Éponine's Story: pt 1: Life In Montfermeil
Prolog
A very young girl clad in nothing but a chemise and petticoat was standing underneath a tree outside of her residents. Her frail frame shivered in the brisk early October morning. Her feet were bear and there were various wholes throughout both chemise and petticoat showing flesh that was yellow tinted from lack of nourishment. This girl would seem to the casual observer that she had the look of a corrupted old woman but one who has the look of youth still about them. She is one of those beings that are both horrible and beautiful at the same time. This girl of sixteen could have even been once, in her childhood a very pretty girl, but misery had robbed and choked that beauty. She sat down under the tree and looked up through the naked branches. Her heavy dark drooping eyes had in them a far away sparkle, a sparkle so often unseen in this poor creature. Her mind wandered, and both wondered about things she had heard only about. Given her tender years and her circumstances one would think that she would be quite stupid but she knew things that even the most educated of persons would be astonished. It is not to say, that she had much of an education but her life was cold, dark and horrible. This poor creature was growing up beyond her years. A smile upon her lips showed a degraded mouth with a few teeth missing. . She thought of the young man who had come to occupy the apartment adjacent to her own. She had seen him many a day walking to and fro to the university. She had not as of yet spoken to him but her miserable spirits were lifted with every chance she saw him. She had overheard bits of conversations from passersby that he was from one of the wealthiest families in Paris, but why did he choose such crude living quarters, if he was from such a wealthy upbringing? She heard that he was studying law, but she was often confused for she saw him sometimes walking alone seeming to have no real purpose in his step. She knew not what things a lawyer did, but she knew it was important.
At length, she rose from her sitting position and started walking into the crude building that she called a home. Though it was a few days ago she happened to come upon him, she would seek him out. He seemed to know not that he had other inhabitants sharing the same quarters with him. Her heart quickened with each step she made towards his chamber. A pang of a feeling that she knew not came over her. Was this excitement, love? Baaah, how could it be! Her mind chided her. This feeling was foreign to her, but at the same moment, she new deep in her sole what it was. It was in fact, the sheer blossoming of love. She knew not then, that she would love this man. It would be a love that would sacrifice everything for the sake of another's happiness.
