My heart raced as I sat alone in the trunk, listening to the muffled voices of who I could only assume were Judge Turpin and the kind man Mr Todd that Anthony spoke so fondly of. Even though I was petrified, I couldn't help but smile through it. He had said so many kind things about Mr Todd that it would be impossible not to feel slightly safer. Yet the fact of the matter was that while I still heard Judge Turpin's voice, I could not leave the cramped space I was in.

"Where is she?" I heard. It was Judge Turpin. I waited with bated breath for his answer, just for curiosity's sake. There was a slight pause, in which time my heart started beating faster, almost echoing.

"She is down below, sir, with my neighbour." In those words, it was as if all the air had been knocked out of my lungs. She is down below? No, that did not make any sense. I furrowed my brow, searching through his words for something that could possibly hint at my escape from London. Not a word of it allowed such. And yet, not a word of his sentence meant that I would be found by Judge Turpin. I felt tears pricking in my eyes; tears of fear.

"She has seen the error of her ways."

"She has?"

"Oh, yes, sir. She speaks only of you. Longing for forgiveness." There was a sigh of lusty relief from the Judge, making me tremble.

"Then she shall have it," he said slowly, almost superiorly. "She will be here soon, you say?"

"Any moment soon."

"Excellent." I covered my mouth with my hand, almost crying out loud. I assumed my whimpers were audible only to myself, because I heard only silence for a few seconds. The sudden noise came as a shock to me.

"How about a shave? Sit, sir. Sit." A shave? How would a shave be suitable at this time? I understood that Mr Todd was a barber- one of the best in London- but I did not see how it was needed. Perhaps there was a plot of some sort going about. Anthony did not tell me that he had such a peculiar friend. I expected a kindly man who would speak sweetly. Anthony was not someone to make friends with this harsh man, who did not sound as if he cared for anything but keeping Judge Turpin's attention. Judge Turpin started humming slightly, almost singing to himself.

"Pretty Women…"

"Yes, pretty women, sir."

"Johanna…Johanna…"

"Pretty Women…Pretty Women are a wonder."

"What we do for Pretty Women…" I listened, shaking in the oversized sailor clothes Anthony had given me. I concentrated on their scent for a moment. They smelled so dearly of the sea. Soon enough, the salt was almost burning my nose, but it was something else to concentrate on. I replayed Anthony's voice in my head, trying to block out the little ditty that the two men on the other side of the trunk were singing. Finally, the singing stopped as Judge Turpin sighed again with satisfaction.

"How seldom it is to meet a man with similar tastes, Mr Todd."

"Yes, similar tastes indeed. In women, at least." I stopped smelling the clothes, and pressed my ear against the wall of the trunk.

"What was that?"

"The years no doubt have changed me," Mr Todd said sinisterly. "But then I suppose the face of a barber…the face of a prisoner, is not quite memorable." There was silence, and I could hear the tension echoing off all walls. It surprised me that I was not bouncing off the sides of the trunk I was that scared. Then slowly, and quietly, I heard those words.

"Benjamin Barker…"

"Benjamin Barker!" A squelching sound emitted through the air, and I cowered away from the edge that I had been listening through. There was grunting sounds of fury, soon dying away, as did the gurgling. With a last, pleased grunt and squelch, I heard the sound of gears turning, and a distant thud. I listened out, waiting for a voice to call out. There had to be a voice to tell me to come out. How else would I ever be able to tell Anthony where I was? For all I knew, he was already out there. Tentatively, I lifted the lid of the trunk.

There stood a man that would change my life forever.

The man stood cleaning a shaving razor, but his head snapped quickly towards me as the trunk lid creaked slightly. I thought perhaps he was looking at a picture above me. This was more a wish than a thought, though. He started to walk towards the trunk, and lifted the lid all the way to see me cowering away. I saw his face clearly now. Well, as clearly as you could see a face when it was covered with blood.

"Come for a shave, lad?"

"N-n-n-o, I-" I could not finish my sentence, as I was grabbed by the scruff of the neck and dragged from where I was sat. Without a second going by, I was thrust into the bloody chair that I knew Judge Turpin had just been sat in. My voice jumped from my throat, and I could not speak. The only thing I could do was look up into the man's eyes imploringly, looking for forgiveness and liberty from his grasp. He held his razor high.

"Everybody needs a good shave," he said darkly, and his hand came down towards me. In that moment, there was a scream from downstairs. I didn't hear it though. My voice came back to me for, last second.

"Anthony!" I cried out, squeezing my eyes shut and hoping for a quick, painless death. Yet, when I expected it, I did not feel my skin become pierced by the metal blade. I felt absolutely nothing. My eyes were still securely closed, and the firm hand was still on my shoulder. I opened one of my eyes cautiously, looking up at the man.

"Anthony?" he said brusquely. This man, as it appeared, was the kind Mr Todd I had heard so much about. My lips pressed together firmly, holding back the scream that wished to burst free of my throat. Anthony had told me so determinedly that Mr Todd was the greatest of men, and here I was, his razor only inches from my throat.

"H-h-he sent m-m-me here, sir." Slowly, the razor moved away from me, and was dropped with a clang on the floor. Out of the corner of my eyes, which were still gazing into Mr Todd's, I saw his hand moved gradually towards the hat that Anthony had told me to conceal my hair with. The hand took hold of the rim and pulled it off gently, allowing my hair to tumble free about my shoulders. Mr Todd opened his mouth in shock, but still gained a composure one would not expect from a man covered in blood.

"So you are Johanna?" he said breathily.

"Y-y-yes, sir. Anthony told m-m-me to come here f-f-for safety." Mr Todd choked slightly with a suppressed laughter at this. His hand dropped my hat to the floor, and wandered across my hair. My eyes widened with shock. This man was supposed to be helping me, whether he was covered in blood or not. He was not supposed to be making me relive every nightmare I had experienced, every night where Judge Turpin had haunted me, every single scarring moment that I had spent in his leering presence. My breath became heavier when Mr Todd's hand no longer wandered through my hair, and the other no longer gripped my shoulder, but instead they both wrapped around my form, embracing me firmly. His face buried in my hair, and I could feel the blood running over it. It all would have been easy enough to bear, had he not started to mutter mindlessly.

"Johanna," he muttered, rocking slightly.

"S-s-sir-"

"All those years," he carried on mindlessly. "All those years, wondering and waiting. But finally, after…after all those years. It's all worked out. After all those years, it finally worked out."

"M-M-Mr Todd, y-y-you're scaring me." Hurriedly, Mr Todd stroked my hair- almost possessively- and hushed me.

"Hush, now. It's all alright, Johanna. I promise. Don't worry. You'll be alright, Johanna."

I shuddered, gasping for breath now; I couldn't find the air to do so easily.

"My Johanna."

With that, all of a sudden, everything went black.