Baker - G. BLYTHE

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-ˋˏ *.·:·. [TWO WEEKS LATER] .·:·.* ˎˊ-

THE LETTER TO GILBERT WAS SOMETHING CHARLOTTE WAS PRESSURED INTO SENDING. That didn't mean that she didn't want to contact the boy, no it was rather the opposite. She longed for contact but she didn't want that contact to force him to make a decision too early, a decision that he would later regret. This act of regret could damage their friendship and Charlotte certainly didn't want that. Anne, Ruby and the majority of the girls didn't care much for this opinion though, they just wanted the most handsome boy to be back in school. Tillie however understood completely and would often take Charlotte away from confrontational discussions in the schoolhouse. Though nothing could save Charlotte from Anne.

Anne ran into the bakery one afternoon asking Charlotte if she would like to come over to Green Gables for the night, a sleepover. Of course, Charlotte could not bring herself to deny this offer so she packed a small bag of her things and walked arm in arm to Green Gables with Anne Shirley-Cuthbert. 

After having a brief conversation with Jerry in the barn, he was currently learning how to read and spell and he was doing a very good job of it, Anne and Charlotte dropped off her stuff and then went to the forest. The two young girls ran through the forest, enjoying the feeling of brief sunbeams hitting their skin through the gaps in the trees. In a clearing they found a particular tree with spinning buds as they fell from the breeze, the girls spent time catching and watching these buds twirl to the ground whilst they made up stories about them. Anne ended up accidentally jumping/stumbling into the creek which was very hilarious to Charlotte. They weaved between the trees, danced in the sun and felt free the entire time, as if there wasn't a single problem in the world. 

The two returned home for supper before Marilla and Matthew left for the evening (for a party held at the Barry's.) After they had left, Anne and Charlotte sought the comfort that came with her Gable room as a story about skeletons and ghouls had scared them half to death, the rattling of long arm-like branches against the window did not help in any sense to make them not scared. The two pinned a white sheet underneath some heavy objects on her dresser drawers and draped the sheet across to the other side of Anne's bed, creating a fort which they filled with pillows and lit with a single oil lamp. Anne took out her few pieces of writing paper and something for Charlotte to write with, to write the letter to Gilbert. 

"I don't want to write just about the gold Anne, it's important to me that he doesn't feel pressured to come home. He's seeking himself, discovering things about the world and I don't want to drag him back to the place where he feels trapped, I couldn't do that to him or anyone for that matter," Charlotte reasoned as the two brainstormed the perfect thing to say about the Gold.

"Well,  you can write a small paragraph at the end explaining the Gold but get across that it's not necessary for him to come home just yet. Though I'm not quite sure Ruby would like that," Anne smiled trying to lighten the slightly tense atmosphere, Charlotte was really unsure about writing this letter, the smiles quickly turned to laughs which lasted a few minutes as more funny things were piled on top of it. 

"Our secret?" Charlotte whispered setting her ink-filled tool down as she extended a single pinky finger towards Anne, a swear to keep it a secret. 

"Our secret," Anne agreed, extending her pinky finger, the two fingers intertwined sealing the promise forever. The two wrote until their eyes hurt from squinting in the low light, well Charlotte wrote and Anne spell checked and offered her opinion when it was needed (it was most needed when writing the part about the gold as Charlotte hadn't very much knowledge about the whole ordeal.) Charlotte lay with her head against the foreign, fluffy pillow, listening to the slowing breaths of the redhead and wondering how Gilbert would react to this letter, would it cause him to return? Did Gilbert even want to return? 

-ˋˏ *.·:·. [SOMEWHERE NEAR TRINIDAD] .·:·.*ˎˊ-

"I know you're not asleep your eyes are open," Gilbert smiled at his friend looking through the darkness to see him roll his eyes. Gilbert let out a soft chuckle at the sight and then tried again, "Sebastian."

"Your born name is Sebastian? Sounds like you should own this boat," Another man in a hammock piped up, picking up his head from the fabric he lay on in curiosity. "And here I thought Bash meant you could rough a fella up." He laughed then rested his head back onto the fabric as if he was about to go to sleep, when in reality he was wide awake and listening to Bash and Gilbert's conversation.

"You have ruined my reputation, I could hit you a two-tap myself," Bash replied angrily though he was far too tired to emphasize his point, the smile on Gilbert's face did however drop momentarily.

"There was this girl back in Avonlea, Charlotte," he said with a smile that caused his cheeks to begin to hurt as the image of her sitting at the lake formed in his head like many times before. "Her family own the bakery in town, that's how I met her actually. The pastries were delicious and the company was perfect, she is the most caring person I have ever met. She was amazing when my Father died. We used to read books together and every book would come with an argumentative discussion, one which she always won," Gilbert smiled as each memory flooded into his head. He was then met with a longing in his heart, a longing to see her again, a longing to see her smile, a longing to hear her accent which he loved completely.

"She the one who's been sending you those letters?" Bash asked with his head perked up in interest. He had never heard his friend talk so fondly of his own home town, in fact he had never heard him talk about Avonlea and his life there in great detail (though he had heard the name Charlotte a few times before.) Gilbert nodded with a hum that told Bash that she had written the letters, the letters that he always kept folded up in his pocket or tucked safely in the folds of his hammock. He always knew their exact location and felt that losing them would be a terrible thing.

"Wonder if I'll ever see her again." Gilbert wondered aloud, the longing feeling had never left since he stepped onto the ship. Every ounce of him craved the secure and caring feeling that seemed to follow her around, it was irreplaceable. 

"How long are you planning on staying on this ship?" Bash asked feeling his eyes grow heavier with sleep, the poor man just wanted to rest and here Gilbert was asking questions that he himself didn't know the answer to. If he wasn't his friend, Bash would have turned in his hammock and pretended to be asleep once again- though it was very tempting. 

"I don't know, I wanna go wherever the spirit moves me, it's what my Dad used to say," Gilbert replied staring off at a low hanging part of the wooden ceiling. He wondered at that moment if he could truly see himself back in Avonlea, could he bring himself to step into the life that came with Prince Edward Island? Gilbert for sure didn't know, making the looming decision he would eventually have to make a rather confusing one.