The sun shines down brightly down the seashore town of Montpellier. The sea is shimmering under the warm sunlight. I strolled lazily through the streets. It had been four years since the barricades, and since my Grandfather's death. I had moved back to my family's old residence here in Montpellier. I remembered used to play on the beach after school when i was six or seven. But the good times never last for too long, for my parents died in an accident.

I close my eyes and tried to bask in the sea-scented wind. Last night, i dreamt of the barricades. It's like i was reliving the event again. The gunshots, the thick scent of gunpowder hanging about, the death of my friends, Eponine, it all felt so real. Perhaps it is a punishment for me, for being so selfish. I was supposed to died that day. That bullet that Eponine had so willingly took, she had traded her life for mine. And all because of my wish to be with Cossette.

I watched the passerbys walked past me. Girls laughing with their puffing skirts and thick powder, children clinging tightly to their mother's skirt, factory workers walking to their workplace, the world had changed so, very much. And i have to change with it too, but for some reason i just can't seem to let go. I want to forget about Paris, i want to forget my university life, i want to forget about the ABC boys. But i can't, and i don't want to.

For a short period of time, my work had distracted me from all that. I had forget all about them. But then my past catch up to me and resurface from the depth of my mind. Every night, i was reliving those moments again. But Eponine, she is not in it. She is not in the barricades, like the event, she came, and talked to me, in the middle of the revolution. She was everywhere.

I remembered that day. She died in my arms, but i never found her body, for when i woke up from my coma, all the bodies are cleared. I never found her, though i never stopped wishing i had. But with her missing body, i hope that she was alive and well somewhere. I never stopped hoping, i prayed only for her to be alive and for us to meet again.

I felt someone bumped into me, which sent both of us to the ground. "Oh, my! I'm so, very sorry, M'sieur!" she said, reaching out for her bag. "It's fine, Mademoiselle" i reassured. I helped her stood up and she gratefully took it. "I'm sorry, mademoiselle, i never quite catch your..." i stopped mid-sentence, the stranger finally show her face and her eyes met mine. And suddenly i could feel my breath caught in my throat. Time stands still, and my body was paralyzed. "Mademoiselle.." i started again, but she just pulled her hand away from my grasp. "I'm sorry, M'sieur, i have to go"

And she darted away, living me silent in the middle of the moving crowd.