1Sorry this took forever, my life has been hectic. Please read, I didn't mean to take so long, but school is coming up, and I've had to do like everything...enjoy!
It was raining hard when he arrived at her house. Summer watched the rain fall from next to her bed. She didn't leave her room a whole lot now, she still had a half week until she could start a new medication.
She was having practically an episode a day, and it was getting annoying. It had been this bad for years.
Summer heard the door ring, but she didn't even make an effort to answer it. The step-monster would, so no harm done.
"Hi. Can I help you?" Emilia opened the door, half sedated from the Klonopin.
"Is Summer here?" Ryan had only been at the Roberts' residence once, and now, both times he had to deal with the step-monster.
"She's upstairs, who are you?" Emilia thought she knew Ryan, but she didn't think so.
"I'm Ryan. Um, is it okay if I go see Summer?" Ryan felt uncomfortable around Emilia.
"Sure. Last door up the stairs," Emilia retreated to the kitchen as Ryan stepped up the large staircase. He had been there once, but it felt strange.
Summer was sitting on the floor dismally. Leaving on the night stand, she knew the floor was the only place a tiny bit safe.
Ryan approached her door and sighed before knocking.
"Go away," Summer croaked. "I'm busy."
"Summer?" Ryan started, taking Summer off guard. She pulled herself up, and went to the door. She only opened it a tiny bit at first to see if it was Ryan. Then she opened it fully.
"What are you doing here?" Summer asked, mad that she forgot to remind Emilia about no visitors.
"I came by to see if you were okay," Ryan was amazed how in such a short time Summer had changed so much.
"I'm fine. Why wouldn't I be?" Summer was worried Ryan knew.
"Well, you've been ignoring everyone's calls for five days," Ryan commented, keeping his cool. He didn't want anyone to know he was over here.
"I'm fine," Summer repeated.
"What happened to your..." Ryan started, and Summer put a hand to her face. Her lip was cut, and her whole side of her face was black and blue.
"Nothing," Summer replied quickly and looked up at Ryan. His face was stern, unyielding.
"I'm not leaving until you tell me what's really going on," Ryan didn't want to push Summer, but he was concerned about her.
"I guess you should come in," Summer finally gave in and allowed Ryan to enter her room. She closed the door slowly, as Ryan looked around.
Nothing had really changed since the other time he was in Summer's room. Summer knew now she would have to tell him.
"Ryan...I have epilepsy."
Ryan stared at Summer as she looked to everything else in the room. It explained a lot.
"You can't tell anyone," she said as she took a glance up at him, automatically shy. She was afraid of what he thought.
"I wouldn't," he understood. "But is it okay if I ask you how long you've had it?"
"Yeah, it's okay to ask," she stifled a laugh. "I've had it since I was about five. I can't remember a time when I didn't have it."
"Oh," he tried not to sound awkward, but he didn't really know what to say.
"You know, it's actually really nice to finally tell someone. No one knows, except you and my family," Summer felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She had finally told someone, and they hadn't acted nearly the way she thought they would.
"You never even told Marissa?" Ryan was shocked and flattered.
"No. It luckily never came up. And now, I can't see ever telling her, because she'd use it against me. Same with Seth," Summer answered.
"Yeah, I can see that," Ryan agreed.
"It's like, now with it back, it seems like no one knows me anymore. I don't even know myself," Summer for once, felt all right telling someone what she was going through.
"And you're afraid that if you try to explain it to someone, they still won't understand?" Ryan added and Summer turned to look at him.
"Exactly."
She hadn't realized she had begun pacing, but as soon as she noticed, she stopped. Ryan just stood there and watched her.
"I just wish it would go away," Summer sat back down next to her bed. "I mean, my life was finally going okay, and it had to come back and ruin it."
Ryan knew he didn't need to add anything, he just let Summer talk.
"I mean, when I was a little girl, I used to be afraid to go out and play because I might get a seizure. When other kids would get just milk and cookies, I would get milk, cookies, and three different medications," Summer told Ryan.
There were so many things about the epilepsy that had scarred Summer.
"When I first got diagnosed with it, I still had a month left in kindergarten. I had to wear a helmet for that last month. I'm amazed no one remembers, I certainly do," Summer felt so free saying all these things.
