My name is Combeferre. I am 21 years old. I am at university studying medical science, and philosophy. I am what they call, "The Guide" to a small secret society called "The Friends of the ABC".
And I am recently dead.
How did I die? That honestly is a good question. Well, I know How I died physically, but it is the events that led to my death that I still hold in question. I suppose there was a way or two that I could've escaped death, but now that I am dead, what's the point? If anyone continues to read this, maybe in time they will understand the path of my destiny better than I can.
All I know is, the turn of events began several days ago. It was the 1st of June, 1832, in the city of Paris, France.
I became separated from the rest of the Friends, as our protest rally was interrupted by the police arriving. Enjolras, our leader, was giving out another one of his speeches about the social injustices that the poorer people of our country constantly suffer. The Friends and I considered ourselves loyal to the people. We were patriotic. That was considered an offensive mistake, living in a Monarchy.
It wasn't long before the police came. Whether they intended to disperse the crowd, or to have us arrested, I wasn't sure. But we weren't willing to stand around and take chances.
The only problem was we didn't have a backup plan…which could've foreshadowed our imminent downfall in the first place. So we became scattered among the streets. Only Enjolras, Marius Pontmercy, and myself had made half an attempt to regroup. None of us knew if the others would form up, but we all knew that at some point, we were to meet in our hideout at the Café Musain.
Unfortunately, in the chaos, I got separated from the other two, and now I found myself to be lost amongst the lesser known streets of Paris.
Luckily, I ran into my little friend, Gavroche. He was a friend to all of us in the society, but I considered him like my newfound little brother. He knew these streets better than I knew which philosopher said what theory. But it is his situation that breaks my heart; he has spent his little life as a street urchin.
Anyway, he guided me into more familiar territory. We turned a corner, and found a large group of peasants mixed in with prostitutes. It was a mess…to say the least. The destitute population then began singing, as if they had their own little ritual…
"Look down and see the beggars at your feet!
Look down and show some mercy if you can!
Look down and see the sweepings of the street!
Look down! Look down, upon your fellow man!"
And then, as if by some miracle, I saw one of my fellow…classmates, for lack of a better word. Grantaire. I wasn't sure if he was currently present at the protest today, but I know if he wasn't, this would be where he was the whole time.
I left Gavroche to his own affairs. He seemed to be greeting a new street urchin. I'm not sure, but I thought I heard him call himself Oliver. Gavroche returned the greeting.
"How do you do? My name's Gavroche! These are my people, here's my patch! Not much to look at; nothing posh, nothing that you'd put up to scratch! This is my school, my high society here in the slums of St. Michele. We live on crumbs of upper piety. Tough on the teeth, but what the hell? Think you're poor? Think you're free? Follow me! FOLLOW ME!"
And then he ran off with the newcomer. And I was left to deal with Grantaire, who at the moment was preoccupied with a lady of the evening.
As soon as I approached, an old beggar woman separated the two.
"What you think you're at, hanging 'round my pitch? If you're new around here, girl, you've got a lot to learn!" The old woman said, pushing the young prostitute around.
As I tried to pull Grantaire away, the young prostitute shoved the old woman aside and replied "Listen, you old bat! Crazy bloody witch! At least I give my customers some pleasure in return!" I tried to stop myself from laughing.
"I know what you give! Give them all the pox! Spread around your poison 'til they end up in a box!"
And then, as if on cue, what seemed like the young girl's Pimp came by to sort things out.
"Leave that poor old cow! Move it, Madeleine! She used to be no better 'til the clap got to her brain!"
And then one after another, the peasants and the prostitutes began to chime in…
"When's it going to end?"
"When we gonna live?"
"Something's gotta happen now!"
"Something's gotta give!"
And then they began to start chanting "It'll come. It'll come. It'll come." Over and over again…
I've given up hope on Grantaire. No matter how hard I tried to get his attention, the young girls would just take it all away. I checked my watch…surely I would've been late to the meeting by now.
"Where are the leaders of the land?" I heard a familiar voice. "Oh thank god! Marius and Enjolras." I thought to myself. I ran towards them. "Where are the swells who run this show?"
Marius saw me, and then handed me a packet of the flyers that we had put together. It seems to me that anyone who is left with Enjolras, wastes no time in trying again to make people aware of our cause.
