Chapter 6
Awww heaps on thanks to everyone who liked\reviewed the last chapter. I'm glad that the basic idea came across kinda clear. )
Anyways, I'm so sorry for how long it took to get this chapter out. I had such a hard time getting inspired for it (and kept getting distracted by the Helena-World forum!), and ended up just letting the story "simmer" for a bit.
That said, though, I'm most definitely back. I ended up planning out pretty much every detail of the story and now I'm just so excited to write it!!
So I'll stop talking\typing and let you read. Here you go loves!
Mrs. Lovett hurriedly wiped her brow as she watched yet another body fall from the opening in the ceiling to land in a heavy thud on the stone floor. They were opening for the day in about an hour, and she was working on getting the last bit of pies into the oven. They were dreadfully behind, and the little tryst with Mr. Todd this morning really didn't do much help in that department. She quickly made her way over to the body, taking a moment to stare it down as she pulled a long knife off the table. He was a rather heavyset, middle aged man. His skin let out a sickening ripping noise as she dragged the knife down his chest. Poor bugger…she thought, proceeding to pull the flesh off his ribs, the crimson rubies from underneath his skin spilling out onto the cold stone floor.
She thought back to the previous encounter with Mr. Todd. How had that even started anyways? The two of them coming together like that. Words could not describe how genuinely shocked she was by this strange turn of events. Which isn't to say that she was not delighted, which she most definitely was. The way he did it though…he was just so wonderfully violent with it. Not that she would have expected anything else from Mr. T….but god, he was good at it. It was like the wish she had carried with her for so long was finally -in some way- really happening, she thought to herself as she continued to peel flesh off Sweeney's unfortunate victim's arms. Oh Mr. T…There was a lot of repressed desire pouring out in each time they had come together. Desire that had been almost habitual from the moment she had first laid eyes on Benjamin Barker….
--
…It had been a week or so since Albert suggested that Mrs. Lovett put an ad in the London paper for a tenant to live upstairs over the pie shop. Business was rather mediocre these days, and the two of them decided it would prove to be a good idea for someone to pay to live upstairs. There had been no takers for the offer yet, and they were beginning to give up.
Mrs. Lovett was in the kitchen rolling dough for a pie crust when a knock sounded at the door. The shop hadn't opened yet and curious to whom it might be, she set down the rolling pin and did her best to brush the flour off her dress. Albert was out gambling with a few mates at the local pub, as was typical of him on a Saturday morning while the pies were still being made. She made her way over to the door, opening it in a swift motion. She froze. Her eyes widening at what she saw.
It was a man with -she guessed it to be- his wife and child. The woman was a lovely, delicate little thing with long yellow hair and a fair, sunny complexion. In her petite arms she held an equally delicate looking child, also incredibly fair with yellow hair that matched its mothers. It was the man, though, that caused her gaze to freeze so. He was tall and well-kept, his dark hair neatly combed. He wore the tidy black suit of a gentleman. His eyes were the most amazing she had ever seen: a beautiful dark brown colour- lighting up his face, and bursting with life and joy. "Er…good morning. I hope I've found the right address. You see, my wife and I need a place to stay. When we saw your ad in the paper, we knew it sounded right. My name is Benjamin Barker, and this is my wife, Lucy, and our daughter, Johanna," he said, giving his family a loving look and holding out his hand. His voice was so gentle, so kind. Mrs. Lovett stared at his hand a moment before shaking herself, and taking hold of it.
"You've most definitely come to the right place, sir. I'm Mrs. Lovett. Me 'usband, Albert, is out at the moment bu' I can show ya upstairs if ya wish," she managed to get out, not taking her eyes off of his.
"Oh, yes of course! Thank you, ma'am," Benjamin exclaimed, taking his wife's arm and following Mrs. Lovett inside the dark kitchen.
"I run meself a pie shop, I do. Meat pies that is. Gets us by," she chuckled lightly with a slight wink at the family. "Just upstairs now, follow me," she said, beginning to ascend the staircase with the Barkers in tow. They finally reached the upstairs room. It had a large window and a small two-person bed in a corner beside a lamp. "It's not much, but I'm sure it'll work," Mrs. Lovett said, gesturing to the sparsely furnished room. Benjamin smiled warmly, taking his wife's hand.
