"Creaky floorboards. Damp wood. Faded paint. Rotten pies. Shattered windows. ~ Mrs. Lovett's meat pie shop. The 'so used to be famous' meat pie shop.
Sad colours. Empty dreams. Filled with extrodinary memories and the red stains on the wooden floor. ~ Sweeney Todd's barber saloon. The place that once belonged to 'the best Barber in London'....
Are you sure you want to buy this place?" My lawyer questioned me, while brushing through his light brown hair - like he was worried.
I inhaled sharply, looking at him questioningly. Currently, my lawyer has asked me this question exactly 6 times.
"Yes. For now - yes"
I exhaled, drowning my eyes down to the table in front of me that separated me and my lawyer.
"And have you filled out the documents yet?" He interrupted the short, yet calming silence.
I gulped as my eyes refered back to my Lawyer, Edward.
"Yes" I whispered.
He froze. Then looked back at the papers in his hands, and read it in his mind. "Alright. You and your children can move in then... but please do tell me, Ella... you have heard the rumours about that place... haven't you?"
He looked at me with slight worry in his eyes.
"What rumours?" I asked him, making him visibly tremble.
"Nothing. If you are interested though, you can ask your neighbours..."
With that - he stood up, shook my hand roughly and left me in the room. But suddenly he stopped right in front the door. "Oh, and Ella? ... I'm very sorry for your divorce with Nathan"
I remained silent. Flashes of his face took my over my speech, making me swollow hard.
"E-e-errr... thank you"
He nodded and then finally left me be. I sighned. It's been 2 weeks since my divorce with my husband - well ex-husband. And I must admit that it wasn't easy. Something else bothered me too - why did it seem like my lawyer despised the idea of me moving to that house?
I have 2 daughters and 1 son.
My son - Victor - is the oldest and he moved out to Greece.
My 7 year old daughter, Lily, has been taken away from me to live with Nathan (my ex-husband).
And now I'm here with my one year old daughter, Lucy.
I couldn't pay the bills for our house so we had to move out elsewhere. It was hard finding a place but I finally found someplace so big, yet so old and cheap.
It wasn't an expensive rent surprisingly; it was a two-floor building with two shops - for a baker and a barber. Why? Because apparently they used to live and work there. I wasn't ever bothered to find out more about their story. After all, all I needed was a house.
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Ella:
_______________________________________
Saturday 11th May 1892
I slowly creak open the door to the abandoned place of Mrs. Lovett's pie shop. I inhale on the piles of dust that came rushing towards me into the outside world. I coughed out the dust and squinted my eyes because of the dust rubbing against my trachea. I held myself up against the door preventing me from falling.
As soon as I took the one step in inside the kitchen, I felt cold. So cold that I stopped coughing and swallowed the dust. My eyes opened wide, looking into the view in front of me.
Everything was dusty. Old. Dark. Cold. Gloomy. Even the floorboards creaked eventhough nothing was moving. This whole place just screamed 'sadness'.
I gulped. Then whispered to myself, "This place just needs love.... t-that's all"
With that, I then turned around to the door and walked towards it to drive in Lucy in her buggy. I took the handles of the buggy and drove in backwards, but just after I drove in 5 steps inside backwards, I felt watched. I froze, then looked back up towards the door - expecting to see somebody standing there. But nobody was.
After exactly 2 seconds, I felt a body press against my back, and something sharp being pressed against my neck, and with that - Lucy started to cry too eventhough she didn't even see what was happening. I gulped, thinking where this person appeared from, and will I survive the 'now'.
"Who are you?" the deep male voice growled at me from behind.
"E-Ella Cincere" I whispered to him.
"Mrs. Cincere, what are you doing in my house?" he whispered back to me, while suddenly inhaling my scent from my neck. I gasped at this unusual action.
"Y-Your house? But I just moved here" I said, making him freeze.
"Lucy..." he whispered into my ear gently. I remained frozen, while he talked to someone - someone named 'Lucy'. Was he talking to my daughter? ".... I've come home again." he whispered into my other ear before moving the sharp object away from my neck along with his own body.
Without hesitation, I turned around to see who this man was - but to my surprise - nobody was there. Along to my realisation, the room temperature because warmer. Maybe I just got used to the coldness?
I continued to look around the kitchen for a while, trying to see if I could find where the person hid. Unfortunately, there was no way out of here - except for the main door and the door leading upstairs, but I would've heard the door opening. Maybe I was just imagining that this happened? It would explain a lot of things - including the fact that this man didn't have any breath to touch my skin when he whispered. Not even slightly. Maybe it was because of my divorce?
A sudden sound from upstairs made me jump out of my thoughts. It were footsteps. Footsteps of pacing. It was very faded - like smoke, barely audible.
I hesitated, thinking whether to check up or not. But the pacing stopped. I therefore decided not to check and instead stay downstairs. Tomorrow, I will check the upstairs. Definitely.
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It was the evening already. It has gotten pretty dark and this house didn't have any electricity - Instead it had a lot of old, dusty and yellowy candles. I was never fond of candles - honestly - but this was my only option how to get any possible light in the house.
