Beyond The Barricade | les misérables

one

I stood in the doorway as my mother yelled after my youngest sister from the bottom of the stairs. We had been assigned to go out for the day and find dresses or fabric to wear.

Mother was keen on us having a fair supply of formal-ish dresses to have on hand. This meant she sent us all on outings every few weeks strictly for this.

"Stay together," she said sternly as Constance came up beside me. "Listen to your sisters, Constance."

The girl nodded and crossed her arms with a mischievous smile.

"And Hyacinth?" she said as we turned to leave. I spun around and looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes?"

"Keep your eyes peeled." She winked and sent us off, closing the door behind us. I walked in between my two sisters, my hands resting at my side.

I avoided all eye contact with the various men around us as they attempted to look somewhat desirable. Cécile snorted beside me as she looked over every person we passed.

"What a wonderful bunch of suitors," she taunted, elbowing me.

"Be quiet or I'll send you home," I retorted.

"I still believe you should suck it up and marry Marius."

"Marius is my friend. I will absolutely not be marrying him."

I huffed and turned my attention toward the shop we got most of our dresses at. The old lady who ran the shop welcomed us inside as Constance took off to her favorite section of dresses.

I followed behind her, shuffling through them with her. She would pull on one and stare at it, her eyes sparkling with overwhelming joy.

I laughed and pulled off a light pink dress that she had been eyeing.

"Madame, can we get this one?" I said, taking the dress in my arms.

"Of course, dear. Anything for dear Constance," she smiled.

I walked toward Cécile and watched her as she looked through the displays of dresses. I decided to start doing the same and sighed heavily, watching Constance out of the corner of my eye.

I focused on her and dropped my hand from the dresses as she smiled at the woman.

I felt a sharp pain on my side and snapped my eyes to Cécile. She nodded to the large window and I turned, meeting eyes with Marius himself.

I shook my head at him and took note of the man standing next to him with the most aggravated look in his eyes. Marius pointed and I followed his finger, my eyes landing on a maroon looking dress. I put my hand on it with a questioning look. He nodded enthusiastically and made his way toward the door, pulling it open.

"Didn't you just do this?" he asked as the door fell shut behind his friend.

"Yeah. Yeah we did," I sighed.

"Got something big coming up?" he chuckled, taking the pink dress out of my arms.

"No. Mother insisted we go out today, though," Cécile butted in.

"This for Constance?" He held up the dress and looked at her with a smile.

"It is indeed," I said.

"Let me buy it."

"Marius we need to-"

"Yeah, I'm gonna buy it. And that one for you." He pointed at the maroon and I grabbed it. "Cécile?"

"Get me this one," she said, handing him a blue dress.

He paid for them and handed them to me, watching me as I balanced the boxes.

"Listen, I need to talk to you about something really important," he mumbled.

"Like what?" I asked as I walked back to my sisters.

"I think you know."

I stopped in my tracks and looked at him, eyes wide.

"Meet me, take them home and then come find me."

I nodded and he left without another word. I lead the two out of the shop and made my way back home, Cécile watching me intently.

"Whatever you're gonna say, don't." She opened her mouth to speak but nothing came out. Instead she snapped her eyes elsewhere and walked silently beside me.

.

I walked the girls up to the door and handed Cécile the dresses.

"I'll be back later, tell Mother not to worry."

"She won't listen. She'll worry. Give me something to tell her," Cécile said.

"Okay fine, tell her I'm meeting a suitor or something. Say I'll be gone for a while."

Cécile nodded and turned on her heel, ushering Constance into the home. I watched them until the door closed and took off back toward the town.

Marius had always talked of crazy things. The topic of revolutions and uprisings came up often now, and half the time I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

I couldn't lie and say I wasn't 100% for a revolution—I was. But something about the way he spoke startled me. Lately things were getting worse. The poor were dying in the streets and it was reasonably harder to ignore. This was what I had talked about with Marius several times after outings with my sisters. He always listened. Just let me ramble on and on about things that surely didn't concern me.

I walked to our usual meeting spot and waited, looking around as I leaned up against the wall. The people walked past me, going about their daily business without even batting an eye at me.

I felt a hand grab my arm suddenly and I jumped, turning to the side. Marius stood around the corner of the building and gently pulled me into the alleyway. I stared at him as he let go of my arm and leaned his back against the stone.

"What's so important it has to be discussed in an alleyway?" I quizzed, cracking a smile. But his serious expression made me drop the smile instantly.

"It's going to happen."

I stared at him, blinking absently at his statement.

"You can't just say that. Elaborate, Marius."

"The revolution we talked about. Remember that?"

"Of course I do," I said. "It was a very passionate conversation."

"I distinctly remember you saying you'd lead.." he trailed off. That's when I realized.

"No."

"Come on, Hyacinth," he whined.

"Marius, no."

"Why? What happened to wanting to be at the front?"

"I'm a woman," I said. He paused, staring at me blankly. "It's not my place to fight. Nobody here wants a woman fighting a war, Marius."

"I do. Specifically you."

I rolled my eyes and looked away from him with a groan.

"Just come to a meeting. We've been planning for a few days, I think it will benefit you to come listen."

I crossed my arms and said nothing to him. This just made him press harder.

"For me. Please. If I'm gonna fight I want you to be there."

I sighed heavily and looked back at him, dropping my arms.

"Fine. When and where?"