p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;"Sousy wheeled herself down yet another corridor. Despite all of the somber thoughts that weighed heavily upon her mind, she couldn't help but be amused at how many damn corridors this place had. The asylum really was massive. Though she would gladly say she hated it there, she was a tad impressed with the architecture. The place was modeled after some famous Irish castle, turrets and all. The only differences between the two were the barred windows and furnished rooms. She pushed her rickety wheelchair further down the hall over a threadbare carpet./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Think on the positives, girl," she said aloud. "You at least have the capacity to think positively." She allowed herself a shrug. "At least that means something. Your arms are becoming strong and muscular. You've made…friends…possibly. You know 'Parnasse is safe. And…and one day you'll be getting out of here." She reached the end of the corridor and turned right./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" An orderly, the plump and kind Mrs. Brun, appeared as if out of nowhere. She raised a hand in greeting to Sousy. "Good morning, Miss Claquesous." Mrs. Brun was well-meaning, but she treated the patients as if they were children who were a bit simple. If there was anything Sousy couldn't stand, it was being patronized./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Hello, ma'am," she said politely. "Can…I help you?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The woman nodded, taking Sousy's slender hand in own tiny, plump ones. "Yes, Miss Claquesous, it's time for your bath."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "I can bathe myself," Sousy answered crossly. "I bathed when my legs were mangled and infected. I can bathe now that I have these stumps." She wiggled her left one, amused at the orderly's frightened look./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Mrs. Brun tried to shake off her discomfort, failed, then frowned and trembled a bit, as if the mention of such a horrible thing was too much for her. "Dear…hydrotherapy is what we do here. It helps." She did interesting things when she was nervous, this woman, all relating to her physical appearance. First, she smoothed down her matronly blouse that failed to hide her ample bosom. Then she adjusted the ankle-length skirt she wore. After that, her chubby little hands would drift up to her hair – lank and orange – and make sure it was still back in its severe bun. Sousy could see that the woman was unnerved by her lack of a reply. So she repeated herself: "Hydrotherapy is what we do here. It helps calm…" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "I'm not a madwoman," Sousy shot back. "And you know that, Mrs. Brun. Besides, hydrotherapy is bullshit." At the woman's gasp, she rolled her eyes. "span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Come now/span!" the brown-haired girl admonished. "An oath won't kill you, woman! Think of your hydrotherapy from the perspective of the people you put through it. Not loons, not insane monsters. People. They're stripped naked, firstly. How humiliating that is. And for those of us who served as whores –" She acknowledged her pain with a small grimace "– it's like reliving some kind of hell, to be stripped against your will. Next, they're shoved into a tub colder than ice and water hotter than hell is poured on them. Imagine the injuries you'd attain, ma'am, struggling to get away from that scalding water. And then, when they shove a lid over your whole body save for your head. You lie there in humiliating agony, praying –"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Miss Claquesous, be span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"quiet/span!" The normally timid woman slammed the flat of her palm on Sousy's left leg stump. "You've lived a harsh life and you're unhappy here. That's fine! But don't you dare insult our asylum, our place of refuge –"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Shut your mouth, you fat cow," Sousy growled, "and don't touch me again." With that, she wheeled herself away as fast as she could. The girl steered her rickety wheelchair faster and faster, wincing as it hit rough, uneven patches of stone. She clattered down a corridor, turned a corner and then wiped out. The right wheel snagged on a particularly uneven stone and the chair tipped sideways. Sousy fell, landing hard on her spine. She cried out, cursed, and that quickly turned to weeping./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" God, how stupid this all was. Pointless. Her life was a mess and this ridiculous, coffin-like, cold, gray, dismal asylum was home. Her bosom buddies were raving maniacs. A mute girl and another who giggled like a hysterical animal. And was she really any better than them? Some useless broad with stumps for legs. Some idiot who'd fallen in love with a murderer. And her spine was on fire. She couldn't help being self-pitying, dammit. Her life was shit! God, how she wished her were dead./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" She started to sob on her back in that stony hall, her hands covering her face./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" And that was how four people found her./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" First came Clarisse and Azelma, silent as usual. They could have been twins of a fraternal nature, Azelma with her copper ringlets and Clarisse with hers as dark as pitch. Their eyes were hazel and pale blue, respectively, though they held the same frightened pain. Their most similar feature, however, was their silence. Azelma hadn't spoken since her conversation with Sousy and Eponine, and Clarisse hadn't spoken since she'd been begging her older brother not to murder her pimp./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Those