Cold Hands

She always had cold hands. No one knows why she does, nor if there was a time when they were warm. She knows such a time...

Cold Hands

by Omegax45

 

 

  She has cold hands, always.  There wasn’t a time where anyone can remember when they were warm.  If there were times when they were not cold, there were too few and too short to be deemingly important enough to memorize.

The young woman has slender fingers upon each of her small hands, the kind one would love to have comb their hair in a loving matter or thread their fingers with.  They wouldn’t with her, however, because they were so cold.  The fingertips were so much like ice that, if they were to touch someone, would freeze upon the slightest brush of skin.  The fingertips weren’t blue to indicate a loss of warm blood circulating throughout her body or that she spent her days holding cold objects.  Even in the summer her hands remain cold, no matter how hot the weather became.

 Her family had become used to the cold hands of their daughter long ago.  She would occasionally rub her hands together if the coldness became a bother, but it did nothing to warm them.  It was a force of habit now.  She would run them over very warm water and they would be warm for a little while before becoming cold again.  She would keep her hands under the covers at night and they would become warm, but would return to being cold again the near-instant she leaves her warm bed. 

 Some had wondered if it was a curse placed upon the young woman for whatever sin she had committed in the present or in her last lifetime.  Others had suggested that  it might be a medical condition, considering that she was a tall woman.  The only one that seem to know, but is not telling, is the young woman herself.  It was a precious time that had happened long ago, and despite recalling that time brought back warm happiness, it also brought with it a chilling pain that she had no desire to live through again.

 It happened when she met him back in high school, during her senior year.  He was a transfer student, running late in a town he wasn’t familiar with and to a school he was just starting.  She helped him, guided him to where he had to go.  He was so grateful that he offered her a date as a thank you for her help.  The young woman tried to turn him down, thinking that he was being generous and wouldn’t be so once h heard the rumors about her cold hands.  The young man, however, was insistent and even grabbed her hands.  The young woman was shocked at the bold movement, especially when he became concerned at how cold her hands were and began rubbing them to make them warm again.  She told him that it wasn’t necessary for they were always cold.  He had told her nonsense and kept at it until they were lukewarm, then gave her a childish grin and bid her farewell until Saturday for their date.  The young woman looked confused, realizing that her hands were still warm and were not turning cold again.  It stayed that way for the rest of the day until the next morning, when they were once again cold.

  Saturday came and they went to the movies.  The young man didn’t do anything inappropriate, considering himself a gentleman that would never harm a woman.  They went to dinner afterwards, bidding each other goodnight after he took her home.  He kissed the back of her hand and left with a wink.  The young woman had found herself blushing from the show of affection.  The area where he kissed felt so warm and it lasted for two days before the warmth faded.

 The two young adults began dating afterwards, and the young woman’s hands were rarely cold.  She couldn’t explain it.  Why were they warm now?  What did this young man do that she did not?  She asked her mother about it, and she believed that the reason her hands are warm is because her heart is warm with love.  Everyone had a soul mate searching for them, and that everyone didn’t feel whole without them, didn’t feel completely warm.  Perhaps her daughter had found hers with the young man.  The young woman wasn’t so sure of her mother’s explanation, but she did feel colder when the young man wasn’t around her for a long period of time.  She even felt lonely, which was odd since she didn’t have many friends and was used to being alone.  She decided to be with the young man a little longer and see where it would take her.

 Months had passed, and the two became closer than before.  The young woman never felt so warm in her life, never felt so attached to someone other than her parents.  It almost felt like heaven, and she didn’t want to leave.  The young man was so kind to her, taking her to romantic places and not pushing her into things she wasn’t ready for.  He would tell her stories of the places he had lived in when his parents transferred for work, how he didn’t feel close to any of the girls he dated until he met her.  Soon though, graduation was closing in upon them and they had to choose their choice of college.  They both wanted to go to the same college, but only the young woman was accepted.  The young man was rejected due to not obtaining enough credits.  He was dishearten, but the college nearby accepted him, so he considered it a consolation prize.  They had planned to visit each other whenever they have the time and help each other with exams.

