Another Year In Avonlea

A Roller Coaster Of Emotion

     Diana went down the ladder as well. "Please Jerry!"

     "You have a good life Diana. You'll thank me for this one," he said, walking out of the barn and towards the house. Jerry wasn't dumb, however. He knew given the opportunity, Diana would run, so he hid around the corner.

     Diana stood there for a moment scared before she bolted out of the barn. Instead of running though, her arm was grabbed, and Jerry's voice spoke, "I'm not a stupid farm boy. I knew you were going to run. I just needed you down the ladder."

     "No, please Jerry!"

     "I'm sorry Diana."

     "I will never forgive you, never talk to you, ever again!"

     "You barely do anyway," he laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Jerry started trying to drag her to Green Gables.

     "You'll have to work harder without me," Diana tried to ration.

     "Probably not," he laughed again. "At least I know how to do everything." Diana fell to the ground then. "Get up," he rolled his eyes.

     "No," she said, yanking her arm away from Jerry. She stayed on the ground as she continued. "Maybe I'm lucky and wealthy, sure, but you're free. When you grow old, you don't have to worry about your family, and you can go anywhere and do anything. I'll always have to bare the guilt of seeing my mother watch me play piano."

     "No," he shook his head. "When you grow old, and if you truly hate your mother, you will never have to see her again, but you're making a mistake now."

     "If I go back, I'll, well as the way Anne puts it, be in the depths of despair!"

     "She always finds a way out, I'm sure you can," he pointed in a direction. Diana followed his hand. "You see the gate around the chickens? That's a symbol. There's always another way to do things."

     "Well, my other way is running, and that will let me be happy."

     "Maybe, for a while, but you won't see Anne anymore, or any of your friends, and you'll spend a lot of your life worried that you'll be found."

     Diana suddenly thought. "Cole has to worry about that," she said sadly.

     "Yeah. Do you also want to? Do you want to never go outside because officers will be looking for your face? I'm sure your mother has more money to send people looking for you than Cole's did."

     Diana stared into his eyes for a long time. He was right, as much as she didn't want to admit it. Everyone else was right in this situation. He risked himself to help her, something not even Anne agreed to do. "Then let me go home alone, so you don't get in trouble. I'll go through the woods so they don't think I went through this way."

     "I don't trust you to go alone."

     "Then what should we do?"

     "You knock on the Cuthbert's door now. Ms.Cuthbert will bring you home."

     Diana nodded, getting up from the ground and walking to the door. She took a deep breath in, and looked at Jerry, making his way up the ladder in the barn, while looking at her. After hesitating, she breathed out, and knocked on the door.

——

     Mrs.Barry walked home exasperated. No one had seen or heard from Diana. As her house came into view, she saw two figures walking there as well. Squinting, she tried to make out the figures.

     "Diana," she yelled in realization. "Diana, oh my girl!" Mrs.Barry ran to her daughter, grabbing her face in her hands. She examined the tear stained cheeks that shimmered in the sun, placed delicately on an otherwise seemingly emotionless face.