Thank you Halloween29 and xBadxRomancesx for reviewing! Next chapter, I PROMISE Sweeney and co will come in :)

Chapter Five

Mum got put into the psychiatric ward.

Everyone in my school knew. The day after, people stared as I passed them. I was Amy Hope. The girl whose granddad and Dad were murdered. The girl who's Mum was mental.

Some people took pity on me, acting extra nice to me, even people I had never spoken to before.

Sometimes, at lunch, some random person I had never met before would come over to me and tell me how sorry they were. They'd even bring bars of chocolate, sometimes.

But others didn't.

Others, mostly boys, acted like I was a freak. Like my Mum's mental illness was contagious. They stayed away from me, only referring to me to make a crude joke.

Every lesson, I'd have paper balls thrown at me with the word 'FREAK' scribbled onto it.

The teachers acted weird around me as well. They talked to me in gentle tones, calling me names like dear and pet.

It was so weird.

I knew they only felt sorry for me. I mean, even Jake was alright.

Well, kinda.

"STOP!"

My hand fell to my side, clinging onto the microphone with as much pressure as it could handle before my knuckles broke.

"Amy, you're not putting in enough…energy into this. Hannah, you're improving. Well done."

I stared at Jake incredulously.

"Ohmygoodness, Jake, did you just…compliment me?" Hannah asked, a devious grin on her face.

"I said you were improving, Hannah, not that you were brilliant." Jake said dryly. Hannah's grin grew.

"Yeah, but I'm nearly brilliant."

"Hardly."

I zoned out as Hannah and Jake bickered, knowing who would come out the loser. Honestly, going against Hannah in a verbal war was like going against Jackie Chan in a kung-fu fight.

My mind wandered to Mum.

She was probably so lonely, up in that hospital, all on her own…

Ben said we weren't allowed to see her. He said it was best if we gave her a bit of space to calm down, instead of crowding round and agitating her.

I think he just didn't want us to go near the hospital.

We'd been there a long time ago, when Ben was fifteen. Mum…lost it, really. There are no words to describe what happened.

She just lost it.

"Amy, are you even listening to me?" Jake demanded furiously. I stared at him blankly before handing my microphone to Hannah and leaving.

Ben was waiting with Nellie for me outside school. He was sat in the driver's seat of Mum's car while Nellie sat next to him, playing with her phone.

"Hey, Amz!" Ben greeted me cheerfully. "How was your day?"

"It was alright." I murmured.

"Just alright?"

I glanced up at him. "Just alright." I confirmed.

Ben smiled at me over his shoulder. "How about fish and chips for dinner?"

Nellie snorted loudly.

"What?"

"Please, Ben, just please. We are not little children," She paused. "Well, I'm not a child."

"Neither am I!" I protested.

"We do not need you acting all cheery and patronizing just cos Mum is in the loony bin. It's happened before and it'll happen again. We need to get used to it."

Both Ben and I stared at Nellie. She had always been blunt; it was a trait she inherited from Mum. But she had never said something like that.

"Nellie, I know that you're upset. I'm upset. Both our Dad and Granddad are dead and with Mum gone, it's going to be hard, but we need to stick together and –"

"Oh please cut the 'family stick together' crap, Ben," Nellie snapped. "We are hardly a family. Not anymore."

Ben didn't say anything. Instead, he simply started the car up and drove.

While he was in the chip shop, Nellie and I sat in the car together, waiting. An awkward silence loomed over us.

"Why?" I whispered, finally breaking the silence.

"Why what, Amy?" Nellie muttered gruffly.

"Why say all those things?"

"Because they're true!"

"But they're not," I said softly. "Yeah, Dad's…gone, but Mum's coming back. We're still a family. Just a little one."

"Amy, this isn't one of your fairy tales," Nellie said, her voice thick, as if she was trying not to cry. "We're not going to get a happy ending."

"I don't see why not."

"Because this is real life, Amy!"

"So? People have happy endings all the time! Look at Auntie Grace! She got cancer but she survived!"

"Amy, this isn't an illness! Mum is mentally ill!"

"SO?"

"SO SHE'S TRIED TO KILL HERSELF," Nellie yelled. "MORE THAN ONCE!"

Tears sprung to my eyes, but I blinked them away quickly.

"She's depressed," I said.

"So? She's got to realise that it's not fair on us."

A tear trickled down my cheek. I had never thought of it that way.

"Right, three portions of fish and chips with fizzy!" Ben announced, climbing in next to Nellie. "You alright, Amz?"

I nodded quickly. "Fine."

That night, I sat on my bed. It was late, almost midnight, but I didn't sleep. I wasn't even in my pyjamas.

Instead, I wore a pink and white checked shirt over a long sleeved white t-shirt with my denim skinny jeans and a hoodie. On my feet were my pink converses and on my head was my beanie hat.

Sitting cross legged on my bed, I gently played with the locket hanging around my neck.

Frowning, I undid it and held it out, gazing at it.

Carefully laying it in the palm of my hand, I undid the latch, desperate not to break it.

I couldn't help but cry at what I found inside.

A piece of paper, folded millions of times, sprung out to reveal the two photos.

On the left, the people I presumed to be Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett stood. On the right were the Gran I never knew and the Granddad that had recently died.

Wiping the tears away, I unfolded the note with shaky hands. The paper was old and frail, so I had to be careful not to rip it.

Dear Joey, it began. I smiled. Joey was my Mum's nickname.

We promised we would never forget you, and here is something to make sure you never forget us. Thank you for helping us, love, as your hope and compassion was everything we needed.

Life is truly for the alive, Joey, so live it. But don't just live your life for us, live it for yourself. Get out there and do everything you want to do. Don't be afraid of who you are.

Thank you,

Sweeney Todd & Mrs E. Lovett.

So they really were real…

Folding the note again, I tucked it into my jeans pocket before looking down at the photos.

"Please help us," I whispered desperately. "We need you!"

Suddenly, everything started spinning before the world went black.