Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

Fallen Angel	By : Linalove1988 Category: S through Z > Sweeney Todd (Movie Only) > Sweeney Todd (Movie Only) Views: 1526 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Sweeney Todd. No profit is made out of this story.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Disclaimer: I do not own Sweeney Todd.

Chapter 2

Two years later…

The room was dark and smelled of sickness when Anna pushed the door open. She blinked rapidly in order to adjust in the dark and then turned quietly to the man behind her.
“Just one moment, sir. I need to open the window.” She said softly and old doctor nodded at her.
She walked into the room and pushed the curtains away before she opened the window. Light immediately illuminated the room and Anna turned towards the bed.
“Mum, why did you shut the window?” she asked gently as she walked towards her mother.
“The light bothered me.” Came the hoarse reply and Anna offered her some water before she looked towards the door.
“The doctor’s here to see you. Shall I bring him in?” she questioned and her mother gave a faint nod.
The doctor stepped in and Anna left the room. She leaned against the wall, just beside the bedroom door and wiped at her eyes. She was sixteen but she didn’t feel like it anymore. Not when her mother was like this. Not when she had to see the woman who gave her life turning into a living corpse. She knew something was wrong when Mary started getting sick all those years ago. Anna knew something was wrong but she never had imagined that she would ever see her mother in such an awful condition. She wouldn’t eat, she couldn’t even sleep from the constant coughing. The once, healthy, vibrant woman had turned so thin that Anna thought she’d break if she made the mistake of touching her too firmly. The medicine didn’t help anymore and Anna knew that her mother had little time.
Her eyes widened at her own thoughts. She quickly shook her head and pulled away from the wall. She wasn’t supposed to think like that. Not yet. It was too early to give up.
She had managed until that day to keep their little business going. But times were hard and when people were starving in the streets no one had money for flowers. Who was she kidding by keeping it open? She would save more money by closing it down than by keeping it up and running.
“Anna?” the doctor’s voice broke her from her thoughts and she quickly turned to him. He shut the door behind him and walked towards her, a solemn expression on his face.
“Tell me.” Anna said as she crossed her arms defensively over her chest.
Doctor Holstein sighed and shook his head, “I’m afraid your mother’s lungs have deteriorated more rapidly than I had imagined. Her breathing is very slow and irregular and she has difficulty when swallowing. Has she been able to eat?” he asked and Anna shook her head.
“Very little and with great difficulty. Can’t you change her medication? Perhaps-…”
“There’s nothing more I can do for her now, Anna.” He shook his head and adjusted his glasses on top of his hooked nose.
“But…What if I took her to the hospital? They could do something for her there!” she said as she looked at him pleadingly.
“I’m afraid no one can do anything for her now. The hospital would just tell you to take her back home. There is no medication that could help her recover. The medication only assists in keeping her out of too much pain.” Holstein explained and Anna looked at her feet, “I’m sorry, my dear. Is there anything you need?”
“No. No, thank you.” She quickly replied as she reached into her purse and handed him some money.
“I’ll come and see her in a few days. Try and make sure that she eats and drinks something.” The doctor suggested and she nodded dully.
After he had left, it took her half an hour to move from her place in the hall.