poor, broken children./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The two girls had just been sitting in rocking chairs as they did every morning when Azelma had silently suggested a walk. They came upon Sousy and her tipped-over wheelchair about ten minutes into their quiet stroll. After exchanging a brief look with her friend, Clarisse ran to Sousy's side and helped her up./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Clarisse brought the elder girl into a hug while Azelma righted the upset chair. Clarisse, using all of the strength her arms possessed, lifted Sousy into the chair. She patted the young woman's cheeks, tried for a smile. Azelma squeezed Sousy's hand and the three of them set there in silence for a spell while the brown-haired woman hiccupped and sniffled./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" When her tears had finally stopped, words poured out of Claquesous like a dam breaking. She told the two young adolescents about her entire life, from her parents dying when she was just six to her time as a whore to falling in love with Montparnasse. She filled Clarisse in on gaps in her brother's history and it made them all cry./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" That was how Eponine found the trio, crying and smiling like old women reliving a war and the sweethearts they'd lost in it. Eponine didn't understand it at first, resisted their arms offering hugs. She caved eventually, though, and joined them. The four young women talked for hours in that dim hallway. They swapped life stories of pain and hardship, but also of joy and peace./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Eponine won their hearts with a tale of one Christmas when the children had had nothing. She said: "Papa was out drinking like he always was. I was fourteen, so I knew the score, but the little ones didn't. My second youngest brother – Lightning is his name – was just five at the time. The littlest one, Bunny, was three. They didn't understand why they weren't receiving presents from Saint Nick and why their mama was out in town fucking other men." Eponine shook her head here, sorrow etched in her eyes. "Me and my brother Gav went out of the house, searched for hours in the most dangerous part of town, and found a stray dog. This ugly, mangy thing that bit half my finger off." She held up her right hand and it was true: half of her pointer finger was just…gone. "We brought it in the house and said it was from Saint Nick. Of course, it was perhaps five minutes before it tried to attack the little ones. We had to kick it out after, but the children had fun."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" It was a healing few hours…until Montparnasse found them. The teen was sprinting as fast as his legs would take him, nearly falling forward. He was restrained in a straight jacket and his long, beautiful hair had been shorn. It was now short and choppy. One of his eyes was swollen shut. Sousy was abruptly and painfully taken back to the first time they'd met./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Sousy! Clarisse!" he gasped, and fell to his knees in front of them. Eponine and Azelma jumped away as if they'd been shocked with a cattle prod, but he ignored them. He laid his head in Sousy's lap and smiled as tears ran down his face. "Sousy, Sousy, my love," he wept./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "'Parnasse," she whispered, and ran her hands through his awful, short hair. "My 'Parnasse, you little idiot, what've you done?" She held one hand up, blindly groped for Clarisse's, and took it. Sousy could all but feel the young adolescent trembling. "What have you done?" she repeated./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Montparnasse looked up at her, and in that crystal blue eye was the queerest expression. Something like sadness. Regret. Desperation. "I-I did what I had to do," he stammered. "Sousy, please, darling…you know why. He – he took Clarisse. My baby sister. He did…things…to her. I had to kill him. Those cops were just – just collateral damage!" He wiggled around, trying to get his arms free. "Please, can't you get this thing off me? I just want to hug you. And Clarisse. My baby sister." He started to cry again./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Sousy stroked his hair and smiled down at him. "You killed so many people, 'Parnasse. The therapist you see talks to Dr. Joly – a personal friend of mine – about his patients. It's a bad idea, I know, but he does. You killed your parents, 'Parnasse. And then you killed the man who hurt my Carlisle. Then you got Clarisse's pimp. That cop. And God knows how many other people. You hurt people, Mont. I know they were bad people – evil people, maybe, but you hurt them. You killed them. You need to be here. It'll help you."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Clarisse let go of Sousy's hand and knelt down to her brother. She hugged that boy with all the strength of her skinny, battered little body./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "I'm not a madman," Montparnasse insisted. "You know that, Clarisse. You know that, Sousy. 'My darling, my darling, my life and my bride,' remember? Poe? The poetry? We read it together. You – you read it to me at night." He shook his sister off and stood up to his full, lanky height. His tears were gone. "I'm not a madman. I'm a man who loves you, and a man devoted to his younger sister. We can get out of here. We can escape." He shook himself. "We don't have to go back to Chicago. We can live here – in Oregon. Pick any town and I can take you. We'll be a family."