When Cosette was six she had a nightmare. Madame told her to watch the food while she went to do the shopping. It was a pot of boiling soup that hung above the fire place. She watched it for a bit, but then she heard a noise from out the window. It was a singing noise, but not like a person singing. It sounded more like a bird. 'Maybe it's a lark' Cosette thought to herself and she walked outside to get a better look at it. She had never seen a real lark, or of she did she didn't know. She looked around for a singing bird.
Instead she saw a woman. She didn't look like a real woman, maybe an angel or a fairy. She had wings like the creature in Eponine's picture book. She also had a beautiful face that Cosette thought she recognized. "Mother," she whispered. The lady held out her hand. Cosette took it. The woman jumped up and they both soared into the sky. They were flying! They danced in the sky full of colors. Cosette was no longer wearing her torn up dirty frock, but a beautiful princess gown.
"Cosette," the lady said. "Cosette, Cosette." She repeated her name over and over, but every time she said it her voice got gruffer and meaner. Eventually it turned into Madame's voice. "Cosette! Cosette!" She felt herself falling. She landed with a thump on the kitchen floor in her dirty dress again. But this time that walls were tall with flames. She inn walls started burning down. She could hear people crying out for help. Why Cosette? Why wouldn't you watch the pot? The flames caught on to her dress and build up to her face.
She woke up.
She was in the barn on the hay where she had fallen asleep while doing her work. She got up and rubbed her eyes. She stepped out of the barn and looked at the inn. It had not burnt down. She walked through the door.
"Where have you been?" Monsieur asked. "We were calling for you! We need you to take this to the post."
"S-sorry," Cosette said. "I fell asleep I believe. I'll take it."
"Fell asleep!" Monsieur shouted. "In the middle of the daytime. You lazy girl! I ought to whip you for this!"
"Please no please!" Cosette exclaimed. "I was just so tired from shoveling! I didn't mean to! I'll never do it again!" Thenardier walked towards her. In his eyes she could see a fire starting. A pot unattended. He took the whip off the shelf. The wall the whip was hanging from caught fire. He grabbed Cosette by the shoulder. Another wall burst into flames.
He lifted the whip and lashed her. More fire. More flames. Each lash sent another wall or table or object into a blaze of orange and red. She was hot. Her tears burnt her as the slid down her face. Thenardier tossed the letter at her feet and left the room.
Cosette limped over to the window and stuck out her head. "Mother!" She called. No one came. She looked at the front room of the inn. The flames were gone but the memory of them would live with her forever.