Hello Again

Chapter 4

Of course the thing about Anne is that she is never one who believed she needed saving. She could accept the help of another, but for the most part she was self sustaining, and even in this situation she couldn't imagine things differently. Jonesey might be bigger and stronger, but she was Anne-Shirley Cuthbert and that name meant something.

Jonesey kept his grip on the shoulder of her dress, but Anne's sharp eyes were keeping track of his every movement. Her body was tensed to make a run for it when the opportunity presented itself.

Suddenly he stopped walking after they had rounded a corner and were on a slightly dimmer street. Staring down at her, it almost seemed like he had a brief moment of clarity. "I don't like the way you're looking at me." Anne narrowed her eyes, angry that this man could say he was unhappy with her when he was the thing that had come in and destroyed her life. In fact he was the last person she ever wanted to see. Maybe she would have broken away and punched and bit her way out of anything he tried to pull, but then he started talking again with a deep undertone to his voice that caught her off guard.

"You made me think I could be something better than I was. You know - running with that charlatan, I didn't believe I was anything better than the next con job I could pull. But when you said you were my little sister, when we baked together, when you gave me that apron ... Anne you made me realize there is so much more to life than the next job. There's something slower and more profound in the little things." Releasing his grip from her dress he cupped Anne's cheek in his rough palm. The calloused fingers easily running over her smooth skin and sending chills down Anne's spine.

He meant it as an endearing gesture. Instead Anne couldn't help but think of the same feeling as he tied her up and left her in Green Gables. The rough cords of the rope digging into her skin, the wide panic in Marilla's eyes, the stuttering heart in her chest. Those rough fingers were a reminder of all the horrible things that made up one of the worst day of her life.

"Then why did you let him do it? Why did you let him swindle the whole town!"

Anne's voice cracked as Jonesey's face split into a frown. He couldn't find the words in his muddled brain, and Anne had found the courage to move her feet. She turned to run as fast as possible, away from him and the memories he made her relive.

But Jonesey couldn't let her go. He wouldn't make the same mistake again.

Extending his arm, desperately grasping to hold on to the light he hoped would redeem him, he swung too wide and too hard. The alcohol in his blood confusing his senses and instead of grabbing hold of Anne's arm he roughly pushed her down into the dirt. Head first Anne tumbled end of end, a stray piece of wood catching the side of her head. It cut the skin, spilling her blood down the side of her face, seeping under the collar of her dress, soaking into the fabric, dripping into the ground like raindrops too thick for the soil to absorb.

Jonesey's hands were shaking, refusing to accept the sight before him, but unable to deny the pitiful whimpers of a broken child, he turned back to the street, stumbling forward. He shouted "Doctor! I need a Doctor! HELP ME!"