A.N.: This is based on something creepy that I've…heard of. I don't own Gorillaz, and not even the enemy. However, I do own his "version". My first Horror, so please be gentle.
The bell dinged as the shop's door opened. The customer gazed around at the small room. The room, oddly enough, had an eerie and spiritual silence to it. The floor was a black and white checker design. The walls were plainly white, but had exotic looking portraits and paintings on it. One had a painting of multiple black and white striped snakes hanging from the branches of a twisted tree in a dark, almost Halloween-like setting. Another had a portrait of a man screaming in terror, with a guillotine's ghastly blade hovering only inches away from the back of his neck. These paintings and portraits may have contained disturbing images, yet they had golden, elegant-looking frames. To the left of the room, sat a fancy, marble table. Filled with hair gels, elegant combs, a large, black pair of metal scissors, and a straight razor whose blade had been polished diligently and patiently. The customer blinked twice, and looked forward. The customer happened to be a man by the name of Stuart Pot. Though his friends, or more often his band mates, called him 2D. 2D stared across the room, and there, sitting in a chair with elegant spirals on the legs and a red velvet cushion on the seat, was a man. A man who looked like he was in his late twenties. Not much older than 2D himself. The man had a somewhat both strange and sad look to him. His eyes looked half-closed, as if he were sad or depressed about something. His hair was a mess of black tangles, and his skin was fairly pale, as if he had been sitting in the dark for years without sunlight. One of his arms hung limply off to the side, and his other rested upon his thigh. He was dressed formerly however. He wore a plain, buttoned, long-sleeved white shirt with overall khaki-colored pants. He wore nicely polished dress shoes. The singer looked at the man from across the room. He scratched the back of his head, and arched his eyebrow. He was inside a barbershop. He had passed it multiple times, yet he never saw anyone inside or entering. The man had his head down a bit, and had a solemn, sorrowful look on his face.
2D stretched his arm out towards the man, and timidly said "Um…'scuse me, sir…" The man did not answer. He kept his head down and did not respond. Not even a grunt. It was almost as if he were asleep with his eyes slightly open. The vocalist tilted his head. Something made him suddenly made him feel uneasy about this barbershop. He began thinking. Now that he thought of it, he didn't read the name of the shop. He just entered, and he saw the designs of a barbershop. But then, like a machine, the man's head picked up slowly, like an invisible hand had seized the back of his hair and gently pulled it up. The man had dark, purple rings under his eyes, and looked as if he had not slept in weeks! 2D's jaw hung opened slightly at the man's awful appearance. He didn't know if this man would accidentally cut off an ear in the process of the haircut. Thinking fast, the vocalist said "W-w-would it be ok if I got my 'aircut 'ere?" The barber stared at him for a moment, and then nodded slowly. Almost like he weighed a thousand pounds, the man slowly lifted himself up from the comfortable-looking chair. He somewhat limped over to the seat where the person would get their haircut. 2D stared at him awkwardly. This man was like a walking rain cloud, so miserably and weak. The haircutter spun the seat around stylishly, and pointed at the cushion on it, and hypnotically gazed at 2D, with a sad expression on his face. 2D stared at the barber confusedly, forced a grin on his face, and approached the seat. Finally, his bottom touched the cushion. And to his surprise, it felt comfortable. It was soft and relaxing, even a little bouncy. That's when the barber suddenly lifted a large black sheet, and laid on top of the singer's body, and he gently tightened it around his neck. 2D stared at him through the reflection of the mirror. He could still see the barber's sad expression. The haircutter solemnly walked over the table and snatched up the long, black scissors. He snipped them twice, and put his finger on his chin. The vocalist looked at him through the corner of his onyx eyes. He could see him tilting his head slowly from left to right, possibly thinking of what kind of haircut to give him. 2D knew that he was thinking this, so he answered "Jus' a lil' trim, please."
