Baker - G. BLYTHE

|25|

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

CHARLOTTE'S BIRTHDAY PASSED WITH THE NEW YEAR AND THE RAYHILL HOUSEHOLD FELL TO TWO ONCE MORE. Rían almost didn't leave, in fact Charlotte had to push him onto the ship so he would go back for his education. He only had a year left and she would not let him quit now, his future job was far too important and she could handle going back to just letters for a while. Everything returned to normality in Avonlea, something that happened so rarely that almost everyone was on edge constantly. Something bad was about to happen to break the streak and everyone knew it to be true. What Charlotte didn't expect was for her own Mother to fall sick, that lady almost never got ill and prided herself on the fact. So when an illness did somehow make its way to her, it hit harder than one usually would.

The illness began like any other would, Mother would retire to bed earlier complaining of headaches and it would be harder for her to rise in the morning. This didn't worry Charlotte, it was normal. The thing that did worry Charlotte was when her Mother had to make frequent stops when she was walking because her lungs felt too restricted, the days she went without her corset worried her even more. After the breathing issues ceased, the coughing began. Coughs that shook the house and sounded like a foul creature was clawing their way out of Mother's throat. They sounded painful and each one shot a pang through Charlotte's heart, she hated seeing her mother in pain. Mother eventually got so bad that she had to stay in bed, her joints ached with every movement, lungs ached from the irritation and her head felt woozy from the frequent lack of oxygen.

Charlotte did her best to keep everything running smoothly, she cleaned the house, ran the bakery and somehow also went to school. She never told anyone of her exhaustion, it wasn't for anyone else to worry about and she thought she would be able to get through it alone. After all, illnesses like her Mother had usually only lasted a week or so. She pulled a smile through school, smiled for the customers and smiled through the constant aching feeling in her feet. No one noticed what was going on, she was so good at hiding it that even Gilbert didn't notice. That's the way she designed it though, so she didn't want anyone to notice. People noticing meant pity, and she so hated pity. She had enough of pity after her Father died.

Charlotte ran on very little sleep one rainy afternoon, she had just served a customer yet she couldn't even remember who it was. Mother had asked her to close the bakery, to take some of the looming pressure on her daughter but Charlotte knew that wasn't an option. They needed the income to keep up with payments and couldn't let the masses of ingredients go to waste, losing them even more money. She slumped over in a chair, feeling her eyelids droop with such exhaustion that she had to clearly tell her brain to open them - a few times having to pry them open with her aching fingers. The jingle of the bakeries bell rang and Charlotte hopped to her feet, feigning that she had the energy to when in reality it had her head spinning. The painted smile softened slightly when she saw the boy with brown hair and eyes standing in front of her, Gilbert had come to get a loaf of bread. He quickly saw that something was wrong, the deep marks under her usually bright eyes, the vacant expression, flour dotted across her cheeks and waves falling from her updo.

The two were so quiet, not engaging in any sort of conversation as Charlotte wrapped up the loaf. She slowly wrapped the loaf, taking extra care with her aching hands and exhausted brain. She just hoped and prayed that Gilbert wouldn't notice, that maybe he would just think she was having an off day and let her get on with it. He of course did not, he did not leave her alone in the Bakery, he did not leave without knowing that she was okay. He asked if she was alright in multiple different ways around eight times before getting an answer that satisfied him, a simple no. Her happy demeanour left after that and he saw the real concern and pain, the emotion she had hidden for so long.