𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 ~ 𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐥𝐞𝐲-𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty:
With My Dying Breath, I Love Thee

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

It had gotten worse. Mabel had gotten so much worse so quickly.

The doctors said she had around a fifty percent chance of living and a fifty percent chance of dying. Mabel shut down completely for hours when she heard those odds.

She wouldn't talk to anyone. She wouldn't talk to her brother, her sister, her parents, her friends. She wouldn't even talk to Anne.

Her not talking to Anne was the most worrisome of them all. Anne didn't know what to do when she walked into her bedroom to see Mabel.

Her skin was pale, paler than the whiteness that coated the ground outside her home. Her rosy cheeks seemed to flush bright red against her skin. Her hair flared out against the pillow. Her lips were cracked and and it looked like a spider was crawling out of her scar.

Infection.

She prayed to God above that Mabel would survive this. That it wasn't sepsis.

Even in her worse state, Anne still thought Mabel was the most beautiful thing she'd ever laid eyes on.

"Wh-What are you looking at?" Mabel's voice was weak and croaky from the lack of use as she stared up at Anne.

Anne sat on the edge of her bed, her legs crossed and a book open in her lap.

"Just.. Just you." Anne said tearfully, a sad smile painted across her freckled face.

Mabel cracked a smile as her eyes fluttered, "But-"

She cut herself off with a violent cough as she lurched forward, covering her mouth with her arm as she struggled to breathe.

Anne watched in horror as she slowly leaned back to rest against the pillow, "So-Sorry, Anne.. Why were you looking at m-me?"

Anne cleared her throat, looking down at the book silently for a moment before looking back up at Mabel. "Because.. You're just so nice to look at."

Mabel smiled faintly, her eyes fluttering shut. "Thank you."

~~

Anne left shortly after Mabel had fallen asleep, only leaving when she was sure, one hundred percent sure, that Mabel was only sleeping.

Once the Barnes's front door had shut behind her, the emotions flooded from Anne. They poured out like a dam breaking in the summertime.

Her chest heaved up and down as she slid down against a tree, her bare hand digging into the snow as she sobbed.

Anne couldn't imagine losing Mabel. Mabel was her closest friend, her confidant, her shoulder to cry on, her listening ear, her everything. Mabel meant absolutely everything to Anne. Anne loved Mabel. She loved Mabel dearly.

A world without Mabel is a world Anne didn't want to live in. Her days would certainly be much, much darker. Mother earth wouldn't be nearly as beautiful without Mabel. The bright colors of fall and spring would be duller.