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Little Sally snuck around town, humming the song Bobby had sang earlier while swinging her bunny. She makes a mental note to ask him if the tune has a name. Thinking about Bobby give her a start, she's a bit scared for him. Although Ms. Pennywise said Mr. Cladwell wanted to speak peacefully. Bobby said he would be safe. She shakes off her fear as she remembers his words
"We'll be careful"
We, he said it so sure of himself, so confident. She was trying to be like him, she was sure he'd make it back, she excited herself with the idea. Her humming becomes quiet singing, it seems as though she's being carried by Bobby's careless confidence. It wasn't anything out of the ordinary, anyone could see, Sally was becoming a little Bobby, from wearing his hand-me-downs to speaking like him at times. Josephine saw it the most, she adored seeing her baby boy in the little girl. He'd been so busy with work, he's been forgetting to see him as much. Little Sally was unspokenly a part of their family.
Little Sally ended the song with a dance, spinning her bunny around but she's interrupted by a horrible yell, almost a plea. She stops dead in her tracks, she hates to admit that she recognizes the voice. Her curiosity overrides her fear, she rounds the corner and sees it...well...him. Lockstock had always said that that's what would get her in trouble, her curiosity, maybe he was right.
Her breath gets caught in her throat as she sees him, she tries to take a gulp of air, scream, anything, but nothing happens. Bobby is laying there on the pavement on his stomach, it looks like he's not breathing, and if he is it's very shallow. She does nothing until he makes a noise, a pained groan. She rushes to his side, paying no attention to the pavement scraping her knees.
"B-Bobby!" She's not sure if he can even hear him but she repeats his name, shaking him. He gasps, lifting his head up with another pained grunt. He reaches out for her
"Sally?" He coughs up blood, it seems like talking is a struggle. He moves from his stomach to his back.
"Bobby, who- what happened?" She whimpered, her voice small.
"I was stupid" He laughs weakly.
She looks up at the building he fell from, UGC Head Quarters, she'd been inside a few times, sneaking around, listening in on meetings, but never to the top.
"You-You said you'd be careful! You promised!" She hugs Peanut Butter tightly
"Some promises aren't always kept...I-I'm sorry Little Sally." He reaches up shakily to wipe tears from her face. "Sally I need you to tell her something...all of them really...b-but mostly Hope."
"What is it?" She leans in as he takes a shaky deep breath.
"Fi-First, tell her I love her and even in death, I will always be with her. She needs to know. It's my fault...my fault our fault our time was cut so s-short"
She nods frantically as he continues speaking, but his speech begins to slow and slur as the puddle of blood under him grows.
"Please Bobby stay awake! D-Don't close your eyes, please Bobby keep talking" She pleads, squeezing his hand. He squeezes back with as much strength he could muster, he begins again,
"Tell the people...my-my friends, tell them that now is the time to fight, they mus-" He's cut off by another brutal cough, spitting blood on the sidewalk. "They have to keep fighting...without me."
"No..no no Bobby don't say that, you'll make it!"
He laughs again, this one weaker than the last "Your optimism was always a-admirable Little Sally. Say...you've gone quite blurry...seems my eyes are failing me heh." He reaches out for her tear-streaked face again but misses, touching the stuffed bunny instead.
"Bobby! Please!" She pleads, clutching his hand with all her might as if it could slow the process of his lungs from filling with blood.
"I-I can see them..." He looks at the sky "Hah! They're standing together...ho-holding hands."
"Nononono please just stay awake! I-I can help, Bobby hold on, I can help!" She leans over him, trying to block his view of the sky.
"Sally...there's still hope here, I...in this land...If only..." She looks down at him, tears dripping on his face
"Y-Yes? Bobby what is it?"
"If only..." Then he stills, his hand falling off of the bunny and flopping on the pavement. She shakes his limp body,
"BOBBY!" She screams, tears pouring from her eyes. She doesn't mind the blood covering her hands, she just needs him to wake up, she can't lose another one. She just can't.
