Misguided Ghosts // Les Misèrables

chapter 23

Christmas was always a particularly hard time for the amis. A large portion of them no longer had contact with their parental figures, and so a holiday based around family was not what any of them really enjoyed.

Enjolras felt guilty for not being hone last Christmas. He stayed in Paris for revolutionary things, he didn't know it at the time, but that was his mother's last Christmas. Marius missed his grandfather during the holiday season. They did not get along, but his grandfather raised him, he couldn't forget him if he tried. Grantaire's melancholy behavior always got worse when it was colder. It was easy to feel like shit when the weather was shit.

Because of Christmas not being a good day, Courfeyrac and Combeferre organized a group Christmas dinner. Any member of Amis who had no where to go that day was welcome. The two men had spent all day cooking as much as they could.

There was only five people there, but they wanted their to be enough food for everyone to take home. Courfeyrac, Combeferre, Marius, Enjolras, Joly, Grantaire, and Gavroche. Gavroche had also brought his sister Éponine. For some of them, this was the only homemade dinner they'd have for months. This time of year was not kind to thise without a large income. Food was a bit harder to come by, and so a diet of stale bread was what was normal.

Combeferre and Courfeyrac were both gathered in the kitchen. Combeferre was a very good cook and so he'd made the perfect turkey. Courfeyrac, however, was struggling to make his onion soup. Grantaire was in the corner with his bottle, contemplating the meaning of life. Enjolras was watching the snow fall. Joly was treating Éponine was a minor injury to her arm. The Thénardier siblings had fled to this apartment after running into their father had led to a physical altercation. Marius was setting the table and cutting bread. And Gavroche was watching Combeferre and Courfeyrac cook, his mouth was drooling. The last time he had any form of home-cooked meal was last Christmas. They had been doing these Christmas parties for two years now.

There was a knock at the door and Courfeyrac went to answer it. He opened it to see Adeline. She was dressed in bourgeois clothing with a large bag slung over her shoulder. Her eyes were filled with tears and her face with sorrow. She collapsed into his arms, crying and shaking violently. The pair slid to the ground. She was making his shoulder wet with tears. He rubbed her back.

"It's alright, I've got you." Courfeyrac said. "I've got you."

She gripped his shirt in her hands. The cotton fabric kept her attached to Earth. She had shut her eyes as tight as she could, but that did not prevent tears from leaking out like a river down her cheeks and forming a lake into his jacket.

"I've got you." He said again. "Don't worry." He stroked her hair.

Everyone around them was watching in silence. No one was quite sure what to do. Here came Adeline, in extremely expensive clothing, carrying a bag of what she owned and crying, all of Christmas day.