Author's notes: Chapter 4! Thank you to Neighbourhood Squirrals for your kind review, because of you I'm updating! I hope you enjoy this chapter - it contains the first death...it's getting exciting!
Disclaimer: I don't own Sweeney Todd, its characters or its plot.
Chapter 4 – Wait
"And then he shaved the man in a few seconds! No one could believe their eyes!"
"I see he ain't lost his touch yet then," smiled Mrs Lovett.
I was recalling the story of his triumph to her, and she admitted that she wished she'd been there.
She set a few slices of bread, with some meat and cheese onto a plate.
"Take this to Mr T please love."
I took the plate from her and made my way upstairs. I used the short time to think about how I felt about Mr Todd. He was handsome, I wouldn't deny that. And when he was in a good mood, I found that he was quite nice to be around. But those good moods could quickly disappear, and he was very frightening when he was angry. And obviously he would never feel anything for me, as he was still pining for Lucy.
I didn't bother to knock when I reached the door, which I soon discovered was a mistake.
"Knock before entering," he told me. "What do you want?"
"I am you're assistant, I have every right to be in here."
"Not without my permission you don't."
"I brought you lunch," I informed him coldly. I didn't realise he was always so rude!
He grunted in response. I set the plate down on his dresser which I noticed now had a wash bowl and his razors on as well as the photo. Mrs Lovett and I had also dragged an old chair up for him, as well as a trunk and we also tidied the place. The room was still rather dingy, but relatively bright due to the skylight.
He had a stone for sharpening his blades in his hand, and was using it while looking out of the large window.
"Lovely chair, don't you think?" I said, making conversation. I received another grunt in response. "It was Nelly's husbands. Apparently he used to sit in it all day long, before his leg gave out with gout."
This was obviously of no interest to him.
"Why doesn't the Beadle come? Before the week is out, that's what he said."
"He only said that a couple of hours ago! And who said the week's out, it's still only Tuesday, just like when he asked you."
He didn't appreciate my attitude, tossing the stone into a corner and storming across the room.
"Calm down," I said walking towards him, resting my hand on his shoulder. "You've got to wait for the right moment. And time does go quickly, see now is here…and now it's past! The time'll come, and it'll be worth the wait, you'll see."
He turned to face me.
"And the Judge? When'll we get to him?"
"Can't you think of anything else?" I asked, exasperated. "Come on, half of the fun is planning the plan. Just wait."
He nodded doubtfully. Changing the subject, I said:
"It's so dull in here. It needs something to brighten it up, flowers or something. You know daisies, or gillyflowers."
I was interrupted by footsteps coming up the stairs. They were too heavy to have been Nelly's. Mr Todd swiftly hid beside the door, so that when the door was opened it would cover him.
"Mr Todd, I-"
A young man who must've been my age or a bit older, rushed into the shop. He had long fair hair, and was a good couple of inches taller than me.
"Oh, I'm sorry ma'am, excuse me," he apologized, stepping out of the shop.
"Don't worry. I'm Sarah, Sarah Perkins."
"A pleasure," he said, bowing.
To my relief, Sweeney stepped out from behind the door. Anthony seemed relieved too.
"Mr Todd, there's a girl who needs your help. Such a sad girl and lonely, but beautiful too-"
"Slow down son," said Sweeney calmly, leading him towards the chair.
"Yes, I'm sorry. This girl has a guardian who keeps her locked away, but then this morning she dropped this" he held up a key. "Surely a sign Johanna wants me to help her. That's her name, Johanna and Turpin is her guardian – he's a Judge of some sort." At the mention of the Judge Sweeney and I exchanged glances. "Once he goes to court, I'm going to break into the house, release her and beg her to come away with me tonight!"
"Oh, this is very romantic," I smiled.
"Yes," he agreed, turning to me. "But I don't know anyone in London you see," he continued, turning back to Mr Todd. "And I need somewhere safe to bring her until I've hired a coach to take us away. If I could keep her here, just for an hour or two, I'd be forever in your debt!"
"Bring her here Mr…" I started, then realised I didn't know his name.
"Hope, Anthony Hope. Oh, thank you, Miss Perkins, thank you so much! Is that alright Mr Todd?"
He could only nod.
"Thank you my friend!" cried Anthony, vigorously shaking Mr Todd's hand. Then he left in a hurry.
As soon as he shut the door, it was opened again by Nelly.
"Who was he?"
"Sailor who helped me get here. Anthony," he answered; a shocked look on his face.
"He's bringing his daughter here," I explained.
"Well there you go, Mr T, you'll soon have your daughter back. Looks like the fates are favouring you at last."
"What about him?" he asked.
"Him? Well, since you're so hot for a little…" she dragged her finger across her throat. "That's the throat to slit my dear."
"Nelly, you can't possibly…" I was appalled. "That sweet young man? What's he done to deserve death?"
Nelly shrugged, standing by Mr Todd, who was looking out of the smaller window.
"Hello, what's he doing here?"
