YAY!!!!!!!!! told ya'll i'd update soon!!!!!!!!!!!! once again: i don't own sweeney todd...if i did i most likely wouldn't be writing this fanfic..instead i'd be jumping on my bed, shouting out "YAHOO! I'M A GENIUS!"
But anyhow, here's the chapter:
Toby sat in the corner, hugging his knees, rocking back and forth as his eyes darted around the bake house. There was the prevalent odor of the dead, as well as the sight of the bodies all around him. Blood covered the floor.
The chute in the ceiling leading down from the barbershop opened and Toby screamed.
Nothing-or no one- fell down. Sweeney had just done that to scare the boy.
It took Toby to recover from the moment of shock. When he did, he fell onto his side and began to weep.
"Why, mum?" His cries rang throughout the bake house. "You promised! You promised I wouldn't 'ave to come down 'ere again! You said so in chapter three!"
For a moment, he laid where he was, sobbing like mad, until he heard the door open at the top of the stairs.
"Toby, where are you, love?" a gentle voice sang out to him. Toby couldn't believe his ears.
"Where are you 'iding?" the same voice called out in a sing-song voice. Toby's eyes shot open in anticipation.
"Mum?" he called. "Is that you, mum?" He craned his neck, looking around desperately, but Mrs. Lovett was no where to be seen. Willing his mind to stop playing tricks on him, Toby laid back down- only to discover he was lying at the feet of a woman.
With a silent gasp, he rolled onto his back to find Mrs. Lovett standing over him. Throwing his arms in the air like a little baby, he reached out for her, finding it impossible to sit up.
A small smile crept across Mrs. Lovett's face as she reached for him as well. It all went so slowly. Just as their fingertips were about to touch, Mrs. Lovett uttered a cry as she was yanked backward and fell onto her arse. Toby watched in horror as Sweeney stood over his adoptive mother as she cowered on the floor.
"You've been gone a long time, pet!" he said evenly. "You 'ave a lot of work to catch up on!" He pointed a dirty finger at the pile of bodies that had seemed to have increased in the blink of an eye.
"Y-yes M-Mr. Todd." she said meekly as she pulled herself to her feet. Sweeney let out a laugh as he pushed down into in the pile of bodies. Mrs. Lovett's dress became soaked with blood and her eyes closed in defeat. For a moment, she looked to be dead herself. That's when Toby noticed a gash across her neck that hadn't been there before. Blood began to drip down from it.
As Toby tried to go to her, he felt the barber grab him and force him on his back. Gripping his shoulders tightly, he hissed at the boy through his teeth, "Wake up! Bloody hell, wake up already!"
Johanna scrawled a note to her true lover:
He knows!
I'm going to be stuck here forever!
Help! He's going to seal my window!
She signed her name and placed a kiss on it, taking care to leave lipstick print on it. She then searched her room for something small, yet heavy to attach to the note.
Finally she spotted the golden ring with the emerald stone that the judge had given to her last Christmas. (It was most likely supposed to be a hint that he wanted her as his own wife; either way it was such a hideously crafted piece of jewelry and she'd only worn it to please him.)
Johanna tied the note to the ring with a hair ribbon and then opened her window as much as it would go…
Clink! The ring was at Anthony's feet. He hurriedly picked it up and looked over her note. His brown eyes went wide as he glanced up at her window.
Johanna glanced back at him, bearing a frightened expression. It looked the judge had won again.
"Wake up! Wake up, I say!" Sweeney shook Toby roughly out of a nightmare. The boy's eyes opened quickly to find the barber gripping his shoulders. Their faces were close- too close.
Once this was realized, Sweeney released his hold on Toby instantly. "Bloody 'ell, boy, I could 'ear you up in my shop!"
Toby stayed in his position on the ground, searching his head for an explanation. It was hard to, since that horrid dream kept replaying in his head.
"Well, boy? Are you going to speak or just sit there like the coward you are?"
Close to tears, Toby realized he was stuck. Sweeney wouldn't accept an apology, he remembered, and nothing ever got by him. So what can he say? Was it possible to say anything? "I didn't realize I fell asleep, sir, and 'ad a nig'tmare..."
"Aw, you had a nightmare! 'Ow terribly sad!"
"Surely must 'ave 'ad nightmares in your life, Mr. Todd!"
Sweeney grimaced. He understood what it was like to wake up in a pile of one's own sweat and tears. Anytime in prison, had he fallen asleep just once, he would awaken not much later in a screaming fit. Of course, no one came to his aid. No one would even yell at him to shut up. Botany Bay was one of the many prisons that practiced the belief that a man had to face himself to properly reform. In order to do that, Sweeney had never had a single word spoken to him. Not even by a guard. It was that experience that had finally broken the barber down.
But Sweeney wouldn't admit that to the small lad who sat, cowering in fright before him now. Instead, he put on a wicked face.
"The only nightmare I've ever 'ad is being stuck babysitting you, you pathetic, insubordinate, dirty, whiny, empty-'eaded urchin!"
The barber had barely been through what he was saying before Toby began crying. The boy put his face in his hands and began to weep, wishing he was dead.
Sweeney's face softened a moment as he watched Toby cry. "Oh, come on lad. Be a man. Don't cry."
As he spoke, trying to get Toby to stop crying, the boy's cries became shriller. More…girl-like…like a baby's. Before Sweeney realized it, his mind faded into a memory; one that had seemed so long lost…
He walked into his barbershop to find his loving wife Lucy with their baby daughter, Johanna on her shoulder. Johanna was crying and Lucy looked weary.
"She's been like this for 'ours!" Lucy explained to her husband. "I can't seem to figure out what it is that she needs!"
Benjamin Barker stepped forward and took Johanna into his own arms and began to bounce and rock her gently. "Shh…shh…don't cry, Johanna…it's alright." He patted her lightly on the back until they heard a small burp from their daughter's throat. The crying immediately stopped and the baby snuggled her face into her father's shoulder and went to sleep.
Lucy and Benjamin exchanged relieved glances before he sat down with his tiny daughter resting on him. Lucy stood over them, watching proudly.
The memory began to fade as Sweeney looked down at Toby. He stood up and held out a hand to him, offering to help him up. Toby shied away and continued to cry. Sweeney grimaced again before scooping the scrawny boy up.
Toby stopped crying and was shocked for a moment. Mr. Todd's touch was gentle this time. His heart began to pound, thinking the man wanted him to let down his guard so he could finish him off.
Sweeney stood in the middle of the bake house with Toby on his shoulder. It had been so long ago since he'd held someone, particularly a child, and he was surprised he could still remember how to do it properly. Taking the first brave step, he started towards the stairs.
Toby gripped on the Sweeney's shirt and bit down on his lip. This had to be a trick! The barber wouldn't just have a sudden change of heart like that!
Would he?
Sweeney carried the boy up the bake house steps and to his room. Without a word, he placed him down on his feet inside the room. He gave a signature brief nod of the head before closing the door and going back to his shop.
Toby tried to walk to his bed, but he felt so dizzy and confused that he settled for dropping to floor and lying on the rug for awhile.
it might be awhile before you see more johanna and anthony...unless im lucky to figure something out before the next chapter...
Review! Gimme feedback!!! i wanna know how i do with this!
