A dark gray haze began to engulf the beginning morning on Fleet Street. For, in this part of London, where many have lived during this time, Fleet Street was the home of the very mysterious and good looking barber – Sweeney Todd. Now, his name wasn't always Sweeney. No, not Sweeney indeed, but Benjamin…Benjamin Barker. But, because of his sudden return to London – after escaping from federal jail – he had no choice other than to change his name.
Time had pushed his way onto Sweeney, for he wasn't the dashing young husband, but the dark and mysterious unknown widower. Reopening his old shop once again also opened new doors for the new to come. Depressed on what he had heard about his wife, Lucy, he had sought revenge on Judge Turpin for creating such a pain for his heart. Yet, this revenge drove his so far as to not see the love that the meat-pie shop owner, Mrs. Lovett, had always had for him.
Our story begins on this very cursed street, on this very dark and damp day, and in this very barber shop. Gray and brown hues are the colors of this keenly small building; and inside, we can meet out very famous: Mr. Sweeney Todd…
Blood splattered on the window pane as Todd slits the throat of an irrigator, coming in for a simple trimming of his long beard that his wife had forced him to go into town to get. Now, Mr. Todd only kills those who have wicked souls and hearts, so, this killing did have a purpose…but that's not the point of the story.
"Mrs. Lovett!" Sweeney called to her from the shop. "Mrs. Lovett?" he called again, used to seeing her run in like the devil himself was after her.
Standing behind the irrigator with his razor in his right opened palm, covered in crimson, and his left hand out as well, covered in crimson. Not knowing what Mrs. Lovett wants to do exactly with an irrigator, he just stood there, looking around the room with hands up and out in the air and wearing his blood cover apron.
As he began to shift his weight back and forth from the balls of his feet to the tips of his toes, almost to keep himself occupied while he waited; then a large bang came from downstairs. Slamming his feet down on the roach infested floors, Sweeney stopped his recent enjoyment.
Hearing immediate footsteps move up the winding stair case from the basement, Sweeney stared into the mirror, admiring the work he had just done.
The shop's door flew open and there stood a rushed Mrs. Eleanor Lovett in her usual dirty cream dress, wearing huge black cooking mitts.
"You called, Mr. Todd?" she asked, regaining her breath.
"Yes," he answered, staring at her in the mirror. He then turned around, his arms still in the air, and looked eye to eye with her. "Your…" he begins, then looked back at the dead body, then back at Eleanor and continued, "Irrigator…"
Mrs. Lovett smiled weakly at him and walked towards her new supplies for the parlor. Poking the limb head of the now recently deceased irrigator, Eleanor pushed the chair around so the body was now facing the door.
"Alright, help me bring him down to the cellar, love," she said to Todd. He stood there a minute, staring at her, but moments later he rushed to the mirror connected counter and placed down his apron and wiped his hands off on the hidden blood rag in the Victorian style bottom right hand drawer. After doing this, he quickly walked back to Mrs. Lovett to assist her. First, though, he looked down at her, puzzled. She was trying so hard to drag this long corpse all on her own over to the door.
Struggling with the supplies, she eventually stopped, stood up, placed her hands on her hips, and sighed. She looked up at Sweeney and saw his frozen expression, still focused on her. Eleanor blushed, realizing he was staring at her for a good amount of time. Sweeney then snapped back into reality when Mrs. Lovett turned her cheek to hide her own personal expression. Shaking out of his daze, his eyes went wide, as if he just realized there's a dead body on the floor of his shop. Dropping down to the ground and grabbing the corpse's arms, trying to pick him up. Lovett did the same, and grabbed the legs of the irrigator.
"On three now…" she told him. He nodded his head, and they started towards the open door to the stairway. It was a rather long stairway, a very damp and squeaky stairway in fact. Soon, though, that'll all change with the sudden income of money the Meat Pie Parlor was bringing in. Now, all they have to do is find the time and the right person to repair it. Not someone who will go running to the police talking about the sudden disappearance he saw when an evil soul enters Todd's shop. But, where would they find someone like that?