When I joined them, I saw Pirelli and the boy walking towards the shop.
"Keep the boy downstairs," Sweeney muttered to Nelly. "Bring Pirelli up," he then said to me.
We both hurried out of the shop and down the stairs to be greeted by the couple.
"Is Mister Todd in?" asked Pirelli.
"He's upstairs," I answered. "Follow me."
"Aw, look at that," Nelly cooed, looking at Toby. "Mind if I give him a nice juicy meat pie?"
"Ci, ci, ci, whatever you want," he replied casually, following me up the rickety steps.
When we reached the door I knocked.
"Come in," Mr Todd's voice called.
I opened the door to reveal him brushing down the chair.
"Look who came to see you!"
"Mister Todd," Pirelli said, pushing past me.
"Signor Pirelli," he muttered.
"Call me Davy," Pirelli smiled, changing to a London accent. "Davy Connor's the name when it ain't professional. And I'll be having me five quid back if you don't mind."
Seeing the once-again shocked face of Sweeney, I spoke for him.
"Why?"
"Because, your friend here entered our little wager on false pretences, didn't you…Mr Benjamin Barker."
"How did you…" It was my turn to be shocked.
Sweeney turned away, facing the skylight.
Connor chuckled.
"You don't remember me do you? Well, why should you? I was just a little nipper you hired to help around the shop, sweeping up hair and stuff. But I remember these," he picked up one of the razors from there case. "And how could I ever forget you? I used to sit right here," he sat down in the corner by the dresser. "And watch you, dreaming of when I could be a proper barber."
"What do you want from him?" I asked, as Sweeney walked towards the kettle on the small oven Nelly and I had set up.
"What do I want? Well, I want half of his earnings. Share and share alike. Or should I just run down the street to my pal, Beadle Bamford? So what do you say, Mister Sweeney Todd?" He laughed; an evil laugh which filled me with hatred for him. This was blackmail!
And then it happened. I saw Sweeney's eyes narrow, and then he grabbed the kettle and swung it at Connor's head. He fell to the ground coughing, a large cut on his forehead. But Sweeney wasn't finished; he kept hitting him with the kettle until he was unconscious. I had never seen such rage in a man before. He dropped the kettle on the floor, the water mingling with the blood and then collapsed onto his chair, panting heavily.
"Are you just going to sit there?" I asked, amazed. "Because someone downstairs will have heard that, and they're going to come and see what's going on. So get off your backside and do something with the body while I clean the place up."
He glared at me for a moment, but got up and began to drag the body towards the trunk.
"Where do you keep your cloths?" I asked, looking for something to clean the blood up with.
He gestured towards the drawer in the dresser, where I found a few clean white cloths. I picked one up and mopped up the mess on the floor, then refilled the kettle with the jug by his washbowl.
"Want a cup of tea?" I asked.
He nodded, still breathless after heaving the body into the chest, and sat back down.
I had just poured a mug of tea, when I heard frantic footsteps and the door open. It was Toby, the boy. To my confusion, his blonde locks were replaced with short brown hair, and I could only assume it was a wig to fool customers.
"Signor, you got an appointment…" he started, stopping when he saw Pirelli wasn't in the room.
"Signor Pirelli's been called away on urgent business love, you'd best run after him," I lied, handing the mug to Sweeney.
"No I should stay here, or it'll be a lashing for me. He's a good one for the lashings." He sat himself down on the chest.
I felt Sweeney (who had stood up next to me) tense. I looked at him confused, and he moved his eyes towards the direction of the trunk. Next to where Toby was sitting, Pirelli's pale hand hung out under the lid, one long finger twitching sickeningly.
"So Mrs Lovett gave you a pie did she?" I asked, trying to keep the boy's attention on us.
"Yes ma'am."
"Well if I know a growing boy, there's always room for more pie, eh? So why don't you go and wait for your master downstairs, there'll be another pie in it for you I'm sure." said Mr Todd, trying to be kind, yet there was something menacing about him.
"No sir, I really should wait here."
I could tell Sweeney really wanted to yell at the boy, and was trying incredibly hard not to.
"Well, why don't you tell Mrs Lovett that we said to give you a nice big tot of gin?" I asked, smiling warmly.
"Thank you!" he cried, jumping up and out of the door. Sweeney slammed it shut behind him. I sighed in relief.
"That was too close."
Sweeney set his mug down, and moved towards the trunk.
"What are you doing?"
He opened the trunk, and I watched as Pirelli (or Connor), pale and bruised, attempted to climb out. Sweeney pressed his hand to his forehead, tipping his whole head back and reached for his razor.
"Mr Todd, don't!" I warned.
But he didn't listen, and slowly pulled the razor along his neck. I watched in horror as the blood spurted out, and Pirelli gurgled sickeningly.
That was all I could remember before I fainted, landing on the hard floor.
Author's notes: I've watched it twelve times so far, but I'm still not sure about the bit where Pirelli's identity is revealed, so tell me if I've made any mistakes. Please review, I hope you liked it x