This chapter isn't my best, just a little bit of filler to get the story moving. Hopefully it'll start to get more interesting from now on. Thanks for reading :) x
Marius left me… As I lie back, removing Enjolras' hand from my body, I allow a single tear to be released and roll down my cheek. I'm not crying about what happened to me, what that bastard did, but because he left me. I trusted him with my heart and he just left, without hesitation, his head full of his precious little Lark! My heart is broken. I know that he will never love me back, I'm not that stupid, but to leave without even showing he cares… It's more than I can take. I might as well die if my Marius no longer cares whether I live or not. I'll wait 'til his back is turned and make a run for it. I lie still, pretending I am sleeping, until I hear his footsteps moving softly away from my side. Opening one eye, I see that he has his back to me, his face embedded in a book. Quietly 'Ponine, quietly… Slowly, I ease my battered body into a sitting position. I can feel the ache all over my body, the burn of his drunken touch spread through me like a poison clouding my brain. Ok Eponine, you can do this. One step at a time. I slip off the bed, gasping slightly at the solidity of the floor under my bruised feet; the shock of the slight jarring sensation working its way up my spine. Right, good. Now to walk. Even in my battered state, I am still as light as the wind across the floor. Stealth and quietness, two of the most important qualities that I have learned whilst living with my parents. I almost feel proud of myself by the time I get to the stairs, he still hasn't noticed. But then there were the stairs and I realised, too late, that actually 'Ponine had made a bit of a mistake…
"Eponine! You damn fool girl!" I didn't even notice that she had moved until the muffled squeal, and the bump of a light body slipping down the stairs. I raced to her and found her trembling, pressing herself back against the wall as I got closer, her eyes wide and glassy with pain. You idiot Enjolras, scaring her like that…
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you…" I kneel at her side, gently pulling her into my arms… and not anticipating the vicious thump across the jaw that it would earn me.
"You didn't. Get away from me!" She snarls at me, her eyes are narrowed now to slits, although I can tell that she is lying. I can almost hear her little heart beating out of her chest with fright, like a caged bird desperately bashing itself around in an attempt to regain its freedom. Looking at the young girl before me, she is that little bird personified. She lashing out, trying to regain control.
"Mademoiselle, I can only apologise…" I back away slightly and she relaxes, although the aggression is simply replaced with a heartbreaking wariness. She stands, shakily, and looks down at me with those eyes. Those eyes…
"I wish to leave, Monsieur." She states plainly as she heads for the door, although I know that I must stop her.
"Eponine please! You must come back, please, even if it's just so that you can have some food and the others can see you're alright…" I instantly regret my choice of words, as the anger is back and burning even more fiercely now that she is so close to her freedom.
"I do not need your charity!" She spits at me, thankfully missing, before turning, as if to leave, and grabbing hold of the doorframe. Before I could move she faints dead away, her body folding into an unsuspecting Marius' arms.