When the Snow Took Her Name

Janet pleaded with Rose Collins to come and bring Chester back to Riverton City. As she shared her story, her tears soaked into my arms.

"I had asked him to leave so many times. But he would just pat my head and say that I had grown up with him, so we were stuck together… Inseparable."

Suddenly, Janet grabbed my wrist with amazing strength. "Rose told me he did everything for me!"

To get back into the Graham family's good graces, Chester would have to make up for it big time, like sacrificing one of Janet's legs.

Janet only hesitated for a moment before begging Rose to come to Alavon City in secret without Chester finding out. Janet snuck out that day, ready to have her leg crippled.

Rose was so mad at her that she handed the person responsible for hurting Janet a big, heavy stick. Hitting her leg with the stick did not draw blood or break it right away, but it hurt so much that Janet felt like she was dying.

Janet took hit after hit. It hurt so bad, but Janet sounded proud.

"Thinking of Chester gave me so much courage. I didn't even try to hide."

She closed her eyes, bracing for more hits, but Chester stopped the stick.

"What's going on here?!"

Rose, with her fiery temper, did not hold back. "This silly girl wants to trade her leg to help you come back. I'm just helping her out."

Chester saw Janet, beaten and barely awake, and got really angry. "I never wanted her to sacrifice herself like this!"

He picked up Janet and rushed her to the hospital, while Rose ran off, crying.

"Alright, I know you don't need my help. I guess I was just being silly," Rose said with a sigh.

Chester stood still for a moment, but then he suddenly dropped Janet onto the cold ground and chased after Rose. Snowflakes fell thick and fast that day.

Janet could not move her legs and was left shivering in the snow. It was so cold outside that she could have frozen to death. Slowly, she felt her body turning to ice. However, she did not cry out or try to call for help.

She just lay there quietly, almost frozen solid.

When I heard about that, I could not help but think badly of Chester. "He's such a meanie!"

Janet got really sick with a fever, and even talking was hard for her.

"Nathalie, maybe it would've been better if I'd just died back then?"

That thought scared me, and I did everything to help her calm down. "Don't be silly, Janet! Don't talk like that. Save your energy," I told her.

Janet was so weak that she could not even hear me anymore. She said Chester was usually kind-hearted. He did not want her to lose her legs or leave her in the snow.

He came back quickly after Rose disappeared with a pendant in his pocket. He took Janet to the hospital. The doctor said it would be tough to fix Janet's injured leg, and she might not walk again.

It would cost a lot of money to try.

Chester said he was broke. He wondered if he had to sell his blood to make things right with her.

Janet just trembled as she spoke to me. "After that, he didn't want anything to do with me anymore."

After they left the hospital, Chester would not talk to Janet at all. At night, he would just look at the pendant, his ticket back to the docks. By day, he fought in secret boxing matches, trying to earn whatever he could.

His injuries were getting worse, and Janet was so worried that she did not know what to do next.

Everything changed the day Rose made another call to Chester.

"I'm calling you for the last time today. I'm getting engaged tomorrow. I don't believe you've never cared about me! And how can you just keep living like this? If you don't show up, I'll have to move on for good."

Chester looked deep into Janet's eyes. Then, all of a sudden, he could not take it anymore. He pushed Janet out of the way and ran outside.

By now, Janet's voice was barely a whisper. I had to lean in close to hear her say, "Even then, he was worried I'd try to escape, so he locked the door from the outside."

However, they had both forgotten that something was still cooking on the stove that day. When the soup boiled over, gas filled the house. The fire started so quickly.