Secrets (Sweeney Todd)

Chapter 4, No Maybes

As I wake up, I feel like I am floating from the very bottom of the ocean to the very top. With each second of floating through the hazy water, my mind becomes clearer. I know I am not home. I am at a girl’s house. I’m at Violet’s house. She is the florist’s daughter. She kissed me. She is trying to fix my wounds. She realigned my broken arm.

                As I break the surface of the ocean, I get hit by a wall of pain. A horrible groan escapes my lips. It seems like the ocean I was submerged in must have been acid- because I am in so much pain.

                “Shh. Toby it’s okay.” I hear from next to me. I turn my head in the direction. I see Violet smiling at me. “I’m so glad you are finally up. I was worried.”

                I prop myself up on my left arm. I look around me. We aren’t in the front room anymore, but in a bedroom. I look down at my right arm. It looks as straight as it always was, but is heavily bandaged. I am glad to at least see my arm look like an arm again. I reach up with my good hand to touch the aching spot on my forehead. All that my fingers find is more bandages.

                I look down at my ankle and see that it, too, is bandaged up. Violet must have worked hard to do this all for me.

                “What time is it?” I ask, feeling groggy.

                “It’s almost noon, if you can believe it.” She says. A shot of panic runs through my mind.

                “I need to leave.” I say. Violet’s eyes darken. I see tears pool in her eyes.

                “Okay Toby. Let me help you,” She says when she sees me struggle to get up. She grabs my good hand and helps pull me up. She puts her arm under my shoulders, trying to support my weight.

                “No, Violet, I don’t need help walking. You’ve done enough for me already anyway.” I say, shrugging away from her touch. She just smiles sadly and takes my hand. I suppose this is okay. I can walk much better with my foot wrapped up, just as long as I keep my weight off of it.

                 She leads me out of the bedroom and we are back in the family room. I suspect she will lead me through the door that will lead to the shop, but she leads me into the kitchen instead.  It’s a small room, with just a sink, and a small table with two chairs, a few cabinets. It’s not as much as we have at our place, but it isn’t much less.

                She leads me out of the back door, onto a street that is completely foreign to me.

                “Why didn’t we go through the shop?” I say, looking around at this new street. I spot about twenty people milling about their way. Not one of them looks up at us.

                “I didn’t want my mom to see you.” Violet says simply. It has been nagging at me for a while now- about how she is so against her mother seeing me. But I guess Johanna would freak if she saw a random person lounging on our couch sporting broken bones. I decide it’s better not to say anything about it to Violet.

                “So, where do you live?” She says, squeezing the hand she’s holding gently.

                “I live on Baker Street… But I am sort of lost. I ran… from my house.” I look at the ground, appearing to just be examining my shoe, but really I just don’t want her to see embarrassment in my face. “If you could just show me the way to Baker Street, that would be lovely.”

                “Hmm. Yes, I can do that. It would be rather ‘lovely’.” She giggles. It reminds me of wind chimes. “And I would just love to hear that whole story of why you ran. But I supposed that can wait until next time. You know, the next time when you tell me all about how you really got your injuries.”