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… Yellowcard owns the lyrics to "View From Heaven." Damn, what do I own?
Summary: Little things can push people over the edge. That very thing happens to Seth Cohen. When something happens to him that sends him into a crashing situation, who knows how he will survive. Seth-centric. Lost/OC Crossover.
A/n: Kim dedicates this chapter to the memory of Scott and Ethan, and "I'm sorry I kept calling you Steve…" and… at least it wasn't Steve. xD.
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"Goodbye"
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Summer parked the car in front of LAX. She hadn't said a word to me since she picked me up. Being in a car with her was a little weird. We both almost died the last time we were in a car together.
"Okay. So what the hell are we doing in here?" Summer didn't get it.
"We're saying goodbye," I had this planned for four days.
"Ryan..." Summer started, but I got out of the car. LAX, of course, was still open, but there weren't many people there. I walked around aimlessly, until I saw a worker.
"Where's the plane memorial?" I asked her and she directed me to it. I could hear Summer trying to keep up with me. Even though my legs were weak, I still got there fast.
And then I saw it. 175 faces stared back at me from a wall. I slowed down and walked over to it.
Before, I kept telling myself Seth wasn't coming back, and I didn't believe it. Reading it in the newspaper hadn't made it real wither. But seeing this, the magnitude of it, made it real. I just stared up at it, seeing all the happy faces. No one would ever see them again.
I saw Seth, next to the two guys I saw in the newspaper. Taos people had relatives on board. Seth had no one. He had someone, but he died alone.
Aerin was nice, I didn't really ever talk to her. I just saw her floating around every so often. She lost her boyfriend and was all alone. I didn't want to pity her, because I didn't pity a lot, but I did feel bad for her.
"Ryan," I heard Summer behind me. I looked back, and saw my girlfriend, the person who knew me best. I didn't even know myself anymore. "Is this what you wanted to see?"
"Yeah. I have to say goodbye," Seth was gone, I had to get used to it.
"There might be a chance he's still alive. You don't have to say goodbye," Summer tried to make me feel better. It wasn't working very well.
"Yes I do. Everyone else did. Seth is gone. And I gotta tell him," I told her. It probably would've been easier to say goodbye to a gravestone than a picture. It would be weird.
"No, you don't Ryan, he might not be gone. He could still be alive," Summer argued with me. No, I had to say goodbye.
"Summer, all of these people are gone. Every one of them," I yelled, looking back at the photos.
"Don't do this. You're freaking me out," Summer stared at me.
"How have I been freaking you out? I've done nothing. I just woke up from an accident that occurred more than a month ago, and I'm freaking you out. My brother is dead, the brother who I actually liked. You know, I would've been fine knowing Trey was dead, or even my mom, because they're not my family. The people I most care about are the Cohens and you. And now, Seth's gone, and I don't want to say goodbye, but he's gone and I have to," I explained.
"Don't say goodbye. I regretted doing it, because he is gone. Just don't lose hope, please?" Summer was really trying to stop me from doing this. I could feel myself slowly but surely breaking.
"There's not a lot of hope here anymore. Why shouldn't I give up?" I hated how Summer had that way with me. She was the only one who could just get to me with a look.
"Because, I don't know, I just feel like Seth is alive," Summer stared at me, and I did see a glint of hope in her eyes. The only other person I saw that in was Kirsten. Everyone had given up. Why couldn't I? I didn't want to torment myself thinking Seth could be alive. Five weeks, you couldn't survive alone for five weeks. Well, you could, but with nothing at all? Yeah, right.
"He isn't," I told her matter-of-factly. I wanted to let go, why wouldn't she let me do this?
"Fine Ryan, let go. I mean I did, but now, I don't think he is. He's out there somewhere," Summer, the optimistic. How had she changed me completely around? I came here to say goodbye, and now, I didn't want to. Damn her.
"I miss him," I gave in and Summer walked over closer.
"Everyone does. He has no clue how much he fucked us up. I mean, everyone is getting screwed up. But, you're back, and hey, that's good," Summer rested her head on my shoulder. Sometimes she bothered me. How could she change my whole attitude?
"Life's really sucking right now," I commented. We looked at the giant wall of photos.
"Not that bad. I mean, you're gonna be an uncle soon," Summer said to me. Wait, what? I looked over at her and saw she was hiding something. Uncle? Huh?
"What did you say?" I backed away and stared.
