"Are you a pirate?" Toby asked.
I opened my eyes, not noticing when he had come downstairs. Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Todd were gone.
"No."
"Oh."
"Wait, is Todd gone?" I whispered, noticing the unblocked door.
I slid my hoodie back on, creeping towards the door. I flung it open and ran out, only to run back inside.
"Mr. Todd!" I cried.
He poked his head around a corner, scowling at me.
"If I left it open, why'd you come back?" he snapped.
"Because I saw the Beadle's ratty self, that's why!" I said, sliding to the floor and hugging my knees. "Him and Turpin went by in a carriage. They stared at me and it was so disturbing."
I shuddered and he came over. He pulled me up, steering me over to the fire and locking the shop door. He forced me to sit beside Mrs. Lovett, but I quickly moved to the rug in front of the fire. I put my iPod back I and listened to Dark Waltz by Hayley Westernra. I stretched out on my stomach and yawned, bored.
"You wanna know how I know your secrets?" I asked.
"'Ow?" Mrs. Lovett asked.
"You guys aren't supposed to be real. You're characters of something called a movie and I know said movie by heart. Want proof?"
"Yes." Of course Todd would only give a one word answer.
"We call a truce first. No more death threats, no more fighting, none of it."
"Agreed," Mrs. Lovett said.
"What's your name first," Mr. Todd said.
"Emilie," I muttered."Emie for short."
"Alright then, Emie."
I plopped on the couch between them and found my favorite scene in the move, where he beats Pirelli with the kettle.
"Toby, go away," I ordered.
He left for the kitchen and I played it on the speakers just loud enough for them to hear. When it was over I asked, "Do you believe me now?"
They both nodded, shock written on both of their faces. I smiled, going back to the rug by the fire. Strangely, I got Internet here. How is a complete mystery but I did. I went to to read some Pirates of the Caribbean stories. Bored, I went to Sweeney Todd. A sly grin grew across my face as I found 13 Ways to Irritate Sweeney Todd. It read,
Get Toby to call him Daddy
"That should be easy," I murmured. "All I have to do is bribe the boy."
"What?" Mr. Todd asked, coming over.
"Nothing, just reading a list."
"For some reason, I have a bad feeling about that list."
"You should," I laughed.
2. Ask to borrow his eyeliner
3. Force him to read the Twilight series
"That should be funny."
4. Paint his walls pink with unicorns on them
5. Walk beside him singing The Ballad of Sweeney Todd constantly
I yawned, my eyes blurring. I got off the Internet, going to the playlist that I listened to just before bed. It had about thirty songs on it. I put it on replay and shuffle before locking it. Using my hoodie as a pillow, I stretched out and fell asleep.
Todd's PoV
"Good night, Mr. T," Mrs. Lovett said.
I nodded and she left. I'd have to sleep here tonight; the snow was too high for me to get to my shop. Sighing, I stood up and stretched. The boy was nowhere in sight. He must've gone to bed with the baker. The girl, Emie, sighed in her sleep, tossing about. Pitying her, I picked her up gently and set her on the couch. She may have a smart mouth and a powerful punch, but she was still just a girl. And she was right; she did remind me of Johanna. I noticed the things in her ears. Curious, I pulled one out and put it in my own, hearing someone singing.
She loved him like he was
The last man on Earth
Gave him everything she ever had
He'd break her spirit down
Then come lovin' up on her
Give a little, then take it back
She'd tell about her dreams
He'd just shoot 'em down
Lord, he loved to make her cry
'You're crazy for believin'
You'll ever leave the ground'
He said, 'Only angels know how to fly'
"Mr. T?
I looked up to see the baker.
"What?" I whispered, trying not to wake the girl.
I set down the thing, going over to where she was.
"What are you doing?"
"Listening to a song on the little music box. Why?"
"Just wondering. Came down to get a glass o' gin want some?"
"No."
"Alright. Did you move 'er?"
"Would you want to be left on the floor in the winter?"
"I wouldn't be the idiot who fell asleep on the floor in the first place," she said. "You can sleep in me guest room. It's actually your room, but seeing as you always sleep in your shop, it stays empty."
"I'll put her up there. I'll be fine down here."
"Mr. T, she knows too much. We should just kill her now."
"She's just a girl. There are other ways to keep her quiet without killing her," I snapped. "If anything happens to her, it'll be your blood to pay."
"You just want 'er because she reminds you of your dead Lucy and the daughter you've never known."
Her frustration sent me reeling. I've never known her to snap like that.
"Just because she has yellow hair doesn't mean anything! If she knew the past, the she knows the future. She can help me get the Judge and rescue my daughter. The girl is nothing like my wife!" I hissed, pinning her to the wall with my spare razor at her throat.
"That's good to know, now can you two please shut the heck up so I can sleep?" Emie said from the couch. "You two bicker like little children."
I let go of the baker, who rubbed her neck, and went over to the girl.
"How much did you hear?"
"A lot, but I couldn't make out anything except, 'The girl is nothing like my wife.' I do have a name," she said sleepily, dropping back onto her makeshift pillow. "Good night."
She was asleep in minutes. I shook my head, picking her up and carrying her to the bed. Shifting her to one arm, I pulled back the covers, laying her down and tucking the blankets up to her chin. To be fourteen years old, she hardly weighed anything. She mumbled in her sleep and I unconsciously smoothed back her hair.
"Daddy," she mumbled.
She curled in on herself and I stood there in shock. That one word had struck a distant chord in my cold heart. She really was just a child and she was here without her parents. I sat on the edge of the bed, just watching her. She turned and the chord to her little music box got twisted. I unraveled her, gently taking the box away. Deciding I had stayed to long, I got up. I spotted two keys on the dresser. I took one, leaving the other, and locked the door behind me. I did not trust the baker. I went down to the parlor and banked the fire. Stretching out on the couch, I took Emie's little music box, putting in the ear things. I let the songs play, reading their names on the little light up, one way window. Some of the songs had me singing them. Very, very strange. One in particular caught my attention.
You never cared to hear the other side
So why would you want to keep this thing alive
You paint me into the memory of all your pain
But I will not be drawn into the past again
'Cause all of this is all that I can take
And you will never understand the demons that I face
So go ahead and bat your eyes
And lie right to the world
'Cause for everything you are
You're just a little girl
I never meant for you to feel this way
These embers were never meant to be our graves
It's not a question of who is wrong and what is right
But time cannot heal what you will never recognize
'Cause all of this is all that I can take
And you will never understand the demons that I face
So go ahead and bat your eyes
And lie right to the world
'Cause for everything you are
You're just a little girl
So go ahead and cry
Go ahead and believe that you were right
To keep away the dark
To help you sleep tonight
Go on and decide
Who is wrong, what is right
'Cause you know inside
"She really is a strange child," I muttered before for falling into a sound sleep for the first time in years.