A/N: I don't own Sweeney Todd. Yep...
Salvation
Chapter Four
He'd taken her husband away from her. He'd taken away the love of her life. He'd taken away her daughter's father, and violated her. He even had the audacity to come to her residence every morning with flowers in his hands. The nerve! No amount of money or petty plants can ever replace her husband—did he not understand that? The nerve of that man!
It was the fourth time this week. It was the fourth time he'd tried to have his way with her again after that incident at his manor. She had enough. She couldn't take it anymore.
"Lucy, please! Think of your daughter," cried the young red-haired widower who lived downstairs – the landlady.
"Lucy, stop being so foolish!" berated the woman as she snatched away the bottle from her hand, all the while holding Johanna with her other arm.
Who was she to tell her what to do? She was just the landlady, nothing more! She had no right to tell her what to think, or what to do with her life. If she wanted to end it, she will! Besides—she lost her husband too. She should know how it feels to lose a loved-one. Instead of scolding her, she should be more sympathetic. The nerve of that woman!
"Give it back to me, Eleanor. Please—I need it!"
"You do not! Stop this behavior now, Lucy," the woman persisted, her voice stern.
Really, the nerve of this daft woman! Does she not understand how much pain she was going through? All she wanted was to end everything. How bad can that be?
"Lucy, please. Johanna needs you," she said with a softer voice this time as she knelt down to her level.
"I can't take it anymore, Eleanor," she replied, burying her face in her hands.
"I know, love. I know. But you have to be strong. Johanna needs you," she reiterated, a hand placed on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.
"You've lost someone before, haven't you? When Albert died, didn't you feel miserable?"
"Of course I did," she replied, "but I had to move on with my life. Even though we never really loved each other, we still liked each other—as friends, that is. Of course I felt miserable when he left, but life is for the alive, dear. There's no use in dwelling on the past now, is there?"
"You're right," she said with a small smile through her tears.
The young landlady smiled.
"Now dear, I've customers to attend to downstairs. I'll be back in an hour to bring you lunch up here. How does that sound?"
"Thank you."
"It's nothing, dear."
As soon as the baker was out of sight she once again reached for the arsenic. There was no way she would allow someone like her to tell her what to do; she hadn't any right to do so.
"Goodbye, my dear Johanna," she told her little daughter as she planted a kiss on her forehead before placing her in her crib. "Be good to Mrs. Lovett, okay?"
The last thing she heard was the crashing of the bottle against the wooden floor. After that, everything around her seemed to have faded away into darkness.
I pray that I see you soon, my Benjamin...
...To be continued...