"When She Never Lied"
A/N: What if Mrs. Lovett hadn't lied? What if she told Sweeny exactly what had happened to Lucy? Assume that the movie has taken place up 'till then end of 'Worst Pies in London' absolutely unchanged.
"I could rent it out," she said, looking up the stairs. "I could, but I don't. Some people says its haunted, but it aint. They sees a face in the window sure enough, but…well, you see for yerself then."
Mrs. Lovett took the stranger who was not so strange up the stairs to the second storey, letting him go first. They kicked aside some rubbish when they reached the top of the stairs, and he nearly knocked her back down the steps trodding on her feet and bumping into her. She hissed as she felt the warmth of his body against her own. "Steady now, sir," she said, urging him forward. She had never expected to see him again. Her heart beat wild in her chest.
The wallpaper hung in clawed strips on the walls. Most of the furniture was in pieces. Shattered glass crunched under their feet, shining in the dim London light, reflecting--mirror pieces. A child's cradle sat in the middle of the room, overflowing with dirty rags, a shattered doll, broken bottles--similar refuse lay strewn around the room, and in one dark corner, set far under the eaves, was a large, person sized nest of rags and blankets. It stank of human waste and rotting food.
"What has happened to the place?"
"Why, I lets her stay here--most nights she comes back. Didn't have the heart to turn her out. When the smell gets too bad I comes up and throws it all out--If I knew you were coming, I would have cleaned--Benjamin Barker."
She said his name like it was an accusation--she had not been sure until she had shown him the room, but it was him, wasn't it?
"It's Todd, now. Sweeney Todd. Are you to tell me that my Lucy still lives?"
"I don't know if you would call it that, poor fool." She still could not believe what the silly, naïve thing had done all those years before, but related it to him down to every last painful detail as she knew it. She told him about the Judge's party, how he took her against her will, and when she ran the sad state Mrs. Lovett found her in on her doorstep the next morning, half mad already. "She took a poison in the end," she told him softly, putting comforting hands on his shoulders as he stood, staring not at her but somewhere beyond her face. "Arsenic. From the apothecary 'round the corner."
"But she did not die."
"No, though it might have been a blessing if she had." He reached up and clasped one of her hands--too hard. She let him squeeze, placing her free hand over his. "The poison sent her mad--should have gone to the hospital, but she had no money of course. Ended up in bedlam for a little while. . .now she wanders the streets, naught but a mad beggar. Her memory is gone, does nothing but sing about and bother people. I make sure she don't freeze in the winter, but that's about all that can be done."
He walked over to the large window, surprisingly still intact when every other piece of glass in the room was broken. "She's out there somewhere? All alone?"
"She'll be back," Mrs. Lovett replied matter-of-factly. "Don't worry none about that--come back downstairs now. I have something to show ya."
He started to let her lead him back to the stairs, but froze again, staring at the cradle. "What about Johanna? Mrs. Lovett, where is my daughter?"
She sighed and put her arms around him. "He took her from me. Mind you, Albert wasn't too keen on keeping her anyway, neither of us had much use for babies, but the judge came and took her. He's been raising her as his ward for fifteen years now. As long as you've been away."
"Judge Turpin?" His eyes looked at her now, cold as silver razors gone to seed in a box. His voice was hoarse, murderous and she was afraid.
"You can't do anything about it. You're supposed to be transported for life. And he's a judge. What would you do?"
"I plan on killing him. He has killed Benjamin Barker. He has killed my Lucy. He deserves to die."
"Well then. I have something for you."
He followed her down to her apartments behind the shop, and she wondered at this new Benjamin Barker, this Sweeney Todd. Mr. Barker was quiet and sweet, a perfect tenant. She had loved him from afar, envying Lucy for such a beautiful husband, but never once attempting to attract his attentions. He was a man of honor. She saw nothing of that person in the man walking with her downstairs. This new man, he was wild, full of rage…and just as beautiful. She was even more in love than she had been fifteen years ago.
Part 2 to follow in the next day or two. If you want more of my stuff, I write a serialized novel that updates twice a week. There's a link in my profile.