Broken (Gilbert Blythe)

chapter 6

-Middle of the Night-

Loud ringing. That's all she could hear. Nova flips over and puts her pillow over her head, trying to prevent the noise from entering her ears. Someone enters the bedroom, "Jane, Nova, come on! Get up!" Nova sits up and looks over to her sister, confused.

The bell was still ringing, she looks outside to see a few houses over, a fire blazing brightly in the night sky. "Girls, get up now!" Their mother tells them. "Your father and brother are already on their way! Find as many buckets as you can." She says, looking around frantically. Nova puts on her shoes and looks around the house for buckets. She finally found some and put them in the wagon.

She got in the wagon with Jane, Prissy and her mother. They start riding to fire. The closer they got, the stronger the smell of smoke was. Eventually, you could feel the heat of the flames coming off of the house, on your skin because the fire was so big. They got there and saw most of the families from town there. The boys were trying to put out the flames, while the families sat back at a distance, watching. Nova got out and handed the buckets to the guys.

She saw Anne and Diana, she ran over to them. "Hey guys." Anne and Diana smile and they both hug her. "Nice ribbons." Diana giggles. Nova totally forgot she had put the ribbons in her hair to curl it. She pulls them out and keeps them in her hands. They all look at the flaming house. "How did this happen?" Nova asks. Both Anne and Diana shrug their shoulders, not sure of the answer. Nova notices something about the house. The flames were obviously getting bigger. Then she noticed. The windows and doors were open.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "Why are the doors and windows open?" She says walking fast to her wagon to grab blankets, putting down the ribbons in the process. Anne is quick to follow. Nova stuck the blankets in water and starts running to the house. She runs inside, only to be welcomed by dark smoke. Instant struggle to breathe. She runs upstairs with Anne hot on her trail.

"Put the blankets at the bottom of the door when you close them so no oxygen goes inside!" Nova says through coughs, while doing what she instructed. She closed all of the remaining doors except one, still coughing from all of the smoke entering her lungs. Nova runs over to close it, "Nova!" She looks up and sees Gilbert. She closes the door. Anne is down the hall near the stairs. Nova was on her way when a piece of wood from the ceiling lands in front of her. Nova shrieks, still struggling to breathe, she looks to Anne. "Anne, go!" Anne shakes her, coughing as well. "Yes! Go! I'll find a way out!" Anne nods her head and sprints down the stairs. Nova, on the other hand, looked around everywhere. Her coughing getting worse. She couldn't open any doors, if she did, that's exposing oxygen to the fire and it'll basically burn her to a crisp. She looks to the pathway to the stairs, the wood that had fallen in front of her was still there but there was a big enough gap underneath it, she could crawl to go to the stairs. Nova couldn't stop her coughing, she was wanting to get out of this fiery pit.

She felt like her lungs were on fire. Nova got on her knees and crawled underneath the beam of wood. She slowly but surely made it to the other side of the beam and went down the stairs. Her coughing hasn't eased up. Nova ran out of the house, gasping for fresh air to enter her lungs, collapsing onto her knees.

Meanwhile, Gilbert saw Nova in the burning house, his heart started racing, causing him anxiety, making him feel worried of losing someone he cared about. He asked Billy to take over, throwing water into the house. Gilbert gets down, running towards the front of the house to see Nova coming out, coughing and gasping for smoke-free air. She collapses on the ground. Gilbert runs to her and bend down. "Nova!" She looks up to him, her breathing unsteady. "Are you okay?" Looking at her with worry and concern on his face. She nods her head slowly, still breathing hard. Gilbert grabs her and helps her stand. He looks at her, she's covered in soot and ash, her hair was a mess and her nightgown was an awful off-white and occasional black ash marks.

His eyes became glossy, he pulls her into a hug. "You can't do that, Nova. I thought I lost you." He said loud enough for her to hear. Nova was shocked that he hugged her, she was hesitant but hugged him back. They stayed like that for a few seconds, then they departed, just for Anne and Diana to run over and give her a hug. They say, "Oh my goodness, you're okay!" and "Don't ever do that again!" Nova looks over their shoulders to look to Gilbert. She mouths, 'I'm sorry.' He nods his head and gives her a small smile. He walks back to see if the guys need anymore help.

Nova hugs them back. "Nova Serenity Andrews!" She hears someone. Anne and Diana let go of her and they all look to see who it was. It was her mother. "What were you thinking?!" Her mother lectured and gave her a death grip hug. Nova was still in shock about what she did, she didn't know what to say, what to tell them.

Her mother let's go and looks at Nova in the eyes. "I'm so glad you're okay." She said with tears in her eyes. Nova nodded her head. "I'm sorry." Nova said, with her voice sounding hoarse. Tears trailed down her mother's face. "Why did you go in there? You could've gotten yourself killed." Nova looks down, "Fire, it needs oxygen. The windows and the doors were open, so I closed them." She looks at the house and then back at her mother. "Did it help?" Anne nods her head at Nova's question. "Yes, the fire is going down. All thanks to you." She says with a smile and nudges Nova. Nova gives a small smile, she coughs again. Her mother gives Nova her blanket. She hugs her daughter once again. "Don't do that ever again, you hear me?" Nova nods her head and hugs her back.

authors note

I'm sorry this chapter is a little shorter but I promise the next chapter will be a little longer! Thank you guys! Don't forget to vote and comment your feedback!

~ mack :b