Jessi was still asleep by the time they got to the Trager household and Kyle was forced to carry her once more. Nicole appeared before them as soon as she heard the front door open. She immediately noticed a sleeping Jessi in Kyle's arms and the bloodstains on both of them
"Oh my…Kyle what happened?" Kyle looked down and realized the dry blood also.
"Let me put Jessi down somewhere and I'll explain." Nicole nodded.
"We can let her sleep in Lori's bed until we get a place for her situated." With that, Kyle and Nicole headed upstairs to find Lori sitting on her bed with her guitar. "Lori, do you mind if Jessi sleeps here while we get a room set up for her?" Lori looked past Nicole to find Jessi dead asleep in Kyle's arms.
"Whoa, wait a minute…a room set up for her? She is going to live here?" Lori wasn't exactly excited over this idea.
"She needs a place to stay." Nicole responded. Lori sighed and rolled her eyes.
"But Mom—"Lori began.
"Lori…" Nicole cut her off raising an eyebrow.
"Fine." Lori said unhappily as she left her room and headed downstairs. Kyle lightly placed Jessi on the bed and Jessi let out a grunt when Kyle let go of her. He froze in place for a few seconds to make sure she was still asleep and then quietly left the room. Nicole and Kyle went to Nicole's office to talk. Once they both sat down, Nicole spoke first.
"Is she okay?" Nicole asked concerned. There was a long pause before Kyle spoke.
"I don't know…I think something terrible happened to Jessi, something that goes further than Sarah just leaving."
"What do you mean?" Nicole asked curiously.
"When I went to her apartment…I found Jessi in the bathroom punching at the bathroom tiles. She was so angry and she didn't even acknowledge that I was there. And then all of a sudden she stopped when I held her, and then she just seemed…desperate. I don't know what to do…I want to help her but she won't let me in."
"Did she say anything to you in particular?"
"She asked why did Sarah have to leave and why couldn't it have been her instead." Nicole was confused by Jessi's actions as well. She processed and analyzed all of her actions and soon the explanation hit her.
"Kyle, when I went to see her, she just wanted to be alone and seemed to refuse to speak to anyone. Then, when you saw her, she showed anger, and then she seemed to want to trade for another person's fate. Has she been sleeping since all of that happened?"
"Mostly. She woke up once, screaming, but then she fell asleep once I came and comforted her." Nicole sighed.
"Kyle, I can't be completely sure, but I think Jessi is experiencing the five stages of grief. It usually happens after a person has lost someone. Right now, I think she is beginning the fourth stage, which is depression."
"But…how could it be this extreme if Sarah just left?" Kyle was worried and confused about Jessi.
"Maybe you're right, maybe something more happened. But right now, it seems as if she doesn't want to talk about it."
"I can't just sit here and let her go on like this. I need to find out what happened…"
"The best you can do is just being here for her and hope that she will tell you when she's ready." Nicole said sympathetically. She wanted to help just as much as Kyle but Nicole knew Jessi needed to deal with it in her own way. Kyle just let out a sad smile as the silence in the room ended the conversation. Nicole broke the silence after a while trying to move on to their next concern. "I have an extra bed in the garage that Jessi can use; we just need to figure out a temporary room for her to live in until we figure out something more permanent."
"She can stay in my room." Kyle offered. "I can share a room with Josh."
"I guess that will work for the time being. Let's get Josh to help with moving things." Kyle nodded and left for Josh's room.
Lori watched as Kyle and Josh struggled with Kyle's tub up the stairs.
"Come on boys, almost there." Lori teased, seeing Josh's red face. They finally made it to the top of the stairs when, out of nowhere, there was a scream from Jessi similar to earlier.
"Holy crap!" Josh yelled and accidently dropped the tub on his foot in shock. Kyle, too, drop the tub but not out of shock, out of worry. He bolted to Lori's room, where Jessi was, and found angst written all over her face. Jessi's eyes were shut tightly, as if she was trying to stop herself from seeing something.
"No, you can't leave me…please," She cried. Kyle propped her up against him and began stroking her hair in attempt to calm her down.
"Shhh…it's okay." He said, not really convinced himself. Lori soon appeared at the doorway with Josh limping behind.
"Is she okay?" Lori asked.
"She scared the crap out of me!" Josh yelled not really realizing what was going on with Jessi at the moment. Jessi clung tightly to Kyle, taking sharp breaths in between her tears. Nicole and Stephen squeezed between their children and entered the room to see what the commotion was about.
"What happened? Is she okay?" Stephen asked.
"I think she just had a bad dream." Kyle replied. Nicole sat beside Kyle and Jessi on the bed and placed her hand on Jessi warmly.
"Her bed is ready downstairs, but I think she needs to change out of these clothes first…" Jessi still had blooded spotted on her clothes from earlier in the day, but she showed no sign in letting go of Kyle. Nicole sighed. This isn't going to be easy. "Kyle, take her downstairs, Lori and I will help with her clothes." Lori grimaced but didn't argue, she knew there was no point in it.
Kyle brought Jessi down to her temporary room and sat them both down on the bed.
"Jessi, you're going to have to let go…" He whispered, as if he was scared, not wanting to hurt her. Jessi looked up at him, her eyes swollen and red rimmed from her tears.
"No, please don't leave me…" She begged, desperately.
"I will be back, I promise." Kyle tried to reassure her. She reluctantly pulled away from him as Nicole and Lori entered the room with clothes from her packed bag. Kyle gave her a small smile of comfort and then left the room. Kyle couldn't get his mind off of Jessi and her recent actions. He needed to know what was wrong with her; he couldn't sit here and let her be in pain. Kyle waited outside the door, waiting for Nicole and Lori to come out so he can go back to Jessi. She clung onto me so tightly…After a while, Nicole and Lori finally came out and Kyle immediately entered to find Jessi lying in the bed, still awake. She looked so helpless and weak.
"See? I told you I would be back." Kyle wanted her to talk to him, hoping to soon get some information out of her. Jessi just responded with silence. He walked over and sat on her bed and Jessi then sat up. She looked up at him and Kyle saw so much sadness in her eyes and felt his heart break. "Jessi…" was all that could come out of Kyle's mouth as he once again found Jessi's arms wrapped tightly around him.
A/N: as always leave reviews! :]