"It'll do just fine. Thank you so much," he said, still smiling at Mrs. Lovett. "How much will that be monthly, than?"
"Oh, not much at all, dear. I'll just work that all out with Albert. Not to worry."
"Oh, Mrs. Lovett?" he suddenly asked. She looked back over to him. "I'm a barber…and I was hoping it would be fine with you and your husband if I set up some sort of parlour up here. Sort of a means of paying the rent," he inquired. Mrs. Lovett nodded.
"Of course you can, love. Fancy that, a barber shop over my pie shop," she replied with a small laugh. "Quite the business opportunity."
Benjamin smiled in thanks. His wife cleared her throat. "It's a lovely room. I'm sure we'll be very happy here," she said, giving a sweet little grin.
"My pleasure. I'll leave ya to it now. Get yaselves settled in," said Mrs. Lovett, turning to leave.
"Thank you, again, Mrs. Lovett," Benjamin said, giving that beautiful smile. She turned around again in the doorframe.
"You're welcome, Mr. Barker," she replied softly, shutting the door behind her. She slowly descended the staircase, Benjamin Barker's face flashing through her mind, a strange tingling feeling starting to burn inside of her. Something had changed, fallen away inside her the moment she saw Mr. Benjamin Barker at her door. She had felt something she had never once felt for Albert. She had felt love…
--
…With a final tearing noise, she ripped the last bit of flesh off the body. Wiping her bloody hands on the ragged fabric of her bodice, she hoisted the bones up in her arms and walked over to the furnace. She threw them in, paused for a moment to hear them begin to crackle in the flames, and shut the large iron door. She smiled to herself in fond remembrance of that first meeting with Benjamin. Something indeed had changed in her
that day. Something that would only deepen and progress with time…
--
…It had been a good five weeks since Benjamin and his family had moved in to the room upstairs, and a good five weeks of suppressed desire on Mrs. Lovett's part. He was such a pleasure to have around. He seemed to fill up each room her stepped into. There was this way about him, a certain unknown light that always proved to keep her holding on even on these dreary days. He spoke to her with such warmth and compassion she had never gotten from Albert. He gave her a hope for better days.
He belongs to Lucy…she told herself everyday. Every time she felt that tell-tale tingling between her legs. He belongs to her, never you. It never did any good, as she always found herself lost in sighs deep in the night, imagining Mr. Benjamin Barker's beautiful face over hers as she reached down to touch herself, building up until she was nearly gasping with pleasure into the darkness. The image faded however, every time she looked across the bed to see not Benjamin, but the fat excuse of a husband who lay next to her. The ever more frequent tears always sprang to her eyes when she pulled herself back to reality.
She would never forget the afternoon when the Barkers were out at the market, and Albert out at the pub, when she let herself into Benjamin's shop. She smiled to herself, knowing exactly what she had come to see. She walked over to the small table that stood by the bed, her eyes locked on the metal box that was atop. She opened it gingerly, nearly gasping at the brilliant shine of the razors. Chased silver handles. She knew how much her prized these. Slowly taking one out, she cradled it in her hand. It was beautifully cool and smooth. She imagined him holding these firmly in his own hands, silkily running it across a person's skin, leaving a smooth line. Her lips parted slightly as she held the cold silver blade to her neck, moving the flat edge of the blade down her body as the excitement between her legs built up. She imagined his face, his brow slightly furrowed in concentration as he artfully laid his precise administrations upon the stubble on a customer's face. That was what did it. She let out a final, blissful gasp, clenching the razor in her hand for a moment before carefully placed it back in the box. She almost had to laugh to herself. Good, upright Mr. Barker. Little did he know about the baker who lived downstairs.
He consumed most of her thoughts. From the moment Albert left in the morning to the moment the last customer left at night, it was him on her mind. She hated that pretty little wife of his. The women to whom all of his thoughts were devoted to. If it wasn't for Lucy, he would be hers. But no, it was herself that was left with Albert Lovett. The man who had dashed her hopes of a life and marriage full of love and passion. The kind she had always read about, and dreamed about since she was a young girl. Benjamin had brought that hope, those dreams back into her life. He was the breath of fresh air she had always needed…
--
…The smile faded off her face as the day when Mr. Barker was arrested floated through her mind, piercing the happy memories. She lifted up the remains of what she had peeled off the body, absent-mindedly carrying it over to the grinder where she mechanically dropped it in. Her eyes glazed, she began to turn the crank with considerable effort. Though, her mind was not in the present task. Her mind was indeed elsewhere. The day Mr. Barker had been called off to prison. The day her life changed
once again…
--
…It had been a lovely day otherwise. The sun was shining, a rarity for this day and age when the sky was almost perpetually blocked out by the thick smoke that poured out of the factory chimneys. Mrs. Lovett had begun making the pies early, giving Mr. Barker a small smile and wave as he passed through the kitchen with Lucy and Johanna.