*****************************
“Where have you been?” Mary asked as soon as her daughter entered the room with a bowl of soup in her hands.
“I was looking for work.” Anna answered shortly as she sat on the bed and looked at her mother.
“What kind of work? I told you to keep the shop. You never listen to me.” Mary said tiredly, her chest heaving with the effort of trying to speak.
“Drink this.” Anna ignored her and handed her a glass of water. She poured syrup in a large spoon and held it close to her mother’s lips.
“You know it does nothing for me, Anna.” Mary rasped after swallowing the medicine.
“Open up.” Anna instructed as she held up a spoonful of soup.
“I’m not hungry.” Mary shook her head.
“Mum.”
“I want to speak to you. But first tell me where you went to look for work.” Mary pressed on and Anna sighed.
“I found a job at a pub, mum…Well it’s also an inn…No one else would hire me.”
“Pub? To do what?”
“At the bar. Anyway, the pay’s good and a woman is running the business. She said I was a little young but she agreed to give me work. I will have flexible hours until you get well.” Anna finished and Mary closed her eyes briefly.
“Anna…”
“Mum, we need the money! Now, hush up and eat your soup before it gets cold.”
“No, I want to talk to you.” Mary shook her head.
“Can’t it wait after?”
“No.” her mother replied before coughing. Anna handed her some water but her hand shook in panic when the coughing didn’t stop. After a few moments Mary’s head fell back against the pillow and she smiled tiredly.
“I’m fine.”
“We can talk later.”
“No. It’s about your father.”
At those words Anna froze, “But you never talk about him.” She whispered and Mary swallowed hard before she smiled sadly.
“Your father didn’t have a choice but to leave us, Anna. But he was a good man and I never believed the rumors. They were only just words. Nothing more.” Mary said and Anna blinked in confusion.
“What rumors?”
“Your father isn’t here because he was in…he was in prison. He was taken away before you were born.”
Anna stilled completely at her mother’s confession. She had thought about her father countless times but for the last two years she had pushed any thoughts about him to the back of her mind, subconsciously blaming him for all their problems. She had never thought that something like that had happened to him.
“If he is in prison, then he must have done something wrong.” Anna said in what she thought was a strong voice but it turned out to be just a whisper.
“Was. He’s no longer alive. He died a year ago in his cell. And no, I believe he did nothing wrong and especially not something as heinous as rape.” Mary shook her head and Anna felt her throat going dry.
“R-rape?”
“It was a lie, Anna. I never believed it and you should never believe it as well.” Mary said breathlessly as her fists curled around the covers.
“Why…why didn’t you tell me about this sooner?! Why tell me now?” Anna shot up from the bed and glared at her mother with narrowed and harsh gray eyes.
“Because you wouldn’t understand, Anna.” Mary said quietly.
“And you think now I do? No! I don’t! How could you hide something like this from me? If you’d told me…If I knew I could have seen him. I could-…”
“He didn’t want you to know. He didn’t want you to see him. Not like that. And you couldn’t have seen him.” Mary shook her head as Anna wiped a stray tear from her cheek.
“Why not?”
“Because he was sent away from London.”
“Away? I don’t understand.” Anna said as she swallowed a small sob.
“You remember Mr. Barker?” Mary asked suddenly and Anna frowned.
“Of course. But what does he have to do with this?”
“It was just like that. They took your father away just like they took him. Without proper witnesses and without proof. They just shipped him away and I never saw him again.” Mary said as she placed a hand over her heart and looked out of the window.
“Why did you tell me all this, mother? Why now?” Anna asked dully as she stood next to the bed.
“Because I wanted you to know. I didn’t want you to think that he abandoned you. That’s all.”
“How can you be so sure that he was innocent?” Anna asked in a quiet voice.
“Because I knew him. I knew him. I knew Peter.” Mary smiled.
“But I don’t. Thanks to you, I don’t. And I never will.” Anna whispered before she turned and walked out of the room, leaving the door ajar.
From his place, just outside the bedroom door, Blackie got up and followed her to the parlor, where he jumped on her lap and lied down while she stared blankly at the fire blazing in the fireplace.

****************************
Two weeks later…

Anna closed the window and then without looking at the empty bed stepped out of her mother’s bedroom. She shut the door and locked it before she took a step back. She gazed at it for a few moments before a bark from Blackie snapped her out of her daze. She looked away and nervously straightened the skirt of her black dress. She blinked back the tears and then smiled down at Blackie who was gazing up at her with sad eyes.
“I’m fine.” She assured him as she turned and walked down the hall, “It’s just the two of us now. So, while I’m gone you’ll be guarding the house, right?”
Blackie jumped and placed his two front paws at her legs as he let out an enthusiastic bark. She smiled and stroked his head before she pulled on her coat.
“I’ll be back later.” She leaned down and scratched behind his ear before she stepped out of the house, turning the lock behind her.
The click resonated dully into the silence of the empty house.

