HER FAULTS

The crowd slowly dispersed as soon as the ambulance left with Cade and Cruz and soon, Jessica was alone sitting on the ground.

"This is all my fault! I shouldn't have been so harsh!" She kept mumbling to herself as she bit her lower lip. She stared blankly at the ground forgetting that she was in the school area until a young lady in a red mini gown and a black ankle strap pump walked towards her and bent down to tap her shoulder, her long black hair sweeping Jessica's face briefly. 

Jessica panicked upon her touch as she was tugged back to reality. 

"Miss Vegas, are you alright?" Miss Willow asked as she helped her to her feet. 

"I-I...I'm fine." Jessica stuttered. 

"Is this your first time witnessing an accident?" She wondered but Jessica was too shocked to speak as she just kept staring into space. 

Mr. Willow is a Chemistry teacher for the 12th graders and she shares the same office with her so she helped her to their office and her desk. 

"What is wrong with her?" Miss Caleb, another staff member who was a physics teacher, asked. 

"She witnessed Cade's accident. I think she's highly traumatized." Miss Willow explained. 

"Oh, that means she can't even open her phone because the gruesome picture is all over the internet." Miss Caleb remarked. 

"What? All over the internet? That's gross. He's only a kid struggling with his life at the moment. Why would they already have those gruesome pictures all over the internet?" Jessica finally spoke up. 

"Tsk...welcome to a high-class world." The two teachers chorused.

"Can I go…" Her voice trailed off by the buzzing of the landline on her desk. 

"A call for you." Miss Caleb gestured to her table and she ran to get it. 

"You see what you caused?" Mr. Logan's cold and shaky voice hit her ear. 

"Kids are fragile and they hurt easily. You were just too harsh towards him and now, he's over there struggling for his life. I hope you're satisfied now." He reprimanded angrily.

"Sir, I…" She could barely form a sentence before he ended the call. 

Jessica felt her heart sink into her stomach and her legs failed her again making her almost fall to the ground if not for the intervention of Miss Willow and Caleb. 

"God, Miss Vegas, be careful." Miss Willow warned. 

"Who was that?" Miss Caleb inquired.

"I need to go home!" Jessica exclaimed. 

"Yeah! You really need some rest. I will drop you." Mr. Bowen, who was just joining them, offered. 

"That's great. We will help you take a sick leave." Miss Willow suggested.  

"Thank you, guys! I'm really grateful." Jessica managed to say before she followed Mr. Bowen outside to his car. 

A few minutes ride and you were in front of your apartment in the One Estates. 

Jessica was so stressed out that she couldn't even thank or wave at Mr. Bowen before hurrying into the house. 

She rushed over to the washroom after dropping her bags and removing her sneakers scattered throughout the living and she began puking until she could vomit all she ate the whole day. 

"God! Please let him be fine!" Jessica whimpered as she washed her face in the washing sink. 

Her breath and pulse quickened as thoughts of Cade crowded her mind. 

Forget about Cruz's wrath, she'd never be able to forgive herself if something happens to him. 

Cold sweat broke through her body and slowly, she was finding it difficult to breathe. 

She fell to the ground and just underneath the sink then she crawled towards the bathtub and curled into her fetal position inside the bathtub before letting the water from the shower drizzle on her.

She cried in excruciating pain as flashbacks of Cade's condition crowded her mind. A sharp pain seared through her heart and she could feel it splitting into million pieces. 

All through the day, she remained in the bathtub bawling out her heart until Leah finally returned from work. 

By then, Jessica already passed out and her neutral olive skin turned pale. 

Seeing how Jessica's things were littering the house, Leah knew something was wrong. She called out to her severally until she finally went into her bathroom. 

"Jessica, what is wrong with you?" She panicked as she saw her lying unconscious inside the bathtub. She quickly turned off the shower and supported her out of it.

With much difficulty, Leah successfully pulled Leah out and helped her down the stairs of their two-story luxurious apartment down to where the car was parked in the compound. 

She quickly used the remote to open the gate after taking Jessica into the car.

In a few minutes, she was at the Estate's clinic and with the help of the nurse, Jessica was admitted to a ward where she was being attended to. 

Leah was very devastated by Jessica's condition and to worsen it, she had no idea what could have caused her to do that to herself when she left home cheerfully earlier. 

She sat on the bench outside the ward while Jessica was being attended to and she packed her short blonde hair into a messy ponytail before dipping her hand into the right pocket of her navy blue wide-leg pants to bring out her phone to make a call. Her white halter strap crop top and pants were already wet from carrying Jessica but she could only care less. 

"Tyler! I need you to come over to our place." She panicked in a shaky voice that was hard not to notice. 

"What's wrong, Leah? What happened to you?" Tyler asked, his voice filled with so much concern and worry. 

"I...I-It Jessie. Just come over to the Estate's clinic." She replied. 

"Ok! Just calm down, I'm on my way." He confirmed and quickly ended the call. 

She tapped her feet rigorously on the ground and she constantly nuzzled her hair back and forth as she gritted her teeth while she anticipated the doctor's comment and Tyler's presence. 

WESTHAM PHARMACEUTICAL, INC. LA.

Cade was rushed from the ambulance into the Emergency Operation room of Westham Pharmaceuticals on the first fall but Cruz was stopped in front of the door. 

'What are you doing? Oh...my surgical wears, I can't think about that now let me just go in." Cruz panicked.

"No, son. You ain't conducting the operation, Dr. Campbell will conduct it." Mrs. Robert, a chubby woman in her late 50s who was usually referred to as 'Big Mommy' said.

Mrs. Robert was a chubby woman with short blonde hair with porcelain skin and marble gray eyes. She was a scrub nurse in Cruz's surgical team and well-loved and respected by every staff in the hospital including Cruz himself. 

"What are you saying? You know there is no better surgeon than me in this hospital." Cruz claimed, nuzzling his fluffy dark golden brown hair from time to time. 

"I understand that Cruz, but you are not in the right mind now. You trust Val, don't you? She will surely make this surgery a success and our whole team will support her." Mrs. Robertreassured. 

"No! I have to…" Cruz was still talking when Mrs. Robertnodded her head slightly towards a nurse behind Cruz's and she quickly injected Cruz. 

"W-what…was that?" Cruz asked before he slowly lost his consciousness and balance, falling towards Big Mommy.