Please keep Haunting Me | Sweeney Todd - after death

Part 6

Cold. So cold. That was all I could think of. My body was frozen like ice. And my feet and hands were blue. Not normal blue. But pale blue.

"Promise to never leave me again..." I heard a deep voice whisper in my almost lifeless ear that suffered from the cold.
Though, I could not speak, nor nod to this promise I wanted to make.
His arm was around my waist. Holding on tight. Someone might think that he was trying to warm me but instead: his every touch on my cold skin, made it even colder.

"You know that I love you, Lucy... always have... and always will... you were on my mind every single day..." the voice continued to whisper.

My lip trembled for an answer but nothing escaped my dry mouth.

My eyes slowly shook open, only to be revealed to the blinding pale sun that did not warm a touch. Everything was white.

"I-I-I....I....I'm.... c-c-c-c...c....cold" I managed to speak out with a trembling voice.
"I...I...I-I-I f-f-..f...feel....c-c-cold...a-a-a....a-around y-y-you...."

"I always feel cold.... always.... unsuferable pain... but with you... your presence...makes me warm... I can never understand why.... do you know why Lucy?"

"....I-I m-m...m-might..." I remained silent for a second or two, "b-but o-o-others say I'm wrong..."

I felt the bed I'm in shake and then a shadow cover me. My eyes crept above me to find the man in the name of Sweeney Todd above me. He knelt down to my pale cheek and kissed it softly. He then lifted his head up, not breaking the eye contact.

"Lucy... I think I know now..." he brushed my cheek lightly, "I think...I know now" he whispered almost audibly.
"Why?" I whispered back.
"You're cold... I'm warm..." he drifted off, "you're warm.... I'm cold" he gulped then whispered with a sore voice, "You're alive... I'm dead"

With that, my breathing became faster. Did he just admit my theory? But that wasn't the only thing in my mind. My mind was mostly focused on his voice that creaked in pain.

My head slowly shifted towards his figure.

"You can't stay with me... and I can't stay with you" He said while placing his palm on my still frozen cheek.

"Then t-take me w-with you... I'll k-kill myself..." I whispered.

A sad smile came across his lips as he brushed my cheek softly. He looked at every detail of my face... but he seemed to remember of something and his smile dropped. His face was in pain. Emotional pain. His eyes became watery and my heart sunk. He starred into my hazel eyes full of love. He brushed my cheek once more then froze.

"Life is for the alive, my dear" he whispered.

He looked into my eyes once more.
Every word he just produced, teared out both my and his damaged souls.

"I love you..." he whispered. He was gone. His hands fell apart like dust. It fell gently onto the white sheets. Dust was falling apart from him. He was part of this dust. His arm disappeared in the same agony like way. I placed my hand on his soft cheek, hoping he would stay... but instead... my hand went straight through him.

Like a ghost.

He smiled painfully with glass eyes that cried in sympathetic agony. I knew he loved me. I saw he loved me.
His face fell like dust. Down. On my hands that trembled.
Warmth hit my body and I could physically breathe again. But not mentally. Never mentally.

His face.

His agoned face was still stuck in my brain and his love is still stuck in my heart but his damp soft kisses are fading away and so is his body. His face. His eyes. His touch. But never his love.

Tears ran down my face and from my tearful eyes that still were focused to the spot where his face was. The face that loved and smiled and cried.

_________________________________

"Ben!?" My tearful voice echoed down the upstairs room known as the barber shop.
"Benjamin!?" I shouted through lustful sobs.
No reply.

My legs violently shook out of the bed I was in, and reached the wooden floor. "Ben!!?" I screamed through a cry that spilled from me.
No reply.
The room was just silent.
No sounds.
Except my own screaming of Sweeney's real name.

I quickly stood up from the bed and covered my naked body with the covers. "Benjamin Barker!!" I screamed in agony that came right from my heart. Tears fell rapidly. My hands shook. My eyes squinting together. My knees falling down to the wooden floor. My hands covering my face. My head shook.
"C-Come back" I whispered. But nothing happened.

_________________________________

I ran down the creaking stairs to my original house. The pie shop.
"B-Ben?" I whispered while opening the door. I froze.
The whole shop was trashed, almost destroyed and there was glass on the floor. "What happened in here?" I gasped.

I walked down to the middle of the shop while looking around. my eyes got caught on something smashed on the floor ever so violently. I walked towards it and saw a book. Well the cover of the book. The book didn't have a name or an author, neither a picture.

I slowly picked up the book but found it to be really light. I turned the book around to see the pages but came to an aknowledgment that it wasn't a book. It was a picture frame that was like a book itself.

The photo frames glass was shattered to endless pieces so the photo was hard to make out.

I shook the light picture frame to get the shattered glass out. As soon as the glass made contact to the hard floor, I couldn't breathe because of the extreme heat that came rushing towards me.

"What are you doing!?" A female voice came from behind me.

I quickly turned around to see Mrs. Lovett standing in the doorway, looking at me as if I was her child that just picked up a dead rat.

"I'm just-... I found this" I said while referring to the photo frame.

She looked at the photo frame and sighed. She took out her hand and held it palm faced upwards to the frame. "Give that to me" she said almost calmly.

"Why?" I said while holding the notebook as close to me as possible.

Suddenly she took a step forward and hissed, "give it!"
I trembled. Why does she want that frame? Is it hers? What does she have to hide?

I hesitantly placed the photo frame in her palm and as soon as it was there, she snatched it.

"Thank you" she growled.
"Did ya see the picture?" She said while looking carefully at the closed photo frame.

"No" I said shyly.

"-manners!" She said with her eyes widening wide while looking at me.
Yeah, she's right, she could use some manners!
"I don't know where you've came from but for you it's either - 'no, ma'am' or 'no, Mrs. Lovett'!" She screamed.

I was full of confusion. What just happened? Why is she shouting at me? What did I do?

"Now listen, lady" she continued while pointing a finger at me, "you leave this place - and Mr. Todd alone before I call over the police for property stealing!!" She screamed.

I snarled. Police? Seriously? She can't even get out of this house!!

"No! How about you listen! This is my house! Your Mr. Todd has left while admitting the fact that he's a damn non-human - just like you! So how about you leave before I call the!!-" I screamed but suddenly it hit me... "....police...." I looked down. "...Edward.... he had to call the police... yesterday..."

"What are you talking about?" Mrs. Lovett interrupted my thoughts.

"Yesterday.... Mrs. Lovett?" I said while looking up at her again - calmly this once.

"Yes?" She looked confused at me.

"Did police come yesterday at this door, here?" I said almost panicingly.

Then she tilted her head to the side, still confused about what I am talking about. Her answer. Her answer changed a lot in this whole story itself.

"No"