Chapter 1
"Eponine?" A soft voice called her name. She perked up at the sound of it. She turned around and saw her mother. Madame Thenardier looked older, somehow, than she had this morning. Her mother wasn't exactly young and spritely. But, she never looked like a sad woman who'd lost herself years ago. Until now.
"Eponine, I have some bad news for you. I think it's best if you sit down." Eponine cocked her head. If something awful had happened, it wouldn't be like her mother to want to tell her so nicely. Madame Thenardier cared for her more than her father did, but that still wasn't very much. This was more than concerning for her.
"What is it, Mother?" She asked worriedly as she took an uncomfortable seat in the rickety, old, wooden chair.
"Eponine," she began, looking down, wringing her hands, "you're seventeen." She nodded, slowly.
"We're losing more money than ever before. With the upped security, your father's job is becoming more difficult." Her father's job, if you could even call it that, was thievery. Pickpocketing and things of the like weren't as easy with guards patrolling the streets.
"Your father," her voice hitched in her throat, but she finished her statement. "He wants to sell you to the pier." Horror cascaded over Eponine's face. She knew her father was desperate and greedy. She knew he barely cared for her at all. But, she assumed he would care at least enough to not sell her into prostitution. She was too shocked to speak.
"Please," her mother pleaded, tears springing into her eyes, "if I try to reason with him, he'll just overpower me. Eponine, I know you don't think I care about you, but I do. The life we live is a harsh one. I had to act that way to you for the most of your life so you would be ready for the world around you." She didn't know what to feel. Eponine wanted to hug her mother and cry into her shoulder. But, she also wanted to yell and scream in her face about how awfully she had treated her and her siblings. Her own children. Her mother was a coward. Eponine already knew that.
"Get away from here. Please. Find somewhere else to live." She had nowhere to go. The streets of Paris weren't exactly the most inviting place in the world. They were cold and dark. Always and forever. As she rose from the seat, she knew that getting out of that hell hole was the best thing she could do for herself. She knew the horrible things that would happen if she stayed. She knew she was young and had a life ahead of her. Something that she could make for herself, somehow.
She knew she couldn't go live with Gavroche and help him. She hadn't seen him in years. Where would he even be, now? She couldn't go live in the café. It housed too many people already. Eponine would have to live on the streets. Homeless.
Eponine didn't look back at her mother when she stepped outside with her measly handful of belongings. All she could look at was the cool ground beneath her feet. And all she could think about was how that was her knew home.