Half way down the stairs now, Mrs. Lovett walking backwards while Todd was hunched over, walking forwards, almost ready to fall. Then, the parlor's door bell rung; the two stopped in their tracks on the steps. Luckily, Mrs. Lovett could see who it was very briefly through the window next to the stairs.
"Mum? Where are you?" a voice called out.
"Mrs. Lovett looked up at Sweeney and her eyes grew with fear. Sweeney looked straight in her eyes and also grew with shock and fear.
"Um…" Mrs. Lovett began, then dropping her end of the body, almost sending Todd plummeting through the old stairwell itself!
"Here, darling! Aren't you supposed to be in school, Toby?" Eleanor asked, throwing on a smile and trying not to act suspicious.
Toby pointed to the clock in the right hand corner and answered, "I got out an hour ago. You were to come walk me home,"
Eleanor stood there silent, her hands folded and her crooked smile stuck to her face…staring down at Toby. "Well, I'm so sorry dear. I was in the middle of cooking a few pies for the parlor."
"I understand, mum. It was a beautiful day to walk, so your forgetting was not in vain!" Toby said to her with a huge smile on his face.
Todd, still trying to keep the body out of sight on his own, began to sweat down his face. Picking up his left foot to bring the body more out of sight, he was careful not to slip. Unfortunately, when he attempted to bring his right foot up, the wood was too weak and the stair gave into his foot, grabbing it and pulling it in. His foot caved with a loud crack and an under-the-breath curse from Todd.
A certain silence filled the room and no one moved. Nellie's eyes were stunned wide, Todd mouth the word 'shit' and stared forward. Toby, on the other hand, glanced over towards the window to where the outdoor stairs were to the shop.
Lovett quickly caught onto Toby's actions. She grabbed his shoulders and spun his body around toward her before his eyes could see the body.
"Those nasty rats!" she said, covering up for the crash. "Would you be a dear and grab the broom out of the closet and sweep the cockroaches out of Mr. Todd's shop. Those rats always fight over them. That's why you hear banging." She pushed Toby's shoulders over towards the closet and gave him a good push. She glanced over her right shoulder then, and glared at Todd.
Todd somewhat shrugged as if to say, "Well, what do you expect me to do?" or, "I'm kind of in the middle of a situation myself, if you haven't noticed!" Nonetheless, Todd dropped the body down the stairs, coming to an abrupt halt or… bumps, if you would prefer. He then reached over to his foot and pulled it out of the recently created hole. Todd, glancing back in the window, waved Lovett's attention. Nellie came running towards the window, quietly opened it, and listened.
"You need to stall Toby, just long enough so I can get him down to the cellar." He told her, pointing towards the hidden body at the end of the stairs with his eyes.
"I'll try my best. You must be quiet though. Toby might hear you…" she began.
"Just go…GO!" Todd whispered.
Nellie nodded and ran back towards Toby at the closet.
"I've got the broom, mum," Toby said, finally pulling the broom out from behind a molding bucket that stuck to it.
"Oh, good! But, I'm afraid…" Nellie began, looking briefly over her shoulder at Todd. "You're going to need more than that." She told him, reaching down towards the bucket.
"But, mum…" Toby began, but was interrupted from Lovett throwing the bucket in his arms; then a sponge the size of a head, a large bar of old soap, a decent size scrub brush, and a mop. With all the cleaning supplies piling up one at a time, Toby soon could hardly see an inch in front of him; almost as if the supplies were eating away at his eye sight.
Turning Toby around and giving him another good push. Todd stopped in front of the cellar door just as Lovett pushed him. Trying to be as invisible as possible, Todd stood completely still, but glared at Nellie as if to say, "Remember, I still have a body here you know!" of, "I need more stall time!"
After looking over a Sweeney, she quickly ran towards Toby and blocked his right eye's peripheral vision.
