Seth came out of the garage, dejected by his telephone conversation with Summer. "Can you believe it? She thought the reindeer were from Zach. ZACH? What would he know about symbolism? Now she's mad at me because Zach is mad at her. Ryan? Hey Ry?"

It was then that he saw Ryan lying face down on the ground, a slow growing pool of blood surrounding his head and the ladder lying on the ground next to him. Ryan wasn't moving. "Oh My God. Ryan? Oh God. Oh God. No. Please. No. I'm sorry. Please, Ryan."

Seth dropped down next to Ryan and shook his arm gently. "Ryan? Bro? Please tell me you're okay. Come on, wake up and tell me you're okay." But Ryan didn't move, didn't groan, didn't do anything. Seth finally realized he needed help and grabbed his cell phone. He tried to stay calm, until he heard the operator say, "9-1-1, what's your emergency?"

"Oh, God. My best… my brother… he fell off the ladder. He's not moving. He needs help. You need to come help him. I think he's… I think he's like dead. Please hurry."

"What's your location, sir?"

Seth looked around. "Location? We're in the front yard."

"No, sir. What is your address? I can't track you on a cell phone, I need to know where you are so I can send help."

"Oh." Seth quickly rattled off his home address and once again begged the operator to hurry. As he hung up, he realized he also needed to call his parents. Ryan lay still on the ground as the pool of blood around his head grew.

Seth had to choke back the tears when he heard his mother say, "Hello?"

"Mom? I, um. Oh, God. Mom."

Kirsten quickly began to panic at the tone of Seth's voice. "Seth?! What's wrong? What happened? What's the matter?"

Seth again chocked on his tears as he stuttered out, "Ryan. He fell. He's just lying here. He won't wake up. So much blood. Please Mom, help."

Kirsten was suddenly shouting into the phone. "Blood? What do you mean blood? Seth, please. Please tell me what happened."

"I don't… He was up on the ladder. It must have fallen. I think I killed him."

Seth couldn't contain his emotions any longer and began to cry until he heard Sandy's voice. "Seth. What exactly happened? Did you call 9-1-1?"

Seth took a deep breath and wiped the tears off his face. "Yeah. I can hear them. They're coming. Ryan fell. Off the ladder. Dad, he's not moving, and his head is bleeding really bad."

"Does he have a pulse? Seth, did you check for a pulse?"

Seth looked at Ryan again but couldn't bring himself to check. "No. Um, I don't want to move him. But the ambulance is here. They'll check, right? They'll let me know if he's dead, right?"

"Stay on the phone with me," Sandy said. "I want to know what's going on."

Seth stood up as the ambulance and a police car pulled into the driveway. The attendants quickly surrounded Ryan and began to take care of him. Seth took a step closer as he watched them apply a neck brace, start an IV, take vital signs. Seth figured Ryan couldn't be dead if they were doing all of that and finally got up the nerve to ask. "He's okay. Right? I mean, he's not dead, right?"

The one attendant ignored Seth as he spoke to the hospital, and the other attendant just pushed Seth gently to the side. "Kid, you need to step back. We need to take care of your friend here. Go with the officer and tell him what happened. Wait, what's your friend's name?"

"Ryan. His name is Ryan Atwood."

"Do you know if he has any allergies to medications?"

Seth shook his head, but then heard Sandy say, "Penicillin. Seth, tell them Ryan is allergic to penicillin."

Seth handed the phone over to the attendant. "Oh, here. My dad's on the phone. He can tell you what you need to know."

The attendant looked at Seth strangely. Your dad?"

"Yeah," Seth answered quietly. "Um, my dad is his too. He can help you."

Seth followed the police officer to his car and began to answer his questions, reliving what must have happened in his head over and over again. He kept looking over at the attendants as they quickly moved Ryan onto a stretcher and began to load him into the ambulance. He noticed that Ryan still didn't look like he was moving at all. But if they were hurrying to get him to the hospital, then he couldn't be dead, right?

"What… what's going on?" Seth asked the one attendant as the guy handed him back his phone. The attendant attempted to turn away without answering, but Seth grabbed his arm. "No. Seriously. Ryan's okay, right?"

" Look, kid… what's your name?"

"Seth."

"Look Seth, we need to get your brother to the hospital. Your parents said they'd meet you there." The attendant again attempted to turn and head for the ambulance, only to be stopped by Seth again.

"But that means he's going to be okay, right? He's not going to die, is he?"

The attendant sighed and looked at the ambulance before turning back to Seth. "Ryan's been pretty seriously injured. We really need to get him to the hospital. Now, you need to let go of my arm and let me do my job. The longer you keep me standing here, the longer it will take to get Ryan the help he needs."

