Mr. Todd, Do you Believe in Ghosts?
"Mr. Todd thought that death was the end of the cycle. That bloodshed ended all worries of pain…and all hope of love. But things are happening that are beginning to make him think otherwise. And now the cycle of revenge might never end."
So...This isn't a rewrite...more like a rePOST. I didn't get the reception I wanted last time, but I'm hoping for better this time! Plus this time around, it's actaully finished! And I'm very happy with it, so read on/reread on!
And now there it all was.
All her plans, all her hopes, all her dreams, and all her lies, lying open and dead on the bake house floor.
It had haunted her many times in her dreams. She had woken up screaming in the dead of night, dreading this very moment. She had hoped and prayed with all her might that the moment that she now found herself in would never come.
And now there it all was.
Mr. Todd, leaning over Lucy.
A dead Lucy. A dead Lucy that he himself had killed. And the way he saw it, it was all Mrs. Lovett's fault.
"You lied to me," He hissed, looking up at her for the first time since he had realized it all.
The look her face displayed held guilt, regret, and defense. Not that any of that mattered to him now. He waited for a second, still staring at her until she gathered up what to say.
"No, no, not lied at all, no I never lied..."
She was trying to defend herself, trying to make him see that she meant no harm, - and in her mind she didn't.
She continued to sing, but he didn't hear her words, he just kept staring down at his wife. His wife. As he sang, "Lucy, I've come home again. Lucy. Oh my god."
Little bits and pieces of what she sang in unison with him made their way to his ears.
"Better you should think she was dead…" "Cos I love you…" "Could that thing have cared for you like me..."
Excuses.
He was outraged. She actually thought these things? She had the nerve to go and tell him that this was all for the best? That she had lied about the one person he ever loved being dead. On top of it all, she truly thought that her love for him was an excuse?
Well, she'll pay for thinking such things, but first… she deserves to be lied to like I was.
Mr. Todd stood up and whirled around, scaring Mrs. Lovett who had slowly walked around so that his back was facing her.
"Mrs. Lovett, you're a bloody wonder!"
He started to walk toward her. Out of fear, she slowly crept backwards, avoiding the bloody man.
"Eminently practical and yet appropriate as always. As you've said repeatedly there's little point in dwelling on the past!"
Her mind began to race as she slowly continued to stagger backwards, completely confused at everything that was happening. It was all happening so fast. Had he really forgiven her? She couldn't be sure.
"Do you mean it? Everything I did, I swear, thought it was only for the best, believe me!"
He continued to try and coax her into an embrace - a dance.
"So come here my love! Not a thing to fear my love! What's dead, is dead!"
He had already planned it all out. His quick planning for revenge had been something that he had practiced and practiced. By now, he was an expert.
At first, she didn't seem to believe him or want to come near him, she seemed to be so unsure. Then, to his surprise she accepted his false offer for forgiveness.
"Can we still be married?"
The last comment bothered him immensely inside, but he didn't show it. He continued to go with his plan - Make the last few moments of her life a lie like she had made all of his.
"The history of the world my pet!"
Now, twirling around the dead bodies on the floor, she was sure that he had forgiven her.
The mere thought of love sent her blindly dancing around the bake house. She didn't even see the bodies anymore. She didn't even see the dark, blood splattered walls. She didn't even see the flame off the bake oven, wide open and hungry... All she saw was the barber dancing with her, his arms slung around her, his grip tightening around her waste, his eyes looking deeper and deeper into hers.
She was in love. Stupidly in love. Madly in love. Blindly in love.
"Oh, Mr. Todd. Oh, Mr. Todd, leave it to me!"
A huge smile was splayed on her face. It just made Sweeney's heart race faster- she was falling for it, and falling hard.
"Is learn forgiveness and try to forget!"
Her mind raced. Her nightmares would never come true! Everything was alright! In her inability to see behind the demons eyes, in her pure bliss, she sang along with him. She reminded him, as if daring him to agree, of her dream.
"By the sea Mr. Todd we'll be comfy cozy! By the sea Mr. Todd where's there's no one nosey!"
He wanted so badly to hear her scream, hear her suffer. He wanted her to see everything around her slowly burn away to ash, just like he had. He wanted his revenge. Nothing could stop him now. Nothing ever could.