The barber did not answer. He just nodded once and then, got behind 2D, and quietly began snipping away some of the tips of his spiky blue hair. The vocalist looked in the reflection one again. He could see the barber, oddly, using only one hand to snip, and no comb or anything. And he still had the same grim look on his face. 2D squinted his eyes and stared at the barber do his work. He could see his tongue slightly sticking out of the side of his mouth, as often as it did when someone was focused on their work. Suddenly, the snipping stopped. 2D stared at the barber through the reflection once more, and saw the haircutter staring at him. Right into his eyes. It was there that 2D noticed that his eyes were a dark shade of brown, yet had a milky white color to them. Could he be going blind? Then, like a curse had been broken upon his tongue, the barber spoke.
"Wot's yeh'name?"
2D gazed at him through the reflection of the mirror, and asked "Wot?" The barber began snipping once more, and repeated, "Wot's yeh' name?" The singer found some kind of confidence in the man's words, so he replied with, "Uh, Stuart." The haircutter nodded once, but had stopped staring at him and continued his work. 2D didn't like the fact that he had given a mysterious and eerie stranger his name, so the least he could do is get his name. "Wot's yeh' name?" The barber continued his work, tilting his head and eyes wandering quickly to see which parts he had not snipped. However, he answered. "Todd," he said, not looking at 2D, "Sweeney Todd". A bit of an odd name, but the vocalist could accept it, considering some of the names some of his fellow peers had. So, thinking he was relaxed and everything, 2D let Sweeney Todd do his work. He closed his eyes and lowered his head a bit. However, a dark and evil secret hid behind Sweeney. That was how Sweeney wanted people to feel in his shop. Relaxed and everything. But then, a devious and wicked toothy grin stretched out his grin as he snipped at the singer's blue hair. His face drastically changed from a tired and depressed look, to a deranged and maniacal one. He was about to do what he was going to do, but he first flashbacked.
Flashback
Sweeney Todd held a straight razor and carefully swiped away the big globs of shaving crème from an old, heavily-bearded man. The customer seemed as if he were in his late forties or early fifties. He was in a business suit. The man had his head leaned back, his eyes closed, and was not giving a care in the world. Sweeney noticed this, and stared at the man as he shaved him. The barber then stopped shaving him momentarily, and looked behind his hair gel. Behind that bottle, was a small, red button. It would lock the doors, and shade the windows. He smiled a bit, and then pressed. Heavy metal plates covered the windows, and the front door locked. The man suddenly sat up and looked at the windows. He turned to Sweeney Todd and asked "Wot wos tha' for?" The barber smiled fiendishly and answered quietly, "Well, it's dinnertime." And then, like a bolt of lightning, Sweeney slammed his palm against the man's forehead and pushed it onto the seat. With speed and accuracy, Sweeney put the straight razor's thin blade on the man's throat, and slashed it. The man gagged, coughed, and gasped with a drizzle of blood spraying from his throat like paint from a graffiti can. The crimson liquid oozed from his throat onto the sheet. The man then collapsed onto the black and white checkered floor, clutching his throat, eyes bulging out, and blood snaking through the spaces between his fingers. Sweeney Todd smiled evilly as he watched the man die a miserable and unexpected death. But, to end his life quicker, the killer barber lifted up the straight razor, and sent it flying downwards. All that could be heard from outside of sealed up barbershop was a wretched and muffled shriek of death.
A few minutes later, Sweeney was pulling his victim by both legs across the room. A trail of blood followed behind the man's head. Behind the seat that Sweeney Todd usually sat at, was a secret door. Sweeney moved the elegant seat, and gave the wall a little push, and a little door sprung up. Sweeney picked up his victim's legs again and dragged him inside. In that small room, it no longer looked like a barbershop, but a butcher's slaughterhouse! Human corpses hung on chained hooks, and blood were the puddles on the floor. It was a freezer. All of Sweeney's victims were inside this room. Every person's hair he has ever cut or face he has ever shaved was in this room. He tossed the man's corpse in a corner, rubbed his hands together, and a small smirk appeared on the edge of his mouth. Sweeney Todd may have been silent, but in reality, he was a deranged assassin. What he was going to do with all victims, was convert them into meat pies. Then, he would eat them. He has done this countless times, and showed no signs of stopping.