"Right, no one told you. Aerin's pregnant," Summer told me.
"Oh god," I said and walked over closer to the wall. Seth looked back at me, and wow, I wished I could say goodbye to him. Why did Summer have to pull the optimism on me?
"Yeah, I know. I found out at the memorial service after-thingy. I started talking to her about how she was gaining weight, and she told me..." Summer told me.
"Oh," I began to walk back to the wall far away from the memorial.
"Yeah," Summer followed.
I sat down and Summer sat down next to me. We looked at the wall.
We sat there for a bit, on the opposite wall, taking in all the pictures. We took in all their faces, wondering why they were on that plane. Every one of them probably had some amazing story, and now, they were just memories.
"Aerin wasn't on that plane," Summer commented and got up out of the blue. I got up and followed her.
We stared up at a picture of Aerin, but it wasn't Aerin. This person was different.
"Claire Littleton," I read off the tiny bio under the picture.
"They've got to be related. That's too uncanny. But now, I kinda feel worse for her. Someone she's related to and her boyfriend were both on that plane. And she's having Cohen's kid. Poor girl," Summer and me stared at Claire.
We began taking in every person on the plane more extensively. Some people's pictures were of the person looking unhappy, maybe they knew their future. I doubted it. But most of the pictures were of the victims in happier times.
I looked at Seth's photo. It wasn't that old, but I bet that he had changed. He had been gone for two months. He changed during that time he first ran away. I had too when I was in Chino. If only we could see him again.
I tried to remember the last message I left Seth. I couldn't. Why the hell couldn't I? I remembered everything else.
"Weird...someone has your first name for a last name," Summer was now looking at the lower part of the wall.
"Huh?" I wasn't paying attention.
"See, look: there was a girl named Kate Ryan. Wow, she's pretty," Summer pointed to the picture.
"Sure," I found her okay-looking, but it didn't matter. My head was too crammed with nothingness to think.
"There's a lot of pretty people here. How the hell did Cohen get on that plane?" Summer joked. I laughed slightly and looked over to her. She smiled at me, and I to her.
All of a sudden, Summer's cell phone went off. Mine was in the pool house. Summer went into her purse and pulled out her phone.
"It's your parents," She told me. I was confused. My parents? My dad was in jail, and Dawn was...somewhere.
Summer saw my look of confusion. "The Cohens," she corrected herself.
"Oh," I knew this wouldn't be good. Summer handed me the phone. The ring tone was getting annoying, so I stopped stalling and answered it.
"Hello?" I answered, waiting to be yelled at.
"Ryan?" Kirsten's frantic voice screamed at me.
"Yeah," I turned away from Summer.
"Thank God. We have been worried sick about you for over an hour," I felt bad hearing Kirsten. I shouldn't have just run. I mean, Seth did that and he never came back.
"Well, I'm okay," I assured her. I didn't want her to worry, I was fine.
"Where are you?" Kirsten hadn't calmed down yet.
"LAX?" I knew she wouldn't like that answer and walked a bit farther away from Summer.
"What are you doing at LAX?" Kirsten grew more worried, but quieter.
"I'm not running away," I told her almost immediately.
"Well then, what are you doing there?"
"Me and Summer are just hanging out," I looked back at Summer and found her staring at the wall again.
"Why at LAX?" Kirsten continued.
"Well, we came because I wanted to say goodbye, but I couldn't do it," I answered, feeling depressed already.
"Oh," Kirsten didn't say much after that.
"We'll be back soon," I informed her.
"Okay. Well, be safe. I love you," I didn't answer. What did she say? I was confused, but I said it anyways.
"Love you too," Wow, that sounded incredibly strange.
"Bye," Kirsten hung up. I closed the phone and went over to Summer.
"Here," I handed her the phone.
"Thanks. So, is she pissed at you?" She put the phone in her bag.
"Sort of. Not as much when I told her we were at LAX. She thought we were running away," I looked blankly at the photos.
"Well, it does sound a little familiar. Going got rough, missing person, no phone, and at LAX? Yeah, I thought she'd be freaked out a lot more than you say," Summer commented.
"Yeah," Again, we stood there just looking at the wall. There were so many people on it. 175 people were dead.
"So… do you wanna go?" Summer looked over at me.
"Let's just stay here a little bit more."
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After we left, we drove to Summer's and slept. It was ten when I woke up. Somehow, I was still incredibly tired after being in a coma for six weeks.
