Chapter 1
November 1823
"Cosette! Cosette!"
The small girl quietly lifted her head from the straw and ashes in her place near the fireplace she called a bed. She knew that voice, and what it meant; Madame wanted her for something. She carefully picked herself up from her sleeping place, barely noticing the pain from her many bruises. By now she was used to the feeling; Madame had taken to be fond of giving her beatings, no matter how small the reason.
Though Madame never gave beatings to Éponine and Azelma. Only her.
She quietly made her way to where the voice had come from. "Yes Madame?"
"You lazy girl! Why aren't you already working on your chores?" Madame demanded.
Cosette tried not to show her fear as she responded. "I'm sorry, Madame, I'll get to work on them right away." She quickly scrambled to grab the broom, her eyes glancing at the window. The sun was barely rising, Éponine and Azelma were likely still warm in their beds, sleeping, although they would be up within the hour, preparing to go to school, a fact that she remembered with deep envy. She would give anything to learn to read and write as well, but she knew it would likely never happen.
"Stop daydreaming and get to work, you useless brat!"
"Yes Madame!" She quickly pulled herself out of her thoughts and got to work sweeping, hoping the movement would help warm her, as it usually did. In the five years she had lived with them, she had mostly gotten used to feeling cold all winter, but discomfort still found its way into her bones in between months of September to November.
Maybe today she'll come for me, she thought to herself as she swept. Cosette had wondered that every single day since her mother had left. No matter how much Éponine and Azelma teased her, calling her an orphan, mocking her for still having hope that her mother would come, Cosette never once lost faith. Her mother had promised she would come back, and that was that. Her mother would never break a promise to her, she knew that- deep in her heart.
Madame was soon distracted with something else, and Cosette was able to lose herself in her thoughts as she continued sweeping the floor, her mind wandering to what life would be like for her when her mother came for her. She pictured that moment so often, he knew exactly how that moment would go.
She would know her mother immediately, her kind eyes would be full of love, her lips parted in a smile upon being reunited with her daughter after five years apart. Cosette would fly into her arms, all chores abandoned. Madame wouldn't be able to scold her or beat her for leaving the chores because she would be with her mother again. Her mother would take her away from there, far, far away, to a place where they could be forever, just the two of them.
She would have a room of her own, and actual toys, and friends to play with. She could have real clothes, like Éponine and Azelma. She'd have a real life, a proper life. Cosette beamed as she continued to dreamed as she swept the floors, and barely noticed the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. She did, however, notice the foot in a small black shoe kick at the pile of dirt and dust that she had collected while sweeping.
"Oops," said a pretty, feminine voice. She looked up to see Éponine. "Did I just mess up your work?"
Cosette didn't respond. She knew there was no point to it, it wouldn't fix anything.
"You'd better finish sweeping, or Mama will be very upset with you," Éponine smirked before strutting away to eat breakfast, Azelma close at her heels as always.
Cosette sighed and continued sweeping. That would be another benefit of getting away from there: no more of Éponine and Azelma's bullying.
Cosette sighed in relief as she set down the heavy bucket. She hoped she would be able to at least get most of the floor washed before Éponine and Azelma returned, knowing that they would likely mess up her work, yet again. She would have liked to have gotten it done earlier, but between keeping up the supply of drinking water stocked and getting laundry done, she hadn't gotten the chance.
The young girl worked as quickly as she could, scrubbing the floors clean on her hands and knees with the cloth. Madame didn't like her using a proper mop, she thought it would make her lazy and that she wouldn't clean as well unless it was with the ratty cloth. Her heart sank as she heard the door open, followed by the voices of Éponine and Azelma drifting in. She scramble to clean faster and prayed that they wouldn't come looking for her right away, but to no avail.
"Look, 'Zelma. It's l'allouette."
Cosette kept silent and continued with her work, praying that they would leave her alone.
"Oui, L'alouette," Azelma chimed. She always copied Éponine.
"You know what we do with larks, right 'Zelma?"
Please no, please leave me alone...
"Alouette, gentille alouette, alouette je te plumerai."
Cosette hated that song by now, and the actions that came with it. She bit her lip, trying to ignore the feeling of anxiety that threatened to overwhelm her.
"Je te plumerai la tête, je te plumerai la tête, alouette, alouette, ooooh..."
She bit her lip harder and tasted blood as she felt their hands grip her hair and yank. Cosette fought the urge to cry, for s bad as they were, Madame was worse, and she knew if she screamed or cried out at all, Madame would come to investigate and the two girls would magically come up with some story of how Cosette had mistreated them. The end result, no matter what, was always a beating. The best she could do was attempt to stay quiet and unresponsive and pray that they would stop.
"This is boring," Éponine said after a while, releasing Cosette's hair. "She's not doing anything. Let's go play with our dolls, 'Zelma."
Azelma, following her older sister's lead, released her hold Cosette's hair as well, and Cosette quickly returned to her work, grateful that the burning feeling in her scalp had already lessened.
"We should bring our dolls down here to play!" Éponine added, and Cosette knew the other girl was looking at her as she said it. She grit her teeth. Why Éponine felt such a strong need to show off her toys was beyond her, at this point she barely felt jealous, just a stronger yearning for her mother to come for her.
Azelma simply smiled and nodded before trailing upstairs after her sister, just as she always did.
No one noticed the single tear Cosette shed as she continued her work.
Mama, please come soon.