  Prom night lead to a disaster on their part.  Someone had spiked the punch they drank and they found themselves in a hotel after a night they couldn’t remember until they woke up and the memories flashed before their eyes moments later.  The young man felt ashamed, for he didn’t want to take that next step until they were a bit older and the young woman was ready for it.  He was grateful that he had enough sense the night before to wear a condom, but was terrified to find that it had broken during their intercourse.  He had refused to call it love making, for neither had been sober enough to give the other approval.  The young woman was worried about becoming pregnant or if they had any sexual diseases, and the young man agreed to tell their parents.  Bringing them together to tell them at the same time was easy, but the confession was the hardest.  All four of them were disappointed by their actions, but were proud that their children had come forward and told them the truth.  They had taken them to the hospital to be tested, and both young adults were clean of sexual diseases.  The pregnancy test, however, would take some time before the doctors could test the young woman, so they agreed to come back in two weeks.  In the meantime, both young adults had promised to refrain from have any sexual intercourse until they were ready.  The young man had stated he was going to try and save money in case the young woman was really pregnant, although he had been told that it wasn’t necessary for now.  His parents were proud that he was taking responsibility for his actions, but a baby was a very big responsibility.  All of them were going to help out if it comes to that.

  Within the second month to last before graduation, a sports festival took place at the school.  The young woman was helping in a café set up by her class to raise money for clubs while the young man was busy with baseball and football.  They didn’t have much time to see each other, but had promised to meet up once the festival was over later that day.  As the young man was taking a break, one of the cheerleaders offered to share her bottle of water with him.  He thanked her and took a sip, being very thirsty.  However, after taking a few sips, he suddenly began to feel dizzy.  The girl offered to take him to the infirmary for him to lie down and rest, but no one saw them again afterwards.

  The young woman was informed by one of her friends of what happened. Becoming worried, she went to the infirmary to a horrifying sight.  The girl that helped the young man to the infirmary was on top of him, missing the lower half of her outfit and thrusting her hips upon the unmoving young man below.  She was making noises of pleasure, but the young man was silent, breathing even.  The young woman told her friends to get security and they came shortly, witnessing what the young woman had done and arrested the girl right then and there.  The girl had thrashed against her bonds and told them to release her, but when she was informed that she was going to jail for rape and drugging the young man, she turned hateful eyes full of triumph upon the young woman.  She stated that she had always hated the young woman for taking the young man as her own, and that she had injected so much fertility drugs inside of her that she would become pregnant with her beloved’s child and he would have no choice but to marry her instead.  Everyone had called her a fool for doing such a trick, and the young woman didn’t tell her of the possibility of her being pregnant with the young man’s child as well.  That would cause the girl to attack her and she couldn’t take that chance.

 Once the girl was taken away to the police station, her water bottle confiscated as evidence, the young man was rushed to the hospital.  The police had tried to find out what the drug was that the girl used, but she had refused to say what it was.  The forensics would not come back for another week, and doctors were doing all they could to save the young man as his heart slowly began to stop.  Without knowing what the drug was, they could not treat it.  The young woman was forced into the waiting room, unable to find out anything.  Her parents had come to the hospital and taken her home after several hours, stating that she needed to rest.  The next morning, however, her world became cold as ice when the young man’s parents came to her home in tears, telling them that their son had died.  The young woman felt numb all over from the cold, her tears feeling colder as they had fallen from her cheeks.  She didn’t utter a sound.  She couldn’t.  She lost her soul mate, her source of warmth, and the father of her child.  All for a woman’s jealousy.  It was too cruel.

 The forensics had discovered that the drug the girl used was a fatal concoction that puts the victim in a comatose-like state by slowing the body’s functions for a long period of time.  If enough was ingested, the body’s function would cease and the body would begin to decompose.  It was a poison similar to the venom in spiders and snakes, and the girl had bought the venom from a seller online without even bothering to read the warning.  Since the seller couldn’t be traced, there was no means of charging him with murder as the girl was charged.  The girl pleaded innocent on trial and tried to use her pregnancy, which was not official confirmed by any doctor, to try and get herself a lighter sentence.  The evidence was too overwhelming against her and the judge didn’t blink an eye at her declarations.  She was sentence to life in prison without parole and once it was confirmed that she was pregnant, then she was to take pregnancy counseling until the child is born, where arrangements would be made for the child’s well-being.  Even though they had won, the young woman still felt like she had lost.

  Since then, she couldn’t get warm again.  It was like before she met the young man, her love, but only worse because the cold felt like someone was stabbing her repeatedly with a dull knife.  She couldn’t get warm, no matter what she did.  The only thing that had kept her from doing something crazy, like suicide, was the pregnancy results from the hospital.  Positive.  She was carrying her love’s child.  She had to live for her baby.  She owed it that and so much more, now that it no longer had a father.  She would do her best for it.

  Her parents and the young man’s parents had offered to help.  They put money aside and turned the guest room into a small nursery.  The young woman graduated and decided to take online courses during her second semester, where she would be too large to be running around the large campus.  She decided to fulfill her dream and become a pastry chef like she always wanted.  She was a really good cook and can make the most beautiful designs on a cake.  All she needed was her degree and she would be able to open her own pastry shop.  Her parents had approved of the idea.  They wanted to see their daughter happy.

