Children Shouldn't Live Like This - Chapter 4
The sunlight that shone into the dark room was piercing and hot. Frowning as he tried to turn his head to ward off the daylight, Gavroche then realized dazedly that he couldn't move his head properly. Acknowledging that it was probably time to wake up and face his perpetually angry parents again, Gavroche slowly opened his eyes.
It took him around twenty seconds to realize that he wasn't in his own room, and ten more for the painful memory of the night to come crashing back into him.
Confused as to why he was on an unfamiliar bed, Gavroche tried to move his arms, to no avail. Only then did he realize that his limbs felt heavier than before, an observation that defied explanation, especially since he couldn't even move his head to look at them properly. Determined to properly sit up, Gavroche clenched his teeth together as he used the bed as a trampoline, gradually building up energy as he slowly bounced centimeters off the mattress. In a quick burst, Gavroche forced himself into an upright position, and screamed.
"Ahhhh!"
The pain that seemed to rip its way through his spine was jarring and sharp. Gavroche's scream gradually dissipated into tiny winces of agony as sweat started to emerge on his skin from the seemingly minute effort. Panting heavily, Gavroche felt more tears coming to his eyes and stubbornly forced them back in. He had already cried far too much the day before.
From outside the room came the sound of rapid footsteps that caught Gavroche's attention. Now afraid at the unknown predicament that he had found himself in, Gavroche's eyes were glued to the open doorway, praying that the person who entered would be someone he recognized. Anticipating the appearance of his sisters or his parents, Gavroche didn't expect to see what he did; an unfamiliar man in his early twenties, dressed in a brown jacket and black pants, sticking his head into the room and staring into his eyes.
Gavroche didn't even have time to say anything before the man spoke first, grinning slightly as he did.
"Hello. You're finally up."
When the little boy sitting up on the bed did nothing but stare blankly back at him with wide eyes, Courfeyrac turned his head back out of the room and shouted loudly.
"Oi! Joly! He's awake!"
More rapid footsteps followed, and Gavroche's apprehension grew sevenfold as another man, supposedly named Joly, walked calmly into the room, twiddling a tiny sharp blade between his fingers absent-mindedly, as though he were ready to dice him up into tiny pieces. Spotting the horrified look on Gavroche's face and following his field of vision down to the scalpel in his hand, Joly winced and thrust the blade at Courfeyrac, who quickly grabbed it and left to put it away.
Grinning sheepishly, Joly approached the bed slowly, not wanting to scare Gavroche any further.
"Sorry about that, I was working on something in the living room and forgot I had it. How are you feeling?"
Struggling to find his tongue, Gavroche tried to speak, and was appalled as nothing came out of his mouth but strained gasps. With an understanding look on his face, Joly walked to the side of the bed and picked up a glass of water before setting himself down on the bed next to him.
"Your throat will probably be a little dry, after all you've been asleep for around three days."
Gavroche's jaw fell.
"I had to administer liquids to you intravenously, it's this new technique that the Scots found a few years back to inject liquids directly into a vein. I've never tried it on an actual person before you, but I think it worked out okay."
Gavroche didn't understand half of the words that the man just said, but seemed to accept the fact that he was here to help and not to harm him as he willingly allowed Joly to tip the glass of water into his mouth. Refreshed by the intense cool that flooded his dry throat, Gavroche almost felt upset when Joly removed the glass and placed it back onto the table. Clearing his throat, Gavroche tentatively gave a small cough before speaking his first words in three days.
"Where…where am I? And who are you?"
As though already expecting the questions, Joly smiled as he took a proper seat next to the bed and spoke.
"You're in a guesthouse above the café that my friends and I like to visit. My name is Joly," Joly smiled as he gave a theatrical bow in an attempt to get Gavroche to smile, succeeding somewhat as the boy giggled quietly. "And I'm a medical student at that university near the town center. There are three other friends of mine who brought you up here, but they have classes at the moment."
Gavroche slowly nodded, or tried to nod, his head as he took in all the information presented to him.
"I'll introduce them to you when they pop by later, but the other guy who you just saw is Courfeyrac. He studies law, and…oh!" Joly turned his head as he noticed Courfeyrac looking into the room. "Come in, Courfeyrac, we were just talking about you."
As soon as Gavroche took in the man's full form, he was instantly filled with a feeling of reassurance. The man's presence seemed to flood the room as he took heavy steps to the other empty chair and placed a small bowl of what smelled like pork broth on the table before sitting down, grinning gently at Gavroche, who returned his smile shyly.
"As I was saying, Courfeyrac here studies law, and he was the hero who found you and brought you to us."
Courfeyrac waved his hand dismissively.
"There's no need to make me sound so heroic, Joly. Any of us would have done it if we had been there. Besides, you were the only one capable of patching him up in the first place, I'd say you were more of a hero than I was."
