Forever series. A Sapphic Novel, Book 1, "Your my last," Chapter 6, by Asya Kaya.

 

Chapter 6. Cold.

Chloe had been gone three weeks, winter had come and the cold was relentless.

Sam was surprised to see that there was so much snow on the ground, it was piled up around her house, all the trees were white and even though Sam was rugged up, in a heavy coat, she still felt cold.

Sam had never experienced a winter like this, the cold seemed to penetrate deep inside of her, she could not get warm no matter what she did.

Weeks passed, standing at her easel she began to realise that painting was becoming a painful process. Brushes slipped between her stiff fingers, just holding the brushes felt as if her fingers were burning.

The pain in her naked fingers made Sam cry, she could only work in bursts, gloves on, gloves off for a brief periods before she had to put the gloves back on to warm her fingers.

The studio heater hissed uselessly.

Everything she did became labour some, because of the brutal cold.

The heater in the studio made little difference, she had to get very close to it even to feel some warmth and with each day passing she painted less and less, until she arrived at a point where she stopped painting altogether.

The cold had won.

Sam cuddled up in her lounge chair wrapped in blankets in front of the heater, the freezing cold could not be stopped, she cried as she thought of her mum back in warn, sunny Sydney, it seemed she had tears running down her cheeks from morning until night every day.

She stopped bathing, it was just to cold to get undressed and she just sat crying and praying for the cold to stop and for her to get warm.

Over a couple weeks Sam began to feel sick, her nose was constantly running and she felt unwell. She thought she should go to the doctor, unfortunately there was just so much snow on the ground outside, it was bitterly cold and she did not want to walk through the snow into the village.

When she looked outside all she could was white, caused by so much snow, low clouds and fog, if she got lost going to the village, she would surely die.

She had bought the heater out of the studio and put it in the small room, however it did not make a lot of difference, Sam shivered continuously as she lay in bed, to try and get warm, she even wore her heavy coat to bed, her lovely stone building, now covered in snow, ice was beginning to form on some of the inside walls, it had become an ice box.

One week later Sam was unable to get out of bed and when she did struggle out it was only to go the toilet or get some water to drink, she felt dizzy, she was very sick, her whole body was aching and she didn’t know what she was going to do.

She just lay in her bed shivering and now she knew only the worlds of darkness and freezing cold.

Chloe arrived back on the first Monday in December wearing her Australian cap, she had been trying to ring Sam since she got off the plane, she got no answer, she had important meetings to go to, yet she was very distracted trying to get in touch with Sam.

She was so worried that she called Jenny and said. “Call the driver, I want to go out and see Sammy right away, she is not answering my calls.”

“Ma'am, we have two meetings we need to attend, we can go tomorrow.”

Frantically Chloe said. “Postpone them, I am so worried about Sammy, I want to go now, right now.”

“Yes Ma'am, I will make the necessary calls as we drive out to see Miss Sam.”

They went out to the van and left for the lake district, by the time they got to Sam’s house it was just after midday, it was overcast and cold, snow covered Sam’s home it looked like an igloo and there was deep snow all over the ground.

Chloe and Jenny stepped out of the van and made their way through the powder to the front door of Sam’s house and knocked on the door.

There was no answer, they tried the door knob and it was unlocked, they both went inside, it was freezing cold, they found Sam in her bed unconscious and shivering.

Chloe said. “Sammy wake up, wake up.”

Sam did not move and they could not wake her.

“Oh my god Jenny, help me get her out to the van, she is very sick.”

The two girls lifted her out of the bed and took her out to the van, Jenny went back in to get Sam’s bag and phone and then closed the front door.

“Jenny put that coat over her, I can’t believe this has happened, oh my God, not my Sammy.”

Once in the warm van, over time Sam slowly began to stop shivering and her head was on Chloe’s lap and she stroked Sam’s hair as tears ran down her face, Jenny covered Sam’s body with a heavy coat.

Chloe said to driver. “Go straight to my home. Jenny call our Doctor Ming and ask her to come to my home in an hour.”

Chloe continued to stroke Sam’s matted hair. Constant tears ran down her face falling onto the coat covering Sam, looking at her blue tinged lips, she prayed they were not to late.

