OSTRACIZE | GILBERT BLYTHE

72

Ellis linked arms with Gilbert as they exited the church. Once Ellis saw the girls from school, more specifically Anne, she pulled Gilbert closer. Gilbert had forgiven her for her small outburst the other day.

"Uh, hello?" Gilbert said, stepping away from Ellis slightly.

"Anne has a question." Josie said.

Anne's eyes widened.

"Is it true that women of intelligence and passio- uh emotion are doomed to be infertile? Is that how reproduction works?"

Ellis started laughing at Anne's question so Gilbert nudged her slightly.

"Um there's nothing I've seen in my medical experience that would lead me to believe that. So uh, no. Is that all?"

"The steps." Tilly whispered in Anne's ear. "Ask him."

Anne just looked up to him and smiled.

"Well good day then."

~

James watched angrily as Gilbert walked Ellis home from Church. James quickly stood up once Gilbert leant down to kiss Ellis' cheek as a goodbye.

"Ellis. In, now." James demanded, sheepishly Ellis nodded and walked inside.

"Bye Gilbert." Ellis shouted from the door,

With one last glare at Gilbert, James slammed the door.

"Kitchen, Ellie." James instructed. He waited for the brown haired girl to walk into the kitchen before dragging a chair up, slamming it on the floor and taking a seat. Ellis remainded standing confused and almost scared.

"Thank God you're here now. Calm him down, he's talking nonesense." Carter pointed to James with an eye roll, though his comment came out almost as a shout himself.

All morning James had been rambling on and on about Gilbert and Winifred.

"It's not nonesense Carter." James seethed, clenching his fists, his knuckles had literally started draining of colour and were so white they matched the candle in the centre of the table.

"Well, you try and make some sense of what he's saying Ellie." Carter stated calmly, offering a head cock to his baby sister who looked concerned especially when, James, in anger at Carters dismissal backhanded the candle across the kitchen.

"I'm allowed to be mad, she's my baby sister."

Ellis stood there confused, but she daren't ask what was going on. She could see that James was mad so she had to approach everything calmly.

Ellis was the only one who could really calm him down and talk him out of his bursts of anger.

"But her and Gilbert are together James." Carter raised his voice slightly, just so James, who was mumbling things to himself, could hear.

"Gilbert and I aren't together." Ellis whispered, making her brothers fall silent. Ellis pulled at the cuffs of her sleeves so they covered her shaking hands a usual thing that happened with anxiety when it came to her explosive brothers.

"See, he's not obligated to be with her. But it's not fair. It's not fair that he's leading her on. He knows that she loves him and he's told her that he loves her. It's not fair. He has no right to do this to our baby sister."

Angrily, James stood from his chair, his chest felt like it was on fire.

"I'm going to go over there and kill him."

"J-Jam-James w-wha-t are y-y-y-ou on ab-about?" Ellis stuttered. She felt so anxious and vulnerable. They were the two feelings that she hated the most.

"Calm down! Can't you see what you're doing to her!" Carter shouted at his twin pointing to Ellis who was barely standing with the way that her legs felt like jelly.

"What I'm doing to her?" James chuckled angrily. "Don't you mean what Gilbert's doing to her?" James paused and looked to Carter he stood forward as to he was going to hurt him even though everyone in the room knew he wouldn't. "Do you want to tell her?"

"I don't want to tell her. You tell her. You're the one getting mad about it. I think it's just a missunderstanding." Carter whispered he was significantly calmer than James. Glancing to Ellis, who had began biting her lip anxiously he sighed in disappointment.

"W-wha-t's go-ing o-on?" Ellis questioned.

"Gilbert is courting someone else." James said bluntly.

Ellis eyes quickly filled with unshead tears. Ellis nodded slowly, and ran off to her room.

"Well done!" Carter shouted angrily. "You've gone and broke her heart!" Carter walked out of the house and slammed the door.

Carter made his way to the stables to see Toffee to calm down.

James however, stayed in the house and started taking his anger out of the walls, splitting his knuckles till they bled.

Ellis stayed in her bedroom with her head in her knees and tears streaming down her face.