Hope [anne with an e]

| THE SUN AND THE MOON

chapter eight: the sun and the moon

"he was back
but she was gone."

*  *  *

"WHY ARE YOU HERE?", Caroline asked and it caused her brother's eyebrows to raise.

"Is that all you're going to say?", he wondered.

Gilbert didn't get it. He had sailed for days just to get back to her so why wasn't she happy to see him? He had come back, wasn't that what she wanted? Caroline was having the same dilemma. She had wished and prayed for her brother to return home for days on end at times, but now that he was standing in front of her, a part of her wanted him to leave again.

"It's all that I want to know.", she whispered but he had heard every word.

James and Bash both felt uncomfortable in the small room, but neither of them was going to leave. Bash knew no one here except Gilbert. He had only heard stories of Caroline but she wasn't anything like he'd imagined. James was in the same boat. People had told him about Gilbert and how he and his sister had been closer than any other siblings but as he watched them, they didn't even look at one another.

They didn't feel like siblings anymore; they were only strangers to one another.

"Well then, I came back for you.", Gilbert paused to look over at James, "But it seems that you've made many new friends."

She rolled her eyes then crossed her arms, "So have you and yours was waiting in my kitchen."

"This isn't just your house Caroline, dad left it to me.", Gilbert argued.

"And then you left, hopefully, it still meets your standards.", she muttered and Gilbert only shook his head.

He put his hands in his coat pocket and stepped closer to her, "I am really glad to see you, Care. You look different."

"Yes, because you were gone for months."

Gilbert didn't understand why she was being so passive-aggressive and frankly, it was becoming annoying. He had hoped that they would talk and share stories with one another then go to bed. He had had a hard time sleeping on the ocean and hoped that with her around it would be easier. However, Caroline never made anything easy. He supposed he should be used to it by now.

She listened to him talk for a few more minutes. Gilbert was discussing the experiences he had and all of the fascinating people he'd met. He even tried to introduce Bash to her. It was only after that that he realized she wasn't even listening. Caroline had both of her hands curled into fists and James noticed, reaching down to grab one of them.