Chapter 6: Haunts
Years passed, and Toby got taller and his voice got deeper. His hair stayed pale and he never grew out of his accent or limp. Yet he grew to be more and more like Sweeney each day. Same pale skin, same dark eyes.
Nine years bled by, everyday the same. Toby was 21 now. He'd stopped singing for the pies. He only sung at night, alone in the dark. He'd open the harpsichord and sing alone. He never touched a key, just sat there, as if he expected a light and happy tune to echo up from the dusty keys. "Nothin's gonna harm you, not while I'm around…"
He drove himself mad with that song. He'd sit on the bench, rocking back and forth and singing. He'd sing late into the night, then fall to the floor or go out to Mrs. Lovett's grave and fall dead asleep.
He couldn't cry anymore.
He made his way through each day. He felt at peace during the day, and there was plenty of work to occupy his mind. Nights were restless. He was always afraid. Not of night or darkness, but of Mr. Todd. He'd killed him with his own hands, but that didn't stop Sweeney from haunting Toby's thoughts.
Sitting outside by Mrs. Lovett's grave in the smoky moonlight, shadows surrounded him. Passing through the wisps of smoke, he could swear he saw the silhouette of a barber, razor in hand.
Whenever Tobias saw himself in a mirror, he saw Mr. Todd. More than anything in the world, Toby hated Mr. Todd.
Toby banished Mr. Todd from this world.
More than anything in the world, Tobias hated himself.
Annalise had a happy life. Her parents loved her dearly, and they loved each other. She was their treasure.
Their happy life seemed to be overcast by something. Oh she was a lucky child, sailing in the summer, kite-flying in the spring. She had beautiful dresses and many toys, and the loveliest voice in all the world. She sketched birds for her mother and played piano for her father. Her parents sang and smiled often, but every now and then they would look at each other with dark eyes.
Some nights, when Anna got up for a drink of water, she would see her father standing on the balcony. He looked so sad, standing there all alone. She didn't dare go out to him, it scared her to see her father without his bright smile.
She was nine years old, old enough to know that there was some secret between her parents. Something bad was haunting her family, like a curse…
Or a ghost…
Her parents tried so hard to give her happiness. There was no question there, Anna certainly was happy. She could see how hard they tried to hide their mysterious sorrows from her, and she would never ask them about their secrets.
But she did intend to find out all their secrets. She could sense the story behind it all, she knew her parents could not have possibly had ordinary happy lives. She knew their lives were nothing like the sunny life they gave her.
Happy and content, miss Anna did not pry. She daydreamed and wondered while she lay in the grass and watched clouds roll by.
Anthony looked out the window at his daughter, lying in the grass. "She looks just like you." He said, smiling at his wife.
"She's getting tall for her age." Said Johanna, looking up at Anthony. He laughed.
"So she is."
Anthony and Johanna protected their daughter from every evil. But no matter how happy they acted, how merrily they laughed…
There was always that shadow in the back of their minds…
Telling them that there would be no happily ever after.
All the could do was smile and watch their pretty little daughter laugh and play, and in her dancing childhood try and forget the tale of a barber on Fleet Street.
A light wind ruffled Tobias's pale hair, and he looked up from his pies to the white fluffy clouds rolling by overhead.
He smiled to himself, the busy noises of the trade around him fading away. He could still hear his mum's voice over all the customers. "To-BY!"
"Coming, s'cuse me, coming mum…" he whispered under his breath. "I wish you could see me, mum. I've grown up so big and tall." He laughed to himself. "I'm probably taller than you now." Tobias had outgrown his old clothes. Now he wore Mr. Todd's clothes, along with his white coat. "Oh mum…I do hope you're proud of me."
He opened his eyes. He could hear Him too.
"Tooobyyy…"
Day after day, days bleed into nights. Pies sold, men died, and Tobias trudged down the road of life with a razor in hand and Mr. Todd alive within him.