AN: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SWEENEY TODD: DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET FRANCHISE!
Chapter Thirteen: Green Finch and Linnet Bird,
Madeleine flinched as Mr. Todd asked her if she could speak. Memories began flooding through her mind, image after image after image, as if competing for a race she could not win. Forcing herself to do so, she watched as Mr. Todd approached Mrs. Lovett. She would not cry now, not when everyone was still here. Not when James was still here. She once more forced herself to look upon reality, rather than her tormenting past.
"Mrs. Lovett," He had said as he approached her warily. "May I speak with you? Apart from these children?" She was surprised at how calm and even the dark man's voice was as he said this to Mrs. Lovett, almost as if he was really letting her choose whether they would not in privacy or not. How marvelous it would be to have decisions made on your own accord. Still, she watched on.
Mrs. Lovett did not want to talk it seemed, but then why had she just nodded and pointed towards the parlor? Madeleine was curious, but the images and memories were still flooding her, drowning her. She watched as they walked into the parlor, shutting the door behind them. Without saying a single word, she dropped the dish-towel she held in her small fingers and walked out of the shop, leaving James behind her, though he did not seem concerned by this.
Taking in the familiar scent and sounds of the streets of London, she carefully began her way to the one place of solace she felt that she could run to at that moment, the one place all those memories were allowed to flood her, torturing her mind with her dangerous past. Running as fast as her small legs could take her, she continued. The people around her began to blur as she ran, not so much from her speed, but rather from the racing memories and emotions that had no made their way through to other parts of her body, clouding her judgment and common sense. She pushed past people and continued to run, adrenalin and a need to feel safe forcing her onward.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, she arrived in front of an old, broken down shack on the outskirts of London, breathless and wide-eyed. Taking but a moment to breath she raced inside the creaking shack, carefully moving once inside. She ran her eyes over the familiar wooden floors, the rotting wooden walls, and the one piece of furniture in the entire room, a single blanket on the floor. Her breath shaking and her legs buckling beneath her, she collapsed on the floor on the shack, finally allowing every torturing memory hit her.
Like horrifying ghosts the haunted her, the past that lived in these useless walls. The memories were here...
"Useless, that's all she'll ever be."
"Good for nothing, won't even talk..."
"Start talking or you'll meet the same end your useless mother had,"
"She understands nothing, she'll never be anymore useful than her brain-dead mother was,"
"James?" A frightened voice called out, a child's voice. "James, don't go! Don't leave!"
"Madeleine stay here!"A young boy's voice had ordered her.
"Useless, that's what you are," A cruel voice told her before a hand smacked across her face. "I killed your mother, I can easily kill you, you're good for nothing."
"Nothing," That was the last word that resounded through her mind as she awoke from the nightmares of her past. Looking at her arms and legs she noticed blood. She'd attacked herself again. She couldn't let James see, he'd be so angry, he was all she had. Sighing, she looked towards the only source of light, a window next to the door. Perched, staring at her trembling form were two small birds.
"Green Finch and Linnet Bird..." She whispered shakily before closing her eyes and imaging what it must be like to be free, like her beloved linnet bird...