My Boys of the Barricade {Les Miserables}

Chapter 15: The Truth of the Past

      "I wasn't always the oldest in our family, Kay," Enjolras started, "we had an older brother."

   "What?" Kaylin whispered in shock. 

       Courfeyrac and Combeferre shifted uncomfortably on their feet, looking down at the ground or up at the sky. 

     "Alexandre Théodore Enjolras, a year older than me," Enjolras looked down at the ground, pain could be seen on his face in the bright glow of the fire from the building. "Kay, you look so much like him."

     "How did I not know of him? How has he never been mentioned? Where is he?" Kaylin had so many questions running around in her head. 

     "Because he died, Kaylin!" Enjolras turned to look at her, "And it was all my fault."

  "Now you know very well that it wasn't!" Combeferre snapped, "Don't you dare say it was!"

     "But it was. Yes, it was, you know it is," Enjolras shook his head rapidly, "if I wasn't so stupid as to get myself trapped in a burning room, Alexandre wouldn't have needed to come back for me."

    "He did it to save you!" Courfeyrac yelled, "Alexandre protected you and cared for you like the older brother that he was. He went back to save you because he loved you. Enjolras, you've been beating yourself up about this for years!" 

      Enjolras shook his head. He couldn't take it anymore. He huddled himself up next to the base of the fountain and sank his face into his hands. He completely broke down, tears running down his face. 

     Kaylin was stunned. She had never seen her brother like this, ever. And it pained her greatly to see him in such a distressful state.

    "The reason why you don't remember him, Kay, is because you were only four at the time, and after his death, we removed everything from the house that reminded us of him," Enjolras explained, "his death is the reason why mother has changed so much. Your memories of the past aren't what they seem like. Mother was so much fun." 

        "What happened?" Kaylin asked, whispering. She kneeled down on the ground next to him, laying a gentle, comforting hand on his arm.

    "We were invited to a banquet at an estate just outside of Lyons," Enjolras said, taking in a shaky breath, "Mother decided to leave you back here in Paris with a governess to look after you. During the banquet, me, Alexandre, Courfeyrac and Combeferre decided to play hide and seek. I hid in a drawing room behind the curtains. There was an explosion and suddenly, everything went downhill. A rival of the family who had hosted the dinner had set the place off with gunpowder."

     "Combeferre and I were whisked out of the building really quickly. Alexandre had already found us, so we were helping him look for Enjolras. That's when the fire started," Courfeyrac added, helping to tell the story. 

     The rest of the group stood around in silence, listening to the story of their leader that they had never heard of before. 

     "Alexandre refused to get out of the building until he had found Enjolras to get him out," Combeferre said. 

      "When he found me, I was nearly unconscious on the floor," Enjolras spoke again, "He got a guard to carry me out and then..." 

    "What happened?" AJ asked, when Enjolras didn't speak for a few minutes. 

  "On the way out the room, Alexandre tripped and fell, catching his ankle in-between two fallen chairs. He told the guard to continue and get me out and that he would follow," Enjolras began crying again, "I never saw him again."