"I've had to deal with it for so long," she continued, "and it still won't let up. I thought I was rid of it, but nope. It came back. I just wish it would stop ruining my life. I mean, it's already tried to kill me more than once."
"You know, oddly enough," Ryan walked over, and eased himself next to Summer, "This reminds me of my brother."
"How so?" Summer looked over.
"Well, he always found a way to ruin my life. And then he finally left. He was there, but he wasn't hurting me. But he came back, and tried to kill me," Ryan answered.
"Hmm, they are similar," Summer commented.
"Yeah. When I was younger, if my brother screwed up, he would purposely find something worse to blame on me so I would be the one who'd get hit," Ryan couldn't explain it, but for once, he was opening up. And it was nice.
"Wow. You know, do you ever like, miss Trey?" Summer asked. Over the first week after Trey died, she and Seth were in charge of watching Ryan and making sure he didn't lose it. He never did.
"All the time. As much of a horrible brother Trey was, he was still my brother. If he wasn't around, I wouldn't be here. I'd be with my mom," Ryan commented.
"What, on the Bender Tour of America?" Summer joked.
"Yeah. I suppose I can thank Trey," Ryan added.
"Yep, I guess you can. You know, I can kinda relate," Summer didn't look over. She hadn't thought about this in so long.
"Really? How so?" Ryan wondered.
"I mean, it's only a little, but you know. When I was six, I had a little brother. He was only a year old, so I never really got to know him, but all I remember is walking into his room, and he was dead," Summer had never told anyone that.
"What happened?" Ryan felt bad.
"Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. He just stopped breathing. That was partly the reason my parent divorced. The epilepsy was also a big thing. Plus, my parents hated each other," Summer explained.
"Same with mine. They were always at each other's throat," Ryan didn't know why he was opening up, but he supposed it was because someone was actually listening.
"Are your parents divorced?" Summer knew very little about Ryan and his past.
"Yeah," Ryan rarely talked about his parents. It stirred up too many painful memories.
"Where's your dad? Did he like abandon you guys?" Summer understood that Ryan wasn't much of a talker, but it was nice to hear his voice.
"No. Well, I guess he did. He went to jail when I was nine. Armed robbery. Fifteen years. My mom divorced him a few days into his sentence," Ryan had never told anyone in Newport about his dad. The Cohens knew, just because Sandy told them.
"Wow. That's so sad. I mean, you never really had a dad," Summer only really had a dad. Her mom never came around.
"Sort of. I had tons of father figures, but the only things they were good at were drinking and hitting," Ryan was taking a deep trip down Memory Lane.
"Were you hit a lot?" Summer knew Ryan wouldn't voluntarily say anything. He had to be provoked.
"What's 'a lot'?" Ryan asked.
"I guess, almost every day," Summer looked over at Ryan's stern face.
"Then yeah, a lot," Ryan thought back to all the times he fought with Dawn's boyfriends. Trey was never there to help him.
"What about your mom? Didn't she ever try to stop them?" Summer and Ryan had never really had a conversation. If they did, it was about Marissa or Seth.
"She was too drunk to do anything," Ryan, now looking back on his life, realized that it was actually worse then he had thought. Usually it was the opposite.
"Is that why you don't visit Kirsten?" Summer thought back to the day in the pool house.
"Yeah. When I see her, I think of my mom passed out on the couch with an empty bottle of vodka on the floor," Ryan answered.'
"Wow. I mean, I feel so bad," Summer rested her head on Ryan's shoulder. "Here I am, complaining about epilepsy and my childhood, and all the while, you were getting hit and everything," Summer felt so horrible. She couldn't even fathom how Ryan made it through his childhood.
"Everyone has a different childhood. You can't compare them. The all kind of suck somehow," Ryan replied.
They sat there in silence, reflecting on all the things they said and heard. No one else knew them.
"You know, Ryan, I was wondering," Summer said after about five minutes.
"What?" Ryan answered.
"In your screen name, what does the 706 stand for?" Summer asked.
"That's my birthday. July 6th," Ryan replied.
"That's in like a week," Summer pointed out.
"Yeah, it is," Ryan remembered the day Marissa made that name.
"Happy early Birthday, Ryan."
I hope you liked this update, please review, I absolutely love reading them...lol.