OVER THE NEXT DAYS, THE TOWNS-
people were overwhelmed with news.
The gold, the boarders, everything had been a huge scam and now the two thieves were gone.
In their pockets all the money for the soil samples. Only one of them was caught, and that was Mr. Dunlop, who had been in cahoots with Nate.
Nathanael, however, had disappeared without a trace of the money, leaving Avonlea penniless.

Everything had to go on in some way now. Amybella didn't leave the house much over the next few days, except to go to school or for a short ride. Her family was penniless themselves, as they had also invested $150.
Marcus was furious because of that and pushed Bella around, while taking his anger out on her mother.

—
Gilbert and Sebastian, sat in a pub in Trinidad and drank the good household expenses. Gilbert received a rum and his friend a babash.

"Oh- oof. You sure that's not gonna kill you?" Gilbert said, squinting his eyes as he placed his glass on the table.

"No. That's what makes it so good. The danger!Got to taste death to feel alive, Blythe." The boy tried to reach for Bash's glass, but the man took it from him.

"Not for you, though, first-timer! Babash. Local delicacy, You'll be sprouting like a weed." Said the man and Gilbert leaned back in his chair.

"Man.. seeing the world. Trying new things. What could be better?" He asked, watching the people walking past them.

"Gold. And a girl waiting for you at home!" Bash replied and Gilbert rolled his eyes.

"What? You have a fancy house at home,
A blonde waiting for you and you'd rather shovel coal?" Asked his friend.

"She's not just a blonde," Gilbert said.

"And the gold.. I wouldn't say that Anne's the most reliable narrator." Gilbert said, staring at his hands.

"You're crazy. If I had a pretty girl back home, gold or no, I'd be out of here."

„And that's not the case with Amy. Last time I saw her, I got in a fight and yelled at her. She must hate me." Said the brunette boy, looking at his hands.

"Amy is it? She makes you smile and act like a mug, when you talk about her. Of course women get mad sometimes. Be a man." Bash said.

"I am a man." Gilbert said seriously.

"Only a boy can't admit he's gone over a lady." The man raised an eyebrow.

"Would a boy stare danger in the eye.. and swallow it." Gilbert reached for Bash's glass, who tried to stop him.

„Ey, No no!" But the boy had already drunk the contents of the glass.
The horrible taste spread through Gilbert's mouth and suddenly the boy felt terribly sick to the stomach. He stood up and ran to the entrance, where he threw up.
Sebastian laughed.

"There, there, Doux-doux. You're a man in truth." He paid and they walked on, Gilbert having to listen to Bash's jokes for a long time.

—
Amybella was startled out of her sleep by the sound of banging from the kitchen.

"Marcus!" she heard her Mother scream hysterically and Bella sat up with a jerk. Shortly afterwards, she heard the clattering of the stairs and her mother opened the door to her bedroom.

"Amybella we have to call the doctor!" she screamed hysterically.

"What?! What happened?" Amybella asked, throwing her covers aside. She stepped towards her mother and saw her tense posture as she stood in the dark hallway. She heard her heavy breathing and sobs escaped her throat.

"What happened?" Bella asked again, clutching her mother's hands, which she held tensely in a fist.
Amybella felt a liquid running over her hands.

"Marissa, what's wrong?" the girl asked, unable to recognize anything in the darkness. She hastily ran to her cupboard and lit the lamp on it, then ran back to her mother's trembling body.

"What happened?!" Amybella looked at her mother's hands and discovered a cut. Her eyes were wide now as she looked back at her mother.

"Marcus had a heart attack, I think he's-..." Amybella put her arm around the woman and ran down the stairs with her. She recognized a lamp burning on the dining table, the sun had not yet risen outside and the house was cold from the night and the cold stove.
The girl looked to the ground and recognized something lying there. In the little to no light, it looked like a sack or a pile of pillows that had been stacked on the floor.

The blond girl stepped closer and recognized the outline of a body. She recognized Marcus' hair as his face was turned towards the floor.

"We have to go to the Gillis'." Her mother said behind her.
Amybella was still standing in the same place, not daring to move. She held the lamp in her hand and watched as the flickering flame chased shadows across Marcus' body.

"Amybella get the Gillis!" Marissa now shouted.

"AMYBELLA!"

—
A week after her stepfather's funeral, her mother had fallen ill. The cut on her wrist, which she got from Marcus, when he was taking his anger out on her again, had become infected and her mother had died of sepsis.

Bella had to take care of her, the last days and hear her cries about how the girl should have cared more for her family and how she should have helped Marissa when she got attacked from Marcus.

It was all her fault.

The funeral service had taken place at Rachel Lynde's house because no one could expect the girl to organize something like that. Rachel Lynde had also decided to take the girl under her wing instead of sending her away.

"The child needs an upbringing and a family." she had said.
She had put her arm around the girl and then pulled her to her chest so that the buttons of her dress pressed into Amybella's cheek. She scraped her skin open while she talked about taking the blonde's future into her hands.
She had spent the last few days at Rachel Lynde's to hear what the future plans were for her, until the woman had finally let her go.

Bella walked slowly towards the door of her house. The curtains were drawn and a heavy silence weighed on the girl's shoulders. She entered through the door and took in the smell.
It was still the same.
She walked towards the dining room and the kitchen. She looked at the sofa her mother had been lying on and vowed never to sit on it again.
Bella walked up the stairs to her bedroom and flopped down on her bed. She stared at the ceiling and felt a soft tear hit the corner of her eye, roll down her temple and disappear behind her ear. Several tears followed until the girl sat up and sobbed.

--
A knock at the front door woke her and Amybella got up. She went down to the door and as soon as she opened it, someone jumped around her neck. The girl recognized the red braids.

"Oh, Bella!" Anne said pityingly.
Marilla and Rachel were also standing at the door.

"Amybella. We just wanted to tell you that if you need anything. You can always come to us!" said Marilla, holding a baked loaf of bread in her hand.

"Oh come here child!" Rachel pulled her into her arms when Anne broke away from her. She pulled the girl to her chest again and the uncomfortable fabric of her blouse scratched Amybella's chin.

"We are here for you. You don't have to live here alone yeah I already told Marilla you don't belong here, you belong with me or- eh.." Marilla gave Rachel a warning look.

"..elsewhere." Rachel moved away from the blonde again.

"We don't mind taking you in either, not at all," said Marilla.

"We could share a room like.. sisters!" Anne said excitedly. She put her hands on Amybella's shoulders.
Amybella forced herself to smile wryly.

"Thank you." she said slowly. It was the first word that had left her mouth for days.

"But I can manage on my own so far." She nodded affirmatively.

"Oh dear child. At least take the bread! Come on, you must not have eaten anything!" Rachel said and pressed the form into Bella's hand.

"If you need anything, Amybella, just come to us," Marilla said again, nodding affirmatively.

"I'll see you at school tomorrow." Anne called as they left. Amybella closed the door, only to pull it open again the next moment.
She ran to the stable to Abraxas.
She leaned her head against his neck and drew his scent into her nose.

When Abraxas realized that she was fetching the bridle, he raised his head in delight.
Amybella mounted his back and rode away from the house. She chased across meadows and fields. Just like in the old days.
She cursed the cold as she did every winter and for the first time in a long time she felt freedom in her sadness.
She felt the weight on her shoulders, as if she were slowing the horse's pace. She chased the cold air in and out of her lungs. She felt her hands go numb and everything inside her froze to a dew in the night.

Freedom. What a dangerous word.

Author's Note:
Want you character to have a development? Just kill off their whole family.

—
1582 words