Hello, loyal readers. Your dose of the Jessie Saga is here! Enjoy!

Chapter 32.1

Jessie yawned as she rolled over, blinking in surprise and amazement as she saw what time it was. Oh my god, four o'clock! What she thought would only be a five minute cat nap had turned into an all day sleep. She practically leapt out of bed at the realization she had slept an entire day away, quickly curbing her enthusiasm as her shoulder did some important reminding to take it easy. 'O-ouch.' She yelped, wincing in pain. 'Not a smart idea.'

Cougar meowed softly as she opened her eyes, stretching as she stood up and jumped down off her bed. The girl chuckled, bending down to pat her pet. 'Seems like you're not the only one who can sleep an entire day away. Man, I must have needed it.' For once she couldn't remember having a dream of any description. 'I must have been tired.'

She stood up again, listening for the sounds of the household, guessing they would be preparing dinner by now. She frowned, there didn't sound like there was anything happening downstairs. By now she would have guessed that they would have all come in to get ready to eat since night still fell relatively early this time of early spring. 'Let's go see what's cooking, okay?'

She went to click her fingers for the cat to follow then was reminded she was wearing gloves and bandages and patted her leg instead. The cat followed her, jogging to her side as she opened the door and walked down the stairs, looking around. The house was quiet and still, no one was around and as she walked into the kitchen she could see there was nothing on for dinner. Strange. Where is everyone?

Flicking on a light switch in the living room, her frown deepened. Where was everyone? She glanced down at her watch. Yes, it was five o'clock. They should have been here. She sighed, looking around. Maybe they were still out working? She headed to the front door, grabbing her coat as she walked out and put it on. 'Come on girl, let's go see if we can find someone.'

She noticed that Jack's truck was missing as she walked to the barn, as well as Ty's. Strange. 'Hello? Anyone?' She called as she walked up to the door, not wanting to go in. Standing there for a moment she waited, listening for a reply but none came. She shrugged. 'I guess everybody must have gone out for dinner and forgotten all about me.' She exclaimed, giving Cougar another pat as she placed her head under her hand. 'Let's go check on the horses.'

As she walked past the watering troughs she frowned again, seeing them empty. The troughs were never left empty, Ty or Amy always kept them full. Paint was at the trough, trying to lick any remaining drops of water from the bottom and she sighed. 'Just wait boy, I'll get you some water.'

Jessie turned and went back to the barn, looking for a hose so she could give the horses water. The only hose she could find had been ruined, melted from the fire. 'Now what girl? I'm not carrying buckets over there, not with this shoulder.' She voiced her thoughts out loud, trying to think of a solution. If she couldn't get the water to the trough, maybe she could bring the trough and the horses to the water. She headed back to the pasture, grabbing the barrel and dragging it over to the tap. Cougar grabbed a drink as she filled the trough up then once it was full she turned the tap off and grabbed a couple of lead ropes that had managed to survive the fire and set back for the horses.

Night was falling by the time she had almost finished caring for the horses, feeding, watering and giving them all a check over. Still, no one had returned. She frowned, looking at her watch as she cut another bale of hay open to distribute to the horses in the back pens. The horses crowded around as she threw the biscuits over the fence, trying to ignore the pain in her shoulder. Once the hay had been given out she headed back to the house to wait.

Cougar curled up on the seat next to her as she sat down on the porch seat, wondering what was going on. She sighed, grabbing her phone from her pocket and dialled Jack's mobile. Suddenly she frowned, hearing it ringing from inside the house and she quickly ended the call. 'Okay, someone forgot his phone.' She tried to make a joke to quell the anxious feeling rising in her stomach as she dialed Amy's number. It rang out, and she frowned as she got her message bank. 'Amy, it's Jessie. What's going on? Where is everyone? Call me back. Thanks.'

Getting Amy's message bank only helped make her more worried, slightly verging on panicking as she rang Lou's phone. Exactly the same thing happened, it rang out and she had to leave a message. 'Okay, so maybe the secret rapture has taken place or something.' She remarked to Cougar, going through her phone to find Ty's number. Again, it rang out and she left yet another message asking what was going on. She was really starting to panic, something must have happened. 'What's going on?'