"We're stepping out to the market for an hour or so. Won't be long," he rang out, giving her a jovial glance as he exited the room. Mrs. Lovett grinned, beginning to roll the dough. He really does light up my day, she thought to herself, proceeding with the piemaking.
The morning went well. She opened shop as usual; Albert out gambling with mates yet again. She really thought nothing of how Mr. Barker and his family were gone a the market for much longer than he had alleged they would be.
It was around noon when a desperate sounding knock came from the door. She hurried over to open it, revealing a flustered and troubled looking Lucy, Johanna in her trembling arms and her eyes moist with what looked like tears. "Good heavens, love, what's wrong?" Mrs. Lovett asked, letting her inside.
"It's Benjamin, Mrs. Lovett…th-they've taken him a-away-" she sobbed, collapsing into a chair. Mrs. Lovett's eyes widened.
"Taken him, where Lucy?" she asked, her heart sinking. Lucy looked at her with pained eyes.
"To prison," was her quivering answer. Mrs. Lovett's heart fully dropped.
"Why?" she managed to choke out, tears springing to her own eyes.
"It was Judge Turpin," Lucy replied. "He wouldn't tell me what it was Benjamin did. No trial, nothing," she said before fading into a fresh set of tears.
"You mean," Mrs. Lovett began, "That he is gone?" Lucy nodded, lowering her eyes to look into Johanna's face.
It was that moment that Mrs. Lovett's world came crashing down. Lucy had locked herself upstairs, only coming down every so often to make that once a week trip to the market. Judge Turpin had come around every day with a flower in his hand, asking desperately for Lucy.
The rest seemed like such a blur. The beadle had come one evening, saying that a contrite Turpin had sent for Lucy. Poor foolish girl. She had gone with him of course. That was the last evening she had seen Lucy truly right in the mind. The next day, she attempted to take her own life. It was arsenic, they said. The men who came to take her to Bedlam, that is. Word was that Turpin raped her. Poor thing. The day after, Turpin came for the girl, Johanna. He said he would raise her as his own. Quite frankly, she was glad to be rid of them. One less reminder of Benjamin.
The next few years after were a living hell for Mrs. Lovett. Albert was gone drinking and gambling most of the time, only coming home late at night, eager for his manly desires to be filled by his "Oh-so-obliging" wife. She seemed to feel more and more downtrodden each day. Money was hard to come by, and the pie shop business was slowly diminishing.
Fifteen long years later, there door to the pie shop opened. Mrs. Lovett looked up from the vegetables she was chopping. There hadn't been a customer for weeks, and she gaped at the dark figure that stood in the doorway. He looked so familiar. She invited him in, fed him one of the now terrible pies and some cold ale to wash it down with. Little did she know that it would be this moment that would change her life yet again…
--
A piece of wood cracking inside the furnace jolted Mrs. Lovett from her thoughts. She had completed grinding that particular lot of flesh. She remembered the pies in the oven upstairs. Letting go of the grinder, she brushed her hands off on her bodice once again, and started up the staircase. Sweeney Todd's face kept slipping its way into her thoughts. At this rate, we'll never open today. She thought back to the memories she had just gone over. It was true, Benjamin Barker was a dead man. Dead for fifteen years. It was now Sweeney Todd. The man infuriated her, turned her weak.. She absolutely hated him for doing this to her, but she knew she couldn't resist him. Him in all his dark, dangerous beauty. She pursed her lips as she entered the kitchen, attempting to push the thoughts out of her mind. They were so dreadfully behind today…
Wow, this one turned out to be pretty long with not much getting accomplished :S. I just felt there needed to be a little background information on Mrs. Lovett before we progressed any further. Awww, lol, I felt so connected with her after I wrote this.
Anyways, please review! hugs