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Clarisse shrank back. She shook her head. Small movements at first, and then frantic. Nearly hysterical. She gestured to herself and then swept a hand in a broad arc around them. The meaning was clear enough: span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I must be here/span./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Azelma and Eponine backed away. Eponine began to giggle sporadically. The little laughs shook her whole body in what looked to be a painful way. It was clear 'Parnasse was frightening everyone. Sousy sighed. She took the beautiful killer's face in her hands and kissed him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" In that kiss was everything she had never said: span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I love you. I'm sorry about the life you've lived. I'm afraid for you. Of you. I wish we weren't here. You're a madman. /spanShe moved her lips against his with passion, fury, fright./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" When she finally broke the kiss, Montparnasse was flushed and panting. He smiled a hopeful smile. "So you do love me after all."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Of course I do," Sousy whispered. "I have span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"always/span loved you. And that's why this pains me." With that, she turned and wheeled away as fast as she could, ignore Montparnasse's plaintive wails behind her./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" align="center"[123]/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The three men sat together in their well furnished break room, all talking at once. The first, a ginger-blonde man with a heavy French accent, nearly snarled. "You both know this place is becoming more unethical by the day! This plan makes perfect sense!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The second, a tall, bespectacled French-Haitian man, pounded his fist on the round table in front of them. "God dammit, Lucien!" he snapped. "This plan is risky and irresponsible at the best! We'd be stripped of our licenses and shipped back to France in shame!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The third and quietest, ran a hand through his thick black curls with a sigh. His green eyes burned and his face was three days unshaven. He hadn't had more than ten hours of sleep in the past five days, and it was taking its tole. He growled, "This is ridiculous, you two! Arguing like children, you are. Won't you shut up and listen to me?!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" This quieted the arguing men. Grantaire took a deep breath and continued: "We must keep this between us. What you're talking about is truly insane – more insane than the people in this asylum. If we get caught, we'd be jailed for life, not sent away in shame. But this must happen. This asylum is a toxic place. The practices aren't humane. I mean…Joly…your boy – the black boy with the dreamy eyes – they want to lobotomize him." At this, Joly flinched like he'd been shocked. "I'm sorry," R said quietly. "The surgeons, they talk. One of them – that skinny brat – was bragging about it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Joly shook slightly. "I have seen horrors in my time as a doctor," he conceded. "I have cared for patients, but never with my whole heart as I do for Bossuet." At Grantaire's raised eyebrows, he stiffened. "And 'Chetta, of course." His eyes were a bit dreamy before he blurted, "And Claquesous and that poor girl Clarisse and all the others." His face was red./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Combeferre cleared his throat. "Of course, Lucien. And I care for Eponine and her sister and…the rest." Now the dark-skinned doctor was red in the face as well./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Alright," Grantaire sighed, "we care for the patients. That's been established. And this place is a hell-hole, also established. But we will most likely get caught. Some of these people really are mad. They could give us away."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Combeferre rummaged around in his briefcase that had been lying on the floor next to him. He pulled out a plain black notepad and showed it to his friends. "This, span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"mes amis/span, is the place where we will record our plans. I'll keep it with me on all times, understood?" The two men nodded grimly as Combeferre began to write./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" align="center"[123]/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Feuilly felt something. Bad./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Specifically, it felt as if someone had plugged a live wire into his veins. Instead of blood, raw electricity whipped through his body. He opened his mouth and screamed. It felt as if someone was flaying him, peeling the very skin from his bones. He screeched with pain, fury, confusion, terror. "GOD HELP ME!" he cried./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" A frozen lake and a tall, dark man flashed through his thoughts. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"No, God. Not this again. /spanFalling snow, frigid water, the crack of a whip. "You like that, little shit? Like that?" span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"No, papa, please. Please, no! I'll be a good boy this time, promise on God. Please don't hurt me no more!/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /spanHis eyes shot open and it felt as if is head had been shoved into freezing water. A striking moment of clarity. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Where am I? The asylum. Who was I thinking of? My father. I have a father? I do not sleep. Tom. Tom the Irishman. His sluttish girl, Marybell. My friend. My new friend. Vic Bahorel. He's quiet and afraid of his own strength. I have a friend? What is a friend? How strange I feel. No more pain, Father, please, Papa, please Daddy, don't hurt me no more. What? No! Don't sink down in the mire! Papa, please! I don't like the whip! My friend, Vic Bahorel./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /spanAnd then he was gone again. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /span /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Think on the positives, girl," she said aloud. "You at least have the capacity to think positively." She allowed herself a shrug. "At least that means something. Your arms are becoming strong and muscular. You've made…friends…possibly. You know 'Parnasse is safe. And…and one day you'll be getting out of here." She reached the end of the corridor and turned right./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" An orderly, the plump and kind Mrs. Brun, appeared as if out of nowhere. She raised a hand in greeting to Sousy. "Good morning, Miss Claquesous." Mrs. Brun was well-meaning, but she treated the patients as if they were children who were a bit simple. If there was anything Sousy couldn't stand, it was being patronized./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Hello, ma'am," she said politely. "Can…I help you?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The woman nodded, taking Sousy's slender hand in own tiny, plump ones. "Yes, Miss Claquesous, it's time for your bath."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "I can bathe myself," Sousy answered crossly. "I bathed when my legs were mangled and infected. I can bathe now that I have these stumps." She wiggled her left one, amused at the orderly's frightened look./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Mrs. Brun tried to shake off her discomfort, failed, then frowned and trembled a bit, as if the mention of such a horrible thing was too much for her. "Dear…hydrotherapy is what we do here. It helps." She did interesting things when she was nervous, this woman, all relating to her physical appearance. First, she smoothed down her matronly blouse that failed to hide her ample bosom. Then she adjusted the ankle-length skirt she wore. After that, her chubby little hands would drift up to her hair – lank and orange – and make sure it was still back in its severe bun. Sousy could see that the woman was unnerved by her lack of a reply. So she repeated herself: "Hydrotherapy is what we do here. It helps calm…" /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "I'm not a madwoman," Sousy shot back. "And you know that, Mrs. Brun. Besides, hydrotherapy is bullshit." At the woman's gasp, she rolled her eyes. "span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Come now/span!" the brown-haired girl admonished. "An oath won't kill you, woman! Think of your hydrotherapy from the perspective of the people you put through it. Not loons, not insane monsters. People. They're stripped naked, firstly. How humiliating that is. And for those of us who served as whores –" She acknowledged her pain with a small grimace "– it's like reliving some kind of hell, to be stripped against your will. Next, they're shoved into a tub colder than ice and water hotter than hell is poured on them. Imagine the injuries you'd attain, ma'am, struggling to get away from that scalding water. And then, when they shove a lid over your whole body save for your head. You lie there in humiliating agony, praying –"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Miss Claquesous, be span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"quiet/span!" The normally timid woman slammed the flat of her palm on Sousy's left leg stump. "You've lived a harsh life and you're unhappy here. That's fine! But don't you dare insult our asylum, our place of refuge –"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Shut your mouth, you fat cow," Sousy growled, "and don't touch me again." With that, she wheeled herself away as fast as she could. The girl steered her rickety wheelchair faster and faster, wincing as it hit rough, uneven patches of stone. She clattered down a corridor, turned a corner and then wiped out. The right wheel snagged on a particularly uneven stone and the chair tipped sideways. Sousy fell, landing hard on her spine. She cried out, cursed, and that quickly turned to weeping./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" God, how stupid this all was. Pointless. Her life was a mess and this ridiculous, coffin-like, cold, gray, dismal asylum was home. Her bosom buddies were raving maniacs. A mute girl and another who giggled like a hysterical animal. And was she really any better than them? Some useless broad with stumps for legs. Some idiot who'd fallen in love with a murderer. And her spine was on fire. She couldn't help being self-pitying, dammit. Her life was shit! God, how she wished her were dead./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" She started to sob on her back in that stony hall, her hands covering her face./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" And that was how four people found her./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" First came Clarisse and Azelma, silent as usual. They could have been twins of a fraternal nature, Azelma with her copper ringlets and Clarisse with hers as dark as pitch. Their eyes were hazel and pale blue, respectively, though they held the same frightened pain. Their most similar feature, however, was their silence. Azelma hadn't spoken since her conversation with Sousy and Eponine, and Clarisse hadn't spoken since she'd been begging her older brother not to murder her pimp./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Those poor, broken children./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The two girls had just been sitting in rocking chairs as they did every morning when Azelma had silently suggested a walk. They came upon Sousy and her tipped-over wheelchair about ten minutes into their quiet stroll. After exchanging a brief look with her friend, Clarisse ran to Sousy's side and helped her up./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Clarisse