silent storms | AWAE

josie pye

anne

"Excuse me?" Anne asks, her tone sharp. Her hands were shaking as she continued to glare at Diana.

"You know, telling Gilbert we kissed minutes after you guys did. Admitting to me that you had feelings for me," Diana smirks as she tilts her head. "Oh oops, did you not tell him?"

Gilbert looks down at Anne, his eyebrows raised. "What?" he asks, his tone surprised.

Anne takes a deep breath, running a hand through her hair. She looks down at the floor, wanting it to swallow her. "I hadn't gotten around to it," she mumbles, running her hands up and down he arms.

"I'll leave you two alone," Diana says, turning around and walking away quickly.

"Anne," Gilbert begins, trying to get the attention of the redhead, but she would not give it to him. So, he continued. "For starters, I don't care at all that you're bisexual, that affects nothing. But the fact you kissed Diana minutes after we kissed? What were you thinking!"

"I was just trying-" Anne tries to say, gallons of tears running down her face.

"Save it," Gilbert says, slamming the door behind him.

Anne collapses onto the floor, her head in her hands. Everything was going wrong, absolutely everything. She lost Diana and now Gilbert. She had nobody.

"Knock kn-, oh my god," Elliot Elling says, immediately bending down to help Anne. "What happened?"

Anne glances up, her vision blurry because of the tears. Elliot quickly starts to wipe them away, a sad smile on his face.

"I've lost Diana and Gilbert," Anne mumbles, leaning her head back. "I want to die."

Elliot stays quiet, his lips pursed. "I know what this feels like," he admits, sitting cross legged on the floor next to her.

"No you don't," Anne says, more tears streaming down her face.

"Anne, I lost both of my parents on the same day. Also my two siblings. I'm an orphan. I've been in and out of foster cares for my entire life," Elliot admits, blinking quickly to avoid crying.

Anne stops crying and looks at him, seeing the emotional side she'd never seen before. "What?" she asks, gently taking his hand and rubbing small circles on it like Gilbert used to do on her back.

"I saw them all die and I could do nothing," Elliot says, his throat dry. "Oh god I don't want to cry," he sniffles, shaking his head.

All Anne can do is look at him and try not to cry along with him.

"It was a fire," Elliot says, running a hand through his hair. "I was just getting home from a friends' house and the house went up in flames. I waited for them to come running out but they never did."

This tugs at Anne's heart strings and she throws herself on top of Elliot, rubbing his back. "I'm an orphan too," she says softly, pulling back and staring at him.

"You are?" Elliot asks in between sobs. Anne nods her head, quieting the boy in front of her.

-

Anne wakes up to an empty room. She was in her bed, all tucked in, but Diana's bed was still nicely made.

"Oh," Anne mumbles, getting out of bed. She was very upset at Diana but she wanted her roommate back.

Anne soundlessly gets dressed, noticing Diana's uniform is gone from her chair. She must have picked it up when Anne was sleeping. She braids her hair quickly and grabs her backpack. She closes her door and comes face to face with Diana Barry.