Another flashback
A mother had gone into the demon barber's shop to give her nine year old daughter a haircut. Sweeney, obviously playing weak and depressed, sat the little girl down on his seat.. But the mother said "I need tah' do something at anotha' place, but could yeh' still give 'er teh' 'aircut?" Sweeney gave her a little nod, and the mother was off. This made the job all the more easier for the haircutter. Sweeney Todd lifted up the sheet, put it on her body. The little girl hummed happily, and she felt the sheet being tied around her neck. Then, a sudden loss of air occurred. The little girl gasped. She felt her windpipe being squeezed and tightened. Sweeney Todd was strangling her with it! The girl was small and weak, so she was easy. In a matter of seconds, her head hung lifelessly on her shoulders, her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and her mouth giving off a drop of saliva. Sweeney pressed the red button and shut off the windows and doors, and easily carried the little girl to the freezer to be butchered and eaten. Fifteen minutes later, the mother returned, asking where her little girl. Sweeney pointed to the freezer door. The mother walked over to the wall, yet Sweeney was behind her, and he had his scissors with him. Using them as a knife, he forcefully shoved it through the back of her neck. She was instantly killed, and the assassin barber hung her up next to her suffocated daughter. He smiled deviously, and shut the door. That very night, he converted their flesh into pies, and ate them for dinner.
Currently
Sweeney Todd diligently snipped at the singer's hair, still with a deranged a wicked smile across his pale lips. Then, slowly and carefully, the killer barber stopped snipping, closed his scissors to make them one sharp blade. He gritted his teeth and his grip in the scissors tightened. 2D opened his eyes and drunkenly stared at the reflection, and his eyes widened with shock. He could see the barber raising his weapon with his eyes shut tightly and his teeth gritted angrily. At that very second, 2D stood up and missed the stabbing. Sweeney's pale eyes opened and he stared at his scissors with an astonished expression. He missed! He looked up and saw 2D staring at him quite surprised. The demon barber yanked out his scissors, and bared his teeth in anger. 2D tore the sheet off of him, and lunged for the door. Sweeney Todd gasped. If he let him get away, his secret would be revealed! He carelessly slapped the hair gel away, and pressed the red button instantly. The vocalist was only inches away from the door, when suddenly, large metal plates covered the windows, and when he reached the door, it was locked. The vocalist whirled around, and saw the cannibalistic barber walking towards him with the straight razor in his hand. Foolishly, but willingly, 2D tried to reason with him.
"'Ey! 'Ey, relax! Wot's teh' matta' wiff' yeh'!?" Sweeney looked like he was in no mood to talk. 2D gasped and crouched, just as the mad haircutter swung his blade at him. his ducking made it easy for him to escape from the corner he was in. Yet Sweeney Todd wasn't exactly in the mood for talking. The singer backed away cautiously from the madman. And that's when it struck him. Sweeney Todd pretended to look tired and weak, but in reality, he was quick and dangerous. He heard the assassin growl angrily, and he lunged towards him once more. The barber just swung his blade wildly, while all 2D could do was dodge his swipes and swings. Until finally, Sweeney had backed him into another corner. This time, where the elegant chair was. The singers' back was against the wall and the deranged cannibal came storming up to him with his straight razor's blade shining in the dimly lit room.
Oie, thought 2D frantically and nervously as the demon barber approached, "his is it! I'm fuckin' done fo'! But accidentally, he pressed his back too hard towards the wall, and he stumbled backwards and collapsed! He opened his eyes and rubbed the sore spot on his head. He sat up, and he looked around. A sight of horror was at hand. Corpses hung on hooks, and blood was all over the floors and walls. The room was bitterly chilly. Some red meat lay unboxed, as if it were ready to be placed in a butcher's shop. 2D bolted up and gazed around at this place of slaughter. Someone was packaging meat or something, to either take home or to give to a butcher. Or perhaps both. The singer looked around with his fists clenched and his teeth gritted in disgust. The place smelled awful, and the scenes only seemed to make it worse. That's when 2D heard a heavy and maniacal panting. Sweeney stood at the doorway, still clutching his straight razor. Fire was burning in his milky white eyes. And through gritted teeth, he snarled "Yeh' my nex' dinner! I'm gonna grind yeh an' turn yeh' into a pie an' serve yeh' with biscuits!'
