THE FOLLOWING STORY IS A BONUS CHAPTER FOR A FANFICTION I WROTE INTITLED "SWEENEY TODD MEETS A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS"
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE ORIGINAL FANFICTION I SUGGEST THAT YOU GO TO MY PROFILE AND SEARCH FOR THE STORY THERE
THIS CHAPTER IS JUST SOMETHING I WROTE APART FROM THE ORIGINAL STORY (HAVE YA HEARD OF "OVA EPISODES" IN ANIME SERIES? IT'S THE SAME THING…)
YOU DON'T NEED TO READ THIS, BECAUSE IT'S NOT OF MUCH RELEVANCE TO THE ORIGINAL FANFICTION (ALTHOUGH IT HAS ONE OR TWO CLUES ABOUT WHAT COULD HAPPEN IN FOLLOWING CHAPTERS)
ANYWAYS I HOPE YOU ENJOY THIS IF YOU'RE GOING TO READ IT ANYWAYS, AND IF YOU DECIDE TO GO CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL FANFICTION I WARN YOU THAT YOU'RE NEVER GOING TO LOOK AT "ST" AND" ASoUE" THE SAME WAY AGAIN ;P
CHEERS
Our world is crazier …
So crazier that even madness itself looks like a person with a perfectly acceptable mental sanity. Or in the case of this world of ours, a mental sanity perfectly unacceptable, now that total madness is imposing itself like a new ideology.
But of course there are still some people clever enough not to follow that ideology. Kind people who show consideration and respect for those around them.
Due to very unfortunate motives, those weren't the characteristics of the guardian of poor Johanna.
Let us be honest…
Which of the marriages sounds worst to you? Count Olaf with Violet Baudelaire? Or the famous Judge Turpin with the poor and fragile Johanna Barker?
Well, we can find two things in common : First those weddings were between guardians and wards; Second is that both weren't marriages made as an act of love.
Now, the main difference is in the motive for which these marriages were made.
On the first case, we all know quite well that the evil Count Olaf made poor Violet Baudelaire to marry him so he could have access to the fortune that belonged to her and her siblings.
On the second case, however, Judge Turpin, being a man without a heart(worst than Count Olaf, that I can't quite tell) married Johanna to get her away from the one she loves. And the poor creature couldn't do anything or say anything on the matter.
All because she was a woman
For Turpin women were meant to be seen, not heard.
Now that I look back in History, I notice something peculiar that hasn't changed much even with the passing of ages: Men always wining all the glory, as much as they could earn… But as for women…
Any woman who dared to affirm herself was immediately called a tramp
Why are women considered as invalid people?
So thought Johanna as she peeked anxiously through the little space left in her window, looking for he whom she called her prince charming. Her guardian had blocked her window with bars so that they couldn't even switch a single gaze.
At that moment she was anxious for what was about to happen. The words of her guardian still echoed fresh in her mind
"Johanna, my dear, I , as your owner, will marry you…"
Needless to say she was shocked, but like all women at that time she was raised with the typical phrase of "Listening and shutting up".
The dark night hollowed London. So serene… So peaceful…
As she longed for the freedom for which she usually longed, in came the Beadle all polite in her room.
"Am I interrupting anything?" he asked as he looked at her watching anxiously through the window
She turned to him automatically.
"No, No" she said in a shy way
"Good…" he said smiling evilly "Judge Turpin is waiting for you… in his bedroom…"
Johanna went, scared of what could happen, without making any more questions.
When she came in the room of her guardian, the Beadle closed the door and locked it.
The room was barely illuminated.
"Come closer…" demanded Judge Turpin's voice
Johanna came closer to the bed of her guardian. There he was, with his face barely illuminated and an evil smile on his lips.
"Time for our wedding night…" he said evilly
"Bu-But…" said Johanna trying to escape in a futile way "But isn't wedding night after the wedding?!"
"Oh, yes… But why wait that long?" he asked solemnly
He constantly looked at her nightdress.
"Take it of…"
She didn't move.
"I said take it off!" he repeated more demandingly
Johanna scared herself, but then she undressed herself silently.
She felt ordinary. Her naked body was shaking of cold , fear and repulse. She didn't want any of that, she almost preferred to die than doing that. But she kept still with her face low.
Turpin sat in the bed and extended his arms.
"Come here…"
She proceeded very slowly, almost lumping. He made her lay on the bed and he placed herself on her.
"I'm going to enjoy this so much…" he said starting to undress his pants
What followed…
I might have managed to write about the Baudelaire's unfortunate facts, some heavier than others.