He continued.
"And life is for the alive my dear!"
There he was, reciting the very words that she had repeated to him so many times.
"So let's keep living it!"
He's finally connected all of it! It finally all made sense to him! He wants to live a life with her! She spoke the words with him, loving how naturally their voices seemed to flow together and echo in the bake house.
"Just keep living it! Really living it!"
The next thing she knew, her feet were off the ground. For an instant, she thought that perhaps she was flying. In that naïve moment, she thought that she was literally flying over somewhere with Mr. Todd.
But then she felt the heat to her back, and she remembered where they were.
She saw a flash, it was just a flash, but she did see it. Sweeney Todd's face went from reassurance and forgiveness to black, utter hatred.
And the next thing she knew she was engulfed in flames. The smoke from the fire wrapped around her body and snaked down her throat. And she tried to cough, but her throat was already occupied by screams that she hadn't even realized she was blaring.
She couldn't even feel the pain of the flames as they licked and ate away at her flesh and she couldn't even hear her body as it slowly crackled away to nothing but ashes.
But, suddenly she realized, she couldn't feel these things, not because she was dying. Not because the flames had deteriorated all her senses, but simply because these things were not happening… The flames had ceased. Now her charred clothes and ash covered body was simply laying on top of the fires remains and the metal rack used to hold the pies.
There were no flames, no blaze left to engulf her, nothing to be heard but the bakers still beating heartbeat and heavy breathing. Suddenly she realized her eyes and throat burning. Nellie stifled several coughs as the dead fire's smoke tickled the back of her throat. She lunged for a way out of the bake oven. Twould be a pity to escape the flame of the fire only to have the breath choked out of her from the blaze's aftermath. All that her hands found was the metal bars of the small opening at the bottom of the bake oven. Mr. Todd had closed the oven's door shut. Closed and locked it, as if he had known that she would somehow escape the flames of the fire.
Nellie wrapped her fingers around the small rods and pulled her face toward fresher air. Finally, she could breath the semi-clean air of the bake house. As the cool air entered her lungs, she could open her eyes again.
She could make out Mr. Todd, back leaning over his dead wife again. Nellie's heart broke at the site of the love that was radiating off of him even as the one it was directed to was lying, dead, and bloody, and disgusting from living on the streets for so long. But Mrs. Lovett's heat sunk even deeper when she realized that she had no way out of the oven, and Mr. Todd was even too engulfed in singing to his dead wife to notice that the fire had died and she was still alive.
Soon, Mrs. Lovett could make out something dark emerging from the shadows of the bake house.
She silently gasped.
Toby.
Toby looked demon-like himself now, shadows now searing off of his skin instead of the bright energy he usually had. He crept over to where Mr. Todd was, hatred carved into his features. Mrs. Lovett continued to silently watch as he picked up the dropped barber knife and stood with the strength the blade gave him.
And Nellie tried to scream for the boy to stop but the smoke dried her throat so words couldn't even be conjured out. She swallowed, desperate to get moisture back between her lips. But it was too late, the razor sliced across the barbers throat, leaving a thin line of red in it's path.
Nellie's heart sank.
He might have tried to kill her and he might hate her beyond everything, but she still loved him. Despite anything, she always would. And now he was dead.
And Toby was leaving up the stairs. And there was no one to save her.
But instead of the slam and latch of the bake house door, the next thing that echoed through the room was a shrill cry. And a deep thunk.
And the next thing Mrs. Lovett realized was Sweeney's head snap in the direction of the sound.
The baker drew in a quick breath. He wasn't dead. Oh she couldn't be happier! But he certainty could be. The barber stood up briskly and angrily and wiped the small amount of blood that trickled down his front with the back of his hand. "Little bugger didn't cut deep enough…" He muttered in his gruff voice. And with that Sweeney was storming toward the door. He stopped suddenly in the bake house's threshold and looked down, "Serves him right," was all he muttered to himself.
Nellie's heart sank and her dry body found a way to produce tears as she realized- the screams were Toby's. He must have fallen down the stairs. He must be there now. His silent and limp body lying there, and all Mr. Todd did was step over his tiny corpse.
