Change With The Seasons || Gilbert Blythe

CHAPTER IV | Careless, Yet Remarkable

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The hues of green and orange swirled around her, sending chills across her skin. Her feet were light, so light in fact, that she felt as if she could fly. The melody of birdsong and owl calls intertwined in perfect harmony, glamorized by the gentle murmur of flowing water.

The longer she gazed at the colors around her, the more they faded into a... muted palette.
The once vibrant green and orange hues now dissolved into shades of grey and black, shifting from mist to smoke.

She wanted to touch the smoke, and as she did, a force pulled her down. There was no ground, just descent.

"Vivi! Wake up! Wake up at once! There's a fire in town!"

Vivianne jumped out of her dreams to reality, her heart leaping an even greater distance in her chest. She sat up immediately and took a few quick breaths.

A fire? In town?

She dashed to the window upon recalling the words she heard when waking up.

Vivi saw a huge cloud of smoke come from somewhere behind many trees. She gasped and quickly took her lantern and rushed downstairs.

"Henry, take these. For god's sake a house is burning down as we speak, quick! Vivianne, hold this..." Jocelyn demanded around.

Everything was still quite surprising to Vivianne, but she did everything her mother told her to. One thing she didn't do though, was put on her boots. She knew it would've taken her far too long, so she put on her slippers instead.

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The sight was truly devastating.

Turns out, it was the Gillis' house that was on fire. Vivianne stood still, holding a few towels, shocked. She examined what was going around, and a lot was. Everything was absolute chaos. There were women and children all around screaming something or talking to each other.

Henry rushed past Vivianne, brushing against her shoulder. He carried some buckets and started handing them to a man that looked quite familiar to Vivianne. The man was passing them on to a boy, who seemed to be around her age, who passed the bucket to Billy, who passed the buckets to another man, who passed them on to... Gilbert? Gilbert. Who threw the buckets of water through the window.

Why is he right by the window? There are grown men here. They should be doing the dangerous stuff. And he's on a roof! Isn't that highly dangerous? Why is the window open? Matter of fact, why is there an open door inside?...

Vivianne kept examining the house, and through every opened window, she saw an open door, which wasn't doing the Gillis's any good.

She looked to her left to see Diana and Anne rushing towards her.

"Vivianne!" They both called out for her.

She turned her head at the house again. The fire didn't seem to slow down. It only got worse and worse.

Before she knew it, she was inside the burning house.

She still heard a few Vivianne's coming from outside. She closed the door and turned herself to face the inside of the room she was in.