It had been three days since the death of Trey Atwood, and life around Newport Beach seemed to be getting back to normal. The reporters stopped coming to talk to the Coopers and Cohens. The apartment, which Trey had lived in no longer had police crawling over it. Things seemed to be returning to normal for everyone, except for the Coopers and Cohens. Their worlds had been turned upside down by the death of Trey.
Marissa would not talk to anyone anymore, except her father once in a while. There were no tears left to cry, so she laid on her bed with her purple Care Bear all day just thinking and dealing with the death of Trey, and her role in it silently. Sometimes, she would get up and walk to the window, and look outside. This brought her peace, for when she looked out of the window, and saw a beautiful, sunny day, she knew, on some level, that eventually, everything would be all right.
Jimmy and Julie worried about her constantly. Julie felt that she needed immediate psychiatric help in order to deal with what had happened, but Jimmy felt that if they did decide to send Marissa to a shrink that she would stop talking to them all together, and rebel. He felt that when Marissa was ready to talk about the ordeal, she would, and no one should force her to. He knew that Marissa was a resilient girl who could get past anything with a little help. She just needed to be guided in the right direction.
Meanwhile, at the Cohen house, things were very solemn. Seth was trying not to be his "normal self" during this time because he knew that Ryan could not deal with him. He knew how important Marissa was to Ryan, and on some level, how important his brother was, as well. Since Seth never had the chance to grow up with siblings, he was not sure he knew how to deal with a loss of a sibling. However, what he did know was how close he had become with Ryan, which made him empathetic to Ryan's situation. He knew that if Summer had killed Ryan, he would not know what to do. Nowadays, Seth would just play video games by himself in the family room, hoping that Ryan might walk by, so that he could offer some double player action.
Ryan had not been doing much since Marissa came over that night. He stayed in the pool house most of the time with the shades drawn, so the room would be dark. Ryan slept a lot these days, and when he was awake, he would lie on his bed thinking about his brother, and reliving the events that happened three nights ago. Naturally, this did not make things easier on him, but Ryan did not want to forget. Although he and Trey had their differences, he did not want to forget his brother, however grim their last moments together were.
Sandy never thought that he would have to be Marissa's lawyer. Especially for something of this magnitude. He always thought that even though she got into some minor trouble, sometimes, she was a good kid, but now... Sandy did not know that to think. He opened the paper to read it that night because he had not had a chance to that day, yet. The first page he turned in the "Local" section of the paper was the obituary page. There - he saw Trey's obituary.
"Trey Atwood, 21 from Chino, California was killed Thursday night in an apartment in Newport Beach, California. Trey was born on March 31, 1984 in Chino, California to Dawn and John Atwood. He attended Chino schools. He is succeeded by his younger brother, Ryan Atwood, 17, and both of his parents. The wake will be held at Jones, Rich, and Hutchins Funeral Home. Visiting hours between 4 -8 PM on Monday evening. The funeral services will be held on Tuesday at Brooklawn Cemetery in Chino, California," Sandy read to himself. Then he wondered how many others saw it as well.