in which a fiery red-headed girl and a charming hazel-eyed boy are madly, head over heels in love but have no idea yet.
.｡.:*☆ modern shirbert au
credit to characters goes to L . M. Montgomery ; based on " anne with an e "
started on august 30...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
chapter twenty one ; hard times like these
.｡.:*☆
My heart dropped to the bottom of my chest- the sight that greeted me was the worst one that I could have imagined.
Marilla was hunched over on a wooden chair, heart-wrenching sobs wracking her delicate body.
She glanced up weakly at the sound of the door banging against the wall, and a strangled noise escaped my throat as I took in her broken pose.
"Marilla?" I croaked, crouching down next to her.
Marilla tried to reply, but another wave of chilling tears came over her and she smacked her hand over her mouth, horrified with her public display of emotion.
I stroked her back soothingly, looking up to scan the office for answers. Gilbert hovered uncertainly in the doorway, watching Marilla with sympathy.
Mr Philips was the only other person in the room, leaning away from us on the other side of his desk in disgust like Marilla's hysterics were contagious.
Although I desperately tried to, I couldn't ignore the fact that Matthew was nowhere to be seen.
Taking an unsteady breath, I squeezed Marilla's shaking hand and asked, "What's happened? Where's Matthew?"
"It appears that your guardian has had a heart attack, and is on his way to hospital," Mr Philips informed me in his monotonous voice, not a shred of sympathy in his tone. "Ms Cuthbert here came to take you to see him."
"No," I murmured as I registered what my principal had just said. "No, you're misinformed, isn't he Marilla?"
I directed this question at my adoptive mother, my eyes wide and desperate as I bit back my sobs.
She only managed to meekly shake her head, but it was enough to crush my whole world.
"We need to go," I whispered, "I need to see him."
Marilla nodded again, and I guided her to her feet and out of the office.
Mr Philips yelled something about filling out some 'administrative paperwork' if I wanted to leave school early, but I could barely hear him over the deafening thoughts racing through my pounding head, so I just kept walking until we'd made it outside and into the school's parking lot.
"How did you get here?" I asked Marilla, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder to distract me from the fact that I was shaking just as much as her.
