Carrots Are The Best Vegetables

Chapter Three

"Anne, Gilbert! We're home!" Marilla called from downstairs, to be met with nothing but silence. For a minute, the frail woman felt a sense of worry crawling through her, until she climbed up the stairs to see Anne asleep in her bed, with Gilbert nearly drooling on his stool, which was closer to the bed than it had been prior Matthew and Marilla's leave.

Marilla smiled sweetly, before gently closing the door, and allowing them to sleep. It was late anyway, and Sebastian and Matthew had agreed to be careful after Anne was attacked, so he would just stay here tonight.

Marilla made her way back downstairs, and placed the paper bag of medicine and pills on the wooden counter, which groaned with ease under the light weight of the medicine.

Matthew would have to work even harder now, since Anne wasn't around to pull her weight of chores, which frightened Marilla, since his hair was graying, and the already defined lines in his skin was beginning to grow darker.

Time Skip

"Gilbert?" It was morning, and it was also freezing inside of the house. The crickets chirped outside, so it was clearly early, but not early enough that Anne and Marilla hadn't awoken.

Gilbert immediately noticed that the bed next to him was vacant, except for a surprisingly red dress. Anne's wound must've began to bleed again, or maybe it was something else. Either way, he had to get to school. "Gilbert?" Gilbert recognized the voice as Matthew's, and began to sleepily grab his books, and head downstairs.

"Good morning. You'd best be off to school about now." Matthew greeted with a small grin, and handed Gilbert his coat and boots. "You'll be back around after school, I reckon?"

"Yes, sir. I'll drop off Anne's work, and then we can do it together, if that's alright." Gilbert explained before saying goodbye to Matthew, and exiting the small stone-house.

Matthew had began to appear as a father figure, on top of Sebastian, so he enjoyed spending his afternoon's at the Cuthbert's. On top of that, something deep in him loved discussing home-work with Anne. A warm feeling had spread over him when he took her hand last night, and it was a nice feeling, despite the dire situation they were both in.

Gilbert didn't excite himself over the fact that he would have to see Billy, and wouldn't be able to call him out on anything, since he normally brought his hunting rifle to school, and explained it to Ms. Stacy as, 'he'd goes hunting after school,' which of course Gilbert believed then. But now, it seemed to appear in a much darker light.

The school was in sight now, but it seemed slightly vacant without Anne. In some way, he hoped she felt the same way when he wasn't here. She did say that he was missed back at the school, especially by her, so maybe he felt the same warmth in her body when they talked. Though he didn't know what exactly the feeling was, perhaps he could ask Matthew and Sebastian, or Ms. Stacy... no, he had a feeling it would be inappropriate to ask Ms. Stacy.

Finally, he made it to the school. He trudged to the river and placed his mason-jar of milk in the freezing river. Normally, it would have been placed next to Anne's so that he had an excuse to talk to her during lunch without looking odd. And he didn't wish to hurt Ruby's feelings, either.

With clammy, gloved hands, he opened the wooden doors to reveal children running around the classroom like it was on fire, but this was the norm in the Avonlea school, since many of the children hadn't yet matured like Anne had... meaning that they were still, well... children.