Cougar laid her head down on her legs, purring loudly as she tried to calm the girl down. Jessie tried all three numbers again, trying to remain calm but knew she was on the verge of a major panic attack. She was here, by herself and she didn't know what to do. Breathe. Stay calm. Deep breaths. She slammed the phone shut after trying all three numbers for a third time but after still getting no answer her worry and anxiety was almost causing her to reach her breaking point. Stay calm, there is no sense in borrowing trouble. There is probably a reasonable explanation.

She waited, waited, tried calling them again but still received no answer. As the sun slipped down beyond the horizon she got up and put all the lights on, hating being alone in the dark. No one knew, and she didn't even like to admit it, but since that time she had been locked in the cellar back at the foster home she hated being alone in the dark. Oh, she was alright sleeping in her room by herself, that was okay because she knew that there were other people around her but she was alone at Heartland. There was no one here.

She watched as the hands on her watch neared five-thirty, the sun long set now as night had fallen. Still, she sat on the porch, watching, waiting. The night was getting colder, she shivered as a slight breeze chilled her. She knew she should go inside and light the fire otherwise the house was going to be freezing but she didn't want to.

It wasn't long before her better reasoning won out and she headed back inside, her cat with her. Nervously she glanced back out the window for any sign on them returning but there was none. She sighed, heading into the living room and she knelt down beside the fireplace to start a fire. Grabbing the kinderling and the firestarter she proceeded to build a fire, her mind distracted for a moment by her task. The hearth was stone cold, the coals that were left long burnt out. She grabbed the matches and lit one, staring at the flickering flame.

The roar of the fire sounded in her ears, mixed with the frightened and loud whinnies of the horses trapped inside. Above the noise she could hear Warrior, his screams echoing in the night. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stood watching the barn burn, there was nothing she could do. Warrior. Warrior was inside. He was trapped in there, trapped behind a wall of flames. Jack was in there too, he had to be. She couldn't find him anywhere else. Oh my God. Jack, Jack where are you? 'Jack!' She screamed again, her throat feeling like it was getting torn apart by the ferocity of her calls. 'JACK!'

Her hand shook, holding onto the match as the flame burnt it up and she threw it into the fireplace before it reached her glove. Her whole body shook with silent sobs that didn't come out of her mouth, reliving the night again. She'd been so scared, so terrified. She couldn't breathe, it felt like she was suffocating, trapped inside the barn again with the smoke choking her.

Cougar nudged the girl, purring loudly to try and calm her down as she wrapped herself protectively around her. Slowly Jessie started to calm down, an overwhelming exhaustion washing over her as she began to come out of her panic attack. The sound of crackling startled her and she jumped back as she saw the fire burning in the fireplace. She backed away, a vision of the barn burning running through her mind again, her heart racing as she continued to watch the flames. Once, watching the flames of a fire burning brightly in the darkness had comforted her, it was now the source of her terror.

She backed away, running out of the living room into the kitchen. She stopped at the table, leaning against the back of one of the chairs to catch her breath and get her emotions under control. She felt so stupid, so ashamed of herself as she looked back into the living room. There was nothing to be afraid of, it was just a stupid little fire in a fireplace.

Suddenly lights flooded the room and she hurried to the window, seeing Ty's truck pulling up at the fence. Ty and Mallory hopped out, heading towards the front door and she was there in an instant, rushing out to meet them. 'Where on earth have you guys been? I've been ringing and ringing and-' She stopped, reading the looks on their faces. She gulped, that sinking feeling in her stomach getting worse. 'What's wrong?' Mallory didn't say a word to her as she walked straight past and disappeared inside the house. She turned to Ty. 'Ty, please, what's going on?'

'Jack's in the hospital.' He replied softly, placing his hand on her shoulder. 'He collapsed. He's in a coma.'

'W-what?' Her face fell, tears coming to her eyes. 'W-what? W-when?'

'This morning.' Ty wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close to him but being cautious not to hurt her shoulder. 'We've been there all day.'

'W-what happened?'

'He's got a subdural hematoma.'

'A what?'

He thought for a moment, trying to explain it in the simplest of terms for the girl. 'It's like a bruise but inside his brain.'

'But is he going to be okay?'

