A Little Bit of Sunshine
Chapter 5
Eponine could not believe it. How had she not noticed such a routine part of her life? If she hadn't already believed that she was extremely stupid, she sure as hell would be believing it now. Who didn't notice something like that? A stupid girl, that's who.
The girl was already burning with embarrassment and anger at herself. Honestly, how utterly stupid could she be? It was such a selfish, awful thing to hope that she was wrong, but if she was right, she would never be able to handle such a thing. God, she was stupid. Being out on the street had taught her to be observant, but she wasn't doing so now. Now, her stupidity could just get herself and Enjolras killed. It would be so much harder to leave now, but her mind was already formulating a plan to help her out of this mess she was in.
"Sabret! Where are you? I'd like a word please!" She exclaimed, walking down the stairs at a quick pace. "I know you're here, you little - " she mumbled before she almost ran into the man as he left his office. "Oh, hello, Monsieur. Is your nurse in today? I'd like to speak to her about something." Eponine could practically feel his eyes on her, and she was almost worried that he knew.
"Mathilde is here today, and she is able to speak with you now. Is there something troubling you, my dear? Anything I could help you with?" The man asked slowly. The girl before was a true mystery.
Eponine took a deep breath. She'd been nervously wringing her hands for the past five minutes. "That won't be necessary. Just talking to Mathilde will be fine. If you would please direct me to her, I will be out of your hair. Thank you, M'sieur."
Sabret pointed her to the correct room and watched her walk there. He could see she had hesitated before opening the door and entering.
It had been two hours since Eponine had left his room, and thirty of them had passed since she'd ran past crying in earnest. Enjolras had sat in thought for a moment before deciding to go after her. She didn't need to be alone when she was like that; he knew that for a fact.
The blond man had been surprised that he was able to leave his bed, but he took small steps towards the door. His legs hardly supported his weight, and he used various things as a crutch. The door was just two steps from where he was leaning against Eponine's chair. Only two steps away, he knew he couldn't' make it, but what else could he do? Enjolras could not get back into bed and pretend that nothing happened.
Slowly, he edged forwards, trying to get farther than he knew he would go. One step all on his own was all it would take to be at the door. He could skirt along the walls the rest of the way. Taking a deep breath, the man stepped forward and grabbed the small door facing. He almost lost his balance but quickly righted himself. A large breath of relief escaped his lips, but there was no close ending to his struggle.
The hallway was long, and Eponine's room was at least twenty feet away. Enjolras sighed and began taking the smallest of steps.
Eponine's thoughts would not stop. 'How could you have been so stupid? Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. You won't last long like this, and Enjolras will want to be by himself when he hears about this.' She began to panic, and her breath began quickening. 'You'll be on your own again on the streets. They'll eat you alive out there, and you will never be able to leave. Pathetic, how low you have sunk.' The voice of Vivienne Thenardier whispered to her, just like it would every night since Eponine was twelve.
That was when her mother had stopped caring. Their wonderful facade had come crashing down, and there wasn't any other option but to run away. And that was what they did, like dogs with their tails between their legs. Her family ran to Bordeaux first, then to Toulouse, and next to Lyon. After three years, they had ended in Paris, with fake identities and police shadowing them. Honestly, she could hardly remember her real last name. Sometimes, they picked Thenardier back up like it had never been gone, but it had never been true.
As she tried to calm down, she heard a large thump. It was a strange noise to hear outside of her family's small apartment. It sounded like the noise that always accompanied a sharp slap from her father. Those would always bring her or 'Zelma crashing to the floor, and then, it made sense. "How stupid is he?" She mumbled, getting up from her bed and opening the wooden door.
Eponine looked out into the hallway and was not surprised by what she saw. Enjolras was sprawled across the floor, looking rather sick. If what she saw was correct, then he'd hobbled from his room to the little spot in the hallway where he sat.
"A little bit of assistance would be greatly appreciated," the man said, as his eyes fluttered closed, and his loud breathing became quieter. She sighed and thought carefully. It was, possibly, ten steps to her bed from where she stood, and the girl knew she could carry him. The only thing was that she worried what would happen afterwards.
Was Enjolras hurt badly? Or had he simply fainted from exhaustion? Did she need Sabret, or could she help him on her own? She certainly knew how to handle injuries, but she didn't know a thing on how to deal with a person and how they reacted. All of her experiences with her father surely showed that.
Ten minutes later, Enjolras was situated in Eponine's bed while she sat beside him. "You are such a dumb ass," she said softly. While waiting for him to wake up, the girl made up her mind about what they would do when they left Sabret's home. He was hospitable, but the pair could not stay there forever, especially with this new development.
