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Chapter Fifteen

He didn't come down.

I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Unless I had missed him, that man never came down from the barber's shop.

Maybe it was just me. Ben seemed pretty calm and content, and Nellie…well, she just didn't seem to notice anything.

"Amy…Amy…earth to Amy…hello Miss Amy Grace Hope, are you with us?"

"Huh?"

Nellie grinned. "Finally! I thought you were in some sort of trance!"

I grinned back sheepishly. "Yeah, sorry. I was…in a world of my own."

"Where's you little blue dress?" Ben asked, also grinning. I grinned back, recognizing the Alice in Wonderland reference.

"Yeah, just because it was my favourite book when I was younger doesn't mean you can take the mickey out of me."

"I can't believe you've read it properly," Nellie said, rolling her eyes. "I could never do that."

"You used to read all the time, Nells."

"No I didn't."

"Yes, you did," Ben insisted. "You'd always nag for me to listen to you as well."

Ben and I laughed as Nellie's cheeks flushed.

"Yeah, well, Amy would always bang on kitchen pans and wail, pretending she was a singer!" She said.

"Still does." Ben muttered.

"Hey!"

Ben laughed as he ruffled my hair. I scowled. It took ages to make it look nice!

At that moment, Mrs Lovett came down from visiting Sweeney for a few moments. I looked at her carefully. Did she know why that man hadn't come down yet?

"You alright, love?" She asked me, smiling as she walked past.

"Yeah…"

"Now, Mr T and I don't mean to be rude, but how long are you three planning on staying with us?"

I looked at Nellie, who stared at Ben. He sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"You see, Mrs Lovett, we don't mean to impose ourselves on you, but we don't know." He said.

"We want to find our Mum." Nellie added, frowning.

"And go home." I whispered, a tear spilling onto my cheek.

"Oh, love." Mrs Lovett sighed, shaking her head.

"Will you help us, please?" I asked hopefully, allowing another tear to run down my cheek.

Mrs Lovett frowned, and I noticed her eyes flickering up to the ceiling a couple of times, but then nodded.

"Of course, deary. I need to talk it over with Mr T, but I'm sure we can work something out."

"Oh thank you!" I cried, jumping up and running over to hug her. Mrs Lovett smiled as she hugged me back.

"That's alright, love, but I need you to stay away from the shop when Mr T is working," She told me. "All of you."

"Yes, we know." Nellie replied in a bored tone.

"And don't ask him any questions."

"Because, love, he don't want to be disturbed."

"Mrs Lovett…"

"Yes, Amy?"

"If we're not allowed to ask Mr Todd questions, may we ask you questions?" I asked. Mrs Lovett thought about it.

"I don't see why not, love."
"Ok…why hasn't that man come down yet?"

"What man?"

"That man that went upstairs for a shave. It's been," I pulled away from Mrs Lovett to check the clock. "Nearly an hour now. Surely he must be done by now."

"Oh, he's already left."

I frowned. "He has?"

"Yes, love, he left a while ago. Did you not see him?"

I shook my head.

"Well, he did. Now, how's about something to eat?"

Mrs Lovett gently untangled my arms from her waist and walked around the counter, babbling on about something or other. I frowned, watching her.

That man did not leave ages ago.

I wasn't the most observant of people, but I wasn't stupid.

That man did not leave ages ago. I was sure of it.

If he had left ages ago, surely I'd have seen him. Especially since I was looking out for him for most of the evening.

Did he have some mad super powers, allowing him to just whiz past the shop without anyone seeing? Or maybe he was a secret ninja and jumped off the building…

Amazingly, these seemed more possible that the man leaving without me seeing him.

And why weren't we allowed near the shop when Sweeney was working?

I was rather suspicious of these two, no matter how helpful they were, and was determined to find out the secret.

That night, I lay on the sofa silently, thinking. Ben and Nellie talked for a while before eventually falling asleep.

While Ben snored and Nellie talked in her sleep, I thought.

And thought.

And thought.

I couldn't sleep. I had to know.

Before I could stop myself, I stood up and left the room.

The shop was lit up by the moonlight, making it seem rather eerie. I could see my reflection in the window; a small white figure with long hair, paled by the moonlight.

It was rather windy when I got to the steps outside, and I was only wearing a nightdress.

Shivering, I pressed my bare foot against the first step, waiting. It didn't creak.

Trying to keep down my triumphant 'ha', I began walking up the steps.

The wood was rough against my bare feet, almost tearing at the skin of my sole. I winced, but continued. As I leant once in English, life ain't no crystal stair.

For me, that was now literal.

Snorting at my joke (though it wasn't very funny), I came to the top of the steps, onto the small balcony.

I knew this was a stupid thing to do. Not only was I jumping to conclusions (what I was concluding, however, I did not know), but I was also invading Sweeney's privacy.

I sighed. Somehow, in my mind, I had worked us out to be practically family, so it didn't matter.

Kinda.

I stood on the balcony for a moment, differing in my mind whether or not to go into the shop.

"Right Amy Hope, stop being so babyish!" I hissed to myself, squaring my shoulders and taking in a deep breath. Right. I was going to do it. I was going to confront Sweeney Todd.

I approached the door, shaking from both the cold and fear. I reached out and took hold of the handle.

What was I doing?

I frowned. What was I doing?

I was tired, and that made my brain go funny and weird. I didn't think properly when I was tired (but did anyone?).

Sighing, I turned to leave.

The door suddenly swung open from behind me, and I was yanked into the shop and pushed against the wall, the cold silver razor pressed against my neck.

'Life Ain't No Crystal Stair' is a poem, also known as 'Mother To Son'. To read it, just go here:

h t tp : / / w w w . t n e l l e n . c o m / c y b e r e n g / m a t o s o n . h t m l

Just ignore the questions at the bottom!