That night, Anne lay in her bed tossing and turning.
She could not sleep, no matter what she did.
She counted to 100 then counted backward again to 1.
She mentally went through her multiplication tables, all the way up to 12.
She tried- with partial success- to do long division in her head.
She listed all the facts she could remember about the birds from Matthew's book.
She tried to come up with solutions to keeping Charlottetown clean without getting rid of the pigeons.
She wrote a little play in her head about a fairy queen who floated down the streams on a lily pad and drank from an acorn top, and had adventures with the mice and frogs she met on her way- and then promptly decided not to try to write stories in her head tonight because it only frustrated her that she couldn't write them down.
She turned her imagination off and resolutely recited the ten commandments and then every prayer she'd learned at Sunday School.
She whispered a little song to herself in the dark.
Finally she sat up and pulled Elsie's New Relation by Martha Finley from her bedside table. She hugged the book to her chest, wishing the moon were bright enough to read by, but it wasn't.
After a few minutes, she pushed the covers back and slipped out of bed. She quietly crept across her bedroom floor, avoiding the squeaky places, and left her room.
She went slowly and carefully down the stairs and to the sideboard where she knew Marilla had a box of new candles.
She took the whole box upstairs with her.
She lit her lamp and huddled close beside it, opening Elsie's New Relation.
"I need you to help me, Elsie", she whispered, and began to read.
YOU ARE READING
In the Woods When First We Met
FanfictionGilbert is there for Anne when she needs someone the most. Billy did far more damage than seen in the episode. Anne goes through my own journey of healing after a trauma. Serious issues. (Skip chapters 3-4 to make it less scary to read; if you skip...
