A/N: Hello, Yuumi here back with another story! This is no Sweenett obviously, but rather about Anthony and birds—creatures which he greatly loathes and Johanna is extremely fond of. And no, I don't hate birds. I just think they're a little annoying since they wake me up in the middle of the night with all their chirping and shit. Oh yes and before I forget, I don't own Sweeney Todd.


Chirp-chirp…chirp-chirp…

They were at it again.

Chirp-chirp…chirp-chirp…

Stupid birds! It was the fourth time this week that they've been chirping ceaselessly, and it was driving him insane.

Chirp-chirp…

It was a mistake to buy those damned things from that bird-seller at the market. What a foolish thing to do! Now he can't get even the minutest wink of sleep. What a foolish thing to do!

Chirp…

Anthony Hope hated birds. He hated them with his life! Since he was a child, those feathered little hell-raisers gave him nothing but grief. Once, while on an outing at the park with his grandmother, pigeons and doves violently pecked his hand when he tried to feed them. During a camping trip with his father, a hawk took his favorite hat. And if that wasn't bad enough, another bird decided to be dear and pooped on his head a few moments later!

Chirp…

He cursed the day he bought that daft creature from at the market. Now he couldn't sleep. Ugh! Out of all the creatures his Johanna had to be fond of, why on Earth did it have to be birds? Birds!

Chirp-chirp! Chirp-chirp! Chirp-chirp! Chirp-chirp!

Oh, the noise! That obnoxious noise! The horror—the horror! It was quite unbearable; often he wondered how she could sleep through all the chirping and tweeting sounds those vile creatures made.

Chirp-chirp! Chirp-chirp! Chirp chirp! Chirp-chirp! Chirp-chirp!

That's it. That thing had to go—now!

"Prepare to meet your end, you little devil!" he growled in a whisper as he approached the cage.

Chirp-chirp! Chirp-chirp!

Slowly so that he wouldn't awaken his sleeping wife, Anthony Hope opened the cage's door and reached inside of it. When he finally grasped one of the two little birds, it made no noise. Its beady eyes only looked at him, as though pleading to be let go.

"That's right, bastard. You're going to die, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

Chirp!

"Haha! You can't escape me..."

Just then, he heard sounds of the bedding being rustled from behind. Johanna must be moving, he thought.

"Anthony, what are you doing?"

Great God! Why wake up now?

"I—I'm feeding it, dear. I—it was hungry."

Yes, of course, that's it! It was "hungry". Now go back to bed, Johanna...go back so that I can kill this little thing.

"He just ate an hour ago. If you keep feeding him he'll get sick. Go back to bed, will you?"

Damn!

"Come on, Anthony. Go back to bed," she repeated sleepily.

He had this bird! He had him! Talk about bad timing...

"Of course, Johanna," he said, much to his dismay as he placed the little bird back in its cage.

Oh well.

He'll just have to wait until tomorrow again. But until then...

Chirp-chirp!

...stupid birds.