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i want to write a Sweeney fanfic, but i'm fresh out of ideas. any suggestions?

thanks! but it's not mine, it's my best friend's. xp

The Razor’s Refrain

“Hey. Hey!” Izzy whispered to Kenny from across the table.
“What?”
“I’m bored.”
“We all are.”
“Oh! We should totally do something after school!”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Maybe just look for something fun to do.”
“Well, maybe we can just walk around the neighborhood.”
Another voice chimed in. Natalie’s.
“Not in this neighborhood.”
Ms. Venti then scolded the group because they were supposed to be copying vocabulary words. They met up after wards in the hallway with Cesar, Eddie and Ruben. Izzy was the first to bring up the issue of boredom after school. He asked them what should be done after school. Cesar had an idea, so he voiced it.
“’Ey, man, we should go in the, uh, the church!”
Izzy’s eyes brightened when faced with the new opportunity.
“Oh, yeah! Maybe they have some secrets!” He rubbed his hands together giddily. He asked the people surrounding him if they wanted to join him, because he was definitely not going by himself. Of course, they all agreed, because no one that knew Izzy would let him go somewhere by himself; even five people were not enough supervision for Izzy.
The day progressed, and Izzy was pretty stoked about raiding the church, simply, because they ran the risk of getting caught. After school, they all ran to the church; Izzy, Kenny, Ruben (who was reluctant), Eddie, Gabriel, Natalie and Cesar. Izzy was forced to lead them. At first, it was the same old church they had always known. But Izzy proceeded to walk around and even
went up the balcony above anything. He found a door that which no one had ever laid eyes upon before. He tentatively opened the door. It was a trifle disappointing. There were a few somewhat interesting artifacts, but they were pretty dusty and delicate. But then, something caught Eddie’s eye.
“Hey, guys, what’s this?”
It was a curiously un-dusty trunk, hidden underneath various smaller artifacts. Gabe carefully removed the artifacts, being very careful not to touch the trunk itself, for reasons he couldn’t articulate. He wanted to move it into the light and open it, but his petite 72-pound frame would not allow that.
“Hey, help me move this.”
“Oi, this thing is heavy!”
“Oh, geez, what’s in this thing?”
“Whoa, that’s heavy!”
“Ow, my baack!”
Everyone had their hands on it, helping each other lift it. It was heavy, and it was obvious that whatever was in it was not for the middle school students to carry. Soon, the room began to spin, faster and faster, and they seemed to float above the room, higher and higher. The world opened up beneath them in a flash of blinding light, and the group descended down into the crack. The world they knew faded away, revealing a new one, one that was dark and gloomy and at least twenty shades of grey. They landed on the ground with a sharp thud. As soon as they collected themselves, they leapt away from the trunk, now fearful of the wretched thing that had just taken them on this wild ride. Nat looked around and the surroundings seemed oddly familiar. She could have sworn she’d seen this place before even if it was just in a dream or something.
Kenny, immensely curious about it, opened the trunk. Inside was not what anyone expected; it was odd, it was curiously fascinating, it was…
…A butcher’s block. Along with a ghastly-looking meat cleaver, there were various other butchering utensils.
“That’s odd,” mused the only female of the group. She suddenly had a faint idea of where they could be. She wandered off a little bit and was astonished to find that her hunch was true. She ran back to the group with the excited look of a mad scientist that had just made a groundbreaking discovery.
“Blackfriars!” She exclaimed, pointing to the bridge that was nearby.
“That’s Blackfriars Bridge!! We’re in LONDON!” She laughed a somewhat maniacal laugh. She pulled out three folded pieces of paper.
“I’m not sure if it’s London now, in 2009, because it’s too dirty.” She walked to the bridge, being careful to stay away from the water.
“That’s the River Thames, then.”
Unfolding a map, she said partly to herself and partly to the group, “That was is Bridge Street. If we make a left there, it’s…”
Kenny knew where she was getting at.
“Where I think it goes?”
She grinned and nodded.
“Fleet Street.”

