Free Falling

Safe Haven

After their night of making love, Phillip had changed into the man Jessica needed in her life. He was sweet and caring but after some time, Phillip became the man he was before.

They did make love a few times after the first night they reconciled. Now however, Phillip and Jessica would go to bed not even speaking to each other. Jessica would silently cry herself to sleep and wishing for a better life.

It wasn't till now that she realized what a mistake it was to marry Phillip but because of Phillip's family, she knew that divorce was not an option. So, she would have to grin and bare it.

Phillip's family were very religious. That was the main reason for Karen not liking Jessica. Jessica did believe in God but she wasn't as devoted to the church as the Anderson family.
Karen thought Jessica was unholy and a bad person for not being devoted to their religion as her family.

It was now November and it was a week till Thanksgiving. She was excited to see her baby boy John who was coming home from Los Angeles for that day.

One Friday morning, Jessica woke up and got ready to go to the library. Jessica didn't have to work as much because the farm was doing well and Phillip would much rather have Jessica at home doing "women's work" and taking care of his mother who was now eighty years old.

However, Jessica needed those few hours at the library so she can keep herself sane.

Before leaving the house, Jessica made sure that Karen had everything she needed and would be okay for a few hours. Of course Karen would grumble at being left alone and called Jessica ungrateful. Jessica just listened and let her words go in one ear and out the other.

After Karen was settled, Jessica left the house and drove to her safe haven of books.

When Jessica arrived, she was greeted by her best friend and fellow librarian, Sarah Paulson Peters. She was a few years younger than Jessica but they had connected instantly when they first met. They've been inseparable since.

Sarah had moved into the house down the road from the Anderson house. It was walking distance from Sarah's home and Sarah would visit quite often.

"Morning Jess!" Sarah said as she hugged Jessica.
"Morning Sarah." Jessica said as she hugged Sarah back.
"Hey...you alright?" Sarah asked worriedly. "You still feeling sick?"
"Yes, I'm fine. I just...I just been feeling so tired lately, as you know. I don't understand why." Jessica said as she put her purse under the work area. "Maybe I'm coming down with something."
"This is the fourth time this week you've been feeling this way." Sarah said. "I've got everything under control here. Go home and rest."
Jessica shook her head and said. "Thank you but, I rather stay here. If I go home, I wouldn't be able to rest anyway. Karen doesn't care if I feel sick. She'll just make do something around the house no matter what. You know how Karen is."
"That I do." Sarah chuckled. "She's a real piece of work."
Jessica chuckled then nodded. "That she is."

Sarah and Jessica then proceeded to get the library ready for the day. Sarah decided to do Jessica's job which was to restock the bookshelves with all the returned books and any new arrivals they would get. Jessica took over the seeing of the checking out of books and returns from the front desk.

Just as the day started, Jessica was hit with a wave of nausea. Jessica's face paled and she had to close her eyes to concentrate on her breathing, willing the nausea away.

Suddenly, Jessica couldn't hold it in and she felt her breakfast coming back up.

She rushed to the bathroom and vomited into the toilet bowl. She spent a few minutes on the floor of the bathroom until her stomach was empty. This had been going on for the past week but she had yet to go see her doctor. She was worried that it could be something serious such as cancer and that thought alone scared her.