***************************
Thirteen years after that…

“Oi, Anna! Get out here, will you? Tom’s been asking for you again!” Kate, one of the barmaids called and Anna sighed tiredly. She slipped on her shoes again and pulled her light brown hair into a quick ponytail. She stepped out of the kitchen and headed for the bar.
“I wonder when he’ll ever get the hint and leave you alone.” Kate chuckled as she carried a heavy tray of mugs and glasses into the kitchen to be washed.
“That’s alright.” Anna shook her head as she stepped behind the bar and smiled at the blond man sitting there, sipping ale.
“Evening, Tom.” She smiled and the man grinned.
“There you are. I was wondering where you’ve been hiding.” His bright blue eyes were sparkling as he gazed at her and shifted uncomfortably.
“I wasn’t hiding. I was taking my break. When did you get back?” she asked and he shrugged.
“Just an hour ago. We’re leaving in three days again.”
Anna nodded as she poured him more ale, “How was the journey?” she asked curiously as she leaned against the counter.
“Same as ever. Bloody rats everywhere. Oh, but we did rescue a man from drowning.”
“Oh?” she asked only half interested.
“Aye, found him floating unconscious. Strange bloke he is.” Tom said quietly and Anna smiled.
“Stranger than you?”
Tom laughed but nodded, “Aye. He never talks. Keeps to himself. He barely ate during the journey. Ghostly pale.”
“Sounds like a decent bloke to me. A man of few words. The best man if you ask me.” Anna said with a chuckle and Tom rolled his eyes.
“So, where is this man?” she asked and Tom shrugged.
“Who knows? Last I saw him, he was talking with Anthony. Remember Anthony? He was here on our last voyage.”
“Oh, right. How is he?” Anna asked as she took a rug and wiped at some spilled gin on the counter.
“Good…Hey, are you going to get me something to eat or what?” he asked suddenly and she laughed.
“Maybe…” she called as she disappeared into the kitchen to get him some stew.
When she returned a few minutes later she found Tom facing away from the counter, staring at something.
“Here.” She announced as she placed the stew in front of him. He turned in his stool and looked at her.
“Thanks. Oh and…” he leaned towards her to speak quietly and she did so as well in order to hear him over the noise, “That’s the bloke I was telling you about.” He whispered and Anna’s eyes searched the pub.
“Where?” she asked with confusion.
“There. By the window. The one sitting alone, looking all broody.” He said before he turned to his food. Anna spotted the man he was talking about and tried to make out his face. His features were obscured by darkness for he sat at one of the most darkened corners of the pub. She could tell that he was tall and slim though.
“Oh, I see. I’ll go ask what he wants then.” She said as she wiped her hands and then slipped from behind the bar.
She approached the darkened corner and put a small smile on her face as the form of the man became clearer.
“Good evening, sir. What can I get you?” she asked as she came to stand in front of his small table. The man’s face was obscured behind his mass of black wild curls and his hands were pale as they rested stiffly on the table.
At the sound of her voice he looked up and Anna almost gasped at the sight of his eyes. They were black with dark circles under them. It was like the man hadn’t slept for months by how sunken they looked. The dark orbs were shining with a strange glimmer though, that made her shiver. He had a perfectly straight nose and nicely formed lips that were set into a thin line. Among his mess of ebony curls, a white lock of hair stood out among the blackness and she briefly wondered about his age.
“Gin.” He answered gruffly and Anna almost jumped at the familiarity of his voice. It was like she had heard it before. Like in a dream or something.
“Gin it is. Would you like something to eat as well? We have great stew.” She offered and the man who had diverted his attention from her completely, looked back at her again.
“No. Just the gin.” He replied crisply and by the tone of his voice she could tell that he hadn’t used his voice in a long time.
“Alright. I’ll be right back.” She said with another smile as she turned away and hurried to fetch his drink. While she poured the gin she searched her mind, trying to recall if she had ever seen him before. He did seem strangely familiar. Especially his voice. Sighing in agitation, she brought him the gin and set it in front of him gently. His hand immediately went for the drink and she watched as his slender fingers wrapped themselves tightly around the glass. She heard him hiss at the first sip and as he placed the glass down his dark eyes met her lighter ones. His lips curled into a sneer and she thought she saw him furrowing his brow momentarily before he spoke in harsh undertones.
“Staring is rude, miss. Is there something on your mind?” he asked as he regarded her with undisguised bemusement.
“Um…I’m sorry. I was just wondering if I’ve ever seen you before.” Anna quickly stammered out a response and he scowled.
“Unlikely. I wasn’t in… London.” He replied brusquely and Anna took a step back at his tone.
“Oh. Excuse me then.” She muttered as she turned and slipped behind the bar again.
“See? He’s strange, I’m telling you.” Tom told her with a smirk and she sighed.
“He seems troubled to me. Are you finished?” she said and Tom pushed his bowl away.
“Thanks, love.” He winked and she nodded absentmindedly as she walked back in the kitchen.
When she came out again she found the man from before leaning against it, waiting for someone.
“Can I help you?” she asked and he snapped his gaze towards her. He straightened and pointed upstairs.
“Do you have rooms up there?” he asked lowly and she nodded.
“We do.”
“You rent them?” he asked again.
“We do, sir.”

”The prices?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Low. Because we’re close to the port. You need a room?” she asked and he looked around with cold, calculating eyes before he responded.
“I might.” He replied shortly as he lightly slapped some money on the counter and then turned around to walk away.
Anna watched as he walked out of the pub, his footsteps light and quick as he slipped his hands in the pockets of his jacket and then disappeared into the darkness.

End of chapter 2

Author’s note: Thank you for reading!

Xxx Lina :)
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Fallen Angel