Okay, do I really have to do this?? I DO NOT own any of the rights to Summerland BUT I DO own Teresa Coleman, her family, friends and her story.

Thank you so, so, sooo, SO much to those who reviewed!!! (ChrissyD., JustTheGirl07 and Samahenoy Phye.) Y'all mean so much!! Thank you!

ChrissyD.: No... Not that I know of anyway! lol! Sometimes my stories write themselves but as of now, they are not.

And now... (drum roll) time to read CH. 7!!!! ; -)

Chapter VII

He's Gonna Be Okay... Right?

Teresa sensed that something was bothering him, but she couldn't figure out what. Of course she understood that he wasn't going to talk to someone he'd just met, but she hoped, soon, she could get close enough to him for him to open up to her. They walked in silence and as he quickened his steps, so did she.

"Why the hurry?" she asked innocently.

Bradin nearly stopped dead in his tracks causing Teresa to bump into him, "Oh, sorry," he said softly, "I uh.. just don't wanna get in anymore trouble than I'm sure I'm already in.

"Oh," Teresa smiled, "Than let's hurry!" she laughed, "Where exactly do you live?"

Bradin pointed out a beach house some distance ahead of them, "There."

"Okay, race you!" with that Teresa took off running.

"No fair," Bradin laughed as he followed her, soon he had reached her side and she looked somewhat surprised, he grinned and passed her by, making it to his house and falling onto the sand next to his back porch before she even got there.

Teresa laughed, "Guess I lost!" she thought with a smile, she reached his side and collapsed into the sand, out of breath. "Whoa, you're fast!" Teresa gasped, "I thought I'd win since I got a head start... guess I was wrong!" she laughed.

"Well, I don't know... I'm not usually that fast... maybe you're just really slow," he winked at her making her blush.

"Hey," she punched him lightly in the arm, "I am not really slow!"

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"Where the hell is that boy," Ava asked angrily to the air. She was more worried than angry, in fact she wasn't really mad at all, but she was trying so hard to fight her worry that anger was the only emotion she could show. It was 7:30 in the morning and when she went to wake up the kids, Bradin wasn't in his bed or anywhere else in the house for that matter!

"Now, Ava, I'm sure he just went out for an early morning walk, don't worry," Johnny said from where he was standing in the kitchen.

"But-" Ava opened the fridge and a small piece of paper fell off of the front. She picked it up and smiled slightly, "Oh, you were right!" She threw her hands up in mock defeat as she handed him the note Bradin had left saying he was gone for a walk. "I wonder when he left?"

"Well, at least you know he didn't just disappear!" Johnny smiled.

"I suppose... But I'm worried about him, Johnny, seriously worried, something's not right..." Ava grimaced, "I haven't told anyone yet, but I found something in his room last night while he was "missing..."

"Well I guess you better, what was it?"

Ava took a deep breath, "There was a piece of paper laying on the floor beside his bed, I thought it was blank, but when I picked it up I saw that it was written on, on the other side."

"What did it say?" Johnny asked gently, seeing that Ava was having trouble repeating it.

"I've failed Johnny, I've failed to let him know I love him!" Ava sounded close to tears.

Looking up, Johnny saw a glassy sheet covering her eyes, "Ava, what makes you say that? What did the paper say?"

"I'll, I'll-" She stopped talking as tears streamed down her face, "I'll see if it's still there," she said, pulling herself back together and running from the room and up the stairs.

In a minute she returned, a tightly folded piece of paper in her hands

"Johnny I found this in his room," Ava said through tears as she handed him the piece of paper.

"Okay God, I think I'm gonna kill myself if that other "prayer" doesn't get answered soon, I think I really am. And even if I don't, the horror probably will... Please, God, please, it's really and truly killing me and I just have no idea what to do... Please show me what to do! I wish an angel would, like, fall into my life and make everything better... just a little bit better... Maybe You could do that? And Lord, the worst thing is, I'm losing my faith in You... I don't want that to happen, I know You are real and I saw how You answered my mother's prayers but I keep getting angry with You and now I'm wondering why You let her die! She was there for me, I was safe then. I didn't deserve to have my mother taken away, without even the slightest warning,... I mean, I know I'm not the greatest person in the world, not even a good one in fact, but I'm not that bad, am I? And even if I am, why did Nik and D get punished too? Do You really care about us? Please help us, I heard Nik crying again last night, I now know that she's not coping nearly as well as I thought she was. Do You love us? Do You care? Does anyone love us... me? Please help her.

Johnny couldn't speak after reading what Bradin had written, it was obviously Bradin who wrote it even though it didn't say so anywhere. Johnny tried again to say something but he couldn't, just couldn't. He looked at Ava and each of them let a small smile spread across their faces as they realized each was feeling the same thing. Finally Johnny found his voice, Should we tell him we found it?"

"I don't think so," Ava replied, "let's just try to figure out what it was he first told God, I think he probably wrote that out too, don't you?" No answer; Ava looked over and saw Johnny staring intently out the kitchen door at the ground, she looked too but nothing was there, so she said, "Hello! Earth to-"

"Listen, you remember how he was when he first got here, right?" Johnny cut her off, she nodded, "You know, he was sad, sure, but he was okay. And then he seemed to be moving on fine... then wham!" Johnny pounded his fist into his palm making Ava jump, "Suddenly he's not, not at all..." Johnny continued, "I think you're right, something's not right, but for all that's in me I can't figure out what. I mean, after reading that, it's more than obvious that he's bothered by at least his Mom's death constantly, but I think there's something else... something underlying..."

"I know, it's like something happened..." Ava and Johnny were both so lost in thought that when Jay walked into the room and spoke they both jumped.

"Morning!" Jay smiled cheerfully, then seeing his housemates jump, he said, "What? Did I scare you?" Jay looked between Ava and Johnny, who were sharing a look, "Would someone please tell me what I missed?"

"Well tell me too," Susannah said as she walked over to the fridge, "What's going on?"

The note was passed around and everything went dead silent.

After what seemed like an hour, Susannah's voice cut through the silence like a knife, "What are we gonna do for him, cause I'm here to help." She smiled at Ava, who returned it.

"Thank you. Okay, what are we gonna do? We can't just sit back and watch him... die." Ava said the last word as if it was a disease and she said it so low that it was barely audible.

"I don't think we'll have to sit back and watch him die, Ava." Jay smiled broadly.

"What are you talking about, didn't you read his- what are you smiling at?" Ava looked mad that Jay could smile at a time like this.

"Look!" Jay said pointing his head out the screen-door into their "back yard" "I think God sent him that angel he was asking for."

Everyone looked into the back yard to see a smiling, laughing and very out of breath Branding laying on his back in the sand and a girl who looked to be around his age sitting on her knees laughing and breathing heavily.

All four adults smiled. But internally, each felt that something still wasn't right, that something inside of Bradin was terribly wrong and eating away at him.

Well, that's that!! Reviewing time:-D

Anna Christie AKA SecondStarToTheRight15