Sweeney Todd: The Demon Reborn [HIATUS]

The Demon is Dead

There surely is no place like London. The foggy atmosphere, the scent of freshly-caught fish on the dock, the freezing air that never seems to want to warm up. It'd be hard to think that London was so bright and lively, because now. It's a ghost-town, so lifeless and grim, a hollow shell of its former self. London was a place that once was home to me and my family. It's surely no longer home to me, but as far as my brother and his family. Well, that would be the reason I'm back here in the first place. 

I've heard that someone has opened another Barber Shop where my brother used to have his, and I've come to investigate. I was hoping that Mrs. Lovett wouldn't be so careless as to invite another tenant into the shop. But then again, Mrs. Lovett was never that trustworthy to begin with. Not to me at least, I could see through her little "poor me" act. How exactly was she such an unfortunate woman? So what, her husband passed away. It was going to happen at some point. With the way that woman fed him. I'm actually surprised he didn't die earlier. But other than her husband passing away, how else was she unfortunate? I mean, my parents died when I was 18, I had just barely gotten my life together. Then just all of a sudden, they were gone. Never to be heard from again. They never got to see me make my first successful invention, or see Ben get married to Lucy, or see their granddaughter Johanna. And they never will. So I won't pity her just because her husband died earlier than expected. She ran a somewhat-successful business, so exactly how unfortunate was she? 

Anyways, sorry for the little rant there. I just have a very deep hatred for Mrs. Nellie Lovett. However, not as much as I hate Judge Turpin. How dare he send my brother off to prison in Australia for 15 years, just so he could try and seduce Lucy into sleeping with him. My brother hasn't seen his family for years, I'm not sure he'll even recognize Johanna when he gets back. Then again, Neither would I. I haven't been in London since after Benjamin got taken to prison, I went to visit Lucy to find out what had happened. But it was nothing, Ben had done nothing, he was sent to Australia for 15 years for absolutely nothing. 

When I was with Lucy I had noticed that Judge Turpin was particularly fond of her, every day around the same time he'd stand outside below her window, holding flowers in hopes that she'd come down and be with him. But obviously, that never happened. I had gone down the last couple of times he was out there to tell him to go away, and that she so obviously wasn't interested in him. Now I find out, that had only worked for about two days. Then the weekend came, and something awful happened to her. Turpin had sent Beadle Bamford to go and convince Lucy that he was truly sorry for the charge set against her husband. Beadle then took her to a masquerade ball that Turpin had thrown, took her in and handed her a drink that was drugged, of course. After all this is Turpin we're talking about, the most corrupt official that I've ever seen. And poor Lucy, she sat down...Hazy...Discombobulated. Then Turpin, well he did something...truly awful. It's difficult just trying to get it onto paper, I couldn't imagine actually experiencing it. Turpin, he...publicly raped Lucy Barker. Turpin, that horrendous, evil, disgusting piece of...Never mind. Needless to say, he's a vermin to the world. Especially to London, to my family, to me. 

I had finally reached Mrs. Lovett's Pie Emporium, I've arrived. Now, to find out a bit more about this Benjamin Barker wannabe. I jumped off my stagecoach, and walked inside. As soon as the door opened there was a strong scent of burnt flesh, and I only know that because I have burnt my hands many times while building my inventions. Anyway, I walked towards where I thought the smell was the strongest. The cellar. I didn't have to pick any locks or break open the doors, they were already open. 

So I walked down the stairs that down to a very heated room. When I looked past that door, I immediately regret it. I saw a man knelt-down holding a woman, both presumably dead. I decided that I should investigate further and see if it was a matter that I should get the police involved in, not that they would be much help anyways. But this was a complete bloodbath. I walked around the cellar, there were bodies in a pile on the floor, as if they fell from the same place. There were bones, blood, guts and pies all in their own respective places. Well, I now know what Mrs. Lovett had been up to lately. I walked over and knelt down towards the man and hesitantly pushed his head up a bit, so I could see his face. This man, he...looked so familiar. And that's when it hit me, it was Ben. I suddenly burst into tears and held him in an embrace, I couldn't have lost him, He can't be dead. I let go of him, composed myself and lifted his head a bit further. Someone slit his throat. I looked down at the woman he was holding, it was Lucy. She looked awful, what happened to her? I saw that her throat was slit as well. I stood up and looked at them one last time and whispered to myself, "I'm going to fix you."