Before It's Too Late

Seven

"Enjolras, wake up!"

I opened my eyes to see Courfeyrac. His curly dark hair was a mess.

"You need to come outside." He said. The urgency of his voice made me jump up immediately.

I followed him outside, the brightness immediately hurting my eyes. Grantaire was right about always having a headache after he drank a lot. I saw Marius first. He rushed up to me.

"The rain last night has ruined all the gunpowder. We're low on ammunition." He was sweating, clothing stained with dirt and mud. I thought hard for a moment, tapping my index finger to my bottom lip.

"The people have not stirred. We are abandoned by those who still live in fear," I raised my head high in the air. "Let's not waste lives. Let all who wish to, go from here."

There was a long, awkward silence before Joly laid a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm staying," He had a stern look on his face. "Who else?"

A chorus of cheers rang out. I couldn't restrain myself from giving the my group of friends a huge smile.

I grabbed a loaded gun and climbed to the top of the barricade. I could see the soldiers plain as day, blue coats and all. They had at least three times more personnel than we did. But did I care? Not a single bit.

Even if I am going to die today on this barricade, I will have known I made a difference in the people's lives.

The other boys joined me on top of the barricade. Some stayed behind the barricade, ready to reload guns on command.

"You of the barricade, listen to this!" A loud, demanding voice carried from the other side. I turned to the head officer of the army. "The people of Paris sleep in their beds. You have no chance! No chance at all! Why throw your lives away?" he shouted to us.

"Let us die facing our foes. Make them bleed while we can," I stood up to let myself be seen by my enemy. "Let others rise to take our place until the earth is free!" I screamed with a passion.

Brief silence passed over the men.

"Cannons!"

Soldiers rolling large cannons on wheels came around the corner, grunting and groaning at the weight of the massive weapons;

The officer was right. I knew we had no chance. We were outnumbered greatly, 20 to 50. But I didn't date let myself look intimidated.

"Far right first." Marius suggested.

"Fire!" I shouted.

Gunshots from my men pierced the air. They were soon returned with gunshots from the other soldiers.

"Fire!" said the officer.

I could briefly see cannon balls speeding towards the barricade before I saw them explode into the miscellaneous furniture. I lost my balance and fell backwards. I tried to grab anything I could to stop myself from falling but everything slipped past my hands.

My head hit the ground hard. Everything in my vision became blurry. I tried to blink the blur away, but it persisted. Figures of my friends were moving past me in a frenzy. I heard a bang and before I knew it, something hot and sticky was on my face. I looked up and saw my friend Bossuet's body falling down towards me, almost in slow motion. I moved out of the way just in time. He fell next to me. His eyes were open, but his body was lifeless. I wiped my face and realized the sticky substance was blood. I tried my hardest not to gag as I made an effort to rise to my feet. My knees buckled before I could step and I fell again, feeling a wave of nausea roll over me.

"Enjolras, we need to go!" I didn't know who the voice belonged to, but with those words I was pulled off of the ground by the arm.

I came to my senses a little after what I had just experienced. I saw the person that was handling me was Combeferre.

"We need to get inside." Courfeyrac was by my side with Jolly trailing close behind.

We got into the cafe. I knew that the soldiers were going to be chasing after us. I grabbed an axe and chopped the wooden stairs down so that it would slow them down a little bit. I grabbed Combeferre's hand and he hoisted me up onto the upper level. We were now in the middle of the hall.

"Sh!" I said, hot spit gathering in my mouth-a tell tale sign that I was going to vomit soon. I held it in, though. The boys around me trembled.

I knew exactly what the soldiers below us were doing. They were listening for us through the floor boards. Before I could wish my friends well, there were loud bangs from guns below us.

My friends fell to the floor, their souls leaving them before their bodies touched the creaky floor boards. I bent down at their sides and stared at their lifeless bodies. Hot tears fought their way to the tips of my eyes, but I quickly wiped them away. I heard the soldiers voices. I stood up and ran to the back room. Why I ran in there baffled me.

"He's in here!" I heard the officer's voice.

I looked around in the room for something to defend myself with, but there was nothing except a couple wine bottles and a red flag. I picked up the red flag and held it by my side, saying a quick prayer. There was nothing to do except wait for the soldiers to catch me.

"There he is." somebody said. I looked up, still hanging my held low. There was about seven soldiers surrounding me, holding me at gun point. My entire body felt numb.

All the sudden, I could hear footsteps. Somebody was walking around the corner.

Grantaire nearly fell into the doorway. He hobbled up next to me and stood by my side. We both eyed the soldiers, making them know that we weren't intimidated by their guns.

I raised the red flag in my hand proudly and never second-guessed my decision for a single second. Loud cracks of guns sounded, and everything seemed in slow-motion like before. I felt a searing pain impale my lower chest, then my stomach, and then my shoulder. I knew they were bullets. But I didn't even care that I was dying at this point. I knew that I was making a difference in people's lives. felt myself falling backwards.

That's all I could remember before I saw something coming down towards me. I was dead, and I knew it.

I saw Adéle coming down for me.

"My love, come with me. I will take you to a wonderful place." She was beautiful and she had the glow to her. Her long hair was like dark gold. She took me by the hand softly and took me upwards into the sky. I looked back and saw my body hanging from a window. Adéle's soul was taking my soul into heaven.

I've only heard of this place called heaven and I couldn't wait to experience it.

I smiled as I floated into the heavens. It was a blinding light that was straight ahead. I proceeded to shield my eyes, but Adéle stopped me.

"Do not worry, love. You will not go blind." She smiled brightly at me.

I opened my eyes wide. I could hear singing and rejoicing. Before I knew it, I was in the place that I had always known. I was in France.

I saw my friends, Combeferre, Courfeyrac, Grantaire, Provaire, Bossuet and more. It was amazing. I thought I would never see them again. Yet, here they were, right in front of me.

"It's wonderful, is it not?" Adéle asked me, looking me deep into the eyes.

"It's incredible." I replied before sweeping her up into a big kiss. I hugged her very tightly.

"I love you." She said.

"I love you too, Adéle." I said while kissing her on the head.

I couldn't believe that this was really happening.

This was magnificent. But even throughout all this, I couldn't stop thinking about one thing:

Vive La France!