She could get new papers for them, and from there, the two could decide where they were going. Obviously, they would have to leave France, but it would be difficult to get Enjolras to agree. One of her biggest problems was finding the money to have anything accomplished, but there were always ways of around it. Really, her only hope was the bourgeois boy lying next to her.
The only decision left was which bombshell to drop upon the man first. One would do absolutely no good and would only have to be told later. The other would be one of the only things keeping them alive. Yes, the latter would be what she told him today.
LINE BREAK
An hour had gone by, and Enjolras was still unconscious, but Eponine supposed that that was alright. The blond revolutionary had barely been sleeping and was pushing himself down a long, hard road. The girl beside him could see the signs there, for she had also been there too many times for her life to be so short. The pair of them had experienced too much to have only been twenty two and eighteen, respectively.
Though, this could have been seen as a good thing. The waif was equipped with an abundance of knowledge of the street, while the bourgeois knew the ins and outs of the laws of France like the back of his hand. As Eponine tried to comfort herself, she slowly became aware of her own exhaustion. Without her even knowing, she fell asleep beside Enjolras.
A soft ringing could be heard in his ears while his eyes opened to a dim room. It was not a room that he had been inside of before, but his only guess was that it was Eponine's. The ringing was coming from an old grandfather clock, sitting in the corner. The next thing that he noticed was a very warm body next to him.
It was odd, but the next thing he knew, he was back to that damned day. Grantaire's body was almost covering his own, yet there was no more fire there. The cynical man no longer breathed to put life into all of his works. There was only one difference, though.
While R's body had become cold as time had passed, this one did not. It was warm and provided heat like a furnace. It was such a stark contrast between himself, for he was always cold - just like a piece of marble.
Then, Enjolras could see who was beside him. Earlier, his mind had been so clouded that he had almost forgotten about the unfamiliar room. Now he could see that Eponine lay asleep beside him. The breath of relief that came from him was almost embarrassing.
While his eyes stayed on her face for a moment, he saw small tears coming from her eyes and that her face was not relaxed, as it normally was when she slept. It wasn't as though he knew about her sleeping habits, but he had noticed what she looked like when she fell asleep after his little story. A small whimper burst forward from her lips, and it almost broke his heart.
The man moved his hand forward, almost touching her face, but he stopped. He was not aware of how she would react to someone touching her, but surely that was better than staying in the horrific dream he knew she was living inside of. "Shhh, it's alright. Eponine, wake up please. Everything is alright." He told her. His fingers made their way to her hair and stroked through it in a gesture he hoped was comforting. The entire situation was making him uncomfortable, but if that were him, he would want someone to do the same thing.
Suddenly, her eyes shot open, and numerous sobs escaped her trembling mouth. Without a word, Eponine practically threw herself at the revolutionary. The cries shook her small body while she burrowed her face into his chest. "Please don't leave. Don't leave me here alone," she bawled. "That's what always happens. I always end up alone, on my own. I don't want to be that way anymore."
Enjolras just held her and tried to tell her that he wouldn't ever. He knew how it felt to be left behind, to be alone. Rubbing small circles on her back and his fingers through her hair, he began to hum softly. That humming soon turned to soft singing.
"Of all the money that e'er I had
I've spent it in good company
And all the harm that e'er I've done
Alas it was to none but me
And all I've done for want of wit
To memory now I can't recall
So fill to me the parting glass
Good night and joy be with you all
Of all the comrades that e'er I had
They are sorry for my going away
And all the sweethearts that e'er I had
They would wish me one more day to stay
But since it falls unto my lot
That I should rise and you should not
I'll gently rise and I'll softly call
Good night and joy be with you all"
The Irish drinking song was one that he had heard sung in the less classy bars, but it was one of his favorites, none the less. The girl's tears soon turned to sniffles, and he could practically feel the embarrassment rolling off of her. "There's nothing wrong with being sad and being reminded of it often. It would happen to everyone if they ever were to see what we did. I would like to offer my apologies. I wish you hadn't have seen it." He spoke softly.
Eponine moved away from him, trying to clean up her face a bit. She took a few steadying breaths before looking down at his face. "I-I think that I needed to. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here, and I would have done anything to find out what had really happened. Now, I don't even think I want to know. Now, I know what I know," the gamine explained.
"While you were out of it, I was thinking about when we have to leave. How would you feel about getting married?" She asked in an innocent voice.
So that is literally what I think is one of my best chapters… I love it. I know it's been a while since I've posted, I am so sorry. I am so close to being through with the school year, and during the summer, I can most definitely get so much accomplished. It'll be great. Anyways, I don't have much happening, so I may be able to have another chapter anytime as close as next week. Please don't hold me to that though. -AEW