When I was a little girl, my life was perfect. I had everything I needed. I got everything I wanted; my parents loved me. In their eyes, I was the center of their lives. Along with that, I never went hungry, which was a massive privilege back in the day. Everything changed the day Cosette, the Lark and servant, was taken away.
It was a perfectly normal day. The sky was a clear blue, there were a few puffy, white clouds, and people went about their normal business. Merchants were yelling their offers, small children my age were playing to their heart's content, and beggars were begging. I walked through the town up to my parent's inn. Even from outside the doorway, I could see the interior of the inn. It was loud, colourful, busy, and smelled of smoke and alcohol. People were drunk and stumbling, some were loud and yelling, and others were singing for no reason.
As I walked in, Mother came up to greet me."Eponine! Eponine, you're such a good girl with such a cute new blue cap. You have great social graces, unlike other little girls," Mother praised.
I glanced to the side and saw Cosette looking at me from the other room. She was dressed in raggedy clothes with tangled blonde hair. From my point of view, Cosette was an absolute disgrace. Mother then walked up to Cosette with those brown eyes that were just sweet and caring, suddenly filled with the red colour of fury. When Cosette saw Mother advancing on her, Cosette began to cower backwards.
As Mother got close enough, she began to yell at Cosette to fetch some water from the well in the wood. Cosette then ran off towards the woods with the bucket and out of my sight.
Sometimes, I pitied Cosette, though my parents told me not to. They said she was the daughter of a lowly and disgusting prostitute and didn't deserve all the good I got. I believed every word my parents told me, so I acted how they wanted me to.
Later that night, when I was supposed to be in bed, I heard movement in the inn. As any curious little girl would do, I got out of bed and snuck out to see what the commotion was about. The cause of the movement was a man coming to the inn with Cosette on his hip.
From listening intently, I learned that the man's name was Monsieur Madeleine. Father came up to Monsieur and welcomed him while Mother tried to pickpocket Monsieur Madeleine. Monsieur Madeleine spoke of taking Cosette away.
As glad as I was to hear that Cosette might be leaving I could not help but will Monsieur Madeleine to leave. Cosette was the servant, and she will stay the servant. Father seemed to have the same idea, he kept trying to coax Cosette into his arms while Mother tried to steal Monsieur's wallet. Neither of the endeavors succeeded.
Almost in unison, both of my parents attained their steely, determined look and it burned brightly in both of them. The room suddenly became tense. Then as if to break the silence, Monsieur Madeleine, with a big booming voice, offered fifty thousand francs for Cosette.
My eyes widened in amazement.
Fifty thousand francs! That was so much money! Father smiled and took the money with a greedy hand and ushered Monsieur Madeleine and Cosette out of the inn. Once they left, I timidly stepped out of the darkness.
"Eponine!" Father called. "We're rich! We're the top of the class!"
I smiled greatly and ran to hug my father out of pure joy. My small arms circled my father's neck as he lifted me up.
"Our lives are going to be even better!" I cried.
I was so excited for our new, better lives ahead. I was absolutely wrong.
Okayyyyy! So this was the prologue for the story! Yay! Prologue done eleven more chapters to go! Future SHOULD be longer, at least I hope they are. This story is also on my wattpad account under the same user: musicaltheatregeek7. ([small spoiler]I know Eponine is like, rude to Cosette, but they do indeed become friends later.) Then again, i'm not exactly reading over everything, as i wrote this whole thing in about a month(i wrote this for a writing assignment) so i do think it is rushed. I at least want to get ONE review to post the second chapter. I'll post the next chapter probably tomorrow.
So how'd i do? good, bad, want to gourge your eyes out? any ideas, ways to make it better? Im open to ideas, but CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM ONLY PLEASE! NO BASHING! THANK YOU! 3
*~*~Alice Bean