Chapter 7: Changing Winds

Thunder rolled across the night sky. A light rain drizzled over the maze of Paris streets. Anthony lay awake next to Johanna. He rolled onto his side and curled one of her long blonde curls around his finger.

"I love you, Johanna…

I love you.

Promise me you'll stay here, happy

Staying safe here with my daughter

I wish I could say I'd return

Buried sweetly in your yellow hair…"

He kissed Johanna on the forehead and got out of bed. He got dressed, then headed for the door. He stopped and looked over his shoulder. Quickly and quietly he went to his daughter's room.

He silently knelt at her bedside. Her long, blonde curls fell lightly over her sleeping face. He gently tucked a curl or two behind her ear. " My Anna. How you've grown. I love you, Anna. Please don't hate me for leaving. I tried so hard to forget, all I wanted was to stay here with you, watch you grow and play. I wanted to protect you, I wanted to shield you from every tear the world could ever deal you. My darling, I wish I could promise to return to you one day, but I don't want to have to break it. I do not know what lies ahead for me in London, but I do know that I can not stand by any longer." Tears burned in Anthony's eyes. "Please forgive me, Anna. I love you so much. Stay safe and happy here with your mother, and I'll do everything I can to come back soon." Anna stirred in her sleep. Anthony cooed softly to her.

"And we'll sail the world, and see its wonders.

From the pearls of Spain, to the rubies of Tibet…"

He kissed her forehead lightly.

"And I'll come home to Paris…someday."

Anthony slung his bag over his shoulders and left his home, not knowing if he would ever return.

Toby stumbled out the back door in the early morning light. His breathing was heavy and irregular, and he stumbled wildly through a haze of tears. He fell beside Mrs. Lovett's grave.

"How could you leave me behind, mum? How could you?" he yelled madly. "It was you, you locked me out here! You locked me here in the bake house because you knew I was right! I was right about Mr. Todd and you didn't want to believe it!" Toby laid his head on the ground, weary from his own fury. He'd woken up from all too familiar nightmares, reliving that fateful night, and piecing together what exactly happened. "I knew the truth…you chose Mr. Todd over me. How could you, mum?"

"How could you chose Mr. Todd over me?"

Toby shook with pain and anger. "Would you pick me, now that I've become Mr. Todd? Am I worthy?" Toby rolled over onto his back, looking at the pale gray sky. "You told me nothing would harm me as long as you were here. You're gone, and I'm alone. Why am I still here? Why was I spared, why didn't you take me with you?"

Toby stood shakily. He looked around at the bake house, at the kingdom he had inherited. The rusty blades in the grinder, the black smoke that blotted out the pure morning sky, the grounds where only blood rained down and money was made at the expense of other meaningless lives, all this was his.

Tucked away on Fleet Street there's a small building where meat pies are sold, and people walk in for a shave but never come out again. There's a tiny home with something wrong inside it. There's a man who's still just a boy at heart, and he's haunted by ghostly shadows of long past tragedies. He kills and kills, and he's not sure why. What kind of life has he known?

What other life has he known?

A man came in for a shave. It was routine, Toby could kill a man without a thought. But on this day, he stopped short, the razor less than an inch from the man's throat.

"…something wrong, boy?" the man asked after a few seconds.

The voice startled Toby and he slit the man's throat. He pulled the lever and the body slid down the wicked trapdoor where so many others met their end. He looked at the razor in wonder.

Of course, the answer had been here in his hand all along…