I have put off posting for a while because I had swore to myself that the subject of this article would be the very next thing I posted. And then, the more I thought of it, the more I thought that it would be inappropriate for me to do so soon after it happened. Maybe now is the time…
On a very wet Tuesday morning, October 17th, the car that Jessica was driving, ran off a Mount Airy, NC road and overturned three times. Jessica was not wearing her seatbelt and was thrown from her car. She was rushed to Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center,but unfortunately, she did not survive her injuries and passed away on Wednesday.
Jessica was Victoria’s close friend and a former classmate and had moved to North Carolina the previous year to be with her father. Late Monday evening, the night before the accident, Victoria had received a text message from Jessica saying how much she missed Victoria and her friends in Loris. Local rumor has it that Jessica was planning on moving back to Loris and graduating with her long-time friends.
Needless to say that Victoria was devastated by the news. Jessica was one of her crew. And then to receive that text message from her the night before her accident was even harder. She’s had a tough time trying to cope with Jessica’s death. She refused to delete the message from her cell phone, and the other day, I noticed that her t-shirt that each of her close friends had with all their names air-brushed on it was hanging up in the laundry room. Since then, Vitoria has talked with Jessica’s mom, who shared some mementos and pictures with her. She showed Victoria a box where Jessica had kept all of their notes to each other. This seemed to help a little, and I just pray that Victoria is starting to find some kind of closure.
I feel the same for Jessica’s mother… I can’t imagine the amount of anguish she has been experiencing. No parent should ever… ever have to bury their children, and my heart truly goes out to her…
Rest Peacefully, Jessica.
Jessica Michelle Sykes…
…
Thank you…each day gets a little easier. I have no idea how much pain her mom is feeling, but she said every time she talked about Jessica it got a little better. I think knowing that so many people cared for and loved her helps her mom. I don’t like talking about how she died…I’d rather talk about all the memories we have of her time spent with us…like the first time we wore those ‘Anti-Preps’ shorts to school–that was a blast & the funny thing is I can still hear her laugh in my head and picture the whole thing perfectly. Those are the memories I hope never go away. I love you, daddy!
I am sorry to hear about the loss… although I don’t have a problem with death and dying of people both young and old. I discovered that I have a problem with the void that is created… It does get a little easier with time, but since April 20th, there has not been a day that I haven’t thought about my dad, sometimes it’s not a sad thought, but sometimes it is…
Hi. I’m Jessica’s oldest sister. I just wanted to share with you a dream I had of Jessica. My husband & I have tried for so long now to have a baby. We had given up & was thinking about adoption shortly before Jessica’s accident. One night Jessica came to me in a dream…she was holding a baby girl. I asked her who’s baby it was and she said it was her God-Daughter. She told me not to give up. Back in 2004 while trying to get pregnant through inseminations, I had told Mom that I wanted Jessica to be the baby’s God-Mother but that I wanted it to be kept a secret until the day we got pregnant. We decided to try again and the very first time we went back to the Dr we got pregnant! And…it’s a GIRL! We had lost hope. Especially since loosing Jessica. Jessica gave our family a reason to hope again. I truely believe that she sent us this little miracle. We have not decided on a name yet but this little blessing will have her Aunt’s middle name…Michelle, as her own. Jessica is indeed my sister…my angel!!
niki_n_paul@comcast.net
To Victoria:
I wanted to thank you for being Jessica’s friend. You guys did share some rough times there at the end but please don’t let the bad times out way the good you had together. She loved you and always will. She talked about how she missed you. She would not want you feeling bad about not speaking to each other. The phone worked both ways! People sometimes get mad about stupid stuff and don’t talk for a while. Just feel blessed that you were probably one of the very last people she reached out to. She wanted you to know that she didn’t have any hard feelings and that she loved you. I also want to thank you for visiting Mom. It does her good to know that there are people out there that care and want to keep Jessica alive in their memories. It’s always the little things that count. If you ever need to talk know that you have always got someone to talk to. The most important thing you can do for Jessica is to think about her every time you get in a car by buckling your seat belt! God bless you and your family.
I went to school with jessica and we used to hang out alot… Jessica was the sister I never had and meant alot to me. I spoke with her also the night
before her accident, she explained she missed her mom and missed Loris. When I got to school something didnt feel quite right cause we always met before class and she never showed. When I heard what happened I felt a huge hole in my heart. The night of the viewing I brought my son who loved jess he was only 8 months old at the time when I got to your mom we both were crying so hard my little boy reached out to hold your mom and immediately it was as if she was standing there telling me to quit blubbering tough girls dont cry. Heaven has another angel and my best friend I LOVE and MISS you jessica!!