Summer was up and about, so I called Kirsten and Sandy to tell them I was fine. They were a little mad at first, but understood.
Once I did that, Summer and I went to eat. It was eleven when we walked into the Cohens'.
It at first was quiet, and then I heard talking going on upstairs. I looked over at Summer before going up the stairs.
Sandy was leaning on the wall near the end, and I headed over. A shiver went up my spine when I went past Seth's room.
"What's up?" I asked once we got to Sandy.
"Well, Aerin found out that her cousin was also on the plane so she's headed back to Sydney. But Kirsten doesn't want her to go," Sandy explained.
"I knew it," Summer commented behind us. I knew what she was talking about, but Sandy didn't.
"We saw the memorial," I answered Sandy's confused look. "Aerin's cousin's name is Claire."
"Oh," Sandy said and we grew quiet.
"How are you going to get there?" We could hear Kirsten say. All of us stayed silent so that we could hear.
"I guess I'll have to take a plane. But I have to go. My parents are really worried about me. I have to," Aerin argued.
"What about the baby?" I started to wonder how long it was since they learned about the child. I mean, you couldn't tell Aerin was pregnant.
"It's still safe to go. My cousin, on the other hand, was incredibly stupid," Aerin told Kirsten. What? Was Claire pregnant?
"Even knowing..." Kirsten stood. I understood why she was uncertain. It'll probably be a good ten years before I go on a plane again. I hate heights and crashing was now closer to home and more real than ever.
"It'll be hard, but I miss my family. I have to do this," Aerin was going to go.
Even though I didn't know Aerin very well, I still didn't want her to leave. She saw Seth last I suppose. She was having Seth's kid. That was huge. But she should be with her family.
"Fine. I'll leave you alone," Kirsten gave up and soon we heard the door knob turn and open. Kirsten came out and walked past us. Aerin didn't come out, and we went downstairs. Summer and I went into the living room and turned on the television. The PlayStation 2 had grown dust all over it. I don't think any of us played it since Seth first left.
Kirsten and Sandy were standing in the kitchen, discussing something.
"What should we have on it?" Sandy asked. I tried paying attention to the TV., but I was more interested in the conversation.
"Why are you so adamant about it?" Kristen argued. I must've missed something. I had already missed a lot, and now there was more?
"We should get one. For closure," Sandy told her. Yeah, I was really really confused now.
"Can't we hold off? He might still be out there," Now I sort of understood. They were talking about Seth. But what did Kirsten want to hold off getting?
"Do you think he's gonna come back?" Sandy asked. We were all giving up.
"Honestly, I do. Someday or another," I thought it was strange. The longer we knew Seth was gone, the more we had hope for him coming back. Shouldn't that be the other way around?
"He might, I know. But what if he doesn't?" What was going to happen next? Maybe we all could just calm down and relax. I know I wanted to do that. Couldn't Newport take a break from being super melodramatic? I was sick of it.
"What is he does? We can't give up," Kirsten kept going. What were they going to buy?
"So we're going to torture ourselves for the rest of our lives in hopes that Seth might be alive?" Sandy accused. Kirsten did say a word. I knew the conversation was over, and looked to the t.v.
It was an episode of the Valley. I could see it had been TiVo'd. I had been here in Newport for two years and had yet to learn how to TiVo a thing.
"So what's happening in this…" I started to ask.
"Ssshhh!" Summer hissed at me. Obviously she was deep in trance with the show. I couldn't tell what was happening. Some people were fighting, and one got hit, and I was so lost. How could anyone keep up with this?
Summer and I suppose Lindsay, since I had seen her earlier, had taped three episodes of the Valley. I was stuck watching it for three straight hours.
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A/n: Who doesn't love the Valley?
salvory - Thanks:D
alexis - I wanted there to be a connection there, because I'm a loser. xD
The Pirate Illusionist - xD. The OC is getting good. Real good.
sentinel - But that is what makes Lost so interesting because we know there is no way they should have survived, but they did. They even said so on the show, while I can't remember the whole line it was something like, "We shouldn't have survived that crash, and it was more than just luck…" It isn't just a normal plane crash. The island is seriously screwed up, and that was the story, more than just the plane crash.
paige fan - Haha. You're the only person who mentioned anything about Charlie. And as for the monster, I could tell you, bid I'd have to kill you… Hota ka, we don't know either!