Lucy was already asleep, and so I put her in a normal-sized bed next door to my room and then went to sleep myself.
I layed silent, eyes wide open starring at the decayed white ceiling - thinking what do I need to get from my other house to bring here.
I definitely needed Lucy's baby bed here, that was for sure.
My thoughts didn't last for long until I heard Lucy crying. I groaned thinking about how long it takes me to put her back to sleep and also how warm my bed is. But what has to be done, needs to be done. I got up from my warm bed and stumbled to Lucy's room.
There she lied, in her bed, shrieking like anyone would from a nightmare.
"Shhhhh, Shhhhh, mommy's here...." I whispered sleepily to Lucy - who continued to cry hysterically. I picked her up instantly in my arms and swung her gently, whispering nothings in her ear.
Suddenly the room temperature dropped, and I couldn't do anything instead of putting Lucy back to her bed, as soon as she fell asleep in my loving arms, and cover her in warm bed sheets.
I hugged myself, to make myself warmer. Then exited Lucy's room, and went back to my room. Surprisingly, my room seemed even colder. I definitely couldn't stay up there. I started looking back and forth to the stairs and my room. I supposed that I could've slept downstairs next to the fire - but then will I hear Lucy if she cries?
The more I thought about it - the more I remembered that she usually cried at least once a night lately. So, I decided to sleep downstairs on the comfy sofa next to the warm fire.
I went down the hard steps down into the death darkness of the Living room. As soon as I got down, I didn't hesitate to light the warm fire in the living room's fireplace. As soon as the bright light from the flames hit my face, I relaxed, closing my tired eyes and enjoying the warmth from the fire in front of me.
"Lucy?" a voice reached my ears from someone who stood behind me.
My eyes opened wide in terror while I hesitantly turned around to see a dark figure of a man in the doorway.
"Who are you?" I asked the man with a such dark tone in my voice, I barely believed it was me who said those words.
He slowly started to move towards me, making me flinch. The flames from the burning fire lit up his dark, slim yet sad face. His black night sky hair was curly, falling perfectly around his scalp. And his dark eyes stared into mine, in loving vain. He knelt down to my level, and softly took my pale hand. I backed away from him slowly. All he did was look down at my hand and then slowly back into my eyes.
"Who are you....sir?" I said to him carefully - because I wasn't sure of his intensions. Suddenly he narrowed his eyes at me, and looking almost angry-like. The narrowing of his eyes, hid away his white sides of his eyes - making him look almost black eyed. His eyes darted up to my hair, and then back to my confused eyes. He threw my hand away from his and furrowed his eyebrows, "You're not my Lucy...." he growled at me before turning his head away to look at the burning fire.
Only then, I noticed a white streak in his hair that illuminated his hair length. Something about him made him..... beautiful? He seemed different from any other person I've met. But yet still, I don't know who is he?
"Sir.... how did you get in here?" He didn't respond.
"How did you get inside my house?"
Suddenly, the fire died, Lucy started to cry, the room got really dark all at once. I felt him grab my wrist really tightly and I could see him staring at me with fury.
"This is not your house! Now go and shut up your child before I slit it's throat!" he yelled, making me flinch. I quickly stood up from my position and took the turn to run but instead, he still held my hand and dragged me back. My back hit his chest as he took something shining - like metal or silver would - and placed it on my neck. He inhaled my scent from my neck, making me shiver. "Actually.... stay here..... with me...." he whispered into my ear.
"My d-daughter is crying" I said to him stiffly, while he trapped me with his other arm, that went around my body horizontally.
"Lovett will take care of her" he whispered into my ear.
"Who is Lovett?"
"Somebody who imprisoned us years ago from meeting each other..... Lucy...."
"But you just said that I'm no-" I couldn't even finish my sentence before he started to kiss my neck. I gasped while his ghost-like lips kissed my skin.
His lips moved up to my jaw, but all of my concentration was put to his other hand that held a.............. razor?!
A RAZOR??
I never took my eyes off his razor, while ignoring his soft sucking on my cheeks that slowly moved towards my lips.
He didn't realise it himself how he lowered down his razor - giving me the chance to run. His lips were inches away from mine, but yet never got the chance to touch them because before they could, I made a move to run.
I was free from his hold and I ran towards the stairs.
I heard him chuckle before shouting to me, "Why ya running, pet? Too scared for a kiss?"
I then heard him marching towards me but that didn't stop me from running. I ran up the stairs but tripped making me duck down, as I looked back down, I saw him standing - grinning at me with a razor out in his right arm. "Stop messing around, pet, and come here. I don't want to end up hurting you."
I started crawling up the stairs and crying for mine and my daughter's life, while he slowly climbed up the stairs, "Ya know my mood swings, Lucy" he chuckled darkly again.
He stood directly in front of me - who continued to still try and climb up to Lucy's room. I looked up at him in exhaustion, all he did was bend down in front of me smiling, then careresing my cheek bone. "You know I love you..." he whispered to me, with the same loving eyes minutes ago. In return, all I did was pass out right in front of him.