"Please! PLEASE BOBBY!" She sobs, pleading, begging.
That's how she is when Lockstock and Barrel finally make it down to ground, gloves, cleaning supplies ,and a body bag in their hands. They stop when they see the girl.
"Oh...fuck" Lockstock mutters to his partner, making sure to keep his voice low for now. It's certainly a sight, a little girl that he'd grown close to, sobbing over someone he'd been ordered to kill... something shifted behind his eyes. He turns to Barrel, as if asking, What the hell do we do in this situation? Barrel shrugs before looking back at Little Sally.
"Grab her. She needs to be removed before people see."
"What? Isaac she's just a little girl-"
"A little girl that needs to be moved. We can't have her ruining it" He remains stoic, staring ahead at her but Theodore knew him well enough to know he's nervous, maybe even scared. He straightens up and nods "You're right, you start cleaning up, I'll get her." Isaac nods. Without warning, Lockstock grabs Little Sally, picking her up by the arms. She screams and kicks as he pulls her back from the body, her bunny dropped in the puddle of blood.
"GET OFF OF ME!" She ugly cries, tears and snot dripping from her face. Theodore struggles to hold her with her wild thrashing, he tries to calm her to no avail.
"Sally, it's okay, he-he caused trouble."
"NO!" She's fueled by so many emotions she can't even name, almost all her life has been filled with loss, her parents, Old Man Strong (Basically her grandpa), now Bobby, her hero, her leader, her brother...
She breaks free from Lockstock's grasp and turns around, barreling fists at his chest.
"STOP TAKING THEM AWAY!" She screams, nearly choking on tears. Barrel turns around in shock, getting ready to pull her away.
"Please! I don't want to lose anyone else. Stop taking them away. I HATE YOU!" She repeats the last part over and over, beating his chest. She can't tell if she's even breathing anymore, she just wants to hurt something, someone, anything, anything to salve her pain. Her legs collapse from under her, she falls to her knees in front of him, crying hard. "Why? Why do I keep losing them? Did I do something wrong?" She looks at him with a horrible face, he doesn't even realize the sharp breath he takes. He looks to Isaac who quickly wipes his eyes, hoping Theodore didn't see. He turns back around to the body to hide the tears dripping from his eyes. Lockstock crouches in front of her, something in his chest hurts as he watches her sob, she was almost always smiling. It sets in again, of course she was almost all smiles, she's a fucking child, a child who is broken, sobbing on the pavement over her dead friends...her dead family. He's reminded of the singular other time he'd seen her cry, he had been tasked to take her to the orphanage, she was no older than three or four, even then she seemed to know.
"Why...Why did they get taken?" She asked in a small voice from his backseat, clutching a then much cleaner Peanut Butter and a small brown luggage case decorated with drawings.
"Well...Little Sally we-er...Mr.Cladwell..hm." He didn't know what to say, I mean, how do you explain to a young child why her parents were killed?
"They weren't bad!" She raised her voice slightly, he could hear her voice begin to quake.
"They...they broke the law Sally." He kept his view on the road instead of her face in the mirror.
"No they didn't!" She fought as she began to cry "They're coming back for me!"
His face hardened at that, he hoped he wouldn't have to be the one to tell her that that's completely impossible. She cried in the backseat for the entire ride, he didn't know what to do, so he turned up the radio just enough to tune out her sniffles and hiccups.
When they finally reached the orphanage, he got out of the car and opened her door, crouching in front of her.
"Urinetown is a place for bad people, keep your head down and you'll be alright." He wipes a tear from her face before abruptly standing up and clearing his throat.
"Well, let's get you inside then." He helped her out the car and walked her into the building.
Looking at her now, he realizes he can't even remember what her parents looked like. It hits him like a brick, he can't remember anything about them, their names, their faces, he'd gone to highschool with them for godsake. He barely remembers the reason they were taken. He's taken out of his thoughts when Isaac calls his name.
