into LAX as Sandy went to find a parking spot. People were everywhere. Where was that damn flight thingy? You know the thing that tells you where the flights are at? Where the damn hell.... Oh, there it was.
I rushed to it. Reading every single flight, I found Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney soon. There was another flight from Sydney, but from a different airline. That was only two hours behind Seth's flight. I checked the gate number and ran. I sped past everyone who again, decided to go as slow as they possibly could.
After going the wrong way, damn directions, I found the gate. A ton of people were waiting already. They were landing in, about twenty minutes. In twenty minutes, I would see Seth. Finally. Twenty minutes was a fucking second compared to two months.
Twenty minutes had passed. Where was he? Could there have been turbulence, or they had to touch done on something? The workers here began to freak me out. They were running around frantically, and I did not like it. I was getting worried. Why weren't they here yet?
Another twenty minutes. I was growing sick. Why wouldn't the workers tell us something? By now, I was sitting down and getting tired. I wouldn't take this anymore. I wanted to see my son, god dammit.
An hour. What the hell? Where the hell were they? It had been an hour and forty minutes. I really felt sick to my stomach.
I decided to call Sandy about fifty minutes ago. We were both sitting on the chairs, staring at the entrance/exit door, hoping to see Seth. He wasn't there. Damn it.
Another twenty minutes. No one had left. Of course they wouldn't, they were waiting for family members. Sandy had left to go to the bathroom. Leaving me all alone… to grow sick. I hated this.
"Attention people who are waiting for Flight 815: The plane seems to have lost some of their directions because of the weather. Please stay here for an attendant will escort you to our offices and we will notify you of what is occurring," An airline worker said over the loudspeaker. That wasn't right. What the hell? I couldn't take this. Oh dear God, what was wrong? They sugar-coated that. I know sugar-coating. I worked with my father enough. I got up and began to pace.
"Excuse me," someone from behind me tapped my shoulder and I jumped. She jumped back, and I turned to look at her. "Sorry." Her accent was clear. She had blond hair, with clear blue eyes.
"Oh no, it's fine," I told the girl. She seemed about nineteen in age, a little bet older than Seth. "Do you need help with something?" I asked her. What did she need from me?
"Actually, yes," Oh, so she did need something from me. Couldn't it wait? I was waiting for Seth. She wouldn't know him. She was probably one of my dad's clients or something. "By any chance, do you happen to know Seth Cohen?" I stared at the girl. She knew Seth. How? She couldn't be from Newport, I knew all of Seth's friends from Newport.
"Yes, I'm his mother. Why? Do you know him?" Stupid question. Of course she knew him. Otherwise, how would she know his name?
"Yes. I'm his girlfriend, Aerin," That had not been expected. Seth, with a girlfriend? Didn't he like obsess over them for an allotted amount of time, then date them? Maybe he had.
"No offense, but how can I trust you?" You can meet a lot of strange people at LAX. I mean, for all I know she could be some stalker trying to kill my whole family.
Aerin went into her bag and pulled out a cell phone. She began to play with it, what a perfect time to do that, and then finally handed the phone to me.
There was Seth, with Aerin. The picture brought tears to my eyes. I began to flip through all her pictures. Seth was in everyone one of them, and I saw that the two were smiling and laughing. The photos made me want Seth more.
"Well, I guess I can trust you. How has he been?" I wanted to know how Seth had held up during these two months, while his family went insane.
"He's been great. Until he heard your messages. He was really upset. How's Ryan?" I didn't think Aerin would actually ask how Ryan was. I mean, I expected her to go and date him or something. That's what Seth's girlfriends did. I think.
"He's........not dead," I didn't know how exactly to answer. I was talking to some stranger, and yet, she wasn't a huge stranger to Seth.
"That's good. Um, I should go. Do you know a good motel near here?" Aerin asked me, and then I felt bad. Seth's flight was hopefully delayed, and she was all alone in some weird country.
"You can come with me. There's my husband right now," I noticed Sandy walking up to us and he gave me a perplexed look, and I mouthed, 'Seth's girlfriend,' and he understood. Aerin opened her mouth to protest, but I stopped her. "It's fine. But Aerin, I actually have a small question."
"Yes?" She still felt strange around me, I could tell.
"Well, if you're dating Seth, then why weren't you on the same plane?" That idea had been bugging game. I needed to know an answer.
"There was one ticket left on his flight. So I told him to go," All three of us stood in silence for a moment, when an airport worker came up.
"Excuse me. Do you happen to know anyone on Flight 815?" The kid asked us.
"Yes....." I answered warily, feeling uneasy.
"Come with me," Sandy and I followed, and then Aerin after I urged her to come. We were led into an office, where I man sat looking through papers. He noticed us, and motioned for us to sit down, and he stopped looking through his papers.
"Now, Mr. and Mrs........" He began, but he didn't know our name.
"Cohen," Sandy answered and the man once again started to look through papers. I wondered why this was happening, why we had to talk to this man.
"Yes. Parents of Seth Cohen?" he asked and both Sandy and I nodded in unison. "Well, I need to inform you all of something.....Not too long ago, about an hour, we lost transmission with the plane…"
What the hell did that mean? Were they in some storm? "This sometimes can happen, and we get transmission back with them eventually, but we didn't…" Still not getting this. What was this all adding up to?
"And then we lost the plane on our radar. We've searched all the skies, contacted anyone we could, but no one can find the plane," That didn't sound good. Where the hell was the plane and where was Seth? "We believe...." He started and I took a deep breath.
"We believe that the plane mad crashed."
No. No. No. This couldn't be happening. No. Where was Seth? No. This isn't actually happening. The world had spun upside down and we had fallen into some fake world.
Tears fell from my eyes, they were no longer tears of joy. I was lost, as was my son, and this was a world I never thought to be in. Both sons in a crash, plane and car. Life was supposed to be coming up, not crashing down. Great choice of words there.
"I'm sorry," The man looked away from us, meaning we should leave. My legs didn't work and Sandy helped me up. I fell into him for support, for I know longer could hold my own weight. It had become too heavy. Aerin never moved.
"Aerin. Come on. You should come home with us," I barely whispered to her. She was also crying, but hers were silent, unlike mine.
Seth
was gone. They couldn't find the plane. He was gone. I'd never see
him again.
Oceanic Flight 815. A flight I'd never forget. I would
remember it forever, for that was the plane that took my son away.
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A/n: cheers for Ali that was good. Haha. As you can tell, it is mainly Kim rambling on in these, and you probably don't read these anyways. Haha. If you do… and you do review… type the word… uh… goat in the review. Haha!! Thanks to the reviewers from the last chapter:
alexis – I know!!
LostAngel2 – Haha! This is a co-op fic between me and my bestest friend… I have another Lost fic too… but I am almost done with it and kinda killed Charlie…
paige fan - shrugs Newport is Ali… I have no idea what she has planned.
GOAT!!