Gavroche's heart seemed to rise four inches as he looked to and fro between the two men, who were now bickering as to, of all things, who between the two should receive more of the credit for saving his life. Blushing slightly at the attention, a foreign emotion seemed to emerge in Gavroche's chest, a feeling of warmth that he had not experienced in so many years living within his family's household. However, at his reminder of the presence, or lack thereof, of his family in his life, the feeling vanished as quickly as it came, a dull sadness replacing it. Biting his lip as he willed himself to not think about his sisters and how much he missed them, Gavroche cursed inwardly as he felt his eyes start to water. How embarrassing would it be to greet the people who saved him with tears!
Notice the sudden change in Gavroche's demeanor, Joly leapt to his feet and strode closer to the bed.
"Does it hurt anywhere, Gavroche?"
Gavroche breathed an inward sigh of relief as he realized that the doctor had mistaken his morose expression for pain, and nodded his head, allowing the doctor to hastily recheck all his bandages and to expertly shift him into a more comfortable position without causing him any distress. What Gavroche didn't notice, however, was the knowing expression that Courfeyrac had worn for a second upon noticing Gavroche's watery eyes.
A memory of a conversation that Courfeyrac had days ago came flashing back into his memory.
As Grantaire and Courfeyrac stepped out of the room to allow Joly to administer Gavroche's fluids, Grantaire gently shut the door and looked around the room. After ensuring that no one else was listening in, he turned back to Courfeyrac, who was looking abnormally upset. He then sighed.
"Courfeyrac, about what just happened in there…"
Courfeyrac looked up from the floor and into Grantaire's eyes.
"I think its best that we don't say anything to the others."
Courfeyrac's expression changed from miserable to angry in a split second upon hearing Grantaire's words.
"Are you kidding?! You heard what Gavroche was mumbling, he had obviously been mistreated, and by his own parents, no less! We need to-"
"Shut the…lower down your voice, dammit!" Grantaire fiercedly whispered at Courfeyrac as he glared towards the closed-door. After a few seconds, he turned back to Courfeyrac and spoke with a more gentle tone of voice.
"I know what you mean when you say you want to tell the rest of them, but we need to take into account that the kid might not want us to. That was a dream, after all. We might be jumping to conclusions here."
Courfeyrac crossed his arms and turned away.
"I say we look after him till he's alright, and when he feels ready enough to tell us exactly what happened, we listen. That means no forcing things out of him either. The last thing we need to do is to let the kid feel intimidated around the people who are looking after him. Do you understand me?"
Silently acknowledging the logic in Grantaire's argument, Courfeyrac reluctantly turned back to his friend and nodded his head.
"Fine."
Gavroche, who spoke out to the two students in a timid but clear voice, then abruptly awaked Courfeyrac from his recollections.
"Messieurs, I…thank you for all you have done for me, but I don't have any money to pay you. Also, I need to go and find my…"
Gavroche almost said "family", but then recalled that he had been thrown out of the Thenardier household. Before he could recollect any other bad memories of the nights before, Courfeyrac, who had stood up from his seat determinedly, interrupted him.
"You are in no condition to move, Gavroche. It would be best if you stayed here and let us look after you until you've fully recovered. Isn't that right, Joly?"
Joly turned to stare at Courfeyrac, not expecting the question to be directed towards him.
"Well, actually it would be up to Gavroche, I mean after all if-" At the fierce look that Courfeyrac threw him, Joly quickly changed his tune. "I mean, yes. Yes, Gavroche. You're badly injured, and as someone who actually practices medicine I would feel most comfortable if I ensured your recovery with my own hands and eyes."
Gavroche tried to force a disappointed expression onto his face as he cheered inwardly. At the very least, he would be able to stay in a comfortable place for the next few weeks before he had to go out onto the streets by himself. The university students seemed friendly enough company.
"Also…" Joly beamed as he folded his arms. "What makes you think we want to be paid for this? We did all of this out of our own will, you didn't ask us to do it."
"But…but…" Gavroche anxiously looked at Courfeyrac, then back to Joly. "These…these bandages, they couldn't have been cheap…"
At this comment, Joly smirked.
"I got all these from the hospital, didn't cost me a thing. As long as no one tells the supply administrator anything, no one will know." Joly then raised a finger to his mouth and jokingly shushed Gavroche. "Best not to tell anyone about it, you understand?"
Gavroche couldn't help but grin.
"Yes, Monsieur."
"My name's Joly." The medical student grinned as he picked up his bag from the floor. "Monsieur makes me feel old. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a class to attend. Courfeyrac, Marius should be back soon. Just serve Gavroche some lunch, alright?"
"You got it."
"Thanks."
Joly then waved jubilantly at Gavroche, who greeted with enthusiasm with a bright smile.
