JAMES'S POV~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|~~
Today was so much fun I went out into the countryside to pick berries and flowers with my mom and we stopped by the stream and went fishing and I got a huge fish. For dinner we had mixed berry pie and the fish I caught. Today was honestly the best day of my entire life and I was sad when I had to go to bed. My mom kissed me on the forehead and tucked me in and told me my favorite story. I shut my eyes and went to bed.
A FEW HOURS LATER~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I woke up in the middle of the night to see a man with an axe in the kitchen. I was scared to death. So I screamed and I triggered something inever thought would happen. The man came running over with the axe and my mom came running over and covered me. That meant she got slashed in the chest and she and I was covered in blood. The man ran out of the house. I got my blanket and rapt her chest and I prayed to god that she would live, but a few days later I saw her and I realized she suffering and I went to her bedside and said to her "Momma it's ok to let go, you're suffering, I will be fine as long as you're not suffering, beg of you please let go." Mom grabbed my hand and said " James please take this". She gave me her red necklace the one that grandmother gave to her before she died. I took the necklace and put it around my neck. " Wear it with pride James", "I would like to thank you for being a brave boy through all of this". "You will make a fine man and whoever marries you will be a lucky girl", " Make me proud". She sat up and told me my favorite story and told me that that day we went berry picking and fishing was the best day of her life and that she will remember it forever. I then took her hand and kissed it. She smiled and said " Remember rain is a good thing it will make the flowers grow" and she died with that smile on her face. I hugged and kissed her and I started to cry. I thanked her for letting go. I ran down the street to my mom's younger brother Grantaire and told him the news I expected for him to drunkenly stumble away, but he didn't seem to be drunk.
He hugged me as tears rolled down both of our faces. A few days later we had the funeral for my mom and I cried the whole time. I felt alone and lost in the world a feeling that most seven year olds never felt before. After the funeral she was buried as I watched with stinging eyes men burying my mom and when they were done the marked the grave with a grave stone. It said
" Alice Hugo 1809-1829". After the men left I got down on the freshly disturbed dirt and prayed to god to bless her soul and make sure was happy and then I started crying again. I made my way back into the city of Paris and caught a glimpse of a couple moving in to my old house the sight made me very sad I had no home. I sat down on the side if the road and let out a sigh. I then found my self walking around the city then a bunch of kids about my age running around me and I decided to run around with them. They ran past a produce stand and the one girl with brown hair reached out to grab an apple and snatched it right up she was a thief. We ran for a long time and during that time they snatched; 1 apple, a few pieces of bread, 1 tomato, and some candles without getting caught. "why would they steel"? those words rang through my head the rest of the run.
We stopped at the elephant statue that my mom used to take me to. I then go a good look at the group all dirty with ripped clothes and wore no shoes. Now I know why they stole they were a group of poor kids or what people around Paris would call "peasants". "Who's this" the one boy said " I don't know" the brown haired girl said the blonde hair girl was just frozen, she was actually kind of pretty. "What's your name?" said the blonde haired girl "my name is Emilia" she said " m-my n-name is James" I said shyly "my name is Pine" the other girl said " I'm Gavroche" the boy said. After that we got to know each other and lived with them for three weeks. Until one day when I went to visit Grantaire and he decided to take me in.
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I'm sooooooooôöòóœøōõoo soooo(adds infinity and a half more zeros) It took me an eternity and a half to update I just needed to get this chapter right because there was so many drafts I hated about this chapter so it took me a LONG time until I found a draft I liked
Also sorry if this chapter scared you, killed you inside, made you emotionally unstable, or made you attached to your mom so much it's unhealthy so have a nice day (also the rest of this book will have time jumps ok)