OC Fic: Earthquake Challenge

[chaseii]

WARNING:  Very, very dark.

Title:  Forgetting Ryan

One-shot / In response to the Earthquake Challenge by Jonsmom14

Author:  ChaseII

Story Rating: PG-13(?)

Disclaimer: The OC Universe, with all its assorted characters, belongs to Josh Schwartz, et. al. No copyright or trademark infringement is intended, nor is any money being made.

A/N:  All

Comments

[jonsmom14]

Wow...just wow. I was very impressed with how well you conveyed Kirsten's bitterness. I could just picture her hunched over a bottle of vodka and glaring at the thought of Ryan. I also think that you were accurate in saying that Kirsten wouldn't blame herself, she wasn't brought up that way. Great job! Thanks for taking up the challenge!

[chaseii]

Your challenge came at a time I'd been thinking quite a bit about what would have happened had Ryan been at home when the earthquake struck. I could never understand having someone live in a glass pool house in earthquake prone California. It seemed like a recipe for disaster.

Kirsten was a character with such potential, but the way the writers portrayed her she nearly always disappointed. Fanfic Kirsten was usually much more the woman I wanted to see on screen, but never did. In canon, Kirsten always seemed cool and distant, never becoming the mother and caring protector I always wanted her to be.

Thanks for reading and reviewing.

[english27]

Ouch, can't say you didn't warn us!
Didn't see that coming, I liked Kirsten's reaction though, he had been there only 2 weeks in a moment of panic it is likely that her thoughts would be of Seth's safety and afterwards drinking and blaming Ryan for Sandy's death.
Well done for being able to kill Ryan and Sandy that resulted in a fic I didn't hate!

[chaseii]

That's a high compliment -- I too hate character deaths!

Many thanks.

[chrisear]

scary...but great...

[chaseii]

Thanks!

[beachtree]

So you DID post this despite the very, Very, VERY, ink black darkness. Actually, grimly, fatefully and tragically realistic would be a positive spin on this charming tale! It's just that tragic realism that contributes to the stark, powerful impact. IMHO, it wasn't if Ryan would be compromised while in the Cohen's care for any number of reasons, it was when. The poolhouse was just that, a structure intended as an extension of the pool area, not something for permanent shelter. That situation wasn't just Kirsten's declaration of demarkation, it was a disaster waiting to happen

!!

[chaseii]

I imagine that Sandy saw the shattered glass, and didn't want to tell Kirsten what he feared (assuming that she'd care, silly man). At that moment, the pool house hadn't collapsed, but the devastation he could see would be enough to strike terror into a caring heart.

This early in the relationship, the relationship between Kirsten and Ryan is rocky at best, given how resistant she was to bringing him into their home. Even though she ultimately relented and allowed him to stay, theirs is not a warm and fuzzy relationship at this point in time (or really ever...)

You know how I always felt about the pool house, and the fact that the Cohens left Ryan in such a precarious, lethally dangerous living space in earthquake riddled California for four years. (And that has nothing to do with all the other ways I think Ryan's isolation in the nether reaches of the pool house were wrong for this child!)

Thank you as always for your thoughts and insights. You always make me think. Glad when I can return the favor...

Re: !!

[beachtree]

I know we didn't discuss that, but that was my initial reaction to Sandy's frozen, torn expression, posture and then his tone. Of course it was lost and wasted on Kirsten, and not only because she was singularly focused on Seth (and she would have been as his mother), but because she simply didn't think about Ryan, even under the most ideal of conditions. She certainly wasn't invested and wasn't even exhibiting behavior of a guardian in the loosest definition. She doesn't ask Sandy not to go, but I'd swear I picked up some silent pleas with her questioning looks. Hmmm

[chazper]

This is beautifully written but completely chilling, chase, Worst of all, I think, is the fact that it's plausible; if the earthquake had happened shortly after Ryan came to live with the Cohens, Kirsten might have forgotten him, but Sandy wouldn't and . . .

You didn't even give us the small consolation of knowing that Ryan didn't die alone, that he knew Sandy had come for him.

I know you posted an update of "Hart Break", but I was working backwards and came to this one first. Now I wish I hadn't, because while I trust "Hart Break" will help alleviate the pain of this story--at least Ryan will be alive and loved, right?--I won't be able to read it until tomorrow. So for now I'm going to be haunted by the terrible beauty of this, especially the last few lines.

You know, you didn't just kill Sandy and Ryan here. Kirsten and Seth really died too.