2D no longer felt fear towards this serial killer. He only felt anger. He's seen the way this man's sick and twisted mind worked. He's hurt many innocent people, and by the corpses hanging on the hooks, many of them were innocent children, perhaps some getting their first haircut. The singer faced the barber, and the madman charged at him with his blade high above his unruly-haired head. But 2D lunged as well! He seized the wrist in which the hand that held the razor. The two struggled violently. It was either a life or death now. Chances were higher for 2D to be killed rather than Sweeney. That's when 2D seemed to knock the straight razor out of his palm, and wrestled him to the floor. Next thing they both knew, they were on the floor, having a fist fight. In this struggle, 2D had the bigger advantage. Sweeney Todd was going slightly blind, so he couldn't exactly see the punches he was throwing, nor the punches being thrown by 2D.
The two were rolling on the floor, wrestling each other and throwing punches. 2D knew he couldn't stop fighting because it was a life and death situation. 2D grabbed the deranged barber's wild mess of black hair and began pounding it on the floor. In order to make him stop, Sweeney clamped his had around the vocalist's jaw and pulled down. This got 2D distracted, and the demon barber was able to get reach over and grab his straight razor once more. And now, he tried to bring it down upon the singer's throat to end his life, but 2D held it back. The blade was only inches away from his throat, but 2D kneed the barber in the stomach. Sweeney Todd grunted and this left a moment of vulnerability. The singer tossed the haircutter off, and in a moment of pure rage, grabbed a blob of the unpackaged human flesh, got on top of Sweeney and hissed "Yeh' want some of teh' meat!? Well, 'ere!" 2D began shoving the raw human meat down the insane barber's throat. He pushed it down with his index and middle finger. "Eat it!" The angry singer snarled pushing it down, "Eat it till yeh' choke, yeh' sick, twisted fuck!" Sweeney Todd gagged and choked on the meat, pathetically trying to reach up to seize 2D's neck. But then suddenly, the squirming stopped. Sweeney Todd just lay there, with his eyes shut. The vocalist panted heavily and stood up, over the body of the dead, demon barber. He wiped some saliva that was dripping out of his mouth. 2D clenched his fist and angrily said, " Thanks fo' teh' free 'aircut, an' good riddance." He exited and slammed the freezer door shut. He rubbed his forehead and pushed the red button that he was Sweeney Todd push to seal windows and door. He turned the gloomy-looking "Come in, we're open" sign, to the "Sorry, we're closed." side. Just before leaving, he looked back. He saw the empty customer's chair, the gloomy paintings, and the black and white checkered floor. He breathed a sigh of relief, and left the shop. But in the freezer, there were countless corpses. But the one of a barber lay there dead. His finger's slightly twitched and one eye shot open…
Three months later
Snow was gently drifting down from the silver-gray sky above. Russel Hobbs entered a local butcher shop to cook up something for Christmas. He looked around carefully, and examined the shop. It had a black and white checkered floor, dark and gothic-like paintings, and standing at the counter with multiple meats sliced in front of him, was a man with a cleaver. His hair was a mess of black tangles; his skin was as pale as the snow falling outside. He had a dark and gloomy look to his face. He held a blood-stained cleaver. He looked tired and depressed. Russel approached the man and said "Sup", and he squinted his eyes and looked at what his nametag said, "uhhhh….Sweeny Todd…"
A.N.: This inspired me from two things. One was the villainous barber known as "Sweeney Todd", who'd kill his customers and turn them into meat pies. The second thing was that there's a film coming out based on him soon. I got excited so I started thinking about a fanfic with a similar plot. I got inspired by some of the things of the film "Misery", and some bizarre twists from my OWN mind. Hope you enjoyed. Please review gently, for this was my first HORROR category.