Seth stood silent as he watched the attendant close the back of the ambulance and then climb into the driver's seat and drive away. Seth could see into the back of the ambulance as it pulled out of the driveway. He saw the other attendant bent over Ryan so he couldn't see Ryan's face. He continued to stand there, with a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach as if he just watched Ryan leave their house for the last time, and he never got the chance to say good bye. And it was all his fault.

The officer gently touched Seth on his shoulder. "Come on, Seth. I'll drive you over to the hospital."

Seth nodded silently as he climbed into the back of the police car. He remained quiet until he realized he couldn't see the ambulance any longer. "Hey, how come you don't have your lights and sirens on? Isn't this an emergency?"

"Sorry, pal. But this is not considered an emergency. I can transport you to the hospital, but not with lights and sirens. You have to be content on just getting a regular lift from a nice guy."

Seth could only sigh and look out the window as he offered up a silent prayer to both Jesus and Moses that Ryan would be okay. He really needed Ryan to be okay.

Seth jumped out of the car just as soon as the officer pulled into emergency and ran inside, running so fast that he all but slammed into the front desk. "Ryan Atwood?" he stammered to the startled receptionist.

"Excuse me? Ryan Atwood what?"

Seth took a deep breath, and clasped his hands together as he begged. "Please. The ambulance brought in my brother. His name is Ryan Atwood. I want to know if he's okay."

"Your name?"

"Seth. Seth Cohen. Is Ryan okay?"

The receptionist looked at Seth strangely. "Seth Cohen? And your brother's name is Ryan Atwood?"

Seth was trying not to get annoyed, but it was getting hard. This woman wasn't being much of a help wanting to play some kind of name game. "Long story. Please, is Ryan okay?"

"Are your parents here?"

"No. They're not. They're coming soon. Is Ryan okay?"

The receptionist nodded her head as picked up a clipboard of information, causing Seth's heart to skip a beat for a second. "Ryan's okay?"

"Oh, no. I'm sorry. I have no idea how he is. I was nodding that your parents are coming. Here, take these forms and begin to fill them out until your parents get here."

Seth bit his tongue and instead of telling the receptionist what he thought of her and her false hope that Ryan was okay, he asked. "Is there anyone who can tell me if Ryan is okay? I keep asking, and no one will tell me."

The receptionist smiled sweetly and pushed the clipboard a little closer to Seth. "Please begin the forms, and let me know when your parents get here."

Seth could only looked at the forms and then back at the receptionist before turning and sitting in one of the hard plastic chairs. Five minutes later, all he managed to fill out was Ryan's name before approaching the receptionist again. "Please. It's been like hours and no one has told me how Ryan is."

"Are your parents here?"

"No, but…"

"Well, please let me know when they get here." The receptionist again smiled sweetly before turning away from Seth.

Another five minutes passed as Seth stared down at those forms. He couldn't finish them, and he knew the receptionist knew that. What kid knows what kind of insurance coverage his parents have? Seth knew that it was just a stall tactic. They were stalling for time instead of just telling him Ryan was dead.

He slammed the pen down and was about to storm the front desk when he heard his mother's voice. "Seth? What's going on? Where's Ryan? Is he alright?"

"I don't know," Seth whined as Kirsten wrapped her arms around him. "No one will tell me anything. They just keeping asking for you guys and telling me to fill out these stupid forms."

Sandy looked at the forms in Seth's hands before silently turning and heading for the receptionist. Seth looked on as the receptionist left and a guy in a white coat quickly replaced her. He assumed it was the doctor as he watched Sandy and this guy talk quietly. Seth started to walk over to hear what they were saying, but Kristen stopped him. "Let your dad handle this."

The grim look on Sandy's face as he returned to his family told Seth that the news wasn't good. It was Kirsten who finally asked, "How's Ryan? What'd they say?"

Sandy sighed first. "They're taking Ryan up to surgery now. The tests show some internal bleeding, and his blood pressure is dangerously low. They need to operate to stop the bleeding."

Kirsten grabbed hold of Seth's hand and squeezed tightly. "Can we see him first?"

Sandy shook his head. "No. The doctor said they need to move pretty quickly, plus Ryan's not conscious. Some kind of head trauma and some other injuries. The doctor said to just finish filling out the forms for Ryan's chart and then someone will show us up to the surgical waiting room. It's going to be a few hours before they'll know any more."

"But he's not dead? I mean he's going to be okay, right?" At least Seth could hold onto the fact that Ryan wasn't dead. That meant he had to be okay.

"It's too early to tell, son. All we can do is wait." Sandy took the forms from Seth and sat down to fill them out. Kirsten sat down next to Sandy and laid her hand on his thigh. Seth waited for one of them to ask him what happened, but neither one of them did. They just quietly mumbled to each other the answers to the questions on the forms as if that was all that was important at that moment.