  Near the end of the first semester, she had a baby bump that was growing every day.  The young man’s parents, whom she grew fond of and called her own, had called to say that the girl that killed their son was not pregnant as she planned.  It turned out the fertility drugs she bought online were placebos, sugar pills.  She was ripped off by a scammer and she was livid by it.  It was a small piece of good news, teaching her a lesson about the precautions of buying on the internet.  The young woman had forgotten about it moments later, the girl a fading memory.  It was better to forget what she had done.  It would make it easier to forgive her and set herself free of her forever.  Anger only leaves you attach to what you hate.

  The second semester became harder as she could only participate in online classes.  She and her parents had saved enough for the baby and she didn’t need to spend much on books or supplies.  Her back had ached painfully and she had difficulties sleeping, especially when her baby kicked her at night.  She had cried when she felt it kicked and placed her hand over her belly.  However, the baby would stop once her cold hands touch the area it kicked.  It had made the young woman sad to think her baby would be afraid of her cold hands.  She would have to wear gloves to shield her baby of the coldness.

  The young woman had gone into labor a month before the semester ended.  Her parents had rushed her to the hospital and called her adopted parents.  The young woman had never felt so much pain in her life as she struggled to bring her baby into the world, crying her love’s name many times in her fear.  Her parents had tried to comfort her, the labor lasting for hours.  Finally, the young woman had given birth to a baby boy.  He had his father’s looks, but his mother’s eyes.  The young woman cried happily when she was given her new son, too choked up to give the nurses his name.  Her parents had taken over for her, holding strong despite the tears in their eyes.  They were able to take the new life home along with his mother two days later.

  Years had passed and the young woman had opened her pastry shop, which also had an apartment above that she lived in with her son, who was four years old now and enjoys tasting his mother’s newest creations.  The young woman limited how many sweets he had a day, afraid he might turn into a ‘little piggy’ one day.  Her son hated when she mentions that.  The young woman would open the shop in the morning, close for lunch and spending time with her son, then reopen until evening, where she would close for the night and make dinner after cleaning the shop, then spend a few hours with her son before they went to bed.  Soon, though, the young boy will be going to school and be making new friends, leaving the young woman with plenty of time to devote herself to her shop… and become lonely again.  It would be a painful time, but one she felt she was ready for.

  One day, as she was working on a cake for a girl’s sixteenth birthday, her son came into the shop with a confused look on his face.

  “What’s the matter Danny,” the young woman asked, putting the frosting bag down and kneeling before her son.

  “Mommy,” Danny began, curiosity in his eyes, “Why do you have cold hands?  I don’t have cold hands, so why only you, Mommy?”

  “My dear sweetie,” the young woman took her son into a hug, Knowing that this day would come, “Mommy has cold hands because I lost my true love years ago.  He was your daddy, and he loved you and me very much.  However, he was taken from us before his time, and my heart is cold without him.  That coldness is reflected in my hands.”

  “But why would God take Daddy before his time?”

“He didn’t.  Someone else did, and God is making sure that person pays for it.  Don’t worry.  Just because Daddy isn’t here doesn’t mean that he isn’t watching over us.  He just can’t come back as a living person because it’s against God’s rules.  He will return someday, but as a new person, and once you find your own soul mate, you will understand.”

  “Will I find my soul mate soon, Mommy?”

“Maybe, but don’t rush your childhood yet.  You have so much time to live, and learn.  And so does your soul mate.  When you both are ready, I’m sure you both will meet someday.”

“Okay Mommy.  I hope your hands become warm again someday.”

“I hope so too,” the young woman replied and watched her son leave.  She picks up the frosting bag and felt that it was colder than usual.  She places it down and felt her hands.

    They were warm again.

 

THE END

 

 

 

Author's Note

I thought of making this story after my hands became cold from being outside for awhile and didn't warm up for awhile. Hope you guys like it.

Reviews

[Lisette Gentry]

this was a beautiful piece of writing and quite sad how she lost her love like that. the idea is quite unique and well written the only problem with the story is a few grammar and spelling errors and the jumping from past tense to present tense but other then those small errors the story is great. if you fix them it would flow a lot better and be perfect. keep up the amazing writing

[DreyaArt]

beautiful writing, I thought it very relateable, my hands are always cold. And people seem freaked out by it. They arent always unbearably cold, just sometimes. And the boys that I know are always trying to warm them :) even though its only ever temporary.
I thought you seemed to be writing in past tense, but then sometimes became confused and started writing some words in present. You might just want to read over and decide on the past or present tense, the hopping back and forth between the two is unconsistant.
Other then that. Beautiful please keep writing.