My take on series three. What if Trey had died? Marissa disappears, leaving those behind to deal with the aftermath. Ryan/Marissa, Seth/Summer, Sandy/Kirsten
After The Storm
Chapter One
It was a moment in her life that she would never forget. Like the first time she got drunk or tried a cigarette, her first kiss, her first love. This would be the first time that she'd killed someone.
She sat against the wall, staring at Trey's still body lying on the floor, not able to think or feel anything. Everything was frozen, even her heart. She was aware of Seth and Summer, standing a few feet away in shocked silence, aware of Ryan, sitting up slowly from being knocked over in the fight, aware of Ryan leaning over to see what had happened to his brother. She was aware of the gun lying a few feet from her. Aware of the tears running down her face.
When her eyes met Ryan's, she knew that nothing would ever be the same. Trey may have hurt her, Ryan may have come here tonight to defend her, to teach Trey a lesson, but she knew none of them had expected it to end this way. She had changed everything.
"Marissa?" Summer whispered, looking down at her best friend in concern. "What's going on?"
"I…I'm…" she couldn't seem to get the words out.
"His dead," said Ryan, his voice cold and void of emotion.
"I didn't mean this to happen," she finally got out. She tried to stand up, to walk over to Ryan, but she couldn't. The room seemed to be spinning and every time she looked at Trey she felt sick. She was going into shock, she knew that. But she had to explain…
"Everything happened so fast, I just wanted it to stop! Please, Ryan, will you look at me? Please…I'm sorry!" She shouted the last words out then, the words I'm sorry echoing around them.
Ryan looked away from her, back to his brother, laying a hand on his brother's arm, tears filling his own eyes.
"Wait, what are you saying?" asked Seth. "Are you saying…you did this? Marissa!"
Marissa couldn't look at them.
Seth took out his cell phone and began to dial a number, which abruptly bought her back to reality. She stood up suddenly and grabbed the phone away from him. "What the hell are you doing?" she asked, her voice slightly hysterical by this time.
"I'm calling dad," he answered her, trying to sound calm.
"His right we need help coop," Summer said quietly.
"Right, of course, the minute something goes wrong you run to daddy," she snapped, not caring how she sounded anymore. "You realise what will happen if you call your dad Seth? He is a lawyer. There'll be a murder investigation. What will happen to me? To all of us?"
"She's right Seth. They'll interrogate us for ever and evaluate everything. They'll ask us questions we can't answer. Who knows what they'll come up with?" Ryan still wasn't talking or looking at her. "They might even think she wanted revenge, because Trey…Because he hurt her."
"Is that what you think?" Marissa whispered, horrified.
"No," Ryan answered her finally. "But I have to think of all possibilities now don't I? It could happen that way."
" But that's …I…no. That's not me Ryan and you know it. I'm not a murderer!"
There was a silence. "I know," he told her.
"So what are we supposed to do now?" asked Seth. "Are we really going to do this? Are we going to cover up a murder? Lie to everyone?"
Ryan still hadn't moved away from Trey. "It's what we're good at remember?" he said wearily.
Summer moved closer to Seth who wrapped his arm around her shoulder.
Marissa stared at them without knowing it and realised that she couldn't do this. She couldn't sit around at school, trying to pretend to be happy and normal, while Trey lay buried somewhere. She couldn't cope with watching her friends suffer, watching Ryan try to deal with his grief but not being able to talk to anyone…
"No," she said finally. "It's fine. Tell whoever you want. Tell them whatever you want. I can't bring you all down with me in this…maybe once I would have, but that's not who I am anymore. I'm so sorry for everything…" she told Ryan once more. "But I have to leave. Sort things out. I swear I didn't mean it. I didn't."
With those final words, she ran for the door, moving faster then anyone could have guessed. Ryan had barely managed to run outside, before he caught sight of her car speeding off into the night….
TBC