brought the elder girl into a hug while Azelma righted the upset chair. Clarisse, using all of the strength her arms possessed, lifted Sousy into the chair. She patted the young woman's cheeks, tried for a smile. Azelma squeezed Sousy's hand and the three of them set there in silence for a spell while the brown-haired woman hiccupped and sniffled./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" When her tears had finally stopped, words poured out of Claquesous like a dam breaking. She told the two young adolescents about her entire life, from her parents dying when she was just six to her time as a whore to falling in love with Montparnasse. She filled Clarisse in on gaps in her brother's history and it made them all cry./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" That was how Eponine found the trio, crying and smiling like old women reliving a war and the sweethearts they'd lost in it. Eponine didn't understand it at first, resisted their arms offering hugs. She caved eventually, though, and joined them. The four young women talked for hours in that dim hallway. They swapped life stories of pain and hardship, but also of joy and peace./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Eponine won their hearts with a tale of one Christmas when the children had had nothing. She said: "Papa was out drinking like he always was. I was fourteen, so I knew the score, but the little ones didn't. My second youngest brother – Lightning is his name – was just five at the time. The littlest one, Bunny, was three. They didn't understand why they weren't receiving presents from Saint Nick and why their mama was out in town fucking other men." Eponine shook her head here, sorrow etched in her eyes. "Me and my brother Gav went out of the house, searched for hours in the most dangerous part of town, and found a stray dog. This ugly, mangy thing that bit half my finger off." She held up her right hand and it was true: half of her pointer finger was just…gone. "We brought it in the house and said it was from Saint Nick. Of course, it was perhaps five minutes before it tried to attack the little ones. We had to kick it out after, but the children had fun."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" It was a healing few hours…until Montparnasse found them. The teen was sprinting as fast as his legs would take him, nearly falling forward. He was restrained in a straight jacket and his long, beautiful hair had been shorn. It was now short and choppy. One of his eyes was swollen shut. Sousy was abruptly and painfully taken back to the first time they'd met./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Sousy! Clarisse!" he gasped, and fell to his knees in front of them. Eponine and Azelma jumped away as if they'd been shocked with a cattle prod, but he ignored them. He laid his head in Sousy's lap and smiled as tears ran down his face. "Sousy, Sousy, my love," he wept./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "'Parnasse," she whispered, and ran her hands through his awful, short hair. "My 'Parnasse, you little idiot, what've you done?" She held one hand up, blindly groped for Clarisse's, and took it. Sousy could all but feel the young adolescent trembling. "What have you done?" she repeated./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Montparnasse looked up at her, and in that crystal blue eye was the queerest expression. Something like sadness. Regret. Desperation. "I-I did what I had to do," he stammered. "Sousy, please, darling…you know why. He – he took Clarisse. My baby sister. He did…things…to her. I had to kill him. Those cops were just – just collateral damage!" He wiggled around, trying to get his arms free. "Please, can't you get this thing off me? I just want to hug you. And Clarisse. My baby sister." He started to cry again./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Sousy stroked his hair and smiled down at him. "You killed so many people, 'Parnasse. The therapist you see talks to Dr. Joly – a personal friend of mine – about his patients. It's a bad idea, I know, but he does. You killed your parents, 'Parnasse. And then you killed the man who hurt my Carlisle. Then you got Clarisse's pimp. That cop. And God knows how many other people. You hurt people, Mont. I know they were bad people – evil people, maybe, but you hurt them. You killed them. You need to be here. It'll help you."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Clarisse let go of Sousy's hand and knelt down to her brother. She hugged that boy with all the strength of her skinny, battered little body./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "I'm not a madman," Montparnasse insisted. "You know that, Clarisse. You know that, Sousy. 'My darling, my darling, my life and my bride,' remember? Poe? The poetry? We read it together. You – you read it to me at night." He shook his sister off and stood up to his full, lanky height. His tears were gone. "I'm not a madman. I'm a man who loves you, and a man devoted to his younger sister. We can get out of here. We can escape." He shook himself. "We don't have to go back to Chicago. We can live here – in Oregon. Pick any town and I can take you. We'll be a family."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Clarisse shrank back. She shook her head. Small movements at first, and then frantic. Nearly hysterical. She gestured to herself and then swept a hand in a broad arc around them. The meaning was clear enough: span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I must be here/span./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Azelma and Eponine backed away. Eponine began to giggle sporadically. The little laughs shook her whole body in what looked to be a painful way. It was clear 'Parnasse was frightening everyone. Sousy sighed. She took the beautiful killer's face in her hands and kissed him./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" In that kiss was everything she had never said: span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"I love you. I'm sorry about the life you've lived. I'm afraid for you. Of you. I wish we weren't here. You're a madman. /spanShe moved her lips against his with passion, fury, fright./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" When she finally broke the kiss, Montparnasse was flushed and panting. He smiled a hopeful smile. "So you do love me after all."