'I don't know.' The girl sobbed, pulling away from him and turned to run back to the house. 'Jessie-'

She heard him calling her but she didn't care as she ran into the house, jumping up the stairs in one leap and letting the door slam shut behind her. Mallory was in the kitchen, into the fridge as she came in and their eyes met for a split second. Neither of them knew what to say to the other and it was Jessie who broke eye contact first, grabbing the home phone off the hook and rushing upstairs.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she closed the door behind her and locked it, sinking to the floor as she struggled to dial Lisa's number…

Vaguely Lisa became aware of the sound of a phone ringing, opening her eyes as she rolled over and checked her alarm clock. She frowned, pulling it over closer so she could read the numbers. It was only two in the morning, who on earth would be calling at this time?

She climbed out of bed, flicking on her bedside lamp then headed to the door and turned the light on in the hallway. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes she made her way to the living room and grabbed the phone off the hook, stifling a yawn. 'Hello?'

Jessie couldn't say a word upon hearing Lisa's voice, instead all she could do was break down sobbing. She hugged her knees in against her chest, holding onto the phone as tears poured down her cheeks.

Lisa knew that crying, knew that sound out of a million. A shiver ran up her spine and she was filled with dread listening to the girl cry, now fully awake. 'Jessie honey, what's wrong?'

'J-jack's in in t-the hospital.' She managed to make out between sobs, trying to catch her breath and talk at the same time. She felt like she was choking, trying to catch her breath as she tried to talk. 'He, he's i-n in a c-coma.'

Oh my God! I only spoke to him this afternoon, he was fine. A million scenarios raced through her mind, an overwhelming concern for him filling her heat. Oh God, Jack. The girls sobbing brought her back to reality, reminding her that she needed to look after her first. 'Honey, it's okay. Calm down. Breathe honey. Breathe.' She encouraged her, waiting for her to get herself together. After a few minutes the girl had managed to calm down, her loud crying reduced to small hiccups and slight sniffles. 'That's better honey. Tell me what happened sweetheart.'

'I-I don't k-know.' Jessie replied, wiping her eyes on the back of her glove. 'I w-was sleeping a-and when, and when I w-woke up, e-everyone was g-gone. Ty a-and Mallory only j-just, o-nly just got b-back and they, they t-told me w-what happened.'

'Good girl, keep going. You're doing great.'

She sniffled again, catching her breath as she finally stopped sobbing. 'Ty said he collapsed this morning. I didn't know. I was sleeping. I shouldn't have been sleeping.' She paused, looking around her darkened room. 'They don't know if he's going to be okay. What if something happens to him-'

'Honey, don't think that. He's going to be okay.'

'Ty said he has a subdural hematoma.'

Lisa closed her eyes, wiping a tear away. She knew what could happen with those, having seen her fair share of accidents in the racing world. One of her jockeys had taken a fall from a horse and had had the same thing. When he did recover, he wasn't the same person. What if the same thing happened to Jack? No, she couldn't think of that. He was going to be okay. She thought for a moment, deciding that her week of vacation traveling with her friends could wait. There was no way she was going to stay in France while Jack was in hospital in a coma and Jessie was breaking. 'Are you still there honey?'

'I'm here.'

'I'm getting on the first plane back okay sweetie?'

Just hearing that she was coming back was enough to almost send her into another crying fit. 'You are?'

'I am honey. I'm not staying here a moment longer.' Jessie needed her, and most importantly, she needed to be there with Jack. She went over to the table where her laptop was, quickly starting it up to search for the earliest flight she could catch. 'It's going to be okay honey, Jack is strong. He can make it through this.'

'It'll be better when you're here.'

'I know honey. I know.' She could only imagine the mess that she would find the child in when she got there. Quickly she got her webbrowser up, looking for the earliest flight. There was one leaving in three hours straight to Calgary. Even though it was way more expensive than a later flight she didn't care. 'I've just found a flight sweetheart, I'll be there in the morning.'

'Okay.'

'I want you to get some rest okay? Jack is going to be alright.'

Jessie nodded, wiping her cheeks dry. 'I'll try.' If only she knew the truth. That the whole reason Jack was in hospital was because of her stallion. It was her fault, all her fault. 'I'll see you in the morning.'

'Yes honey, you will. Please, take care of yourself honey. I know how attached you are to Jack but he would want you to look after yourself.'

'Don't worry, I'll take care of me.' She looked down at her hands, wondering what on earth her reaction would be like when she saw them. 'I love you. Bye Lisa'

'I love you too. Bye honey.'

She placed the phone down after their call had ended, forcing herself to buy her ticket before she allowed herself to break down. Oh Jack. She rested her head in her hands, sobbing quietly. Please, please be okay.