fic : Better Days
title
Better Days
fandom
The OC
summary
A presumed dead Ryan returns home after a few months
timeline
AU (season 1)
beta
If it counts, MS Word 03
disclaimer
Sadly "The OC" isn't mine, but belongs to others (Josh Schwarz, FOX, ...)
previous
0 : The Worst Day |
1 : Realization |
2 : Home
3 : Dreams
It had been late when Sandy and Kirsten returned home that night. They had been exhausted after spending the whole evening at a typical Newport party and had gone straight to their bedroom.
Sandy was already snoring softly next to her while she was still staring out into the dark night. As she shifted slightly in bed the pool house came into sight. But these days that wasn’t so painful anymore. It had taken quite some time after Ryan’s death that she was able to look at the pool house without being on the verge of tears. In the beginning she had even had to shut the blinds of the windows that looked towards it. It had been impossible for her to get to sleep, with the pool house, the reminder of her lost son, always in sight.
But this night was different. As her gaze wandered over the pool house she thought that she had seen something or someone move in there. But oddly enough she wasn’t afraid of what it might be. Quite the opposite, it seemed somehow familiar. It reminded her of all the nights she watched Ryan move in his room while she tried to fall asleep.
She wasn’t sure what to make out of it. Was it simply her imagination playing her a trick? It had to be, since she had no other explanation for what happened next. The door of the pool house that was nearest to the ocean suddenly opened and a figure stepped out on the patio. Kirsten blinked hard, but the scene in front of her was still the same. In the dim light over there it just looked like it was Ryan. Sitting down on the hillside next to the pool house and watching the ocean, like he’d done so many times whenever he couldn’t sleep or had had a lot on his mind. A single tear found the way down her face when she remembered that it would have been Ryan’s seventeenth birthday that day.
She positioned herself so in bed that she had direct view at the edge of the pool house and the place where ‘Ryan’ sat next to it and took in every bit of the sight over there. Even though she was sure that what she so was only a figment of her imagination she still planed to enjoy it as long as it would last.
It must have been over half an hour, but even so she was disappointed when ‘Ryan’ eventually stood up and walked back to the pool house door. But before he stepped back in he raised his head and looked directly at her. It seemed to Kirsten like he was smiling at her. And then he was gone.
Kirsten didn’t fall asleep long after ‘Ryan’ disappeared, feeling a mixture of sadness and happiness at the same time and having a wonderful dream about Ryan celebrating his birthday with them.
next
4 : A New Day