Lost And Found

Chapter Seven

CHAPTER SEVEN

It had been a week since the last time she saw Sam, since then all they did was chat but that morning, she woke up to the vibration from beneath her. She reached for the phone which she had been lying on and didn't even check to see who the caller was.
"Hello?"
"Hey" He said.
"Sam?"
"Yh, are you okay?"
No she was not, she was having a fever.
"I'm fine" she said in a not so convincing manner.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"Yes I'm fine" She managed to sit up and the headache that followed made her groan.
"You don't sound okay Denise"
"It's just a headache"
"Try lying down for a while"
"I've been doing a lot of lying down and it's not helping but don't worry I'll be fine, let me freshen up and get back to you okay"
"Sure" He said and she hang up.
She stood out of bed and her stomach began to churn. She rushed to the bathroom and washed her face, when she was sure she wasn't going to throw up she walked into the kitchen for a glass of water and drank a full glass. She made herself a sandwich, poured a glass of milk and began to eat up while watching the news.

Sam sat at his desk with his guitar in his hand, he'd been trying to rehearse but he couldn’t bring himself to concentrate, he had to admit he was worried about her, he had an urge to call her but instead he texted.
"Hey"
It took a while before she texted back.
"Hey"
"How are you feeling?"
"Much better thanks" She replied.
"Trying to write something but I can't seem to get it together"
"Well, I'm not so much of a song writer but what do you want to write about?"
"Something around starting afresh, new beginnings…."
"Okay, lets do it this way……I'll write something and send it to you then you flip it up to suit your tune and all, deal?"
"That would be great, thanks"
"Will get to it. I'll let you know when I'm done alright, just send me your email address"
"Sure" He texted. Then he heard his mom call.
"Gotta go, mom needs me"
"Good riddance" She typed back and he laughed.
"I'll get you" were his last words then he stood to attend to his mother.
He rushed down the stairs and found his mother putting dinner together. His father walked in from the kitchen with a plate of bowl of peas.
"Dinner is almost ready honey"
"Finally!" He wrapped his arms around his mom.
"You seem quite cheerful today, did you finally ask Nadia out"
"What, who, wait what are you talking about"
"Nadia, I thought you two….."
"Hell no"
"Language" His father said.
"Sorry dad but Nadia and I aren't together"
"Oh, she seems to like you a lot and I must admit you both look good together"
"Mom….you're doing it again"
"Doing what?, I'm just saying maybe you should think about it"
"There is nothing to think about, Nadia and I are just friends and that’s all we'll ever be now can we eat"
"He's right Anie, just let the young man be, he has the right to choose for himself who he wants to bring home"
"Bham!, 10 points to the sir and I'm sorry Ma but its Zero for you today"
"I'll put that down on the scoreboard" Mr. Graham said and teasingly laughed at his wife as he walked away.
"Bring yourself here joor" Anie Graham said after her husband and laughed at their silliness.
She pulled a chair and took her seat, so did Sam then waited for her husband to join them.
"Honey, anytime soon would be nice I'm starved" She called back.
"Coming" He said and appeared, he pulled a chair and sat where he always sat.
"Samuel, kindly lead us in prayer"
"Alright dad" He said and shut his eyes just like they did.
"Father, we thank you for yet another day of my mom's amazing cooking, and for the gift of family, Amen"
"Amen" They repeated and went to attacking the garlic roast potatoes.
"So how is your friend, I hope you're helping her out with all of this"
"Denise?, yeah, a day at a time"
"You made a new friend?"
"Yeah, the girl I told you about, the one I found at the bus stop"
"Oh yeah the poor thing, how is she"
"She's a strong woman, apparently she witnessed the death of her father, I think that is what caused the panic disorder"
"That’s sad"
"Yeah it is, but she's okay, I still don't know why she was in so much panic that day but I know whatever it was it was traumatic for her and for that reason I just don't want her to feel alone"
"Sam you cant keep blaming yourself for what happened to Gracie"
"Mom I'm not blaming myself"
"Son, I know you feel bad about what happened to Gracie"
"Even if I do dad don't you think this is my chance to make right what I did wrong or what I didn't do at al when iw as supposed to, Gracie wouldn’t have died if i was there for her, she felt neglected because all I did was blame her for her problems without even finding out what started them and when I finally did it was too late"
His mother sighed and touched his hand warmly.
"I want to be there for Denise, not because of the self blame, but because I don't want her to feel alone, I don't want her to go through what Gracie did, you know she got me a set of LED strings just to say thanks for being there for her"
"That was kind of her to do that"
"Yeah"
"You should invite her for dinner sometime"
"Mom you're doing it again……stop trying to link me up with people"
"I'm just saying"
He laughed.
"Well, we're here for you, son and we are so proud to have you" Mr. Graham said.
"Thanks dad" He smiled.

That night, he lay in bed awake, staring at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts. It was around 2 am when the message came.
"Hey, I'm done, check it out and let me know what you think"
He smiled and checked out the write up she sent to his mail.
He read it and smiled…..all he said was a soft whisper that echoed in his head 'wow'.
"It's perfect" He texted back.
"Thanks, OXOXO" She replied, he smiled and placed his phone down, turned off the lights again and closed his eyes.