"Let me help guide you dear," Lovett told him with a weak smile on her face.
"Thanks mum!" Toby said, after a slight pause between the two of them. As they both moved towards the door, Todd dropped half the body to the ground and swung open the cellar doors, yet was careful not to gain the attention of Toby. Todd dropped the rest of the body and ran quietly down the gray stone stairs and opened the heavy metal door to the furnace room.
Lovett came running down the side stairs back to the parlor and started dragging the body to the steps. Todd looked up and nodded, and Nellie ten shoved the body down the steps and in began to avalanche towards the door. The corpse came to a halt as its feet hit the dent of the door where it meets the floor. Todd ran over from inside the furnace room and grabbed the feet and dragged it in, making its head jump as it hit the hinge.
After throwing the body towards the furnace, Todd ran up the stone steps to Nellie and sighed. They both stood there a minute, until Todd looked towards a chair and sat down.
"All that trouble," Mrs. Lovett commented. Todd just glared down at the brown tile. "Why couldn't you have just thrown the bloody man down the chute?" Nellie asked leaning against the island.
Todd didn't look up at her and didn't respond as quickly as Lovett hoped. But, when he did, his eyes met hers and answered, "The door's broken."
Nellie stared at Todd and sighed, "All that trouble for…"
"MUM!" Toby called down from the shop.
Lovett and Todd made quick eye contact and Lovett ran towards the door. Todd quickly shot up from the chair and followed behind her.
Toby ran down the stairs to Nellie and Todd, yelling, "Mum! There's someone here!" Todd and Lovett looked at each other and Lovett flew up the stairs, while Todd brought Toby into the parlor.
Lovett met the shop door at the top of the stairs, but stopped and began to hear voices: "Well…this isn't a pie shop!" a deep annoyed, older woman said, "Where is the owner of that parlor?"
"Um…" a smaller voice came, "You shouldn't be taking…" then came a loud smack; as if a belt had hit a baby's rump for doing something bad. A huge bang came after the smack like a ton of bricks. Right then, Mrs. Lovett opened the door and flew in.
There stood a tall, thin looking woman with bold purple eye shadow on. She wore a tight dark blue-violet dress with pure white lace at the trim of each opening to her wrinkled skin.
Then on the ground, a small and fragile girl with dark auburn hair falling over her face lied. The girl was probably no more than thirteen years old. Lovett stared at the scrawny little thing as she began to stand up, arms shaking with weakness.
The woman cleared her throat. Lovett snapped back to reality and threw on a smile for, what seemed, as the mother. "Oh, well, hallo there. What could I do for you?" she asked, rubbing her hands off onto her cooking dress.
The old, make-up covered, wrinkled woman grabbed the child and pulled her in front of Lovett. "This, here, is my daughter. She's here to be an apprentice in your meat-pie making business." Lovett stared down at the child and met the girl's warm hazel eyes that were rather sunken with dark circles to sit in. "We are hoping that you are able to take in another apprentice," the mother asked digging her hails into the girl's shoulders. Her shoulders twitched and shifted from the pain.
"Oh! Of course! We always have room for one more in this…" Lovett began but was interrupted by a creek from the stairs. It was Todd. He walked up and into the room and stood next to Nellie, staring at the woman. "…shop." Nellie finished, hoping to say something other than that for an answer.
"Good!" the woman responded, pushing the small girl towards Lovett. "Maybe you can teach her a thing or two about life!" Todd glared at the woman as she began to walk around the three of them and out the door. As she began to talk down the stairs, Todd sighed and walked over to his barber's chair and sat down; hand over his face.
Lovett follows him with her eyes and also sighed. She glanced down at the girl and placed her hand on her head. The girl then flinched at the sight of Nellie's hand, but soon relaxed to know that Nellie was pushing her hair out of her face. She began to tear up and threw her scrawny twig arms around Lovett's waist and began to cry into her dress. Shocked at the situation, Mrs. Lovett relaxes as well and pet the small girl's hair and embraced her.