Georgie; Revisited

Chapter Four: Zach and Jessica

Zach Sherwin continued driving after looking over at his wife again. She was half awake. He knew he couldn't possibly understand the trauma this trip has put on her. After the night she got the email and had the meltdown, she stopped eating properly. She had always been a picky eater who got full after a half of a sandwich. He never understood it, he wasn't even full after a whole sandwich but he had been as skinny as a stick his whole life. So had she, even after three kids. The eating didn't bother him as much as the sleeping did. She never slept, sometimes she would wake up at ungodly hours of the night in a cold sweat. He didn't dare to ask, nor imagine what those dreams were about. Zach had been aware that the past month was tough in more ways than one. Jess had stopped tending to her responsibilities as well. He would have to take Andrew to soccer practice after work on a Tuesday, and she would be sleeping or on a run. She ran almost three different times a day. Jess was always a talented runner who had anxious tendencies. She always had to push herself too far, and wouldn't stop until she got there. But this wasn't just training for a triathlon, he knew it was out of anxiety and only that. She had to run, or something wouldn't be fulfilled. Zach wished he could stop it but he knew the only person who could was herself All her life she had dealt with it, and it went away for a while, so something had worked. He knew all about her childhood and how upsetting it was. He looked over one last time, to see her asleep. Zach kept his eyes on the road after that. Jessica's mother died when she was six from ovarian cancer. After that, her dad was taking care of two daughters. She was the oldest, so the pressure and responsibility was always on her. Then when she was eleven, the Marian Walters State Park incident happened and she had to go through years and years of therapy afterwards. Zach had always known this because they grew up together. He, too was a resident of Amesille his whole life and went to these triathlons. That was where he met her, but some triathlons he never went to and the one when they were eleven was one of those times. Zach loved Jessica, so much. He thought she was the most intelligent and lovely women to grace the earth and he hated to see her suffer. Jessica's childhood was great, she grew up playing soccer and making life long friends but the family and mental aspect of it wasn't. He made a promise to himself that she would be fine this weekend, and he would do anything to help her. Zach found himself looking over one more time, and she opened her eyes. "How many more minutes until we get there?" She asked, rubbing her eyes. "Maybe around 30? You have a while, go back to sleep". She nodded tiredly, and turned back to the window. Zack looked in the rear view mirror and saw his three children doing their own thing. Andrew was looking out the window, Carla was reading a book and Sue was asleep. He smiled, for the family he had.