Lost:

Chapter 11:

*One Year Earlier*

Marius frantically knocked on Eponine's front door. Her little brother, Gavroche answered.

"Hey, Marius," he said.

"Hey, Gav. Is your sister home?" Marius asked, looking inside the house.

"Eponine?" he asked. Marius forgot Eponine had another sister. He smiled and nodded.

"She's home, but she's locked in her room. She doesn't come out anymore." He said, looking down.

Marius nodded, understanding that that was where she was. She hadn't been to the café in months.

"Can I go up and see her?"

"You can try," a voice said from behind Gavroche. Azelma appeared in the doorway. Gavroche and Azelma looked almost identical. Eponine did look like the odd child out.

"Thanks, guys." Marius said and pushed through them. By the looks on their faces, he could tell there was something wrong. He had no idea what happened to Eponine. The last time he saw her was at Christmastime. She didn't even say goodbye to him when she left. Cosette said that she seemed fine, but he was still worried.

He got up to her room and lightly knocked on the door. "Eponine?" he stood outside of her door for about a minute until the door opened slowly.

"Marius?" Eponine asked, sounding confused. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. Her hair was matted down and her eyes were bloodshot. The bruises under eyes were so dark. She also looked like she lost about 20 pounds. And she was already incredibly skinny the last time he saw her.

"Ep?" he asked, trying not to sound too concerned.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here?" He asked, pushing the door open and walking past her. She quickly shut the door and ran to his side. "I haven't seen my best friend in months and you're wondering why I'm here?"

Eponine looked away from him. She knew that she hadn't been around, but she didn't think that anybody actually noticed.

"I didn't know I was that important to you," she said, sitting on her bed.

"Eponine, what are you talking about? You and I have been best friends since before I can remember." He said, sitting next to her. She scooted away from him and said nothing. Marius sighed.

"What happened, Ep? Why won't you talk to me?" he asked, trying to take her hand, but she kept pulling away.

"We aren't as close as we were before and you know that," she said, almost in a whisper.

"How can you say that?" He asked, sliding closer to her. He put his arm around her shoulders. She didn't pull away, but he could tell she was uncomfortable.

"Talk to me," he said, turning her face towards him. She sucked in a breath and immediately looked green. "Eponine?" Marius asked, getting worried.

"I…I don't feel so good!" she yelled and ran out of the door. She slammed it behind her and left Marius by himself. Marius dropped his head into his hands. He had absolutely no idea what was going on and he was worried beyond belief. He got up and started to pace; it was something he did when he was nervous. He walked over to her closet and saw her mirror shattered into pieces. He knelt down and looked closer. There was a bag sitting on top of the mirror. He picked it up and looked inside. All that was in there was a medium-sized pencil case. He slowly unzipped it and gasped when he saw what was in there.

A pair of scissors, two razors, a handful of needles, a piece of glass and a toothbrush. She was cutting herself? No, no. Marius tried to get those thoughts out of his mind. But she was across the hall in the bathroom throwing up. Maybe she's just sick. Maybe this isn't anything.

His phone started ringing and he jumped. He pulled out and picked it up before looking to see who it was.

"Hello?" he answered absent-mindedly.

"Marius," Enjolras' voice rang through his phone.

"Yeah?"

"What's up? Are you okay?" he asked, sensing something was wrong. Marius shoved the pencil case back into the bag and threw it in her closet.

"Have you talked to Eponine since Christmas?" Marius asked him. He heard Enjorlas sigh.

"Don't you think I would've told you?"

"True. I'm at her house right now?"

"You are?" Enjorlas asked, suddenly getting excited. "Wait, wait, wait, how is she? Is she okay? Why hasn't she been here? What has she been doing? Is everything okay? What has she been saying? Why is she-"

"Dude, stop!" Mairus shouted into the phone. "Will you stop with the third degree? I haven't gotten a full sentence out of her. She's in the bathroom throwing up right now. I think she's…I think she's hurting herself…" Marius trailed off.

"Hurting herself how?"

"I found a whole pencil case full of things depressed people use to cut themselves."

"Whoa, really?" Enjorlas asked.

"Yeah, what should I do?" Marius asked. He wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"Nothing. She gets really…ticked off when people start asking her about her problems. If this is something serious, she'll come to one of us. She always has and she will. I don't want her to go off on you like she did me. She's still mad at me for trying to get into her business. It could be something completely different than you're thinking. Let her work things out for herself. She'll be fine, okay?" Enjorlas finished.

"That makes sense. Okay, thanks, Enj," he said.

"No problem. See you later," Enjolras said and hung up the phone. Marius took a deep breath and walked to sit on her bed. Eponine pushed open the door and walked in. Marius looked up at her and smiled.

Maybe she was okay. Maybe he was just blowing things out of proportion. Maybe everything will go back to normal soon.