δδδ

Gazing out the window, as usual, Sweeney Todd could have sworn that he saw something fall from the sky. Or perhaps it was his insomnia playing tricks on him again. He sighed and sat down in his barber chair, being careful not to step on the pedal. Somehow, he was more restless than usual. As if something in his world had been disrupted, or something was not where it should be. He got up and paced in his graceful manner, trying to figure out what had been disturbed. Then he heard unfamiliar footsteps walking up the stairs to his little room. He sighed and thought, “Another customer,” and proceeded to do his business.

δδδ

Back on Blackfriars Bridge, the group of students (who did not fit in at all with the ultra-conservative style of the Londoners) were walking at a hasty speed, for if a ship should come towards the bridge, they would have to walk back and then walk the whole way again. Izzy was, as usual, just following along with the plan as usual, founding himself inquiring on their destination.
“Where are we going?”
Kenny and Nat exchanged knowing glances, and said in unison, “You’ll see.”

δδδ

It was getting dark now. Sweeney was still restless, and pacing, but not for his usual reasons. Soon, though, out the smaller window, he saw a group of strangely dressed school children, the oldest being maybe fourteen and the youngest being maybe twelve. All male. Wait, one female, about the size of the smallest boy, leading them. He was confused by this. He had never seen people dress like this before. They wore maroon-colored shirts (the girl wore a white one) and black pants (maroon plaid skirt). The girl’s skirt was knee-length; still pretty short, as far as he was concerned. There was a tall boy with medium length black hair, with it falling over one eye, with a slightly clumsy walk, another tall boy, but with darker skin and short, dark hair, a sneaky-looking boy with smoothed black hair, and strange, but not ugly, features, a boy with a shuffling gait and short, black hair, a copper-skinned boy with dark, wavy hair, the girl with long, dark hair, and a fair-skinned buy with straight, dark hair. They all looked subtly foreign with their dark eyes, dark eyes and sharp features. He walked out the door and down the staircase. Not to greet them, but to discourage any raid or robbery they might have been planning. When the boys saw him, most awkwardly cast their eyes downward. Nat noticed Sweeney’s hand behind his back, glared mildly at him, and stepped back, pushing the others with her. They all tensed, obviously preparing to run. After a moment of icy silence and an annoyed sigh or two, Nat decided to introduce.
“I am Natalie Lara.” She pointed in the order of: the tall boy with long hair, the darker boy, the shuffler, the sneaky-looking boy, the copper-skinned boy, and then the fair-skinned boy.
“My cousin, Israel, Kenny, Ruben, Cesar, Eddie and Gabriel.”
The boys nodded once in greeting. Sweeney thought they would have English accents like him, but they didn’t; they had strange accents he had never heard before. These young visitors were strange. Just then, a man, known only as Mr. Brown, walked into Mrs. Lovett’s pie shop below Sweeney’s barber shop. Sweeney followed the man into the shop. The group of friends followed Sweeney into the shop. They politely greeted Mrs. Lovett and Mr. Brown. Sweeney said nothing, just watched for a bit. Soon, though, he retreated to his domain upstairs. Izzy continued to follow him, only because he did not know where else to go. The others stuck together and followed each other. The barber was beginning to get irritated. He turned to glare at the group. Some returned the glare, while others met it with a confused expression. Kenny hurriedly fled, along with Cesar. Izzy, after being glared at for some time, left also, followed by the rest. Sweeney Todd was very confused by the group; he had never heard their accents before, never seen their clothes, nor met anybody with such bold and daring personalities. He sighed, and sat in his barber chair. Soon, he fell asleep.

