Fleshed Out | Sweeney Todd

Chapter 9| It wasn't meant to be

A fraction of light, flashed behind the eyelids of the sunken woman...

Ella felt enveloped into soft cushions, her body an aching pain nonetheless.

The eyes of her's vibrated with confusion, light being the first thing she saw...

She recognised the place just by looking at her light... how could one not recognise their living room...

Carefully moving her head to the side, her eyes searched the place, her head not tying around the situation she was in...

But then she saw him.

Sweeney Todd sat in the corner, situated in an uncomfortable chair.

He wasn't aware of her consciousness, his head was down, and his fingers tangled in his hair...

"Sweeney Todd?" Her voice, tongue still numb from sleep, sounded silently to him.

His figure slightly jumped at her voice, as if he was awakened from a daydream.

His doe eyes immediately shot at her.

"How are you?" His voice was in concern and care, his back straightened and facing her.

"I think I'm alright?" Her hand rose to her forehead, "a slight headache, but it's not too bad...

What happened?"

She looked at him, her guard down...

"You fell down the stairs..." he simply stated... before looking down at his hands and playing with a loose strand of string...

"Huh..." Ella let out, memories suddenly coming back...

And yet she remembered the urgency of her best friend's danger, but she felt too much pain to even bother to sit upright...

"Look," Sweeney's voice started suddenly, Ella's head shot to him in curiosity at his formal yet sincere tone...

"... I don't know what you saw back there in that thing... but that thing - those people... those men... they looked like me...

I can't be nice to you anymore as it's not getting anywhere.

I need to know what is going on."

She inhaled slowly at that, not sure what to say, but she stopped herself immediately, feeling her ribcage stabbing her breathing...

"Sweeney - I think I need to go to the hospital-"

"No." His voice was sharp.

His head shot at her, brows crossed.

"I don't want anymore of this bullshit and excuses - Tell me what is going on. Now."

He refused to look at her, making it seem like he was genuinely upset; and he was.

"My friend is in danger." She stated, finally.

Sweeney looked up at her now, but his eyes were in a tolerated frustration.

"Why?" He boldly stated.

"One of the men that you saw on the computer... he is likely to kill her."

Something changed in Sweeney's face at that moment...

His brow twitched...

His eyes moved away from her and looked back at his hands with the string...

He was thinking...

But Ella wasn't sure what...

"Those men look like you because... you're not real..." Ella spoke carefully.