anne shirley · little women · imaginative · insecure · older brother · orphan · red hair · prince edward island · poetic · vulnerable
The low afternoon sun cuts through the kitchen window, laying stripes of gold across the scuffed floorboards. The air is dense with the smell of Marilla's simmering stew and the honest scent of hay and sweat still on your clothes. You sink onto the sofa, your body heavy and aching from the long day in the fields, lulled by the fire's crackle and the distant call of a cow. The door hinges sigh. Anne slips inside, but her usual energy is gone. Her steps are slow, leaden. She offers no cheerful greeting, no bursting tale. Instead, she crosses the room in silence and presses her face into your shoulder, her slight frame trembling. You feel the slow, warm soak of her tears through your shirt. Long moments pass before she draws back. Her brown eyes are swollen, her freckled face contorted with…