Chapter 11
Mrs. Lovett couldn't stand it anymore. She had done so much for her dear barber, and there were so many things she still did, until a few hours ago.
She risked her life by allowing him to do kill his customers in the building she owned, she looked after him even after he had offended her. She washed all the blood from his shirts and cleaned his shop again and again and again, all because of the barber's quest for vengeance. But always there had been hope for her that Sweeney Todd would once love her with the same intensity as she loved him.
The barber had offended her, but she told herself this didn't mean anything because he had been drunk when he did so. He hadn't beaten her and he hadn't cut her throat, after all.
Mrs. Lovett had always been sure that once the Judge was dead, Sweeney could forget about the past, let the things that weren't there anymore rest, and start living again. When all memories of Lucy would fade, he would fall in love with his landlady, the woman who had helped him all this time.
The baker had always had hope, but not anymore. She had had enough now. Even when he was unconscious he managed to hurt her emotionally in the most horrible way. Calling her Lucy, like he still didn't see that it wasn't his wife who he thought to be dead, but his landlady who was looking after him for so long.
Mrs. Lovett just couldn't stand it anymore. The tiredness, her aching back, the shop, the work, all the blood, the corpses…
She should be in the shop now, but because things weren't going to plan anyway, she had ordered Toby to close the shop.
Now she was lying in her bed, hot tears welling in her eyes and slowly sliding down her cheeks, creating small pools of salty water on her pillow.
Toby was outside the room, as if he was watching over her from there. The boy wanted to support her and stay with her, but Mrs. Lovett desperately wanted to be alone and had ordered him to stay outside, and keep Mr. Todd out. Not that she expected him to come down to see her; he had just proved to her again how much he 'cared' for her after all. But if Sweeney felt the need to check on her, she didn't want to see him for she felt she would snap if he clearly showed her again that he didn't share her feelings.
She told herself that she didn't care about it anymore, that she was sick of the barber and his perpetual illusions about his wife. Lucy wouldn't come back, although she was still alive. Mrs. Lovett had chosen not to tell the barber that; in the first place she didn't want to hurt the man even more: she was sure that it was worse for him if he knew that his wife was still alive but that she wouldn't even recognize her husband anymore than having to deal with the loss before he would recover. And that was the second reason Mrs. Lovett hadn't told him the truth: because she had always sincerely believed, until a few hours ago, that Mr. Todd would forget about his wife. But now, she didn't believe that anymore.
"I won't let you in," Toby suddenly shouted.
Mrs. Lovett abruptly sat up in her bed, trying to hear what was going on outside her room.
"Let me in!" the barber snarled.
It was clear that Sweeney was annoyed because the boy apparently blocked his way, but the anger in his voice was what caught Mrs. Lovett's attention most of all.
She wondered why Mr. Todd wanted to enter her room. Would he offend her more, shout at her again, work off his emotions on her yet again… or worse?
"LET ME IN!" the barber shouted, enraged.
"I won't!" Toby yelled back, trying to match the barber's anger.
It became obvious that Sweeney wasn't just angry like he usually was, but for some reason, he was very angry, and that made the man even more dangerous than usual.
Mrs. Lovett's heart skipped a beat when she suddenly remembered something. How she could've forgotten it she didn't know, but it had happened, probably because Sweeney had hurt her so deeply only minutes later. Now she regretted it intensely, but when he had been lying there unconscious, so vulnerable and almost peaceful, she just wasn't able to resist. She had kissed him, very lightly; in fact, her lips had only brushed his, but he had stirred at the contact. Not much, but she had noticed it; and only half a minute later, he had woken up.
Now she regretted this; kissing him when he was unconscious and was as drunk as her late husband usually had been wasn't nice at all, and although she was sure that he hadn't noticed it, she started to doubt it now. For if he did remember that she had intruded his personal space like the way she had, that she had invaded his privacy… the barber would show her then how demonic he could be.
"Get out of my way boy!" Sweeney shouted, even more impatient and angry than before.
Mrs. Lovett trembled with fear and tried to hide beneath the blankets on her bed as she wished she could find a way to warn Toby against the barber. That man couldn't be stopped and maybe she could prevent the innocent boy getting hurt by ordering him to go away. But she did none of these things; she was too scared to move or speak.
"I will not let you in!" little Toby shouted. "How dare you threaten her like this? She always has been so kind to you, she did everything for you, and this is the way you thank her?!"
"Don't you dare say such things, it's none of your business! And now let me go through that door, you…"
The rest of his sentence was lost in a sudden outburst of noise. A scream from Toby and the sound of something heavy falling on the floor was all the baker could hear, but it was clear enough. She clasped her hand against her mouth, suppressing a scream herself, not believing that Sweeney had actually hit Toby so hard, or maybe even…
Mrs. Lovett slowly realized that there was nothing to stop the barber from entering her room, and she tried to hit her body underneath the blankets again, now knowing what else to do in her panic.
A few seconds later there was a loud crash; Sweeney kicked the door so violently that the lock broke and there was nothing but space between him and the baker.
Mrs. Lovett couldn't see him since she was hiding in her bed and her eyes were shut tight, but she could imagine how Sweeney scanned the room with those dark eyes of his, a razor in his hand and ready to kill.
"Mrs. Lovett!" he shouted. "I know you're there, otherwise that boy wouldn't have tried to stop me."
Her own rage, caused by whatever Sweeney Todd had done to her adoptive son, was stronger than her fear and she couldn't stop herself anymore. She jumped out of her bed and faced him, just as furious now as he was.
"What's this nonsense?" he yelled before she had even the chance to open her mouth. "Since when do I have to fight before I can talk to you? Since when do you hide in your bed when I want to speak to you?"
"What did you do that poor boy?" she shouted even more powerfully than him, ignoring his questions. "He has done nothing wrong! He's innocent and you know it, and yet you…"
"He deserved it!" Sweeney yelled back. "He kept me away from you, and I just wanted to check how you're doing!"
"How I'm doing," she screamed, not believing her ears. "Well fine, since you entered my room with such a grand entree and offended me in a horrible way only hours ago!"
"What the hell are you talking about? I just looked at you when you were standing there in front of the mirror, and maybe I shouldn't have done so, but don't you think you're overreacting a little bit?"
"You bastard! How do you even dare to pretend you don't know what I'm talking about? I've done everything for you during the past few months, everything, and you never even said 'thank you'. And this is how you finally show your gratitude?"
If she hasn't been so blinded by fury, she would've seen it coming, but now she didn't.
She failed to notice how he closed the distance between them within a second. She couldn't escape, and the look in his eyes told her that she had gone too far.
He grasped her arms and slammed her roughly against the wall.
She closed her eyes, sensing this was the end.
