After Nellie came to this depressing realization, her feet began carrying her faster and faster towards the looming asylum building. It made her shudder to even be near the place, but she was comforted by the fact that she was already dead and no one could see her but Sweeney anyway.
It was easy to disassemble herself and drift through the entryway, then on down the hallways, popping into each room to check for Sweeney.
It was a dim place, with large rooms housing thirty or more lunatics that seemed to be arranged by hair color and gender, an odd setup if you asked her. Past these rooms were solitary ones, tiny and absolutely bare with not a blanket to cut the chill. In most, there wasn't even a window. Other rooms were home to strange contraptions, all seemingly designed to cause pain in ways Nellie dared not think about.
But the labyrinthine hallways seemed to stretch on forever, and she still hadn't found Sweeney. Just wandering these corridors was enough to drive one into insanity!
"Mr. Todd!" she yelled, her voice echoing back at her, even though she knew no one else could hear it. It was a strange thing, being invisible and inaudible. She had always defined herself by the people around her. Was she undefinable now?
Slipping through the next door with a growing desperation, she surprised herself when she nearly tripped over her barber.
Sweeney
As the tiny, insubstantial form of the baker appeared through the door, Sweeney cursed loudly. The last thing he needed was her back again...
"Oh love, I'm so sorry 'bout those things I said to ya, I didn' mean 'em, really I didn'--"
Sweeney's head was already aching, but a fresh little pain came into his temples as Nellie began to speak at fifty words a second.
"Please. Be quiet," he said. Looking stricken, she pressed her lips together and began to wring her hands. Miraculously maintaining her silence, she knelt down beside Sweeney and he felt her small fingers begin to dart down the laces on the jacket.
Sweeney breathed a sigh of relief as his arms were freed, and unsteadily pushed himself up. Nellie came around behind him, holding her arms out as if she could catch him.
"I'm fine," he snapped. "Now I suppose you didn't think to get a key?"
"I'll be right back..." Nellie whispered, running back through the solid iron door.
The moment she was out of sight, Sweeney permitted himself to sit back down. Whatever he pretended, it really was doing a number on his head to stand. They'd hit him hard, it was worse then when he'd been arrested all those years ago.
A slight jangling of metal hitting metal warned him of Nellie's approach and he stood quickly-- too quickly, and nearly fell over again before he caught the wall for support.
The door swung open to reveal a beaming Nellie, motioning him quickly out. Despite himself, Sweeney felt a little thrill of triumph as he swept past her, walking as fast as his dizziness would allow down the bleak hallway.
"Are you sure you'll all right, dear?" Nellie said worriedly as he almost hit a wall on a badly timed turn. He just glared at her and kept walking.
"I need to find my razors. I didn't see where they put them, have you any idea, Mrs. Lovett?"
"That old bat Fogg mighta kept 'em..." she said uncertainly, looking more and more nervous the longer they stayed.
What do you think? I lost all the old chapters, I think I may have accidentally deleted them, so this story is going under a whole revamp. The Sweenett's going to be slower in coming, but more worth it when it does, and the whole story's going to end up longer. Reviews are appreciated ^^