Breathe by Maud (no rating)

[storydivagirl.livejournal.com]

Fandom: THE O.C.
Pairing: None. Ryan-centric
Authors on LJ: maudgonne
Author Websites: none listed

Why this must be read:

This story is written in perfect and graceful prose - one of those types of stories that you love and hate because you didn't write it. Set after the finale of season two (so spoilers through season two), Ryan comes to terms with his feelings toward his brother and pays a visit to his mother.

I can't do this story enough justice in any sort of write up, so I shall live it to an excerpt:



The sadness was a cloud that refused to lift. The sadness gripped him like Trey’s fingers around his throat – fingers that he could still feel, all these days later. Sometimes they were so tight he couldn’t breathe right. Sometimes he couldn’t speak. It was like those phantom pains that amputees felt in their missing limbs, except that Ryan still had all his limbs, and it was Trey’s that had gone to smoke and ashes.

Sandy drove home from the funeral parlor, while Ryan clutched the heavy box in his lap and looked out the window. When Sandy cleared his throat and began to speak, haltingly, Ryan just kept looking out at the ocean. He watched the waves lap at the shore and from somewhere far away he heard Sandy’s voice telling him that his mother wanted to see him. That she had chosen not to make funeral arrangements for Trey, but that she wanted to see him, Ryan, again. That Sandy knew where she was, that all this time she had only been a phone call away.

Sandy said, “Ryan? It’s your decision.”

Ryan watched the surfers plunging bright and bold into the waves; he watched the seagulls, stark white against the blue sky. He didn’t have the energy left for decisions, or for anger at Sandy for keeping secrets. He would have answered, but the fingers were squeezing tight again and it was all he could do to breathe.



So go read Breathe, and leave feedback for the author!