Carrots.//Gilbert&Anne

9

Gilbert stopped coming to school.

Anne wasn't sure why, and neither was Ruby...And if Ruby didn't know, no one knew.

The worry began to grow in Anne's heart after two weeks of Gilbert's not being seen, and she worried that maybe he had escaped to town again. School was no fun anymore. Anne realized that she would 100% rather have Gilbert at school, fighting or not.

After three weeks of not seeing the boy, Anne couldn't resist any longer. She ran to Gilbert's house immediately after school. She planned to use the excuse that she needed to give him a lesson from school.

Her cheeks red and her hair a mess, she puffed out a breath of air and knocked on the door confidently.

Anne's heart immediately swelled when Gilbert opened the door, looking lovely as usual.

"Anne?!" He exclaimed, a grin showing up on his face.

"Gilbert I—um—a lesson." Anne stuttered, realizing she should've come up with a better plan.

"Come in, come in!" Gilbert said happily, motioning for Anne to walk into his house. She followed his motion, and the door was swiftly closed behind her.

"What brings you here?" Gilbert questioned, placing some cookies on the table and nodding to his visitor to sit down.

"I was just...I was honestly worried. Are you okay?" Anne sighed, deciding not to lie.

"I've been...better. I haven't been feeling right lately, so Mrs.Stake has been driving me to town for daily appointments." Gilbert mumbled.

Anne took a moment to remember that Mrs.Stake had been Gilbert's fathers caretaker. Apparently she had stuck around.

"I miss you at school, what's been going on? You know you can trust me, right? I'm not going to tell anyone, if you confide in me, I mean. You don't have to confide in me, but if you want you can...I'm sorry I'll stop rambling, I've heard it's annoying, do you find it annoying?" Anne said nervously, squeezing her hands tightly together. She looked up at Gilbert and noticed that he looked sad, and tired. Very tired.

Gilbert smiled for the second time during Anne's visit. "Never stop rambling Anne, it's beautiful." He said softly, causing Anne's heart to stop for a moment.

Anne nodded, but couldn't bring herself to form words.

"Anne, if I tell you something, you have to promise not to freak out or tell anyone okay?"

Anne nodded eagerly, connecting her eyes with Gilbert's.

Gilbert scooted his chair over so that he was directly in front of Anne. He picked up her hands and placed his into hers.

"Um...The doctors say that I may have Cholangiocarcinoma."

Anne's eyes widened and she cocked her head to one side. "What's that?" She questioned, which was something Anne never did, she always knew exactly what every word meant.

Gilbert swallowed loudly, his eyes filling with salty tears.

"Cholangiocarcinoma is a very rare case of cancer."

*

I'm updating just a bit early because I'll be very busy tomorrow, but I'll try to double update...don't count on it though! Also, this chapter 100% broke my heart to write.