₁.₀ SUPERCUT; gilbert blythe ✔

013.

This night Marianne has some trouble falling asleep once again, mostly due to the Minister's visit, and when she finally does, it isn't long before she's woken up by a sound of bells.

There are sounds of feet stomping on the wooden floor in the hallway as the girl stands up herself. Intending to take a look through the window (the night appearing not as dark as it should be), she's interrupted by the door to her room bursting open.

"There's a fire in town." Marilla's face is dimly lit by the lamp in her hands. "Put on your boots and hurry down."

As the woman leaves in a hurry, Marianne dresses up as quickly as possible in the dark. Practically running down the stairs, she's welcomed by the sight of Anne, already dressed too, appearing with the cellar buckets.

"Quick, quick!"

Rushing to help the other girl, the two of them run around, trying to collect all the buckets they can find before putting them in the cart and climbing into the top themselves; Marianne with a lantern in her hand.

"This is the Gillis' house," says Marilla as they reach their unfortunate destination; many already trying to fight the raging fire.

"Oh, poor Ruby," mumbles Anne before they empty the cart, grabbing a hold of all the buckets to bring them closer to where they are needed.

Suddenly there's a familiar voice, head even in all this chaos and men's shouting. Marianne has very little time to recognise what's happening before Diana rushes to the two, wrapping her arms around Anne's neck.

Though their reunion is cut short as one of the windows gives up to the raging fire with a loud last cry, pieces of glass falling around when it shatters. Even in their safe spot Marianne can feel her face heat up; she wraps her arms around her middle as if to shield herself from the smoke.

"It's burning so fierce," says Anne, watching the house closely. "Is everyone out?"

"Uh, yeah. That's the Gillis family over there. You see Ruby?"

Marianne turns her head to follow after Diana's gaze, to where the family was standing close to each other. It's not much of a consolation, but at least they all managed to leave the house unharmed - which could be considered a miracle since they were probably all asleep the moment the fire started.

"Why are the doors and windows open?"

It takes Marianne a (much too long) moment to notice that Anne's is no longer standing at her side. The redhead girl rushes back to the cart, her arms full of blankets as she comes back. Not to them, though, but into the house's direction, making a brief stop to wetter the fabric.

"Anne?"

Seeing where she's headed, Marianne feels her heart drop for a moment before running after her.

"Anne!" Oh, she's so glad she managed to grab a hold of the girls arm before she run inside. "What are you doing?!"

"Fire needs oxygen. Don't you understand, Marianne? I need to-"

Marianne expected Anne to finish her sentence and she's surprised when the girl shakes her off instead. Catched off guard, she allows her arm to escape her grasp and, when she takes notice, it's already too late. Anne disappears inside the burning building, the door closing behind her.

Marianne is left frozen in her spot. She can hear women shouting behind her back, calling both Anne's and her names, but it's not enough to make her move again as her eyes remain glued to the door.

Knowing Anne's on the other side of it is terrible - one of the most terrifying things she's ever felt. And it's even worse due to the fact that she's just standing here, but, truly, what can she do? It's not like anyone could expect her to enter the house as well!