Enjolras walked through the streets followed by the Les Amis. His head still pounded but his mind was focused. He had to find Éponine. They’ve been out looking for over an hour and they still have not found any trace of where Montparnasse went with her. Enjolras ran his fingers through his hair, he was getting anxious. What if they didn’t find her soon? What would happen to her? He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around.
R was smiling reassuringly at him, “don’t worry, we’ll find her”.
Enjolras sighed, “I know we will, but when? We’ve been searching for a long time and aren’t any closer than we were when we started!”
R shrugged, “If you want we could split up? Maybe we could cover more ground”. Enjolras nodded and R went to inform the others. They split into groups of threes, Jehan, Courfeyrac, and Feuilly; Joly, Bossuet, and Bahroel; and Enjolras, R, and Combeferre.
The two men trailed behind Enjolras as he scanned the alley closely, thoughts swirling through his head. He imagined Éponine alone in a room, knees pressed to her chest in attempt to make herself as small as possible. Her tear stained face was branded into his mind. Her eyes were full of fear as they flashed around the room at the smallest sound. Suddenly the door slammed open and a silhouette appeared in the door. Éponine’s mouth opened, but he couldn’t hear the scream that escaped it. She scrambled farther into the corner, in a vain attempt to disappear into the wall. The figure sauntered into the room and picked her up by her neck. She dangled and scratched at his hand. He dropped her to the ground, and slammed his mouth onto hers, she attempted to get away from him, but she was too small. He had her jammed between the wall and himself, as his hands explored her body. Soon her dress was hiked up above her thighs and when her attacker was done she fell to the ground violently. She laid there sprawled out, with tears streaming down her face. Enjolras could she her mouth his name silently, he had failed her. He couldn’t get there in time to save her. Enjolras stopped in his tracks and attempted to shake the image from his mind, he wasn’t too late, and he could help her.
He heard Combeferre and R begin whispering behind him, and he tried his best to ignore them and keep moving forward. Soon their whispers encompassed his mind, giving him a splitting head ache and he whirled around on them. “Shut UP!” he yelled, causing a few nearby birds to scatter. “Can’t you see I’m trying to focus on helping Éponine?”.
Combeferre took a hesitant step forward and said, “Enj, we are trying to help too-”, he began, before Enjolras interjected. “No you’re not! You’re talking about what would happen if we don’t find her, what would happen to me! I’m not the one we should be worried about right now, it’s her! She’s the one in trouble and it’s all my fault!” he yelled. Enjolras turned his back to them and whispered to himself, “It’s all my fault”.
The events of that night flashed through his mind, locking Éponine in his room in an attempt to protect her, opening the door to try and send Montparnasse away, leaving her unprotected when they opened the door, it was all his fault. He ran his fingers through his hair, and put his back up against the wall. How could he have been so stupid? She had tried to warn him, but he was so angry that he let his anger fuel him. He was impulsive, and let his feelings drive him to do crazy things, like attempt to take on three men at one time. He should have listened to her, maybe they could’ve escaped through a window, he shouldn’t have locked her in the room, he shouldn’t have opened the door, shouldn’t have tried to be a hero, the hero he never could be.
His eyes started to sting and his legs grew weak. He tried to stop the tears from coming but they wouldn’t and soon they streamed down his face. His lungs grew short of breath and he began to hyperventilate. The images flashed though his mind, Éponine alone in that room, and then it flashed to her being thrown out of his room when they broke down the door. Memory blurred with imagination, and soon Enjolras couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. He slid down the wall and on to the dirty alley ground. Through his tears he could see Ferre and R knelt down in front of him, their mouths moving but no sound coming out. All he could hear was Éponine calling his name right before he blacked out. Her cry consumed his thoughts and he couldn’t focus on anything else.
Then he felt something touch his hand, and he forced himself to focus on that. He made an attempt to concentrate on his hand and saw that Ferre was holding it. Then he felt something touch his other hand, it was R. Éponine’s screams subsided and his hearing slowly came back.
“Enjolras, we’ll find her, you know that, we know that” Ferre said soothingly. Enjolras manage to nod, and R said, “We will search all of Paris, heck we’ll search all of France if that’s what it takes!” Enjolras managed a small smile, and Ferre and R pulled him up. He wiped the tears from his eyes and face and took a deep breath. They would find Éponine, no doubt about it.
Then they began to walk again, Enjolras feeling more confident than before. He was certain he would find something that would lead him to Éponine. He scanned the ground with as much focus as his aching head would allow, but no matter how hard he was looking he still found no indication of which way Montparnasse had gone with her He sighed and continued walking, not really paying attention to anything until a familiar pattern caught his eye. It was a cylinder of navy blue fabric, just like the one he had bought her! “R, Ferre! I found something!” he called out to them. He reached down and picked up the fabric and held it out proudly to his friends.
R stared at it for a few seconds before asking, “What is it, exactly?”.
Enjolras smiled and explained that it was the sleeve from Éponine’s dress he had bought her. A smile formed on all three of the men’s face as they continued down the alley, they were getting close. Suddenly, a scream filled the air, and all the boys stopped. All their minds went to one name. Éponine.
YOU ARE READING
Not a Dream
Fanfiction"One rainy night in Paris, there was a girl running. The brisk wind cut through her wet, tattered dress. She felt like she was running for hours through the slums of the city, when in fact, it was only minutes. She knew he would send someone after...
