Dear Gilbert Blythe

Stumble Steps

The morning finally arrived, and I somehow slept better than I expected. Or so I thought. I sat up on the bed and instantly got shot by a sharp pain in my waist and neck. "I can do this. I can do this." Is what I repeated to myself as I slowly pushed myself off of the mattress. My legs tremble with each small step I take. I hold onto the doorframe with my hands for stability and take deep breaths. As I feel my strength increase, I become confident enough to go down the stairs.

Gilbert and Bash are already downstairs and preparing breakfast. The smell of sausage and eggs made my stomach grumble. I hold my back as I walk down the steps and start feeling like an old woman, when in reality im only a 15 year old girl with her bones in pretty good condition. My eyes meet the clock. Its only 7:15A.M, which is just enough time for me to get ready for the day.

Gilbert sees me enter the room and smiles. His smile quickly fades into a concerned expression. "How are you feeling this morning?" He asks, while walking over to me.

"I feel better mentally, but not physically." I say to Gilbert. He puts his hand over my back and guides me to the table. Sitting down on the chair took the pain away from my legs and feet. Gilbert leaned against the kitchen counter and looked at me while he thought about how he could help.

I see Gilbert's hand place a glass of water in front of me. "Drink up. Water helps with almost everything."

Not even a second goes by, and I'm chugging the water. I slammed the cup down on the table when I finished it and looked up at Gilbert to see his reaction. I couldnt tell if he looked intreged or worried for my sanity. I pushed my chair away from the table and stood up as fast as I could to go to the restroom. Before I could even start walking, Gilbert runs over to me and puts my arms over his shoulder.

"Stop treating me as if im incapable of doing anything on my own!" I yelled at him even though he was right next to me.

"But you are incapable of doing anything on your own. You could barely carry the glass of water and your legs arent stable, even with my help." Somehow, he knew I needed to use the bathroom. I hated depending on other people, but I knew that I needed to in order to get around.

When I open the door to get out of the bathroom, Gilbert is waiting right outside of the door. He has his hands in front of my just in case I fall. I manage to walk back to the table without collapsing.

Bash puts the plates of food on the table and he sits down, "I dont expect you to go to school today, so you can just rest while Gilbert is gone." Bash tells me.

I shake my head and look at him, "No, I'm going. I wont let Billy ruin my life." Bash and Gilbert look at me in disbelief.

Gilbert reaches over to grab a sausage, "That means I have to hold you up all day. It also means that Ruby and the other girls with see you with me."

I put a fake smile on my face and say, "And? I dont care what they think."

Gilbert laughs, "You cared yesterday."
I ignore him and fill my plate with food.
Delly flaps her arms around and Bash feeds her eggs with his fingers. When I finished eating, I grabbed my plate and wobbled over to the sink. Gilbert sees me walking over to the stairs to get ready and informs me, "We saw how dirty you dress was yesterday, so we went into your house to get you a new one from your closet. Its on the couch." Gilbert runs over to me and holds out his arm for me, takes the dress from the couch and walks me to the bathroom. I barely had time to process what he said because he moved me so fast. I dont really mind what dress he picked. All I want is something to wear. I did the same thing I did yesterday night and avoided looking in the mirror until I was fully clothed.

After pulling the sleeve over my shoulder, I look at myself to make sure I look decent.