******A short Sweeney Todd fanfiction story. Enjoy 😘*****
The sky was dark and thundery, and menacing clouds moved quickly over the big city of London.
You hurried through the dingy, low lit streets, the fire in the lanterns beginning to die down in the tall black lampposts.
Your shawl was pulled over your head and wrapped around your shoulders, as you held the loose cotton material to your chest.
Your long H/C hair was tangled, slightly greasy and messy, as it hung loosely just below your shoulders. A piece of hair covered your pale E/C eyes, making it hard for you to see, especially as it had started raining hard.
You shivered, as the rain-drenched you and pierced your skin, going right through your clothes.
Your long, frumpy dark pink dress trailed the ground, the hems of your dress, muddy and dirty.
Your shoes were even worse, however. Once pearly white heeled boots were now dark wood brown and smeared with thick gloopy mud. The mud seemed to be hardening, making it hard for you to walk, so you were almost stiffly waddling like a penguin.
You needed to find somewhere to stay for the night, otherwise, you might risk dying of pneumonia. You weren't ready for that quite yet.
You passed the docks, stopped and peered around, trying to see if there was any open shop.
No luck so far.
You saw a shop called "Mrs Lovett's Meat Pies", which you waddled over too, the shop door seemed to be locked.
Then you spotted some grey stone stairs, you didn't care where they went, just so long as they took you to somewhere which would keep you away from the harsh wind, cold and rain.
You climbed the steps, despite not knowing where they would take you.
When you got to the top of the steps, there was a black wooden door. You wondered whether to go in or knock.
Hesitantly, you reached for the dirty golden doorknob. As your fingertips touched the knob you pulled away.
After taking a deep breath and reassuring yourself, you opened the door and went inside.
The room was dark and quite bare. The floor was wooden and completely bare.
There was a barbers chair in the middle of the room, a table with a photograph, a small box and a couple of candles that were burning.
In a corner, there was a wardrobe with a cracked mirror. A tray with a steaming bowl of soup, a pie and a glass of brown stuff that hadn't been touched. And finally, a big window with no curtains overlooked the big, dark rainy city of London.
To say the least, you found the room very eerie and too silent for your liking. This place gave you the creeps; it sent shivers up your spine.
You gazed around and found yourself drawn to the photograph on the table.
You picked up the photo and scanned it. In the picture was a smiling and very beautiful lady. She was cradling a pretty baby girl, who appeared to be her daughter.
The person who lived here had a family, the family you'd never had, the family you desperately wished for.
You felt yourself tear up, with unhappiness. You put the picture carefully down and slumped to the floor.
Drawing your knees up to your head, you began to cry.
Apart from the obvious, you were feeling so depressed.
Your family had kicked you out and the evil Judge Turpin had found you and taken you in. He was constantly trying to seduce you whenever he got the chance, which was far too often for your liking.
You'd been trapped inside Turpin's house for almost a month and only tonight had you got the chance to escape and run away without anyone knowing. You never wanted to go back there ever again.
The door opened and someone came in. You didn't hear, you were crying too much to notice.
"What are you doing here?" Asked a stern male voice.
You stopped crying, tears running down your face and found yourself looking at a man with a pale face, dark eyebrows that arched down and black hair that had a white streak in it.
You noticed he had the loveliest dark brown eyes, they had a slight smoky black shadow beneath them, which made you feel a slight attraction to him.
You had no idea why, for you had only just laid eyes on this guy.
He was wearing black barbers clothes, some black shoes and a long-sleeved white shirt.
One of the sleeves of his shirt was splattered with some red stuff.
It couldn't be... you were sure it wasn't.... blood.
It was though.
You didn't dare reply to this attractive, but intimidating man.
You backed away towards the door scared of what he was going to do to you.
He walked towards you, as you shuffled back. You found you'd backed completely into the door and now you couldn't escape, especially since you happened to still be sitting.
This was the end, you knew it. You covered your face with your hands expecting the worst.
Nothing happened though. You looked up once more and saw the man was looking at you; looking as though wanting to manipulate you, but also looking concerned.
He knelt next to you and asked in a slightly softer voice "Who are you?"
"Y/N L/N." You whispered hoarsely, your eyes round with fear.
He saw how scared you were, so he said "No, no don't be afraid. Let's just talk first."
He stood up and offered you his hand, you looked at it and he smiled, making him look even more attractive in your eyes.
You smiled back and thankfully took it. You noticed that his hand was incredibly warm as he helped you onto your feet.
He notices you shivering, so he wraps his coat (which happened to be conveniently laying by), around your shoulders.