"Only one man, and that's Lamarque, speaks for the people here below!" Enjolras replied.
I took the signal to begin passing out the flyers to the people huddled in this little street.
"See our children fed, help us in our name!" The crowd continued.
And then a little old man, bless his heart, extended his hands to me and pleaded "Something for a crust of bread in Holy Jesus's name!"
I heard a little voice behind me reply "In the Lord's Holy name!" and then the crowd continued the chant. "In his name. In his name. In his name."
Seeing that everyone got a pamphlet, I turned to greet Enjolras, when Marius came up to us both.
"Lamarque is ill, and fading fast. Won't last the week out, so they say!"
It was true. General Lamarque wasn't doing too good. And it would be worse for the lot of us. Because as soon as he dies, there will be no one left of high respect, that will show any sympathy for the People. We were doomed, and action had to be taken.
"With all the anger in the land, how long before the Judgement Day? Before we cut the fat ones down to size? Before the barricades arise?" Enjolras declared.
Barricade…that's a word that'll stick with me until Heaven falls. It is the word of the thing that brought us all together, on that fateful day. But I can't reflect on that now. There are other things to come beforehand. For example…
"Watch out for Old Thenadier…" Gavroche told his little friend. "All of his family's on the make! Once ran a hash house down the way! Bit of a swine, and no mistake! He's got the gang, a bleeding lay-a-bout! Even his daughter does her share…"
And that's when I saw her. The girl. The dangerous girl, who could emasculate any man just by looking at you. She could pin a 300lb man to the ground, slit his throat right open, and still make it look like an accident. She was probably the most vicious and dangerous urchin girl France has ever known…
…and yet I am still drawn to her.
"That's Eponine, she knows her way about. Only a kid, but hard to scare! Do we care?" Gavroche asked his friend. "Not a cuss!" The friend responded. He's learning quickly.
"Long live us! LONG LIVE US!" The two of them shouted.
Old Thenadier shoved his way past me. I felt like walking over there and giving him a piece of my mind. He may think I didn't know who he was, and how he treats his daughter. I've seen the bruises enough time to finally do something about it.
And would you believe my luck…he brought the Patron-Minette gang with him.
"Everyone here! You know your place, Brujon. Babet! Claqseous! You, Montparnasse! Watch for the law with Eponine! Take care!" Then he turned to his wife and said "You turn on the tears! No mistakes my dears!"
Madame Thenadier snatched one of our pamphlets from Enjolras's hand. I grabbed his arm before he could object.
"These bloody students on our street! Here they come, slumming once again!"
The more this old wench was around (pardon my language), the more she was ruining our reputation. She's tried to shut us down verbally multiple times.
"Our Eponine would kiss their feet!" I took a deep sigh…and wished for once, I could help her get out of this situation, and I could make it so I would be the one kissing her feet. "She never had a scrap of brains!"
As Madame Thenadier walked to her spot, I went to approach Eponine. She honestly looked as if she could be a fish out of water. She was dressed in a raggedy dress, of course, but she had the most beautiful dark wavy hair I've ever seen. And her eyes…dark brown. When looking into them, you could see stars.
And today was the day I was going to get up enough courage to at the very least, introduce myself.
Damnit, Marius…He's gotten to her first. "Hey, Eponine. What's up today? I haven't seen you much about!"
They've known each other for at least 5 months. That left me at a disadvantage of 5 months.
She teased with him. "Here you can always catch me in!" And then he took the tip of her cap and shoved it down her face, playfully and responded "Mind the police don't catch you out!"
Then she snatched one of his books. "Hey, what'd you do with all these books? I could've been a student too!" Oh how I wished that could be…maybe if our cause is successful, maybe we can arrange so that she can go to school. Maybe then she would notice me.
"Don't judge a girl on how she looks! I know a lot of things I do!" She said while flipping through the pages of his book.
He then casually picked up the book and flipped it right-side up. God, it broke my heart and made me hate Marius even more. "Poor Eponine, the things you know, you wouldn't find in books like these!"
She then played with his hair. I had to look away, it was almost too much to bear.
"I like the way you grow your hair!" She said.
I heard him say "I like the way you always tease." He then walked away to give out more pamphlets.
"Little he knows…little he sees." I heard her whisper.
