Habits

Leaving It All Behind

John Turpin was no longer missing. The man was found in an alleyway, a gun in his hand and a bullet through his head.  No one suspected a murder, no one could believe anyone would want to kill him. But there was a man, a demon who wanted all the Turpins dead.  They would pay for what the Judge had done to him all those years ago.  Even if he had moved on he wouldn't risk a repeat of the past.

There were two secrets to keep.  Both were kept out of fear of the past.  Nellie worrying that Sweeney would leave her if he found Lucy was alive.  Sweeney scared he would be taken away again but this time from Nellie.  It was getting hard for Eleanore, she always hated keeping things from Sweeney and now that a full week had past she was getting desperate.  Sweeney on the other hand was fine.  He was disappointed at the fact he hadn't found another Turpin yet but he was kept distracted.

The shop was rather busy today but with Toby helping him out it was going quite smoothly.  Sweeney, though he didn't want to, found himself continuously thinking about the woman Nellie had kicked out.  He'd seen her a few times since but didn't dare talk to her.  Whenever he brought up the woman to Nellie she would get worked up and change the subject.  Was she really that worried about her?

Today Sweeney planned to look for her after he closed up the shop though he doubted he would.  For some reason he couldn't push away his guilt and wanted to apologize to her.  Sweeney looked up from the man he was currently shaving.  There were three men left in the room, wasn't horrible.

"Alright sir, you're done," Sweeney said wiping the excess shaving cream from his customers face with the towel he wore on his belt.

The man stood, paying Sweeney and leaving the shop.

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Nellie yawned and looked around the room to find Sweeney gone.  Figuring she'd slept late she stood up and left the room confused by the dark house.  She entered the kitchen to see Sweeney sitting at the table.  He held his face in his hand and didn't hear her as she slowly walked towards him.  As she got closer she could her his heavy sobs. Surprised to see him crying she walked closer placing a hand on his shoulder.

Sweeney flinched looking up to see Nellie standing in front of him.  Standing he quickly wiped his face with his sleeve hoping to hide the fact he'd been crying.  For so long he'd been able to keep the vision of him being strong but everything was becoming to much.  Secrets were harder to keep, emotions harder to hide, darkness harder to destroy.  Nellie ran her hand down his arm comfortingly causing him to look at her, his eyes yet again filling with tears.

"Why Nellie? Why do I feel so much guilt? Why did you kick her out? Why is everything so hard? Why is my life so fucked up? Why am I so scared to raise a child? What's wrong with me?"

Nellie broke hearing his choked voice. She couldn't keep the secret anymore, it was tearing her apart.  He needed to know. She didn't know how he'd react but she couldn't watch him fight himself any longer. This wasn't his fault, it was hers.  He needed to know now, no matter what happened.

"Sweeney..." Nellie started, the fears of telling the truth darting into her mind, "I have something to say.  Something about the woman that I kicked out."

Sweeney looked into her eyes but Nellie turned her gaze to the ground not wanting to see his reaction.

"Three years ago, back in London ya asked me a question. Where is Lucy? I told ya she was dead, well I lied..." She looked to just slightly to see Sweeney narrowing his eyes, "Truth is she left, her memories with ya were too painful and she left London hoping they would go away. I never knew where she went, but now I do. I'll leave ya to figure it out..."