Chapter 12

Seville was stood rigid with shock. Sweeney was staring straight back at him, hostility in his eyes. His grip on the razor was tighter than ever. Then his dark eyes broke lock on my brother, and rested upon me. Seville followed his gaze.

"Valerie!" He rushed to me and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me up. He looked furious."What the hell are you doing here?"

My mouth was gaped open, but no words were coming out.

Seville shook his head angrily, then turned to look back at Sweeney. His voice was shaky with fright. "I'll give you credit, psycho. Thanks for not tearing my sister up!"

Sweeney took a threatening step forward, unsheathing his razor that was still held at his side. "You'd better just get out before I make do with that." He growled.

"Gladly." Seville turned away, dragging me with him.

Only when he slammed the door behind us did I find my voice. "How could you talk to him like that?"

"What?" Seville turned a wild glare on me. "What kind of freaky spell did he put on you?" He began looking me over. "Did he hurt you in any way?"

"No!" I thrust myself away from him. "Why would you think that?"

"Seville, did yeh find 'er?" Grandma came hurrying out from the shop, her eyes round at the sight of us on the stairs. "You both," Her voice immediately switched from frantic to stern. "Come down 'ere this instant!"

Seville started heading down, and I reluctantly followed.

"What were yeh doin' up there, Valerie?" She stammered.

They stared at me, and I ducked my head under their intense gazes.

When I spoke, however, I forced my voice to sound firm. "Sweeney didn't care that I was there, Grandma."

"Sweeney?" She demanded. "'Ow do yeh know 'is name? Did you tell 'er, Seville?"

"No, no! Of course not!" He yelped.

"I met him," I told her steadily. "And he talked to me." Irritation made its way into my voice as I added, "It was a very civilized conversation, in my opinion..."

"You don' know nothin' 'bout 'im." Grandma whispered. "An' I promised your parents I'd spare yeh the trauma of ever findin' out."

"I'm old enough." I insisted. "You don't have to keep secrets from me like I'm some kid. In case you haven't noticed, I've aged from four. Quite obviously, you can't fool me with the rat gag anymore."

"You ain't old enough for this." Grandma muttered.

"Well, what? Was the plan to just keep it - him - from me forever?"

"How well do you even know him?" Seville sneered. "It's only been three days, and you act like you've known him for years."

"I found out enough to know he's misunderstood. Perhaps a bit messed up in the head, but not murderous."

Grandma simply shook her head. "I know the facts, dear. Maybe you will one day. To be honest, I wanted this a while ago. But your father, an' especially your mother, wouldn' allow it. An' as long as your father keeps it so, I won' permit yeh to-"

"Won't permit me?" I cut her off, though I really didn't know what to say after that. So I didn't wait for an answer and stomped on inside. It was my turn to walk into the parlor in a huff, anyway.

I ended up sitting on the bench of the old, dusty piano that was propped against the wall, resting my head into the palms of my hands. I'm not sure when it started up again, but I found myself listening to the pacing from above once more. Something was agitating him...

"Valerie?" Grandma's voice came from the threshold.

I looked up, but as soon as I caught sight of her, I forced my head back down. "What?"

"You all righ', love?" She came over in quiet strides to sit beside me.

"As I'll ever be." I muttered.

She sighed and, once she was finally sat, rested her chin into her hand in a dull manner. "...'E's a fascinatin' one, that Mr. T. Ain't 'e?"

I stole another glance at her, already confused as to what she was getting at. "Yeah. He is, sorta."

"Yeh know...'e don' express fondness the same way you an' I would." Grandma placed her free hand on my leg. "But... that man is dedicated. I'll tell yeh that much."

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"Seville isn't completely righ', Valerie. Yeh know that, don' yeh?"

"I figured."

"Oh, but yeh don' understand." Grandma took her hand away and lifted her head to stare at the ceiling. I followed her gaze. "You can go up there, Valerie, an' no 'arm whatsoever will come to yeh. Ever."

"What's Seville's problem, then?" I demanded. "You told him that. Didn't you?"

"It's not a matter o' that to 'im." She explained patiently. "Mr. T...'e..'as a mad temper, I s'pose you could say. But I wouldn' worry 'bout 'im," She offered a playful smile. "If 'e damages you in any way, I'll maim 'im faster than your parents ever could."

I smiled weakly at her effort, though something else was bothering me. "He... he has those razors though. They're his, aren't they?"

"Oh, yes. Indeed they are." She nodded. "And 'e'd go as far as 'urtin' those who state otherwise."

"So he has hurt others before, then?"

Just as my mood was starting to lift, her's seemed to just be spiraling downward after those words were spoken.

Grandma frowned. "We... we can only guess, love." She came to stand again, shaking her head ruefully. "I jus' wasn' there at the time."

I stood up just next to her. "Can I go back upstairs, then? I just think he's suffering from no human contact. Does he ever come down?"

She looked at me steadily, the smallest hint of an amused smile on her face. "No, 'e never comes down. You may go back up to visit 'im tomorrow, if you like. I think..." She took a swift look at the ceiling for a second time, then back to me. "...I think 'e wants to be left alone for now, dear."

It was a bit later. Seville and I were sitting in the parlor, refusing to speak to one another. I listened, pretending to be interested, to the sound of Grandma baking brownies in the kitchen. I was trying to work out her purpose. She loved making us happy, I knew. Ever since we were little.

But tonight, it felt more like a distraction.

A bad one.

"What do you think her reason is?" I muttered to Seville, who was sitting on the floor by the fireplace and looking through his bags again.

"She'll do anything to distract you from him." He replied matter-of-factly, though I couldn't help but notice the bitterness tinged into his voice. "I wish she'd done the same for me, personally."

Feeling another stab of annoyance, I crossed my arms over my chest. "I thought she said she wanted this."

"She did. But not anymore."

"She obviously does still."

"Oh? And how do you figure that?"

I slumped further down against the floor, grumbling to myself. "Because she said it'd be okay if I were to go back upstairs."

"What?" Seville exclaimed. "But Valerie-"

"I'll be fine." I hissed. "For once, don't worry about me. Okay?"

Silence again.

We sat quietly. Much quieter than we had been in days. I knew Seville was unhappy with me. It was quite apparent. But he wasn't arguing anymore. That was all that mattered to me, for now.

That night, after getting full from eating perhaps too many of Grandma's sickeningly sweet brownies, we went to bed. The fullness in my stomach, added onto the warmth of the blankets and, of course, Mr. Todd's pacing from above... I was lulled to sleep.

It wasn't exactly a frightening noise anymore.

Perhaps now that I knew the source...

But then again, it wasn't long afterwards that I learned just how afraid I should've been, and how right I surprisingly was at the age of only four.

This one's short. -_- But eh, Val is hinting at something near the end.

I certainly can't keep Sweeney's brutal business from her forever...

;)

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