Dawn woke up with a stonking headache. She couldn't begin to remember how many bottles of wine she had drank last night with Clive, nor how she had gotten in this state of undress. She looked down to see she was wearing a black negligee. Had Clive undressed her? She tried to back track but she couldn't honestly remember. What she did remember was biting into her steak and remembering how good it tasted. Oh boy! She was about to get up, when the door opened and Dawn quickly wound the duvet around her, thankfully it was only Stefany with a tray of breakfast and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.
"La mancanza di buongiorno, spera che abbiate dormito bene, aaah I forgot you no speak Italian," Stefany said, "Good Morning Dawn, you sleep well?" she said in her strong Italian accent.
Dawn touched her head, "I feel like death warmed up,"
"Not to worry, you eat and take it easy today..." Stefany said as she laid the breakfast in front of Dawn on a breakfast bed table.
Dawn looked at the breakfast and realised how hungry she was, "Thank you so much."
"You eat, eat very well," Stefany said and as she made her way out
Dawn quickly said, "Stefany, please forgive me for sounding like this... but who put me to bed?"
"I did, now eat."
Dawn sighed and started to eat.
After she emerged from breakfast in her bedroom, she showered and dressed in a floral dress that reached below her knee. She swept her hair up in a ponytail and put on a pair of flip flops, she skipped down the stairs only to have tango music evade her ears. She paused at the foot of the steps, only to see Luca dancing the tango with Stefany. She walked slowly towards the living room and stood by the door frame. She smiled at them dancing and could see the passion written all over their faces. Both Luca and Stefany danced and when he spun her around, she jumped as if she were a staccato note. She sighed and somehow that broke them from their trance.
"Dawn, you must try the dance of lovers," Stefany said, ushering her over and as she made her way and stood in front of Luca, she realised she was at least four inches taller then he was.
"I don't think this could work," she said smiling at Luca.
"Si, si... you dance with my boy Clive... Clive," she yelled and suddenly Clive was walking into the room, wearing glasses, a book in the hand and he was wearing khaki slacks and a look shirt rolled up to his arms, "Sì mummia?"
"You must show Dawn the dance of lovers... Luca is too little for her," Stefany said and watched Clive put down the book he was reading and stood in front of Dawn. He laid his palm in the small of her back and shifted her closer towards him and as he threaded his fingers through to hers. Stefany put the music on and stood back.
"Allow me to guide you and let the music caress you," Clive said, his eyes firmly ahead.
"Caress me, how do I...?" Dawn said confused.
"Here we go..." Clive said moving Dawn backwards.
"Ooops sorry," Dawn said as she threaded on his right foot by accident, "Are we meant to be this close?"
"Any closer and I'll be making you come," Clive said. He felt her tense up against him, "... with the music," he finished.
He felt her slightly relax and they both hadn't realised the music had stopped playing. Dawn withdrew from his embrace and took a step back, she dusted herself off as if she had been caught playing in the dirt with him.
"Excuse me... I ah... I think I need to get some air before I start some work," she said and disappeared out of the room.
Clive looked at her fleetingly and then something in him, decided to follow her out.
As soon as Dawn was out of the house, she ran as far as her feet could take her and God knows where she was now. She wasn't supposed to leave the house, she only wanted some air but something in side her was terrified of what could be. She ran as hard and as fast as she could and found herself in an orchard of sunflowers... as she walked through it, she could see something glistening beyond her and as she approached, she realised it was a massive lake. Something was pulling her to this lake, she didn't know what it was but she thought it was beautiful. She had seen some of Amelia's paintings of Tuscany that reflected the scenery and she can vaguely remember one of them being a sea of sunflowers. She was to meet Amelia at some point but hadn't got any word from her, she was probably still vacationing with her boyfriend Rob Blake. Dawn had reached a gigantic lake, wide in diameter. Dawn took off a flip flop and dipped her toe in the water, it was warm. She took off her other flip flop and sunk her foot in, she was plodding along into the water, when she took the next step, she slipped forward and suddenly, she couldn't feel the bottom. Even though she had taken lessons in swimming when she was younger, she was completely at loss when it came to floating. She told herself not to panic, but she was panicking. She screamed help, as she went underwater, her vision cloudy and was flicking her feet back and forth for dear life and managed to make the surface of the water before she was brought down again.
Clive was outside and scanning the parameters of the villa. She was no where in sight. She couldn't have gone far and then something alerted him to screaming, he saw small foot prints in the dirt and they led to the sunflowers. Shit, he thought, she was in the maelstrom. He suddenly realised his feet having a mind of their own, he running towards her and to the vortex of water.
Dawn's chest felt tight and her breathing was lapsing. She kept screaming but no one was coming. There was some unknown force pulling her down and she didn't know what it was. Her feet were fiercely kicking so, she could reach the surface but she was finding it hard to breathe, she went down.
Clive got to the maelstrom and saw the remnants of Dawn's footwear by the side. He dived into the water head first and straight ahead of him, could see her hand, he made a grab for it.
Dawn felt someones hand grab hers and pull her out of the ferocity circling her. She suddenly felt sleepy but was awoken by the sounds of someone calling out to her.
Clive swam back and when he reached dry land, he brought Dawn into his arms. She was drowsy. He felt for a pulse and it was weak, she must be in a state of shock and the air she was taking it was probably having an effect on her, he knew only too well. He stood up and carried her in his arms, back to the house.
"La mummia, Luca, viene rapidamente!" Clive shouted as he approached the house. Stefany and Luca rushed out of the house.
Stefany was shocked asking what happened and Clive explained that Dawn was caught up in the maelstrom. He carried Dawn into the house and up the stairs to her bedroom. She instructed the men to grab extra blankets and undressed Dawn from her wet clothes, to clean warm ones. She told Clive to call the doctor and he went downstairs to make the call.
The doctor closed the door behind him to a waiting Luca, Stefany and Clive. In the doctor's thick Italian accent, he conveyed to them that he had given Dawn a sedative to sleep as she was in shock and she needed a rest. Otherwise she was fine, but had ordered Stefany that she was to be relieved of her work for a couple of days, until she was back to normal. Stefany and Luca walked the doctor out whilst Clive tiptoed into Dawn's room. She was a small thing, curled up in bed amidst two layers of thick duvets. She was uttering in her sleep and he took a seat next to her, he watched her sleep and eventually fatigue taking over him, fell asleep next to her on the chair.
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