HIS EYES (Gilbert Blyth - Anne with an E)

Ch 4: Season 1 Episode 3 and 4

Disclaimer: All original dialogue and character names are property of Anne with an E on Netflix. Everything else is the original work of this author. 

*Also, I am not entirely sure if this happened on the same day as the scenes prior, but I decided to set it in the next day.  

His father had a good night sleep for the first time and when Gilbert brought in breakfast was in a good mood. "You need to do something to grab her attention son" he joked before ladling a spoon of porridge into his mind. With an apple in hand, Gilberts determined stride took him to school. He was happy to notice Billy Andrews already in class, with Diana Berry and Anne walk into the door behind him. After her adventurous day prior, it seemed she too was determined to begin her day of learning.

As the class scribbled on their chalkboards, Gilbert Blyth found himself unable to sit still. He had to do something, anything before she continued her life never speaking to him again. Did she realise that Prince Edward Island was too small of a place to ignore friendships, especially as she had acquired so many mixed opinions? Gilbert knew that the other boys looked towards him for guidance, it was a position that had come to unwelcomed hands, but he had accepted it all the same. 

With one final glance towards the redhead and one more towards Mr Phillips, Gilbert heard his fathers words tooting in his head, grab her attention son. Before he gave himself another chance to question himself. Blyth picked up a crumpled piece of paper and tossed it across the room. He noticed how her body grew rigid. He tossed over his chalk again. She remained resitant. He had caught her attention, but as headstrong as he presumed her to be, she refused to glance in his direction. Seizing his change he picked up an apple and approached her quickly before picking up his piece of chalk. 

Even with the apple on her desk, she didnt even look at him. grab her attention son. Before he could think about chivalry and being a gentleman, he reached over and pulled her braided hair "Carrots!" it seemed that his action had caught his attention, and before he could think twice. 

"I am not talking to you" her voice was loud if they had not impacted him enough. He felt his check sinning with pain. She had hit him with her slate. Anyone else would have found it maddening, but it made Gilbert smile. He knew she could stand up for herself.

"You just did" he joked before retreating to his side of the room. Perhaps he was so caught up in trying to get her to talk to him, but watching Mr Andrews punish her in front of the class sent a sickening feeling to the depth of his stomach. He had just wanted to give her an apple. The rest of the class was gruesome with her standing in front of the class. And like a snowflake on a spring morning, she disappeared into thin air. She hadn't even waited for Diana to accompany her. She just walked away and disappeared. 

It had been the last day he had seen her. Classes seemed to continue as if she had never even been there. Had Gilbert been the only one to have noticed this absence in the class. He wasn't sure what to tell his father, they had never been open about their feelings from the start. But now as his father asked "How is the Cuthberts girl?" as he sat on the lone chair in front of the bed, he was beginning to regret it. It made his brain race to his unthought through actions. If he had known his little apple stunt would have caused such an uproar, he would have never done it in the first place.

Cutting wood and tending to the house kept his mind busy, as every day he made his way to school. She was never there. It had felt so long, that he had not even kept track of the days yet. At the beginning he had, and perhaps she was having that mysterious illness that occasionally took the girls away from school for a week ever so often. But after a week, he realised that it could not be it. The days started to blur into one. Every day the same routine. 

It wasn't until one night, there was a loud clammer of the bell. There was only ever one reason for the bell to be ringing so late in the night. From his windowsill, he could see a bright light in the far distance. A fire. "Father, I need to go help with putting it out. I will be right back" Gilbert told his awakened father. 

"Who?" he asked.

"I think it's the Gillis house" he stated before rushing out to pull on his trousers and coat. Blyth hadn't even bothered to saddle his horse before riding off into the darkness. The loud voices and commotion brought him off of his horse and towards helping carry pails of water towards the flame. Before he knew it he was at the cracked window tossing water inside the house. But nothing seemed to reduce the flames. If anything they were just increasing in size. Looking up he noticed the one person he hadn't expected to see, what was she doing inside the house "Anne!" she was coughing as she closed the door. Panic built up inside him as he determinedly chucked more water on. Wherever she was, they needed to stop the fire. In fact, he noticed the flames begin to soften.

"We can do this, keep it coming!" Gilbert yelled. He noticed that she hadn't come out yet. Through the closed room, he had no idea where she was. 

"Anne! Anne!" he heard people yell, stopping the movements he watched as she stumbled across the lawn. Ruby Gillis had been nothing but cruel to her since she arrived, and yet he watched her risk herself in the fire. Anne Shirley had stopped the fire, he was smart enough to know that whatever she had done, had been successful. "She alright!" he heard someone yell. With the fire down, Gilbert returned home and told his father all that had happened, how brave she had been. 

"She got your attention, ey son?" his father joked to himself.