Two weeks later, the week before Christmas.

Sam woke up and saw Chloe sitting on the bed beside her, Sam looked at her and said. “Where am I?”

“You are in my home Sammy, I went out to see you and you were very sick, so I took you home with me and a doctor has been treating you, she said you were very lucky we found you as you would not have lasted much longer.”

“How long have I been here?”

“Two weeks now.”

“Whose bed is this?”

“It’s my bed Sammy, I have slept beside you every night, so I knew you were safe.”

“Whose pyjamas am I wearing?”

“They are mine also.”

Panicking Sam said. “Who dressed me?”

“Sammy it’s ok, you were so sick when we got you here, it looked like you hadn’t bathed for weeks, so my nanny undressed you and washed you and put clean cloths on you as she does every day, don’t panic, you are safe, are you hungry?”

Sam felt quite disorientated and confused and wondered what was going on, she heard what Chloe had said and she answered.“Yes, a little bit.”

“The doctor said we are to start you on soup, so I will get the maids to bring some up for you.”

Chloe took out her phone and spoke to Jenny, it was at that point that Sam noticed that one of her paintings was hanging in the bedroom, Chloe saw her looking at the painting and she said. “It’s last thing I see every night before I go to sleep, and the first thing I see each day and I think of you and it brightens up my day instantly.”

Chloe smiled at Sam and touched her face. “For the last two weeks you are the last thing I see before I go to sleep and the first thing I see every morning.”

Sam smiled. “Thank you for looking after me, I don’t know how to thank you, I am sorry if I seemed upset when I woke up, I am not used to sleeping in someones bed and being bathed and dressed by a stranger.”

“My nanny has been with me for years and she was the only one who saw you naked, I must admit I did sneak a quick peak.” And smiled at Sam.

“When can I go back to my studio?”

“Sammy you can’t, you have been very sick, maybe in the summertime, the doctor said she will see you over the next two weeks, so Sammy we can have Christmas together, I am so excited.”

Sam smiled. “That will be fun, I hope I am out of bed by then, I need to go to the toilet.”

Chloe helped Sam out of bed and took her into the bathroom and said. “Will you be ok, call me if you have any problems.”

Chloe left the bathroom, a few minutes later the door opened and Chloe rushed over to help Sam who was still unstable on her feet and laid her softly back down on the sheets and covered her with the blanket.

Sam looked at her. “Thank you again for all you have done for me, you will need to give me all the bills for the doctor so I can pay you back.”

Chloe pouted and looked at her and said. “No!”

“You shouldn’t have to spend your money on me, let me pay you back.”

“Sammy, do you want me to get upset and cry?”

“No, but.”

“Sammy stop, I don’t want to talk about this.”

A maid walked into the room with some soup, Sam could smell it and realised how hungry she was, the maid also had a small table to put over Sam so she could eat the soup.

Jenny walked in as well and walked over to Sam and put her phone on the bedside table and said. “Good to see you awake Miss Sam, I charged it for you and you had a call from George, I told him you were sick and he wanted to come and visit you, I told him that wasn’t possible at this time, I said you will ring him when you are well again, you also had some calls from an art supply store, I just said you would ring them after Christmas.”

“Thank you Jenny for helping me, I am very grateful.”

“Your welcome Ma'am, really it was Miss Chloe who insisted we go straight to you when you didn’t answer the phone, it was fortunate we did, otherwise you would not have lasted much longer.”

“I am grateful to both of you, I am in your debt.”

Chloe smiled and said. “Hmm, how can you repay that debt, I shall have to think of something?”

Sam smiled. “I will do anything you want.”

“Anything, we will see when I collect on this debt.”

Jenny said. “Miss, I will go and do the shopping you want done.” And handed Sam note paper and a ball pen.

Chloe said. “Sammy, please write down you bra size, your pantie size and your waist size as Jenny will buy them for you and some shorts, we have plenty of new t-shirts and singlets we can give you, so write it all down,”

“I will give you the money for them.”

“Sammy stop, I doing this for you, so you will be able to get up and start to walk around, you have to get better and strong.”

“Thank you Chloe, you are very kind to me.”  

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