Lost:

Chapter 9:

*Two Years Earlier*

Eponine was having a great time at the Christmas party with her friends. The best part about it was that she could forget about all the problems she had. She was able to pretend for one night that all these people truly cared about her.

It was getting late and she knew she had to get home. She hadn't been home all day, but didn't care. She was having too much fun. She grabbed her coat from the closet and started to walk out.

"Eponine!" she heard a female voice call her. That could only mean one thing…

"Hey, Cosette," Eponine answered, giving a friendly smile to the particularly perky girl.

"Where are you going? The party's not over yet?" Cosette sounded out of breath because she had been dancing for hours.

"I have to get home. I've been here all day and my parents are probably wondering where I am." She answered.

"Oh, well, it was really nice seeing you," Cosette said and pulled Eponine into a hug. Eponine didn't have any girlfriends, so this was weird for her. She hugged the guys a lot, but never the girls.

"Cosette," Eponine pulled away and looked at her, "do we know each other from somewhere?" Cosette narrowed her eyes at Eponine.

"You know, I was thinking the same thing. You just looked so familiar when I first saw you," she answered. Eponine searched back through her memories to see if she could see Cosette at all. Nothing popped up.
"I don't know, maybe something will come to me," Eponine shook her head. Cosette let go and smiled.

"Well, if you think of anything, let me know!" She said. Eponine nodded and Cosette floated away back into Marius' arms. Marius pulled her into a kiss as they danced around. Eponine felt her heart sink. Not that Marius ever kissed her, but it was always Eponine that Marius danced with. Tonight? Marius didn't even say hi to her. She felt like she was being replaced by this girl.

Eponine walked home without saying a word to anyone. Seeing Cosette and Marius be all lovey dovey through her night off. When she walked up to her front door, she could hear her parents talking inside. Well, yelling actually. She quietly opened the door and tried to go upstairs without being noticed.
"Eponine Thenardier. Where on earth have you been, young lady?" her father asks her, pulling on her arm and down the couple of stairs she had climbed. Eponine yelped quietly because he grabbed her where her scars were.

"I was hanging out with friends," she said, barely audible.

"On Christmas Day? Today was supposed to be a family day," her mom says, walking up behind her.

"Some family," Eponine said under her breath.

"Excuse me? What did you just say?" her dad said, getting in her face and squeezing harder on her arm. She squinted her eyes and tried to refrain from crying.

"I said, 'SOME FAMILY,' she answered loudly, getting back in his face.

"Eponine," her mother said. Eponine yanked her arm away from her dad.
"You are not going anywhere until we talk about this!" Her dad yelled. Eponine turned to face him, tears streaming down her face.

"You're joking right? You've got to be kidding me. We need to talk about this? How about you and mom need to start working things out!" She shouted. She was getting angry, and nothing good ever came from her being angry. She was never able to control what she did or what she said.

Her dad glanced at her mom, who was crying as well.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, looking down from her.

"Oh, really? You guys can't go five minutes without screaming at each other. Only God knows what you're actually mad about! You know that Azelma and Gav come to my room in the middle of the night because they can't stop thinking about it. Do you know what goes through our heads while you're screaming horrible obscenities at each other? It's not healthy! You guys are awful parents, you don't care about any of us!" she screamed, holding onto the railing.

"How dare you say that! We love you all very much!" Her mother yelled, walking over to her.

"If you cared about us, you wouldn't be like this. It's disgusting." She said. Her father walked up to the stair she was on and got in her face.

"You go to your room. And you stay in there. I don't want to see you for the rest of the night."

"Gladly!" she yelled and ran up the stairs.

She slammed her door shut and locked it immediately. She didn't even want Azelma or Gavroche coming in. She was hyperventilating and knew what was going to help her. She opened up her pencil case and took out her pocket knife. She lifted her dress so she could see the top of her thigh. There were about three or four markings on her thigh, but she needed to do this. It was the only thing that would make her feel better.

She made a clear line with the blade of her knife on her thigh. It was small, so even if someone did see it, she could fake it. She watched as her wound opened up, dropping the knife and sobbing her eyes out.

How much further could she go before all hope was lost?