But I can't in anyways report what happened to poor Johanna. But I can tell you that Turpin was comparable to a kid who tears a bug's wings apart.
And in the case of poor little Johanna…
She felt like a flower dying, like a snail being stepped on… Or like women were considered at that time: invalid
Later she felt his bare body practically glued to hers. She couldn't see anything, only dark, a dark darker than the dark of the night.
"You'll be a splendid wife, my dear… Tomorrow you'll be mine…forever…"
And she stood awake throughout the night as she watched the January snow falling silently from the one window in that bedroom.
"I now pronounce you man and wife…"
Johanna woke up scared. Ever since the priest had finished saying those words that usually says for people who marry by church, her life had became a nightmare. Every day she wandered alone through the house. He cage seemed to be closing all around her with the passing of the days. And at night it was terrifying for her when he came home and made her satisfy all his sexual requests.
Her only comfort was her maid Elyon. She had almost the same age as her, and she was the only form of kindness she had tried on that house.
"Oh Miss Johanna, you can't imagine how I'm feeling for you right now…" she said as Johanna cried in her shoulder once again.
"No! No you don't!" wept Johanna "Not even Anthony managed to rescue me! I never saw him ever again!"
Elyon whispered to Johanna's ear.
"You could run away!"
Johanna creped herself.
"I'm scared…"
"You're not going to be happy here! Time to run away and try a new beginning!"
Johanna felt terrified with the two choices she had to do. If she ran, dangers would peek around every corner. If she stayed it wouldn't solve anything. And alas she decided that had wasted too much time of her life in that house.
"I'll take that chance…" she whispered to Elyon
"I'll help you…" said Elyon embracing Johanna "Like I always did…"
Then she got her some clothes from her own, old and a little ash to spread in her face.
Now, I decided to investigate more about that valiant maid.
Elyon Jackson had at the time 17 years, she lived with her parents and her four little brothers in a rotting house. Her father couldn't move from the bed ever since an accident and her mother took care of him and her brothers and sisters. The only reason why they weren't living in the streets was because Elyon had the prestige of working at the house of someone as rich as Judge Turpin. Under many pressure, Elyon was considered as the pillar of the family. Even though sometimes she was a victim of domestic violence from her mother, she was kind-hearted, and wanted everybody to be happy. That was the reason why she was so connected with Johanna. The relation between them was not the typical "Boss-Maid" relation, but a relation of share. The two of them wanted a change in their lives and that was what made them close
It was getting dark, the sky was with a crimson-red ton, and some darkness was already noticed in London.
"Take this!" said Elyon giving Johanna 20 pounds
"Elyon, no!" said Johanna trying to return the money "It's you payment, and you're giving it to me!"
"You need it more than I do!" said Elyon "Now listen to me: go as far away from here as you can, do you understand?! Hyde Park should be a good option, but be careful with the beggars they have the tendency to seal more at night!"
"Right!" said Johanna already fearing the decision she made
"I wish I could go with you, I really do!" said Elyon squeezing her hands like giving her confidence "Please, take care of yourself!"
Johanna nodded.
"Go! GO!" said Elyon
And Johanna went through the night, not knowing exactly where Hyde Park was. The way she was raised wasn't the best for her to manage to orientate herself though London.
She ended up in what looked like a restaurant. "Mrs Lovett's meat pie shop" it said above.
She looked at the 20 pounds in her hands.
"I wonder if this is enough to eat something!"
But precisely when she was going to enter, a little boy blocked her entry.
"I'm sorry, I can't let you in!" he said humbly
"Why?!" she asked sadly
"Just following orders! I'm sorry but I can't let any beggars in!"
"But I have money, look!" she said showing him the 20 pounds
"And you're certainly be begging for more inside!" said the boy suspiciously "I really can't let you in!"
"What's the matter here Toby?!" asked another boy coming from the inside of the shop
"Just some old beggar Klaus! Nothing serious…"
"I'm not a beggar!" exclaimed Johanna
"Toby, she's not that crazy old woman who thinks Fleet Street is haunted!" tried Klaus to convince Toby
"But Mrs L asked me not to let any people with suspicious looks in! I'm really, really sorry miss, but I just can't!" said Toby firmly but somehow also remorseful
Johanna contained her tears and she stepped away and sat at a dark corner of the shop. Then she cried.
She almost wished not having taken the decision she had took of running away. She almost preferred being abused to being rejected.
The snow fell silently around her.
She woke up on the next morning with somebody shaking her softly. The floor was all covered in snow, yet Elyon's clothes, although old, were quite warm.
"Hey, wake up…"
Johanna looked up. It was Klaus.