I'm Your Enemy 2 (Gilbert Blythe X OC)

The first Year

Gilbert's POV.

"Blythe!" I heard Bash yelling from the kitchen. I sighed, leaving my book on the bed as I stood up. Well, it wasn't my book. It was Flora's. Once she grabbed the book, she wouldn't leave it alone. So I decided to see what the excitement was about. Sad thing is, Flora never got the chance to finish the book. She left her bookmark in the middle of it. Never having read the ending. The middle was the saddest part. She hadn't gotten to the end to see if it had ended well or not. Exactly in the middle. What a bad way to end the book. Exactly in the middle.

I walked into the kitchen, my arms crossed over my chest, irritated at the fact that it was the fifth time Bash was calling me in the span of 30 minutes. "Yes?"

"You aren't going with me to the cemetery?" He asked me.

Right. Today was exactly one year since Flora died. At first, I didn't want to get out of bed. I wanted to stay, tangled in my blankets, and wallow in self pity, but Delphine didn't let me. She kept on asking for pancakes, so I gave in, giving her what she wanted.

Delphine could speak quite well now. Now that she was almost two and a half years old. She knew how to count to twenty. She knew all the colors, and she recognized the alphabet. She surely was smart.

"I- uh... I'm staying in today." I couldn't get myself to walk out of the house. I already ached for my bed, so going out was not in my plans. Bash, however clothed himself and Delphine in black and they bought Flora's favourite flowers to put beside her tombstone. "But, give her this for me, will you?" I handed him an envelope. Inside was a letter. A letter just like the other 12 I had written her over the months, but this one was harder for me to write for some reason. I couldn't even let the ink touch the paper before tears started to stream down my face. But I wiped them away, wrote down everything that I felt and everything that I missed and I put it into words how much I love her. I sealed it with green wax and it was ready to be delivered to her.

Bash took the envelope from my fingers, giving me a reassuring smile."Of course."

I swear, I had never in my life had so much trouble writing something down. It was the hardest letter to write, but it was all for her.

Dear Flora

It's been exactly one year without you. And I think to myself, how in the world did I survive the first few years of my life without you? This is the day that all the memories flood back to me. Both good and bad. It may be hard to believe, but I don't try to forget the bad memories. I keep them so that they can make the good ones shine brighter. They are the contour of our bright memories, and I will cherish them, because you are in them.

Although this may be the shortest letter I've ever written you, it is also the most difficult one. It is naturally a day of grieving. But I still can't help but to feel like a silly child as I slumber in bed like I don't have a life and start to think of you. But, only for today, I will let myself be the silly child and truly grieve that I have lost you. I feel no shame in it.

You only lived a short life, and I would love to have lived the rest of it with you, but someday. Someday I will. We will meet again. If not here, then in a better place.

Love
Gilbert

"Uncle Gilbert."  I heard a soft voice. I crouched down and looked at my niece.

"Yes, Delly?"

She handed me a piece of paper. I took it, turning it around to see a sentence written in big, clumsy writing.

I mis yu aunty.

I smiled at Delly's writing, and smiled even wider at what she wrote, or at least what she tried to write.

I miss you, Auntie.

"You wrote a letter too?" I asked her. She nodded with a small smile. I chuckled, bringing her in for a warm hug. "It's a very beautiful letter, Delly."

"Thank you."

Bash took her hand and out they went. I hated when it was that time of the month to see everyone in the house dressed in black. There were a few dates. It's Ron's date of death, it's my fathers, it's Mary's, Mr. Hawks', it's Flora's. It's almost like we're dressed in black everyday.

I closed the door behind them. I already knew that once I was alone there was no hiding from the sorrow. All I did was think back to when she was still here, walking the same ground as me. Breathing the same air. Sharing the same world, the same room, the same bed.

I went back into my bedroom. This time, I didn't pick up the book. I picked up a velvet box instead, opening it and seeing what I thought would be on her finger by now.

Every day I stared at the same thing. This ring. Somehow I had convinced myself that someday it would end up on her finger, even when I knew she was gone for good.

And the pain hit, as I realized for the 100th time that she would never come back.