Page 48 of The Artist
My arms and legs felt heavy and sore when I pushed myself up to sit against the wooden headboard. I was wearing a warm sweater, pants, and socks. Searching my memory, I remembered vaguely that Mason had dressed me.
“How do you feel?” Freya reached out a hand and brushed hair from my face with a look of concern.
“Better.”
“You gave us all a gruesome scare. I think everyone is traumatized, especially your delegation, who saw you get buried and were convinced you had died. Victor hasn’t said a word. I think he blames himself for failing to predict what happened.”
“How could he have predicted something like that? He’s not a psychic and he spends most of his time in a laboratory anyway. Snow and avalanches aren’t exactly his area of expertise.”
“Here, drink.”
I took a sip while Freya helped me hold the cup. “We’ve discussed cutting the trip off early to go home today, but Mason insisted that we talk to you about it before making any decisions.”
“It’s fine. I don’t mind staying.”
“Are you sure?” she asked with concern.
“Mhmm.” I sipped more of the tea and felt the heat spread in my belly.
“The others are out sledding right now but I stayed behind to be here when you woke up. Mason said you were doing better, but what do you think? Do you need to see a doctor?”
“No, I think I’ll be fine.”
Freya’s green eyes were studying me with concern. She had always been masterful at reading my every mood, but I was serious and repeated:
“I mean it; I’m fine.”
“That’s a relief. Everyone wanted us to fly you south to find a doctor, but from what Thor and Mason told us when they called from the drone, the hypothermia was in stage one, which is the early phase. There wouldn’t be anything for a doctor to do except warm you up, which the men were already doing.”
“How do you know what phase the hypothermia was in?”
“Because your teeth were chattering when they found you and you still had your clothes on.”
I frowned, showing my confusion, so Freya explained:
“Hypothermia is weird. It will trick you because at first you’re freezing and then your brain gets confused. At stage two the confusion worsens making you feel high or drunk. Your body stops shivering and then at stage three people strip out of their clothes.”
“Why?”
“It’s because your body has to prioritize on keeping your organs warm. To do that it induces vasoconstriction.”
I held the cup of tea in my hands enjoying the warmth from it. “What’s that?”
“It’s the reflexive contraction of blood vessels. That’s what your body was doing and that’s why your hands, feet, and face felt so cold. Your body was in survival mode. It can spare a hand to frostbite, but not your heart or lungs. That’s why your body used all its energy to keep your heart and vital organs warm and running. Does that make sense?”
“Yes.”
“If you had stayed inside that freezer one of two things would have happened. You would have run out of oxygen or your body would have become exhausted from fighting to keep your heart warm. Eventually the muscles necessary for inducing vasoconstriction would have given up. With them no longer trapping the heat in your core, you would feel a rush of warm blood running back to your extremities.”
“To my what?”
Freya smiled and caressed my hair like I was a sweet younger sister. “Extremities is just another word for your limbs. When the warm blood rushes back to your arms, fingers, legs, and toes it creates a feeling of burning up that will make people with hypothermia strip out of their clothes.”
“But don’t they know they will cool down even faster without their clothes on?”
“Of course, but that’s the thing about hypothermia. It will confuse you and make you feel disoriented. You’re simply not thinking straight. When Mason found you with your clothes still on and your teeth chattering, he was relieved.”
“How long could I have survived for?”
