This is a missing scene from The Ties That Bind, the last episode in Season 1. I thought Sandy and Kirsten's reaction to Seth's disappearance was needed. Summer will also feature briefly too.
Sandy and Kirsten sat on Ryan's bed in the pool house, clinging to eachother for comfort. Sandy squeezed Kirsten lovingly and kissed the top of her head.
She wiped her swollen eyes and let out a gasp before cuddling closer to Sandy.
"I think one of us should go and check on Seth, he's been awfully quiet since he found out Ryan was going, and we both know that Seth being quiet isn't a good thing. He was so upset when Anna left, do you remember? He barely spoke or ate for days, so how much worse is it going to be with Ryan gone?" her husband declared, trailing off at the thought of his son lying in his room crying his eyes out and how he was going to help him.
"I'll go, honey, I get the feeling he doesn't want to talk and I can do that, I can just sit with him... I don't spend enough time with him anyway..." Kirsten stated, as she wiped away a fresh wave of tears that had come over her.
"OK, if you're sure, darling. Give me a shout if you need reinforcements, alright?" Sandy responded, helping his wife to his feet gently. They left for the house hand in hand and reluctantly pulled apart when they reached the foot of the stairs. Sandy settled himself in the lounge while Kirsten crept up the stairs.
She reached her son's door, knocked and waited for a reply. She waited for Seth's muffled "Come in", but none came. She knocked louder this time and said she was at the door, in case he had his I-pod turned up loud. Again, there was no response.
Her desire to comfort her little boy and her fear that something might be the matter overcame her sense of propriety and guilt at invading her son's personal space.
She pushed the door open and was surprised to find it Seth-less. She thought he might have headed off to Summer's. Of course, he was supposed to tell her or Sandy if he was heading out, but she decided she'd let the infraction slide this time, given the circumstances. She went to pat Captain Oats, who was placed on the desk.
"What would you say if you could talk, huh?" she mused, wondering what secrets Seth had told the plastic horse.
It was then that her eye fell on two envelopes, one addressed to her and Sandy and the other bearing Summer's name.
Her vision went blurry as she reached for the envelope for her and Sandy. She blinked away the tears and noticed there were some items missing: Seth's map to get to Tahiti, which normally lived on the shelf with all his comic books, there seemed to be fewer clothes on the floor than usual, and his I-pod wasn't in its normal spot on the bedside table.
She was filled with an ominous feeling of dread and she could only imagine the worst, which involved Seth having taken his own life. She took a deep breath and scolded herself for thinking like that, for letting her emotions get the better of her.She wasn't an emotional person, she was about logic, being in control and relying on her common sense, she couldn't let herself think like that. There simply had to be another explanation regarding her son's whereabouts, she surmised.
After a guilty half-second, she opened Seth's closet and was shocked to see his black travelling bag was gone, as were some of his favourite shirts. She patted the shirts as if she were touching her son. Her nose was overwhelmed by the scent of cologne as she raised one of the tee shirts to her face. When had he started wearing that regularly, she wondered.
Still clutching the unread letter to her chest, she crumpled on the floor, let out a huge sob and shouted her son's full name as loudly as she could, in the hope that he was still in the house and would come rushing to her side, proving that this was just a gigantic nightmare.
She heard footsteps and someone burst into the room, slightly out of breath. She looked over and saw her husband in the doorway. He came rushing to her side and held her close. She thrust the envelope into his hands and choked out the words 'Seth' and 'gone' before dissolving into tears again.
Sandy held her for a long while before helping her to her feet and leading her to the kitchen. He helped her sit down and placed a mug of steaming strong sweet tea in front of her, to help with the shock. He made a black coffee for himself, to help him wake up from what he hoped was just a bad dream.
Once Kirsten had finished her tea, she looked at the letter, signalling to Sandy that they should open it together.
Sandy unsealed the flap carefully, with all the precision of a surgeon, as if the letter might disentegrate if he ripped it out of the envelope. He cautiously unfolded the letter and the two of them began reading.
"Dear Mom & Dad," the letter announced, "Please don't be mad or upset when you find this." it continued. 'Well, you're wrong on both counts there, Seth,' Sandy muttered.