δδδ

A few hours later, the barber was jolted awake by the sound of one of his fears: dogs. It was a howl, and it seemed awfully close. He looked out the door window and was shocked to see the group laying on the stone in the small, nearby lot. He could see a pair or two of eyes glinting in the moonlight, meaning they were still awake, though it must have been late now. But he was glad for the few hours of sleep he did get. He walked to his cot and lay down. He wasn’t able to fall asleep again. Once or twice, he considered ridding himself of the somewhat annoying group, but they were too close to Johanna’s age. He wondered what she looked like. Did she look like her mother? These were the types of things that haunted him at night, kept him from falling asleep. He thought about things he didn’t want to think about, remembered things he preferred to forget. Then he wondered why the friends had chosen him to latch on to. He knew he didn’t look very hospitable with his red-rimmed eyes, and shock of white going through his hair. Soon, the sun began to creep out from behind the clouds and brighten the day. Though to him, no day was bright anymore. He got up, his bones aching, and looked out the window. Some were already awake and wandering around aimlessly. He wondered if the ones that were awake did not get any sleep either. He could tell by their aimless wandering that they were obviously not natives of London. The cousins, who were the ones awake, must have felt watched, because they turned, grinned, and waved at him. He returned neither the grin nor the wave, but instead turned and went back to his cot to lie down. And slowly fell asleep.
When he awoke again, it was already afternoon, and no nightmares had haunted him. That was a new, strange feeling. He tidied himself up a bit and waited for the first customer of the day.

δδδ

Izzy saw a customer walking towards the barber shop. He knew well enough that the man would not be walking out. None of them knew how to tell Sweeney that they knew about his business, but would never tell the authorities because they had more loyalty than that, even though they never spoke much to him (that, and even if they would, they would not be able to find their way around the winding, convoluted streets of London). The customer cast Izzy a strange look, which he responded with by sticking his tongue out. Soon, they heard the trap door sliding and then replace itself. Izzy thought that now was the time to let Sweeney know that they knew. Izzy approached the staircase. His cousin rushed to his side. She said, “If you’re going up there, I’m going with you. Should anything happen, I’ll be there to stop it or tell the others.”
“Okay, fine, whatever.”
They both walked up the stairs and knocked on the door softly. Sweeney, pretending to dust off hair from the barber chair, said simply, “Come in.” They opened the door and stepped inside. He stepped towards his razors discreetly, but they squared their shoulders and tensed their muscles defensively. Izzy hesitantly stated their reason for being there.
“We’re not here to blackmail you, but we’re just--” Here, he lost his gumption.
“Tell him, Natalia.”
“We’re just letting you know we know.” She walked over to the barber chair, and stepped on the hidden pedal. The chair immediately reclined, revealing the trap door and a basement beneath, where a fresh corpse stood. The cousins stood unfazed by the sight of it.
Izzy added, awkwardly and tentatively added, “And we know about, erm, that, what probably keeps you up at night. We think it was wrong, what happened…”
Sweeney, for the first time, uttered a word to them, but in a very quiet voice.
“How?”
Izzy shrugged.
“We can just tell.” Izzy began to sway his shoulders nervously and fidgeted. Nat sensed his nervousness, and decided it was time to get him out of there, before he said something that might reveal too much.
“Well, your secrets are safe with us. Come on, Izzy.” Then they left. Sweeney stood still, stunned. He fell asleep that night, and stayed asleep the whole night. Oddly, it was strangely comforting that they knew and said nothing about it. They thought it was unjust, too. And that thought put him to sleep.

δδδ

Somehow, another friend appeared mysteriously a few weeks later, Rebecka. She was holding a small trinket in a cloth.
“I’ve been looking for you guys forever!” After greeting their friend, the cousins ran upstairs to see the barber for one last time. They exchanged a few words, then Izzy gave him a handshake, and Nat gave him a brief hug. After bidding their favorite barber farewell, they ran to their lost friend. They all placed a finger on Rebecka’s trinket and soon, they were gone. Sweeney was saddened. He somehow knew that that would be the last time he’d see the odd group of misfits. He felt alone again.

δδδ

Back in the secret room, all except Rebecka gave each other knowing glances. They would never forget the events of the last month or so. Time seemed not to pass in their world. They hoped to go back someday, but that’s another show. Er, story.


THE END


this one, ^ i wrote for social studies. my friends are there, so their names are in it. i know, i had to water it WAY down so Mrs. Eickmann doesn't say, "D=< what are you watching, Natalie?!" i know Sweeney's a little OOC, but hey, it's all i could come up with. it's 7 pages on Word. the three fancy looking S's are like, spacers? kind of....