"TOBY!" Mrs. Lovett was finally able to shout in desperation. For she might have locked him down there, and she might have searched for him with a barber knife at hand, but she loved the boy. And regret washed over her now. A horrible feeling of utter remorse.
Nellie observed as Sweeney's head snapped back toward the bake oven, his eyes immediately meeting with the baker's, who was still trapped and gasping for air in the bake oven, fingers curled around the burning hot metal rods.
His eyes burned into her. Printing a capturing gaze that was like a bullet to her forehead.
And with that one second of fatal eye contact, the demon walked back upstairs.
And now the baker was left alone.
Simply alone to rot in the bake oven that was meant to kill her in the first place. That bloody thing was going to get her one way or another.
But suddenly, a small voice bounced off the walls. "Mum?"
Life flushed back through her veins as Nellie heard the voice of her son, alive.
"Love! Are you alright?"
"I fell down the stairs, mum. But I'm alright now," the boy said, sticking his head around the bake house door. He gasped when he saw Mrs. Lovett still lying in the bottom of the bake oven.
"Oh, Toby…" Mrs. Lovett stopped as several coughs racked her body, the speaking finally getting to her dry chest and throat. It wasn't seconds later until the boy was over, opening the door and letting his mum fall out of the oven. She spilled onto the pleasantly cold floor like a captured animal desperate for freedom.
Mrs. Lovett's body shook as she hit the solid ground. Her stomach turned, and for a moment she thought she was going to faint, but somehow she managed to stay conscious.
"What's happened?" He asked franticly bending down to hug Mrs. Lovett. She sat up on the floor and hugged him back. Thinking a horribly sarcastic, what does it look likes happened? Before actually answering his question.
"Mr. T…" She struggled to talk. "He… he… tossed me into the bake oven." Saying the words hurt her. Physically because her mouth and throat were as dry as could be and emotionally because saying it aloud seemed to confirm that it was indeed true.
"Are you alright?" She asked him, noticing the tears on his cheeks.
"My heads a little sore but I'm alright. And you?"
Mrs. Lovett had been scared before, but now she couldn't help it. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks, matching Toby's.
"Could be better," she whispered, a small smile playing lightly on her lips as she tried to lighten the mood a bit.
"Can you stand?" Toby asked, eagerly trying to get his mum on her feet. Mrs. Lovett struggled for a second as she realized how hard she really had hit the oven and then the floor. She somehow managed to get up despite the fact that her back ached where she's sure a bruise would soon be developing.
"Yes, yes. Thanks deary," she mumbled, getting to her feet. She looked herself over now. Her clothes were charred, her hair was still hot to the touch, but her skin had failed to be scarred in anyway. Strange, she couldn't help but think.
That close! She had come that close to being yet another one of Sweeney Todd's victims. One to just disappear off the face of the earth. The thought sent shivers down her back and brought more tears to her eyes.
"What now?" Toby asked in an innocent voice trying to capture his mum's distant gaze. She looked down at him as if he were foreign. Her mind was so far away that she hardly remembered that the young boy was still in the room.
"What?" She whispered, slowly struggling to regain control of reality, though it seemed to keep slipping...
"What are we to do now? I fear going back up there, anywhere near that man. If we go back up there, he'll eventually find out we're alive. He tried to kill you once," Toby said painfully bluntly, "I don't think anything would stop him from trying again…" Toby voiced the words that were running through both their minds.
Mrs. Lovett nodded, but her mind drifted. "But we have to..."
"Mum, you don't still trust him, do you?" Toby asked, almost half sarcastically. He didn't mean it like that, but it's how it came out; that's just how absurd it seemed to him. But when he saw the look on his mum's face, he took it back. She looked like she was actually considering going back up to his shop. She looked like she was just going to walk upstairs and continue life as usual. Toby had sensed she had liked Mr. Todd - maybe even loved. But not any kind of love and forgives could forgive this. Even if Toby hadn't seen Mrs. Lovett get tossed in the oven, he did see the other victims on the floor of the bake house and the blood that streaked Mr. Todd.
"I'm not sure," Mrs. Lovett said as she grasped Toby's hand and started to lead him upstairs, where the demon barber was waiting.