Tales Of Another Beating Heart
Chapter 12: The Miracle Worker
He'd been off gallivanting - all day.
Nellie had grown impatient after the first quarter of an hour and had expected him back rather quickly.
Her calculations had been wrong.
She hated waiting for things. Yet she knew she had to.
She'd been watching the hours tick by, the sunlight slowly descend from the window, the silence slowly dissolve as she caught the sound of his footsteps from outside their door.
Nellie shuffled about and sat up, pulling the sweat soaked covers over her, wanting to cover herself over, not feeling confident with her naked body now she was not feeling too well. She rolled over onto her stomach, cringing in pain from the strange aching creeping into her nerves. Her eyes closed when the door swung open. His footsteps echoed when the door slammed behind him.
She struggled to hear anything else after that because of the pillows and sheets muffled against her face. The next big thing she heard was a deep thump from something striking the floor - something dense and metallic.
"Wha' ya doin'?"
He smirked and took his razor from his belt.
She squirmed about like an innocent little worm when she noticed the noise of him unsheathing his razor - the swift metal scratching was so distinctive.
"Love?"
"Yes, my sweet?"
She hated this. This evil teasing was a mean thing to do anyway - but even more so when she was bloody ill.
He folded his razor and threw it onto the floor, as if it wasn't a prized object anymore. Nellie scowled...
'E's playin' with me mind... why? I never do it to 'im... '
She heard him stifle a twisted laugh.
'Somethin' is goin' on with 'im. 'E never laughs... even now... '
"Sweeney? What is goin' on?"
She heard a loud solid noise, like marbles crunching and colliding together - but not like she could imagine in her head. It was louder. A lot louder than she expected.
He laughed this time.
"Oh for god's sake! What?"
The weird marble-like noise repeated again, but it was quieter this time. Sweeney advanced towards her, biting his lip from the hilarity he was trying so very hard to conceal.
She sighed, knowing he was probably laughing at her for some twisted reason she could not understand. So she ignored him.
"I would jus' like t'remind you, Mr Todd, that I'm ill - and very grumpy." she piped up, her voice muffled and croaky. He nodded and chuckled. "Oh I know that."
Her husband had reached the side of the bed, chewing the inside of his lip, hoping that her reaction would be even more amusing.
She sighed again.
He outstretched his arms toward her, attempting to reach the part of her bare back that was on display in front of him. He bit his lip even more.
"Mr T, I've been waitin' f'ya all day and 'm'really tired now-owwwwwwww... bloody 'ell! Wot the 'ell are ya doin'?" she cried out, arching her back like a sweet and nimble pussycat.
Her eyes shot open and she tried to turn over, but obviously she couldn't because of her husband. His hands were absolutely freezing! Wherever he'd had them must have been having weather with extreme sub-zero temperatures. He sat on the side of their bed beside her body, a silly grin plastered on his mouth.
She continued to whimper from the ice cold burns rippling down her back as his hands carefully massaged down the raging skin of her spine.
"Wot are you doin'?"
He answered with a snigger.
"Sweeney." she said lowly, an annoyed twinge in her voice.
He faked coughing, pretending to not hear her complaints.
"SWEENEY TODD! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"
He laughed like a naughty school boy and resumed rubbing his deathly cold (and wet) hands down her back.
"Cooling y'down, my love."
She raised her brow.
"Please can you stop?"
"Is it not helping?"
"Not really, no."
"'Ow can you tell? I haven't been trying for long."
"I... " she paused and shivered, then chuckled lightly."... actually it is 'elpin' a bit I s'pose. And you're right. You 'aven't been trying f'long. Sorry, darlin'."
He smirked. "See. Told ya it would work. And... your last two sentences sounded... a little bit... nevermind."
She chuckled, slowly cooling to his wet, grim touch on her. He rubbed her back smoothly, taking care not to go too fast or else he would surprise her.
The actions continued for another few minutes, along with some casual sexual banter from wife to husband, and vice versa.
After that he stopped and stood, shaking his hands free of fresh water particles.
He walked away, attending to the thing he dropped on the floor. "Feelin' any better, Nell?"
She moaned as she stretched her limbs out. "Ahhhh... a bit better. Still boilin', but thank you fer tryin' love."
He smiled.
"I can try somethin' else."
"Hm? An' wot's that, dear?"
"Oh... nothin'. Wouldn't work anyway."
"No, No. You try it. I really need t'cool down, it's almost sunset and I still feel deadful awful."
"Alright." he replied.
The weird marble noise came back, only more ear crunching this time.
"Your funeral... " he muttered, smirking to himself.
"Whassat dear?" she whined, rolling onto her left side to face him.
She could see him knelt down by a large box-like object, grinning inanely.
She couldn't make anything else because her vision was blurry from the pillow she'd been resting her head on.
"Nothin' my love, you just lie down and... " he paused, thinking of a word to make it sound completely fine. "... enjoy your... treatment... "
She smiled and closed her eyes, lying back on her front to sprawl herself out, limbs hanging out from the side of the bed.
"Now you are still 'ot aren't you?" he asked, a fibre of guilt detectable in his strangely sweet voice.
"Ugh... yeah. Y'know I am."
He smirked.
"Just checking. My alternative method is a little more dangerous if you're already cooled down."
"Ha. Wot the 'ell d'ya do? Use ya feet?" she said, more full of life - more like her usual self.
He laughed, knowing that she would be surprised... or angry with him... either one.
She sighed and breathed calmly, waiting for her husband's contact on her body.
She frowned when she heard him grunt, like he was lifting something ridiculously heavy, but chose to ignore it for some silly reason.
His feet shuffled over the floor as he neared her.
She frowned and turned her head, her eyes still shut.
"Love?"
"Mmm-hmmm?"
"You alright... ?"
"Mmmm-hmm."
He smiled as he got to her bedside; he aimed the box in the exact place he'd massaged earlier...
Nellie frowned, not knowing what was going on.
"Love. Are ya... "
She opened her eyes and stared up at Sweeney, who was holding a massive vat full of something over her - probably some sort of cold liquid...
"I 'ope this 'elps Nell."
What? He wasn't seriously going to drop THAT on her was he?
"No! No! Wait! Sweeney - I thought... "
Slowly, he tipped the vat onto its side, letting clear ice-cold water (and cubes) tumble onto her sweltering back.
This would heal her...
She arched her back and screamed, shock, cold and confusion striking her body and mental health all at the same time.
Was he seriously going to do that?
Yes. He was.