"Now tell me Y/N, what is a young lass such as yourself doing out in the dreadful rain?" He asks nonchalantly picking his nails, not seeming to care about you at the present moment.
"My family kicked me out and I ran away from Judge Turpin," you murmur.
"What?" He asked sharply, looking up at you, his face clouding with anger, eyebrows arching over his eyes.
"I ran away from Judge Turpin," you say coolly.
Then suddenly, the barber walked towards you aggressively and pinned you against the wall by your throat as though you were some sort of dartboard that kept dropping off the wall. You thought you might drop if that razor of his got any closer to your throat.
You were extremely scared and for a moment you thought he might kill you right there and now.
Oh just let him, You thought. At least I'd be away from Turpin.
"What is he to you? Are you his wife?" He asked, his hand tightening tighter around your throat. His nails dug sharply into your neck and his eyes were dark and dangerous looking, you instantly knew he was not the type of person to mess around with.
You struggled for air, trying to take in sharp deep breaths so that he wouldn't kill you. Even if he didn't use that razor of his to finish you off, you weren't taking any chances.
What's his problem? You think.
He seemed to have a grudge against Judge Turpin for some reason.
You gagged, the taste of sick in your mouth.
"Ugh!" You said in a rather strangled voice. "Thank God I'm not. I'd rather die than be married to him and I probably would have if I hadn't run away."
The barber's grip on your throat loosened slightly. "You mean he took care of you and you ran away just because, or because he treated you badly?
"Yes, but he didn't take care of me," you say a bit stiffly. "He took me in after my family kicked me out, but then he would try and seduce me and beat the stuffing out of me if I screamed for help. I escaped a few times, but he always found me. Only tonight have I been able to escape properly, I've walked four miles at least trying to get away from my abuser."
You look away as a tear trickles down your pale face as you remember the weeks of pain and cold meals.
The man lets go of you completely, letting you drop onto the hard, dusty, wooden floor, choking.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realise," he says as you pick yourself up off of the floor, rubbing your throat where the man had grabbed you.
"I'm... Sweeney Todd," he says hesitantly, holding out his hand to shake yours, not knowing what else to say.
You reluctantly shake it.
"Forgive me for asking," you start. "But what has Judge Turpin ever done to you?"
Sweeney sat down in the barber's chair in the middle of the room and stroked a blade he had on him.
Was it just you or did he have a strange obsession with them?
"Judge Turpin took everything away from me." He says solemnly. "He took my life away from me, my beautiful wife and my baby daughter. My daughter was only one year old..." He trailed off.
"Is that them?" You ask pointing at the photograph.
He nods, gets up out of the chair and picks up the photo, looking at it sadly, a longing in his eyes.
"Yes. That's my wife," he says tracing the lady with his finger. "and that's my daughter." He traces the baby, visibly sad.
"I'm sorry."
"It doesn't matter, I've moved on. That happened years ago," he mumbles, putting the photo down and turning back to face you.
"Do you need somewhere to stay, if you're not going back to Judge Turpin?" He asks suddenly. "I mean, nothing's stopping you from going back."
"I don't ever to go back to that hell house," you declare stubbornly. "Can I stay with you, Sweeney?"
He looks genuinely surprised, but smiles. "Yeah sure. Not with me, but there's a spare bedroom. Follow me."
You follow him out of the room, down some stairs to a spare bedroom. As you walk the stops in his tracks and says thoughtfully "My downstairs neighbour, Mrs Lovett, owns a pie shop. Perhaps you could make a bit of money there, help out with making the pies and stuff like that."
You can't help but smile. This was such a sweet, generous offer.
You and Sweeney continue to walk on in silence until you reach the bedroom. You open the spare bedroom door and see a bed in one corner, a wardrobe with a mirror in another, a chest of drawers, a lamp, a dressing table and a window with a pair of dusty slightly turned purple curtains.
"It's not much, but it's ok."
"I love it!" You exclaim. "Thank you so much, Sweeney."
You give him a hug, which startles him immensely. After a few seconds though, he hugs you back. It was more a friendly pat than a hug, but still.
"No problem." He says as you release him from your embrace.
"Just ask me or Mrs Lovett if you need anything. Get good sleep." He says in a slightly 'do what you told' voice, but still trying to sound kind. "I hope you'll be comfortable in here...."
He leaves you alone, walking away quickly in all of a fluster.
***Maybe not the Sweeney Todd you were expecting, but hey in fanfiction you can let your imagination run wild. Hope you enjoyed this short Sweeney Todd fanfiction story anyway.***