" I just cannot stay here without Ryan, not after the year I've had that's been so different from the ones I've had here up til then. To be honest, if he hadn't come when he did, I would have left then, I'd been planning it for ages. I had no friends whatsoever at school before he came, the thought of even attempting conversation of a romantic nature with a girl was simply unthinkable, let alone with one I actually liked-it was just an unnatainable dream. The kids who ignored me were the nicer ones, my life at school was awful, I wasn't joking when I called it Hell-bor, you know. I've basically been bullied since we came here, as no-one ever wanted to play my games in 1st grade, I never had a partner for gym class and was always the last to be picked for team games, I was teased mercilessly for liking comics, for my Jewishness and it just got so much worse in High School. Did you know that most people called me 'Death-Breath-Seth' by the time I started there? 'Queer' was also a popular one, and the Water Polo team developed a lot of games based on shoving me in a locker, peeing in my shoes and using me as a punching bag. Getting good grades didn't help much either, in fact it just made things so much worse.
I tried everything you guys suggested: I set up clubs (of which I was the sole member), joined clubs in and out of school, but it was always the same kids who were there, and they hated me no matter what I said and did.
I really appreciate that you guys tried to be my friends, especially Dad, but there comes a time in a man's life when his parents just aren't enough anymore; I needed a confidante, someone of my own age I could talk to about stuff... As my parents, there was only so much time I felt I could spend with you and so much I could talk to you about.
I also felt that there was a tremendous amount of pressure on me to do well, not because you guys would be mad with me or anything, but because I've got the Cohen name to live up to and carry on and I just felt like I was this massive disappontment to you in pretty much every way.
Then suddenly, you took Ryan in and suddenly, the pressure came off, you guys had two kids to focus on, rather than just me. I got a best friend and brother rolled into one, I had someone who'd stick up for me and defend me at school, his coolness helped me get close to Summer and I learnt so much about life outside of Newport and I had someone to listen to me and advise me on life. Basically, my life became what I wanted it to be. I know we drove you nuts and worried you at times, but I was finally able to be a proper teenager who went out and socialised and had some very new, albeit unpleasant, experiences (like having a curfew and being grounded) that I needed to have.
It's like Ryan helped you notice me more too, as you stopped being so focused on your work and realised I wasn't happy being home alone so much. Sure, it was awesome for the first few years, but it soon got boring.
I simply cannot understand how you can let Ryan go without any semblance of an attempt to get him to stay. Don't you see what you're doing here? Why am I being punished by Ryan taking the "White Knight" option.
Well, I'm rambling, so I'll get to the point: I'm going away, on my boat, hopefully to Tahiti, until Ryan comes back. Life B.R. (Before Ryan) was hell, I simply cannot go back there. I'll be far away by the time you read this, please don't try and contact me, I need time and space to process what's happened.
Will you give Summer's letter to her please?
Love you guys,
Seth. X"
By the end of the letter, Kirsten was in floods of tears again and Sandy was misty eyed, horrified at the thought of Seth being alone at sea and what might happen to him out there. They'd never allowed him to go out that far on his boat, at least not on his own.
"Oh honey, I had no idea how bad things were from him at school... The number of times he came back bruised and blamed it on his lack of co-ordination, how he said Harbor just smelt of pee or that I was imagining things and I never dug deeper, I never doubted his word, I never noticed how upset he really was... Why didn't he tell us, sandy, are we such horrible parents? Sure, I can be a little quick to tell him off for his sarcasm and the way he words things, and I rarely understand what he's talking about when it comes to his music and literature choices, but I love him so much, I'm strict with him because I don't want him getting hurt, doesn't he understand that, Sandy?" Kirsten stated, struggling to get the words out, as she was overtaken by her emotions. What she'd seen on paper had thrown her completely, she was so scared and upset at the words her son had written, she was having trouble accepting them.
"Darling, don't think like that, please. You're a great mother, don't ever doubt yourself. Now I'll phone our son, check he's OK and then give him the hugest talking to he's ever had. How dare he scare us like that?" Sandy declared, his frustration and hurt bubbling up inside of him.
He grabbed his cell with the arm that wasn't riound his wife's waist, flipped through the list of contacts and stopped at Seth's cell phone number. He then pressed the "call" button and waited impatiently as it rang for far too long before going to voice mail.
"You've reached Seth Cohen's voice mail, please leave a message after the stupid noise that the telephone industry ridiculously claim to be a beep and I'll get back to you... Beep" Seth's personalised message declared. Sandy sighed and spoke after the tone.
