A Time and Place for Us

A Date to Regret

Happy new year and thank you all sm for the suppport xxxx

"I proposed this morning over breakfast and I am organising a lavish party tonight to let the world know. You might think it sudden but I could hardly wait. It is not every day you meet a femme with such vast abundance of qualities that pull you to her like a magnet. Furthermore, she had her fair share of suitors that demanded promptness on my part. Eleanor has charm, beauty, savoir-faire and a sharp mind. One of a kind, truly. But you know her better than ever. She is your sister, after all" Harold Winslow continued boasting about his bride to be, but Sweeney wasn't really listening.

How could he? When his legs were threatening to give out as a sharp pain like an arrow shot straight to his heart, making him wince. Breathing was becoming a feat of herculean proportions as a myriad of images and scenarios flooded his mind. Her wearing white for someone else, a posh wedding by the coast. Calling herself Mrs. Winslow instead of Mrs. Todd, the ring he bought for her never be on her finger for its place would be taken for once much bigger, and fancier, with their initials engraved on the pure gold band. Their child calling this man father... yet the most painful feeling of all was the realisation that they would be happier that way. Going on with their lives without him.

What did he have to offer them, anyway? He was an ex-convict, a murderer who used to mistreat her every chance he got, who tried and would have murdered them both had a divine power not intervened. A man whose eldest daughter hated, whom his fearless Nellie had grown to fear, a man who struggled with something so simple as was working up the courage to say "I love you" and give her a damn ring! They deserved better.

But she was committed to him! She said she was! That she would give him another chance and this morning, she explicitly said they had made up for good and acted like so. She also dared to claim that there was nothing romantic between her and Harold because he was the only man she ever loved... Lies, filthy lies. The sting of betrayal resurfaced once again as his self-blaming tendencies faded. Because the only thing he was guilty of was believing her when it was just snakes and poison what always came out of that pretty mouth.

He hated himself for trusting her, he hated Nellie for deceiving him, and the man who didn't seem to be able to shut up for being the one who ultimately was going to get what Sweeney still could not help but want: that infuriatingly beautiful baker, that selfish Jezebel he had been stupid enough to fall in love with.

He was no longer thinking rationally, for he was already imagining what he would do next. The scarlet rivers that would soon trickle down that very deserving throat as his life waned before his eyes. He was vermin, just like Mrs. Lovett was, just like Sweeney if he were to be honest with himself. They all deserved to die, but he would take one at a time.

He raised his razor, his silver friend Mr. Winslow had so tastefully appreciated would be the one bidding him farewell.

Nellie would not choose anyone but Sweeney if he could help it. And she could certainly not marry a corpse.

"Sir! You have to come now!" a young boy unceremoniously barged in, making the demon barber freeze. He couldn't be older than 15, a scruffy sailor or someone's daft apprentice that probably wouldn't be terribly missed... So he smiled, becoming the intruder in, but that rude brat shook his head. "The captain requests to speak with you, sir" and Mr. Winslow stood up at once, getting out of Sweeney's reach.

"I'm sorry I must go now. It must be something important if my dear friend Rawlings calls me up at this time of the day instead of waiting for supper. I am quite adept in navigation so perhaps the matter pertains such field. Nevertheless, I will pay you for your time" he took a whole pound out of his pocket, more than Sweeney earned in a day, and handed it to him. "I hope to see you tonight. I have no doubt that it would make Eleanor very merry to have you in attendance."