"Five francs! Just enough for dinner!" Marius exclaimed to himself as he sat in his room counting the money he had earned during the day. He was only a boy of 18, living in poverty because he no longer wanted to accept money from his rich grandparents. In Marius, one could see innocence that warmed the soul. He really had no idea of the bad in the world, and he had never seen true unhappiness. Because of his mild, laid back qualities, Marius Pontmercy was quite a forgettable person and if it wasn't for his handsome appearance, no one would have remembered him at all. He had sea blue eyes, golden brown hair, and freckles that seemed to dance around his face, just like how the stars seemed to dance around the moon.
Suddenly, there was a girl standing at his doorway, and Marius could have sworn he's seen her before. She was tall and this with sharp edges to her limbs. Her skin, dark and rough from exposure to the sun, seemed to cling tight to her bones without any fat at all to act as a barrier. Her hair was long and tangled; sometimes the breeze would drag it across her sunken cheeks. She wore only rags, if you could even call them that. They were so thin she seemed naked almost, completely unprotected to the elements of nature, which would have been shameful to most but, she didn't seem to care. In fact, she presented herself with such audacity she seemed much older than she actually was. Marius would have though her to be 20 or even 30 if it wasn't for her eyes. Her eyes were unsure and wandering, which didn't match her otherwise haughty body language. These sad, corrupt eyes belonged to a girl who had lived for no more than 16 years.
The girl handed Marius a letter. "Ah it is Jondrette's daughter" thought Marius after reading the letter which expressed gratitude for Marius's early kindness to the family, from Jondrette himself.
The girl stepped in the room boldly without waiting for and invite. "You don't know me but I've seen you. I live next door. How horrible we've never spoken before! I guess I never really know any of my neighbors, but you know my father I guess because he wrote you that letter." The girl said in a horrible cracking voice.
Marius just nodded. He had never seen someone with such little shame. He thought it must be because she had so little to lose.
She continued to walk around his apartment, poking about as if everything was her own. "Books! I can read these if you want! I used to be educated and beautiful you know." She walked over to his mirror and began to hum nursery rhymes to herself. It was as if he wasn't even there to her anymore.
Marius was too shocked to say anything. He had never seen anyone behave like this before.
"You're very handsome you know." She said not looking away from her reflection. "It's too bad I'm not beautiful but, oh well. You think me to be ugly don't you?"
Marius began to open his mouth in response but the girl stopped him.
"I don't really want you to answer that. I know I'm ugly. But, I don't care you know. I don't care about anything. Isn't that wonderful? I think it is. Nothing to lose in this world."
"But there's nothing to gain either." said Marius, opening his mouth for the for the first time since she came into the room.
The girl's reckless, bold attitude seemed to fade for a moment, but only for a moment. She looked down, running her bony fingers along the furniture of Marius' apartment.
She looked up and smiled. "That's what people say who have something to gain, Marius" The girl then turned and walked out. She was gone as quickly as she had come.
Marius sat down and realized she had stolen his five francs off his dresser, but he didn't run after her. This girl needed them more than him. The sight of her could make a grown man cry, you could see her misery in her eyes. "It's a shame I didn't even get her name." He thought. Engraved into his dressed with a coin was "Eponine," but Marius didn't even think to look there.
So I don't know if this is going to be a one-shot or if I'm going to write a whole story on it yet. I tried to keep Eponine really really book based since most people who write about her make her very musical based, giving her beauty and unselfish qualities which is very contradicting to the book. Hope you liked it :) Sorry it's kind of short... Please write reviews I appreciate them more than you know. Even if you didn't like it you could tell me what I could do to improve. Thanks :)