"Mr. Lockstock!" He's standing over them, two things in his hands, the rabbit and a bracelet, presumably off of Bobby's wrist. He recognizes the beads almost instantly, the same pattern he's always seen Sally wear. He looks from the bracelet to Little Sally, she's still sat there crying quietly, shaking, and hugging herself tightly. A mess of sobs, hiccups, and sniffles He then looks to Barrel, noticing his eyes are a bit red. Theodore nods grimly, taking the items from his hands. He gently takes the little girl's wrist, slipping on the bracelet. She doesn't resist, to be truthful, she doesn't have the energy to do anything but cry. She lifts her head to look at him, she was a wreck, her eyes puffy and wet, still pouring tears. Her knees were scraped up from slamming against the pavement, Bobby's blood on her hands. It hurt to look at her, really look at her.
"Sally..." He starts, not letting go of her wrist. "We have to go, you can't stay here."
Her lip quivers hard, she shakes her head frantically
"No! No! No! No! I'm not leaving him! I can't leave him!" She pleads, grabbing Lockstock's jacket "What...What if he wakes up?" Behind her, Barrel pushes a fist to his lips, his eyes glued to the ground.
"Sally, you're smarter than this. He wo-"
"He will! It's...It's...he's fine he's okay! He said he'd be okay!" She knows that it's too late for him but she just can't lose another one, she feels sick, what if she's next? She tries pulling away from Lockstock's grip. He holds firm, trying to keep her from getting frantic.
"I-I don't wanna go!" She screams, fear replacing her sadness. “I don't wanna go! Don’t kill me Officer Lockstock please!” at that he immediately let go of her wrist. Nonononono, he'd never, right?...right? What if she broke the laws? Would he kill her then? Would it be a shove off a building, a shot to the head? She's scared of him and honestly, he's scared too.
“I-Sally I wouldn't-”
“I don't believe you!” She cuts him off, staring at him, crying uncontrollably. She pushes him away again, snatching her bunny away from him, not noticing the blood that smears in her face. Theodore is frozen in shock, he looks up to Isaac who's crying silently.
“Sally…” He starts but he doesn't even know what to say, what can he say?
“I won't. Okay? You're safe, I-I'm not gonna kill you.” He grimaces at his own words, never did he think he'd have to tell her that.
“I promise.” He looks her in the eyes, genuinely. He attempts a soft smile
“Bobby promised…” She whispered thickly, holding her rabbit tighter. That feels like a bullet to the fucking chest, he glanced back the body…Bobby. Barrel hasn't finished zipping him into the bodybag, his head still peeking out. He remembers Bobby as a young boy, always getting into some kind of trouble and now he had outlived that kid. Never thought he'd see the day.
“Well Little Sally, this is a promise that'll never get broken, I pinky promise.” He holds out his pinky. She wipes her face, dirtying sleeve of her sweater, the same one he’d gotten her a year or two back. She hesitates before looping her pinky with his.
“Good…good.” He clears his throat as he pulls back his hand. “Now let’s get you cleaned up, yeah?” She nods solemnly but hesitates when she stands,
“Can I say bye first?” She looks up at him.
“Er…Sally I’m not sure if thats a good idea-”
“Please! Please just let me say goodbye.” Her new face is determined, there’s no way she's taking no for an answer.
“I guess that can be arranged.” He sighs. “Officer Barrel wait, don't zip him up yet!” He shouts over to Isaac who gives him a quizzical look. Lockstock gestures to Sally and he then nods understandingly. Sally hands Peanut Butter to Lockstock before running over to Bobby, he follows.
She kneels down to him and wraps her arms around his head,
“I’m sorry-” Her eyes are shut tight, presumably keeping her from crying again but silent tears slip onto Bobby’s forehead. “I promise I’m gonna follow my heart…Bye-bye Bobby.” She hugs him tightly one more time before stepping back, sniffling. She takes back her bunny and turns into Lockstock as Barrel zips the bodybag. He doesn’t move, just lets her cry silently in the side of his jacket.