Is this some sort of a sick joke? Something to play with my emotions? Have they both been made aware of my crush on Eponine, and they use that to my advantage and torture me?
Or maybe she really does love him…and he doesn't even know. That's more plausible. He always was the one oblivious to reality.
"Here's the old boy! Stay on the job, and watch out for the law!" Madame Thenadier shouted to the gang.
I turned around to see who she was talking about. There was an older gentleman. He looked tall and powerful. He had a top hat and looked wealthy. On his arm, was a young girl. She was pretty, I suppose. She must've been his daughter.
That's when an idea hit me. I've seen this man before. He's been known throughout Paris as a very generous asset to the poor. And for this, he was well known, and respected by the People of France. If anyone can be influential to our cause, it was this man!
I explained my theory to Enjolras. He nodded his approval, and I signaled the old man over. I was too busy discussing the pamphlets with this gentleman to have noticed the conversation going on between Eponine and Marius.
I didn't even notice him bumping into the daughter, nor his reaction to her apparent beauty.
"So you see, Monsieur, this is a very special cause, intended for the greater good of the people. Any way you can help, would be greatly appreciated by the Friends of the ABC…" I began with the gentleman.
It was then that Old Thenadier shoved his way past and took the gentleman aside.
"Please, Monsieur! Come this way! Here's a child that ain't eaten today!"
I threw my hands up and spoke to Enjolras "We should just go. It's pointless to continue here." I motioned to the Gentleman's distraction, and then back to Grantaire, who seems to have forgotten all about the pamphlets.
Marius seemed to be in his own little world too. I noticed his eyes haven't left the new girl's. I hope Eponine isn't witnessing this-
"Men like me, don't forget! You're the bastard who borrowed Cosette!" Thenadier said angrily, shoving the gentleman backwards, getting a grab at his shirt.
"What is this! Are you mad? No Monsieur, you don't know what you do!" The old gentleman pleaded.
"You know me! You know me! I'm a con just like you!" Thenadier said, pulling back after ripping the man's shirt open.
Eponine came into view. "It's the police! Disappear! Run for it! It's Javert!"
Christ…Inspector Javert…as if this day couldn't get any worse! There he was in his black coat, top hat, and night stick. He came with two gendarmes which made this even more dangerous for Enjolras and I than we thought. We tried to conceal what pamphlets we had left.
I turned to tell Grantaire to do the same. Of course. When the police came, the prostitutes ran off, taking Grantaire with him.
"Another brawl in the square, another stink in the air! Was there a witness to this? Who'll let him speak to Javert?" He turned to the gentleman, who seemed to turn white as a ghost. "Monsieur, these streets are not safe! Let these vermin beware! We'll see that justice is done!"
Enjolras and I lowered our heads, so as to avoid getting too much attention from the Inspector. I kept grasping his arm, reminding him that now was not the time to strike. They would've called for backup, and we'd be overrun in minutes.
Luckily, Javert seemed to be more interested in the Patron-Minette gang. "I know this man over here, I know his name and his trade! And on your witness Monsieur, I'll see him suitably paid!" He then turned back around, and we raised our heads.
The old gentleman and his daughter were gone. They seemed to be in a hurry.
"But where's the gentleman gone? And why on Earth did he run?" Javert asked.
As if things couldn't get more bizarre, Marius ran off after them. I knew it! He's probably head over heels for that girl. My thoughts and concerns for Eponine were interrupted by Thenadier.
"You will have a job to catch him! He's the one you should arrest! No more bourgeois when you scratch him then that brand upon his chest!"
Wait…the man had a brand? That could only mean…
"Could it be he's some old jailbird, that the tide now washes in? Heard my name and started running…had the brand upon his skin! And that girl who stood beside him…when I turned, they both had gone! Could he be the man I've hunted? Could it be he's Jean Valjean!"
I've heard of a Valjean…he was an ex-convict who posed as a Mayor in some small town nine years ago. And he revealed himself to the court in order to save an innocent life. Personally, I find that commendable. I don't see why he'd still be on the run.
Enjolras and I agreed that we've stayed here long enough.
"I'll see if I can find any of the others, and we'll meet back at the Musain." I said to him. As we were backing away from the police, I heard Javert say "Let the old man keep on running. I will run him off his feet! Everyone about your business! Clear this garbage off the street!"
And with that, we ran off on our separate ways.