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Of course I do," Sousy whispered. "I have span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"always/span loved you. And that's why this pains me." With that, she turned and wheeled away as fast as she could, ignore Montparnasse's plaintive wails behind her./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" align="center"[123]/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The three men sat together in their well furnished break room, all talking at once. The first, a ginger-blonde man with a heavy French accent, nearly snarled. "You both know this place is becoming more unethical by the day! This plan makes perfect sense!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The second, a tall, bespectacled French-Haitian man, pounded his fist on the round table in front of them. "God dammit, Lucien!" he snapped. "This plan is risky and irresponsible at the best! We'd be stripped of our licenses and shipped back to France in shame!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" The third and quietest, ran a hand through his thick black curls with a sigh. His green eyes burned and his face was three days unshaven. He hadn't had more than ten hours of sleep in the past five days, and it was taking its tole. He growled, "This is ridiculous, you two! Arguing like children, you are. Won't you shut up and listen to me?!"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" This quieted the arguing men. Grantaire took a deep breath and continued: "We must keep this between us. What you're talking about is truly insane – more insane than the people in this asylum. If we get caught, we'd be jailed for life, not sent away in shame. But this must happen. This asylum is a toxic place. The practices aren't humane. I mean…Joly…your boy – the black boy with the dreamy eyes – they want to lobotomize him." At this, Joly flinched like he'd been shocked. "I'm sorry," R said quietly. "The surgeons, they talk. One of them – that skinny brat – was bragging about it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Joly shook slightly. "I have seen horrors in my time as a doctor," he conceded. "I have cared for patients, but never with my whole heart as I do for Bossuet." At Grantaire's raised eyebrows, he stiffened. "And 'Chetta, of course." His eyes were a bit dreamy before he blurted, "And Claquesous and that poor girl Clarisse and all the others." His face was red./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Combeferre cleared his throat. "Of course, Lucien. And I care for Eponine and her sister and…the rest." Now the dark-skinned doctor was red in the face as well./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" "Alright," Grantaire sighed, "we care for the patients. That's been established. And this place is a hell-hole, also established. But we will most likely get caught. Some of these people really are mad. They could give us away."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Combeferre rummaged around in his briefcase that had been lying on the floor next to him. He pulled out a plain black notepad and showed it to his friends. "This, span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"mes amis/span, is the place where we will record our plans. I'll keep it with me on all times, understood?" The two men nodded grimly as Combeferre began to write./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" align="center"[123]/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Feuilly felt something. Bad./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" Specifically, it felt as if someone had plugged a live wire into his veins. Instead of blood, raw electricity whipped through his body. He opened his mouth and screamed. It felt as if someone was flaying him, peeling the very skin from his bones. He screeched with pain, fury, confusion, terror. "GOD HELP ME!" he cried./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" A frozen lake and a tall, dark man flashed through his thoughts. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"No, God. Not this again. /spanFalling snow, frigid water, the crack of a whip. "You like that, little shit? Like that?" span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"No, papa, please. Please, no! I'll be a good boy this time, promise on God. Please don't hurt me no more!/span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /spanHis eyes shot open and it felt as if is head had been shoved into freezing water. A striking moment of clarity. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"Where am I? The asylum. Who was I thinking of? My father. I have a father? I do not sleep. Tom. Tom the Irishman. His sluttish girl, Marybell. My friend. My new friend. Vic Bahorel. He's quiet and afraid of his own strength. I have a friend? What is a friend? How strange I feel. No more pain, Father, please, Papa, please Daddy, don't hurt me no more. What? No! Don't sink down in the mire! Papa, please! I don't like the whip! My friend, Vic Bahorel./span/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;"span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /spanAnd then he was gone again. span style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: oblique; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /span /p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #eeeeee; background-color: #333333;" /p
