In the Woods When First We Met

71. Becoming a Woman

I know there was this scene in the show, where Anne gets her period and Marilla wakes up to find her freaking out that she's dying, because she doesn't know what a period is.

But obviously my scene will go a little bit differently, since Anne's had this other experience that influences what she's thinking too now.

Also, I didn't want to just copy off the real script so I am making up what they say.

-

Anne woke up slowly, not even sure at first what exactly it was that had woken her. It was still the middle of the night.

She realized she felt as if she'd wet the bed. Why was she sleeping in a puddle? Her legs felt sticky. It wasn't urine, she realized. What was it?

She lifted the covers and looked down.

Blood.

A lot of blood.

Why? She thought frantically.

She pushed the covers off and they fell on the floor. She stared down at her lap.

Was this something to do with Billy? She had bled when Billy had been there; was she bleeding again because of what he'd done? Was this something that was just going to repeat itself time and again? And if so, for how long? Was there any way to stop it? Wasn't the first time enough? She thought, tears already forming. Why did it have to happen again?

There was even more blood this time than there had been from Billy. She tried not to cry.

Was it something about a baby? Was this some sign of a baby that Anne hadn't heard of before? She frantically tried to think of the various women she'd lived with and if they had ever mentioned anything about blood being a sign of expecting a baby, but she couldn't remember.

Or maybe it wasn't anything to do with Billy or a baby at all, maybe she was just bleeding from the inside out because she was dying of some horrible disease that she never knew she had. Maybe God was even punishing her.

She got quickly out of bed, before it could soak into her sheets.

She didn't know what to do.

I almost had all the blood washed out, she thought desperately, And now there's so much more...

What could she do? She couldn't just wash it in her washbasin, it was just too much. And she could tell it was still coming.

Marilla and Matthew both woke up to the kitchen pump creaking and water splashing and general crashing in the kitchen.

Marilla got there before Matthew.

She walked in on Anne standing at the pump scrubbing furiously.

"What on earth?!" Marilla cried, setting her candle down.

Anne didn't look up. She just kept scrubbing, while saying, her voice full of restrained panic:

"Marilla, I want to thank you for your hospitality toward me these past few months, and I would be exceptionally grateful to you if you would please invest in a beautiful white dress to bury me in?"

"Bury you in?" Marilla exclaimed.

"I know it would be a terrible extravagance to spend all that money on someone who's just lying there dead, but it would mean so much to me if you would."

"Anne-"

"One with puffed sleeves, preferably...but, seeing as I'll be dead anyway, I suppose I won't mind very much if they're not." Anne was crying.

Marilla rushed over to her, "Anne, whatever is the matter?"

She looked down and saw Anne's bloody underwear in the sink.

Just then Matthew walked in.

"What's going on-" he said, looking down into the sink.

"Out," Marilla stated firmly, turning him around and giving him a push.

Matthew went quickly, knowing he was out of his element.

Marilla turned back to Anne.

"Anne, calm down, it will be all right," Marilla said.

Anne held up the scrub brush and sobbed. "How can you say that? I think I might be dying. And if I'm not dying, then I've got a fate worse than death anyway! This is it for me, Marilla. I only wish I'd known you and Matthew longer! I'll miss you so much! ...And would you please ask Diana to come visit my grave, and maybe try to get her to weep there?"

Marilla turned off the pump and took the scrub brush away from Anne and set it down. "To weep there?" she asked, confused.

"I just think I'd feel better about being dead if I knew that there was a raven-haired beauty sitting over top of my grave and weeping tragically."

"Oh, Anne," Marilla said. "Come here."

She sat down in a kitchen chair and pulled Anne close. "You're not dying."

"I'm not?" Anne asked, wiping at the tears running down her face.

"No, you're not. It's just Mother Nature visiting you, that's all." She smoothed Anne's hair out of her eyes.

"What? Why?" Anne cried.

"Because you're growing up into a young woman," Marilla wiped Anne's cheeks tenderly. "A lovely one. And women have gone through this since the beginning of time. It's completely normal, Anne. It's just one of those changes that happens as you're becoming a woman. It's...it's the way a woman's body prepares itself for babies."

Anne stared at her. Marilla seemed awfully calm about telling Anne her body was preparing itself to have a baby.

"It's a little blood, yes, but it will go away in a few days. It's nothing you need to worry over."

"But..." Anne didn't know what to say. She felt confused. Wasn't Marilla angry? Didn't she have questions?

"You'll have these once a month now. It's perfectly normal and healthy-"

"Every month?!" Anne asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry to say," Marilla said, "I've got new linen, tomorrow I'll do the laundry and then we'll cut the linen and I'll show you how to fold it into sanitary napkins to wear. You'll need to change them frequently. For tonight you can just use a clean rag. Let me get them for you right now. And you might be feeling some cramps-"

"That's what I've been feeling all day," Anne realized. "I didn't know it was to get ready for a baby..."

Marilla patted her hand. "Well, you see? It's not a terrible thing, and you're certainly not dying. Far from it. I know you're a bit frightened and that's to be expected, but why don't you try to think of it as a happy occasion? You're becoming a woman."

Anne felt like she was in shock. Marilla seemed to be taking this extremely well.

Marilla gave her the clean rags and said, "Come on, back to bed then. I'll leave these things in the sink to soak and take care of them in the morning."

Anne stared at her like a deer in the headlights and then went back upstairs in shock. Marilla said this is how a woman's body prepares itself to have a baby, and...she isn't angry? She didn't even seem surprised that it was happening...

Anne got back in bed, but she didn't sleep.