"I'll see you both later."
The sounds of his footsteps down the stairs to the café echoed through the guesthouse. Without missing a beat, Courfeyrac picked up the bowl of pork broth and turned to Gavroche, who was now staring expectantly at him.
"So…lunch?"
As his mouth watered at the overwhelming aroma of spices radiating from the bowl of broth, Gavroche then realized that he had never smelt anything so incredibly delicious in his entire life.
Waving to Joly, who had just stepped out of the café, Marius picked up his drink, well deserved after a hard day of classes at the university, and gulped it slowly. Looking after the boy just one floor above him had been difficult for him especially, due to most of his classes lasting throughout weekdays from mornings to the early afternoons, but he looked forward to it all the same. Looking after the boy named Gavroche had been strangely satisfying despite his seemingly perpetual unconsciousness.
Just as he finished his drink, he caught a sight of somebody who he hadn't seen in far too long a time. Waving enthusiastically to catch her attention, Marius hollered out into the street.
"EPONINE! OVER HERE!"
As Eponine turned around to face him, Marius immediately realized that something was amiss. The girl, usually excited to see him, was now looking alarmingly downtrodden, as shown by her slumped shoulders and depressed demeanor. Standing up and slowly approaching her himself, he then spotted her bloodshot eyes.
"Eponine?"
Eponine tried her best to gather herself.
"M…Marius! Hi, it's been a while."
"That's right, I haven't seen you in so long. I see you're delivering groceries for Monsieur Laffont down at the grocers."
"Yes! Just a few more houses to go. Alright, Marius, I'll…I'll see you later."
Marius watched as Eponine picked up her bags of vegetables and slowly started to walk away. Now absolutely convinced that something was wrong, judging by how she had ended their conversation so quickly, Marius walked towards her yet again.
"Eponine…are you sure everything's alright?"
"What? Oh, everything's fine, Marius. Thanks for asking."
Eponine now looked incredibly distraught despite her efforts at not appearing so. Holding both her hands in his own, Marius then looked deep into her eyes.
"Eponine, if there's something wrong, you could tell me. You know that, right?"
Having her long-time crush touch her hands, along with her grief at losing her younger brother just days ago, was cumulatively far too much for Eponine for handle. With a strangled gasp, Eponine dropped her bags of groceries and threw herself at Marius, sobbing sadly on his shoulder. A little taken aback by her outburst, Marius found his senses and wrapped her in a tight embrace.
It was several minutes before they broke apart. Still worried, Marius decided to probe into Eponine's situation.
"Eponine, do you want to talk about what's bothering you?"
Deciding that there was no harm in telling her friend about her family problems, Eponine wiped her eyes with her sleeve and confided in Marius.
"It's…it's my little brother. I know I've never talked with you about him, but he and I have always been very close. A few days ago, my dad got really drunk and…beat him up really badly."
Alarm bells starting ringing in Marius' head. He stayed quiet, deciding to allow Eponine to finish her story.
"After that he tossed him out into the snow, telling him not to come back. I went out to check on him after my parents had fallen asleep, and…" Eponine paused as fresh tears started to well in her eyes. "Oh, Marius…"
Marius gripped onto Eponine's shoulders to calm her down.
"What?"
"He…he was gone! I think he's been taken away. Why, Marius, why?! What did my brother do to deserve such a thing?!" Eponine was at this point hysterical with grief, and Marius had to hug her closely to himself in order to stop her from lashing out at passer-bys, who were staring at her with wary eyes. "God, Marius, I just want Gavroche back. I JUST WANT GAVROCHE BACK!"
Heart now pounding fiercely in his ears, Marius froze as he contemplated Eponine's words. A young boy, injured badly, thrown out into the snow, with the name Gavroche…
"Goodness…"
Excitedly separating himself from Eponine, who looked up in surprised at his sudden action, Marius bent down and picked up Eponine's grocery bags with his hand, and draped his free arm over Eponine's shoulders.
"Eponine, your brother is fine."
Eponine's eyes were now as large as dinner plates.
"Wait…what?!"
Grinning elatedly, Marius then guided his friend towards the café, already anticipating Eponine's expression when she saw what he and the other students had kept upstairs for the past few days.
"There's someone I'd like you to meet…"
Author's Note – Whew! Long chapter, this one. Little-miss-laughs-alot asked about the Marius and Eponine meeting each other plot device, and I actually had made considerations about it before. I just had to find a way and time to interlink the two plots together, and ultimately decided that early in the story would be most realistic, as Marius would only be able to meet up with Eponine so many times before he realized that Gavroche was her brother, even if she never talked about him to him.
Reviews desired and appreciated. Thanks for the hoard of reviews last chapter, ladies and gentlemen. I'm hoping this chapter will see an equivalently welcome reception. :)