◀ Jess Point ▶

Chapter 1

⭐ NOT EDITED ⭐

I had just begun to doze off when my phone began to ring, rolling over with a grunt I answered the call from my mother. I wasn't sure what she could possibly want, or why she was up at three in the morning on a Tuesday, little did know I didn't really want to find out. However, after signaling the 'answer' button on my Iphone, It was inevitable.

"Hello?" I was in a bad mood, I was tired, I had been up working all night trying to come to a decent ending for my project, to complete it in time for yet another deadline, I had worked for two days straight and I wasn't really in the mood for three am chit chat.

"Tessa?" I heard the panic in my mom's voice, that immediately wiped the sleep from my body.

"Mom? What's wrong?" I sat up in bed to be more alert, although there wasn't anything I could do, being a thousand miles away.

"Tessa, I have to tell you something. I don't know ho-" I heard her choke on a sob, and I felt the panic rising in me, something's definitely wrong. "I don't know how to tell you this, but your sister's been in an accident." I haven't been exceptionally close with my sister in many years, but I love her no doubt, and we were as thick as thieves at one point, so hearing this I felt my heart begin to crumble all over again.

"Is she okay?" I jumped up from my bed, the phone being shoved in the crook of my ear. I ran into my closet and grabbed the first suitcase I saw, and began throwing whatever clothes my hand touched into the bag.

"The doctors don't think she's gonna make it." I heard her crying even more. I had frozen in the middle of throwing and I returned to packing my bag.

"What happened? I'm packing. Im on my way. Ill be there soon." I had finished grabbing everything I could and my bag was stuffed full. I changed into a pair of shorts and t-shirt and I was getting my shoes on when she finally calmed down enough to speak to me again.

"If you're coming you need to hurry, they say she only has a few days left." I felt the tears begin to well in my eyes and I pushed them back.

"What happened?" I screamed louder than I had anticipated, scaring even me.

"She was driving home from work and she was hit by a drunk driver." I had had many moments in my life where I felt my heart fail, not because of health problems but because I simply couldn't take what was happening to me. This was one of those moments. I sat on my bed and felt my heart race ninety to nothing and I thought I had just heard possibly the worst news in my life.

"I am on my way. I have to go to get to the airport. I love you, see you soon." I hung up the phone before she could say anything more and I felt fresh tears rise to the surface. I felt my heart breaking and I wasn't sure what I needed to do to stop it.

I lived in a small but decent sized apartment in the windy city. I had built myself a life, a life I was proud to call mine. But I was completely willing to sacrifice whatever was needed to be there for my family. So here I am packing my bags and going back to the one place I said I wasn't sure I could handle going back to, and its all for my family.
I had flashbacks of the small, one-stop-light town ever since I was young. I would be sitting in a coffee shop and the roasted coffee aroma would send me flying back to when I was eight. I would wake up at the crack of dawn to go get breakfast with my grandfather-the only man on the planet who continuously sticks by my side and never hurts me-one of my greatest friends.

I remember the cold Saturdays, when everyone was home-in fear of catching a cold, and the smell of cinnamon sugar oatmeal was wafting through the air. I remember my grandmother softly brushing my hair, waking me up to come eat breakfast with the family. A precious woman, she is. She has this feel about her... a feel that can only be explained as tough, but so sweet it breaks your heart when she gets upset-especially at you. She's there for me no matter what, and for that she owns a piece of my heart.