Bloody Hell just fall in love already!

Ghosts of Christmas past

December 20th
In the living room, stood a wonderful Christmas tree, decorated with bells and tinsel and a few other decorations. The whole pie shop was cheerfully decorated in honor of the joyous holiday. Mrs.Lovett and Toby worked very hard all week to earn extra tips for Christmas presents. Johanna and Anthony also helped around the shop. Sweeney Todd layed back on killing people throughout the week because he figured they'd have families to spend Christmas with, but he did end up killing just a few people out of pure boredom. Johanna, Anthony, and Toby loved helping mrs.Lovett with the decorating, the three of them also had a few snowball fights together.

The only person that didn't help decorate, was Sweeney Todd. He spent Christmas alone in a dark cell for fifteen years, he wasn't exactly in the Christmas spirit. He stayed up in his shop all week and he even kept the shop open for a few extra hours, which brought in more money. But since he wouldn't come down, he and mrs.Lovett wouldn't really see each other, which didn't exactly go well for the kids who were trying to play cupid.

The three of them sat in the parlour together while mrs.Lovett was at the market. "Normally people come together during the Christmas holiday, but how can they do that if mr.Todd won't leave his shop?" Anthony blurted out.
"I'll get him to come down, don't worry" Johanna stood up.
"Wait" Toby stopped her, "even if he does come down, wot do we do then? They won't fall in love just by being in the same room." Toby was right, but Johanna snapped her fingers as she got an idea "mistletoe. While I go talk to my father, you two hang up mistletoe in the living room!"
They both nodded "good idea."

Johanna walked up to her father's shop, she knocked before entering. When she did enter the shop she saw her father looking at the picture of herself as a baby and her mother Lucy. "You know..." Johanna began, "I'm sure mother would've wanted you to enjoy your first Christmas back, instead of being locked away in this dark shop."

Sweeney truly did want to spend this time with the others, especially his daughter. But he didn't want to seem so depressed around everyone and darken the mood. "I know you miss her" Johanna whispered, "but she's at peace, and she'd want you to be happy." Johanna whispered, Sweeney considered what she said and realized she was right.

"Alright" he muttered as he put the picture down. "Thank you dad!" She hugged him and the two walked down stairs together. Mrs.Lovett was pulling a batch of cookies out of the oven as they walked into the shop.

"Why 'ello Sweeney. Nice to see you after all this time, I was beginning to think yeh disappeared up there." She placed the batch of cookies onto the counter "just made some Christmas cookies, they're a bit hot but they should cool down soon so 'elp yourself." Mrs.Lovett was mainly talking to Johanna and the two other kids, knowing Sweeney probably wouldn't eat any.

Johanna peered into the livingroom to see if the boys hung the mistletoe, which thankfully they did. Johanna smiled to herself, now it was only a matter of time before the barber and the baker would both accidentally stand underneath of it.

Later that night, Sweeney Todd helped decorate a little bit, trying his best to enjoy it. Decorating was something Lucy loved to do, then again so did Nellie, but it didn't quite feel the same. Nonetheless, he decorated with all of them anyway, knowing it probably meant a lot to Johanna. He wanted to spend a lot of time with his daughter since he was gone for fifteen years, he missed out on so much of her life. But she was only sixteen, she was still a child. In his eyes atleast. After about an hour, he put two little bells on the tree and then walked over to where Nellie was standing, "do you mind if I go back upstairs?"  His voice sounded tired with a bit of sadness. Mrs.Lovett understood why he asked and she understood he hadn't celebrated Christmas for such a long time.

"Of course I don't mind, you should get some sleep" sometimes it truly felt that Nellie Lovett was the only person alive that ever understood him. He gave her a slight smile before turning to Johanna.

"I'm going to get some sleep love, but I'll see you tomorrow" he told her, hoping she wasn't disappointed he was going upstairs early.

"Alright father, love you."

"Love you too" he gave her a quick hug before going up to his shop to sleep the memories of Christmas past away...or so he hoped.

*(Dream)* Christmas eve never felt so dull. Benjamin sat alone in his backyard. His parents were kept late at work so the twelve year old was left by himself on Christmas eve. He looked up at the stars, occasionally glancing over to his best friend Nellie's house, hoping she was having a better Christmas eve than he was. He heard nothing but silence in this cold night. Perhaps the coldest Christmas eve the twelve year old boy had ever encountered. Everything was so silent it was almost sad, he wished his parents were with him, telling stories of santa by the fire. He also missed Nellie since he hadn't seen her all day which for them, was unusual. But her mother took Nellie into town all day for the holidays. Now she was home though, a few candles were lit in her dining room so he assumed they were having dinner. He could only see their shadows through the curtains. Nellie's father was the biggest, Nellie's mother was a bit smaller, and the tiniest one was Nellie's shadow. Everything was so silent, he once again turned his attention to the sky, but quickly shot his eyes over to Nellie's house when he heard her father's loud voice yell something. He couldn't tell what it was though because the window was closed. Through the curtain, Benjamin saw the shadow of her father throw a bottle (probably of alcohol) across the room as he shouted. He heard Nellie's mother attempting to calm him down as she stood up. Finally Nellie's small shadow stood up from the chair and yelled at her father, before being slapped across the face by her father. Even though the window was closed, he heard the slap and he heard her mother yell at him. Nellie's shadow ran out of the room. Benjamin stood up and filled with panic. Then he saw his best friend open up her bedroom window and climb out onto the roof, holding one hand to her cheek. Benjamin's eyes widened and he quickly ran across the road and through her yard. When he reached the side of the house underneath her window, he used bricks, stone, and thick vines to climb up the side of her house to where she was sitting. When he looked at her, he noticed she had a bruise on her left eye, but she was holding her right cheek. Which meant her father must've hit her the day before. Benjamin didn't say anything, he just removed his jacket and put it around Nellie, keeping his one arm around her. "You saw didn't you?" She asked him in a whisper, her voice was shaky and choked up.

"I'm so sorry Nell." She quickly wiped away a few tears from her face.

"I'm okay, I'm just glad you're here" she put her head on his shoulder and he pulled her a bit closer.

"I'll always be here." He whispered "and who needs family? Christmas is better with you anyway." This made her smile and cheer up a bit. He sighed when he heard the churchbells from down the road chime midnight, "merry Christmas Nell."

Sweeney Todd opened his eyes slowly and sighed "I'll always be here." He whispered.

Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed! Big thanks to everyone who's been commenting and voting! You guys are the best! Thanks so so much for reading comment telling me what you think! I'll update asap! Have a great day/night! :)