Arabella
By Airafleeza
On the dirty, grimy streets of London's Fleet Street, there was a pie shop. Mrs. Lovett's pie shop. Which was of course run by Mrs. Lovett and a boy named Tobias. The man who watched over the two lived in a dull and rather lifeless upstairs above the shop.
His name was Sweeney Todd, and from the barber pole to the right side of his door, you could obviously tell this man was a barber.
It was a Saturday night at the already popular eatery (ever since Mrs. Lovett started getting new meat from a mysterious source). People had been running about all day it seems because the depressing weather was lacking it's normal grey disposition and the skies had almost a touch of the bright sun to them.
"'ere yeh go dearies," Mrs. Lovett spoke hurriedly. "Some nice pies, fresh outta the oven." She rested for awhile, her right hand supporting her as she shifted almost all her weigh to her right side and held a half a tray of pies on her left hand.
Poor lady… Arabella thought sadly, pitying the woman with the wild mess of red curls. She's so out of breath.
"TOBY!"
Maybe not… the black haired girl's thoughts changed.
A boy with brown spiky hair came to the worn out woman's side. "'ere," she muttered. "Take this tray and give it ta that table." She shoved the tray more or less into the boy's rough hands so she could point a gloved hand into a direction that lead to the outside tables.
"Yes mum," Tobias spoke obediently and ran as fast as possible in such a crowded area.
The baker turned around and headed for the living room part of her eatery.
"Oh Mrs. Lovett dear," Mrs. James called out, twiddling her fingers in a way that made Arabella disgusted. "Yeh seem so tired dear! Where are yeh goin'? Ta bed I hope!"
"Oh no," she laughed. "I got pies ta bake and prepare! Meh pie shop doesn't run itself yeh know! Can't rest when there's work needin' ta be done!"
Mrs. James stood up, her elbows whacking her daughter square on her rounded chin. "Would yeh like me assistance dear?"
That stupid busy body! Those acid words came into Arabella's thoughts.
"NO!" Mrs. Lovett spoke with such sudden seriousness it surprised the both of them. She fiddled around with her dress, looking momentarily flustered. "Yeh might try ta steal the family's secret… and I'm sorry love, but I can't take that kinda chance!"
"Well then, after I finish me pie, I'll 'elp lil Tobias with the shop then," Mrs. James promptly declared.
It was too late. The shop owner had already managed to get out of earshot of Mrs. James' loud voice by heading deeper into the room next door to her bake house. Her calls to Mrs. Lovett had melted away into the rest of the inaudible voices, thanks to the heavy metal door.
Sitting back down and making her chair cry out loudly as soon it once again experienced the full weigh of the corpulent Mrs. James, Arabella thought for sure that was one noise Mrs. Lovett would surely hear, thick door or not.
Arabella stared at her pie with her larger golden eyes. She gingerly picked it up, rotated it completely in her hand to find the best part to start eating at, and finally took a small bite, while her mother on the other hand had completely polished off hers.
"Well, Arabella, I'm gunna be watching the shop, so behave yerself. 'urry up and finish yer pie yeh lil priss and go up ta Mr. Todd's and get yer father. 'e's been up there for ages… so long 'is pie is getting cold… fastest shave in London my foot…" Mrs. James ended in a mutter as she rushed off.
"A lil priss, am I?" she murmured. "Well, at least I'm not a big pig… or a rude lil busybody…"
After mocking her mother abit more, the young girl took another bite.
Just like everybody else who had ever tasted Mrs. Lovett's savory meat pies, she tried to eat the pies as slow as possible, trying to find the hidden ingredient Mrs. Lovett had baked so lovingly into them that caused their mouthwatering smell and delicious taste.
Instead, she found a finger.
And not like everyone else who had just eaten one of Mrs. Lovett's famous pies, she felt a strong wave of queasiness overcome her.
Trying to be as calm as possible, she casually wrapped the finger into a spare hankie with a shaking hand and pushed it down into her dress pocket. She remained in her seat, taking a deep breath and chewing on a strand of onyx hair nervously as she planned what she was to do next.
Mum'll call me a loonie… if I went to Mrs. Lovett, she will deny it and call the law on me for trying to ruin her "respectable" business, she'd say… Dad'll simply nod and dismiss me… she sighed.
Maybe… this Mr. Todd could help me…?
Having never spoken to this shadowy character that resided just up the stairs, Arabella still believed that he would help her seek justice for such an inhumane act.
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A/N: So... what'd ya think? It's been awhile since I posted here... I'm just now getting the courage to start writing again. So please, comment... or whatever it is you'd like to do. But PLEASE no flamming meh loves! And the next chapter shall be posted shortly as well! :D