The next day, when Marilla and Matthew were talking, Marilla glanced at the clock.
"Why it's Anne should've been up fifteen minutes ago!" She said, getting up and went to the bottom of the stairs.
"Anne! Anne! Time to get up! Oh I wonder what she's up to."
Matthew watched his sister go up to wake Anne. Today I have to go and plow. I'll have to miss breakfast in order to do everything in time, he thought.
" Marilla! I have to go to the fields now! I forgot today is a early day!" He called up to her.
"Alright that's fine! I'll bring you some food in about a hour or so," Marilla called back.
Upon entering Anne's room, she noticed the quilt and bedsheets were all tangled and Anne was tossing and turning. Hmm I hope everything's alright, she thought to herself.
Marilla tried to wake her, "Anne It's time to wake up," nothing happened, so she started to gently shake the girl awake.
"Anne! Wake up!"
Anne woke up, she was very hot and her back felt like fire. Then she was aware of someone in the room, looking up she saw Mrs Hammond.
"Mrs. Hammond!" She screamed, ducking under the covers.
Alarmed, Marilla yanked the covers back and tried to feel Anne's forehead. She was shocked at how hot it felt. She tried to remember is Anne was acting strange at all, no, not at all, she was fine yesterday, what happened?
"Anne! It's me! It's Marilla! It's your..." She hesitated, "It's your mother!"
" Please Mrs. Hammond, don't hurt me!" Anne was so scared, where was Marilla and Matthew?
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm here to help you," Marilla reassured her, she was almost in tears. How could anyone hurt a child so much?
"I'll be right back Anne. I'm going to tell Matthew to fetch the doctor and get you some wet rags," with that Marilla tried to stroke Anne's back but the scared girl flinched.
That flinch broke Marilla's heart. Sadly she quickly went downstairs and gathered some rags and a bowl of water.
If Matthew had been prepared for anything it definitely wasn't the sight of his sister frantically running towards him. He ran to meet her halfway.
"Matthew! Go fetch the doctor! Anne has a high fever!" Marilla told him, gasping for breath. With a quick nod he ran to the barn, got his horse
and took off.
Meanwhile, Marilla ran back to Anne, who was still tossing and turning. She mopped Anne's forehead with the cool rag and whispered words of comfort to her.
Anne was terrified, where was Matthew and Marilla? She needed them. She was aware Mrs Hammond was talking to her, but she could make out what she was saying.
She felt something cold being pressed against her forehead. That feels nice, please don't let it stop, she thought. Luckily Marilla had no intention of stopping. She needed to cool Anne down.
"It's okay Anne, mama's here. Don't worry, no one is going to hurt you," she sighed, did she really just call herself mama?
She thought back to when Anne clung to her when Matthew brought her home. And when Anne called her mama one night. I guess I was like a mama then, she reckoned.