"Seth, it's Dad, we have no idea if you're OK, we're incredibly worried about you. I get that you're upset that Ryan's gone, we all are, but it was his choice ultimately and running away will not solve anything... Come home, talk to us, you know we've always said you can tell us anything, we stand by that... Just come home, Seth..." Sandy trailed off, as his message was interrupted by a beep and a message telling him his message couldn't be any longer.
Sandy sighed, pleased he'd managed to keep the anger out of her voice, but he'd wanted to say more, to call his son out on his unacceptable behaviour, how they'd thought the letter might be a suicide note and that he and Kirsten loved him.
Kirsten's arms went round is shoulders and she kissed him on the neck by way of comfort and praise for his courage. She knew her version of that message would be much more irate and would demand Seth's immediate return and how she'd hug him to death and then throttle him when he did.
"What are we going to do, Sandy?" Kirsten questioned, somehow expecting her amazing husband to have a solution to their problem, but all he could do this time was smile sadly and shake his head in despair.
The two of them sat in silence in the lounge, leaning on eachother for physical and emotional support. The doorbell rang and neither parent could face the thought of speaking to whoever it was. Sandy was the first to move, just as the doorbell blared again. He silently prayed that it wasn't Caleb or Julie Cooper -Nichol, though he thought they were safely away on honeymoon, so the likelihood of it being them was small.
He opened the door to a frantic Summer who was just about to press the doorbell for the third time when he opened the door.
"Oh, hey, Mr C., is Cohen ready yet? We're supposed to be going out for dinner, we're going to be late, hence the repeated doorbell ringing, sorry...And I really shouldn't call him Cohen, well, not in front of you at least, it's confusing and kinda rude really..." she wittered on, sounding very much like a female version of his son, Sandy mused sadly.
"Don't worry, Summer, it's OK, our doprbell's been through much worse than that, I promise. And us Cohen men aren't the most punctual creatures," he replied, giving her a friendly smile.
"So, is he nearly ready then?" she questioned, sounding slightly bossy and very much in charge, something Sandy thought she had in common with Kirsten.
"Uh, Summer, you'd better come in and have a seat" Sandy declared, trying to keep the panic out of his voice.
"Sure, Mr C. It's nothing to do with Ryan and a fist-related incident, is it?" she enquired worriedly.
She sat down in the armchair in the lounge and Kirsten flashed her husband a concerned look, causing her to stand up and leave the room, silently telling her husband she was going to get the letter Seth had left his girlfriend with just a look and a small nod in direction of the stairs.
"Well, the problem does involve Ryan, sort of..." Sandy declared, pausing for a second to collect his thoughts. "He's left, you see, to go and look after an ex-girlfriend of his, who is now expecting a baby. Did you ever meet Teresa? She's a good kid...And Ryan decided it was his duty to help her, as the baby's his, so he's got a job in construction in Chino... It was all pretty sudden, Seth was understandably upset, so upset, in fact, that he decided to leave Newport today, on his boat. He's left a letter for you, just like the one he left us, Kirsten's just gone to get it for you. I'm so sorry, Summer, truly I am, and we're working on getting him back, of that you can be sure." Sandy stated, desperately trying and failing to keep the emotion out of his voice.
"Oh my God!" Summer exclaimed, her eyes flashing with anger, hurt and confusion all at once.
"No offence or anything, but what a tool!" she blurted out, recognising the symptoms that usually led to her having a rage blackout. Sandy put a hand on her shoulder to try and comfort her.
"We feel much the same way, if that's any consolation... A tool's an idiot, right?" he asked his son's girlfriend, unfamiliar with her choice of words but recognising the anger and upset with which they were spoken.
Kirsten came down the stairs and presented Summer with the envelope bearing her name. She practically snatched it from Kirsten, then glared at it. Then she had to decide whether to read it there and then, and get sympathy and comfort from the Cohens, or whether she should read it privately and scream and shout at the contents and her useless coward of a boyfriend if need be. Her final option was to tear it up unread, which was incredibly tempting at the moment. She managed to compose herself and decided she'd read it, but only once she got home.
"Thank you, Mr and Mrs C, I'll read this at home, I think. I'll let you know if he calls me, and, uh, if you guys hear from him, here's my cell phone number." she uttered, after scribbling her phone number on a piece of paper she had in her bag, before standing up and making her way to the door.
She looked at Kirsten and Sandy before she left, and both mirrored the concerned gaze she cast in their direction. They both seemed to be saying they completely understood if she disposed of the letter without reading it, which she was incredibly grateful for.
"Don't worry