Chapter 2
When Sam awoke from her fall she was surprised to find herself not on the cold ground outside her house. In fact, she was nowhere near her house. She found herself lying on a bed in a room that was dirty and smelled bad with the scent of body oater and other unpleasant smells that she didn't want to think about. At the moment she seemed to be the only one in the room, so she stood up, feeling a sharp pain shot through her head. "Ooh, I must have hit my head pretty hard". She thought out loud. Now that she was standing, she began to take in her surroundings more clearly. The room was dark, except for some light coming in through a small window and there were a couple of crude chairs beside a lopsided looking table, with what looked like there were remains of a very small meal, if what was on the table could be called a meal. Sam soon realized that other then what she had already seen, that was all that there was in the small room except for a fire place, which looked like it hadn't been cleaned in weeks, maybe longer. Unsure of where she was she called out, "Hello? Is anybody here"? She waited for a reply and when there came none, she just sat down and would wait for someone to come. After what felt like hours, she could here footsteps coming closer. Afraid of what, or who was coming she tried to find somewhere to hide, but finding nothing, she just sat down in one of the chairs and waited for whoever was coming. "Maybe whoever is coming can help me get back home; because I need to let Prince in and do my homework". As the footsteps came closer, she could tell that it wasn't just one person, but two people, and by the sounds of their voices it was two young girls. Sam smiled at this for she knew that her chances of getting home were closer. But, she was in for a surprise of her life for when the door opened, she saw the last two people that she was expecting to see.
As the two girls walked in, their eyes widened at the oddly dressed girl sitting on one of the beds. One girl was short with brown stringy hair and was clad in nothing but a chemise and was wearing no shoes. The other one was very much the same but she had chestnut hair and was slightly taller. It was she who spoke. Her voice was horse and strangled. "Who, may I ask are you"? Samantha's eyes looked up into the eyes of the one who had asked the question. I'm Samantha, but you can call me Sam". She continued with a big smile," You must be éponine and Azelma, the two oldest of the Thénardier children"! The two girls standing there in front of her gave each other a nervous glance, and then the shorter girl asked, "How did you know who we were"? Sam was kicking herself for blurting that out. She knew she shouldn't have said something like that so soon. Nervously clearing her throat she stammered, "I…I..Uh..I..Um"? With a horse laugh, the older girl shut the door and moved about the room trying to clean what was there in the room werth cleaning.
A moment of uncomfortable silence past, when no one said a word. Sam was still inwardly kicking herself for making such a stupid exclamation. Finally one of the girls spoke," Oh éponine, don't be in such a bad way: this girl seems lost and we do her wrong to not help her and keep her warm and comfortable". Sam smiled inwardly for she knew that she was right. These were in fact, the two oldest of the Thénardier children. Éponine gazed long and hard at Sam, and then she said to her sister," "Well then, leave us and be of some use". "We don't have any food, so you do well to go and see if there will be someone who could give us a few francs". Before she finished giving her orders, Azelma was gone.
As soon as Azelma had left, Sam's heart started beating loudly in her chest, and she wondered if éponine could hear it. Once again the empty silence filled the room between the two girls. Éponine suddenly sprang to her feet and came over to Sam, and sat down next to her on the little bed. "Now, how did you come to be here"? "You do not seem to be from around here". Swallowing hard, Sam took in a deep breath and replied with an unsteady voice, "no, I'm not from around here, I'm from America". "I don't know how I got here. I just found myself here". Sam let out the breath that she didn't realize that she had been holding. Éponine's eyes lit up and she exclaimed", America! "Aaah, I have heard of that place"! "Is it as wonderful as I have heard"? Samantha tried to think about that. She never had to explain what it is like to live in America before. "Well, I don't know if I can really tell you what it's like to live there. "You might have to just go there someday". Sam hoped that éponine would, but she knew from reading the book Les Miserables that only Monsieur Thénardier and Azelma go to America. "Well, I do want to go there for it sounds much better then Paris". "I haven't always lived in Paris you know. My parents once owned an inn in a small town called Montfermeil and Azelma and I were very pretty, oh that we were! Oh, we had beautiful things"! Éponine continued to ramble on and on about her life before coming to Paris, but Sam knew all about that. She decided to think about what could be keeping Azelma. Sam knew all too well what éponine had meant when she told Azelma to go and ask people for money. She knew that Monsieur Thénardier wrote letters under different names and his daughters delivered them, but she also knew that they also stole from people as well and it wasn't just Monsieur and Mother Thénardier who did the steeling. There gang along with éponine and Azelma took there share in steeling as well.
Dear Readers,
I had a really hard time with how to write this chapter. I really wasn't sure of how Sam should wake up and I had a couple of thoughts about it, but then I just went for it and I like what I have. Please let me know if you have any ideas about how I could make this story better! Thanks and I hope you will enjoy reading it! Please read and review!