A/N - Not a single hair on any of their heads is mine, much is the pity.
The Switch
Sarah changed on her sixteenth birthday – in this story, I will tell you how.
Sarah's father found her behaviour puzzling at first, but quickly shrugged the feeling off. Sarah was quiet, sure, but that wasn't sufficient cause for worry. It wasn't unknown for Sarah to go through quiet spells, though they weren't generally accompanied by smiles. It was also out of character for her to say nothing more than 'good morning' on her birthday. Still, he'd given up on trying to understand Sarah years ago. He put the gleaming white streak in her hair down to some weird teenage trend, and decided to let it pass – it was her birthday, after all.
Irene, the girl's stepmother, couldn't help but wonder if Sarah was ill. When Irene turned around to get the cereal box from the cupboard, she saw Sarah standing in the doorway in her nightdress. Sarah had descended the stairs without making a sound – unusual, since she usually barrelled down them to make her stepmother flinch. Then there was the question of Sarah's smile – wide, gleaming and desperately unnerving. Sarah said 'good morning,' took three equally-spaced steps towards her stepmother and held out her hands expectantly. The smile remained fixed on her lips. Irene stared at her for a moment, then glanced at the side-board where she'd set out the breakfast bowls and milk. Irene immediately set about pouring cornflakes into a bowl, filling the silence with chatter. She stopped when she noticed Sarah was still smiling. Irene only realized she'd forgotten to wish Sarah happy birthday after the girl had left for school.
When he woke up, Toby wondered why Sarah wasn't holding her arms out to him. Instead she stood over his crib, staring down at him and smiling. Toby found he didn't like seeing inside her mouth – her teeth seemed to have grown sharper while he'd been dreaming. Her smile reminded him of the wolf in his storybook – for the wolf always smiled. Toby gazed at her, creasing his brow when her body and expression remained static. When the sight of her became too much, he started to whimper. When it became unbearable, he began to howl. By the time his mother had run up the stairs to comfort him, Sarah had gone.
Sarah herself wasn't aware there had been any change. She knew that she had to be polite, so had said 'good morning' to her parents after waking up. She knew that she had to be happy, so was careful to smile wherever she went. She knew she doted on her brother, so watched over him as he slept. Sarah was happy with her family – and they all seemed to care for her. Her father returned her smiles. Her stepmother fussed over her. Her brother held her gaze. On the night of her sixteenth birthday, Sarah felt nothing more than supreme contentment when she passed into sleep.
No one in the house was awake when the Goblin King entered. He had arranged for the front door to be left open – he disliked forcing entry. He was careful to scrape his boots on the doormat before entering the hall. He moved silently up the steps, his eyes trained on Sarah's door. He opened the door with a wave of his hand, and closed it with the same gesture. A few murmured words ensured the other occupants of the house would hear nothing.
The girl slept with her eyes open and her mouth still smiling. The Goblin King was not surprised. It was rare for a substitute to turn out perfectly; they generally required fine-tuning. Aside from her oddities, this one was an exquisite piece. In physical terms, she was the perfect doppelganger. Every detail had been duplicated – from the precise number of eyelashes to the shapes of the hazel flecks in her eyes. The Goblin King appreciated her beauty, but knew not to kiss her – her mouth would be cold. He pulled the girl into a sitting position and leaned her back against the headboard. He tucked a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear, then took her into his arms and began to whisper.
Sarah was entranced as he told her exactly who she was, as he patiently explained that she had to do more than say 'good morning' and smile to make her family love her. Sarah absorbed the information. Her mother had left her and gone to live across the sea. Her father had married a woman whom she disliked. She had scorned her baby brother to begin with, but had grown to love him. Sarah was particularly fascinated by the finer details of her personality. She liked hearing about her fits of temper, her theatrics, her love of books. The titles of her favourites were recited to her– The Wizard of Oz, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Grimm's Fairy Tales. The list rolled on and on, each fresh title more enticing than the last. Sarah only wished she could move – she could hardly wait until it was time to wake. She had so many things to do.
The Goblin King continued to whisper until the sun came up. When Sarah's curtains began to glow with the sunrise, he let her slip down into the mattress and rearranged the covers above her. He frowned when he saw the streak in her hair, taking the offending white strands in his fingers and stroking them until they turned a deep, glossy brown. He bent to kiss her temple on a whim, and flinched at the sensation. He stepped back hastily, glad to leave this Sarah, eager to return to her counterpart. He smiled when he thought of the true Sarah's warm skin, the vibrant pulsing of her heart.
When Sarah woke up, she went straight to the stairs and pounded down them as nosily as she could. She kissed her father on his bald patch before racing out of the door to catch the school bus; her affection relieved him. She was abrupt with her stepmother; her disdain made Irene happy. She hauled Toby into her arms and spun him around after she got back from school; her exuberance made him whoop with glee and forget all thought of wolves.
The Goblin King couldn't have been more pleased with the end result. Sarah could not fault him, when he had taken such pains to ensure her family would never realize she was absent.
A/N – this is the first complete story I have written in a long time, so I hope you enjoy it. I feel somewhat rusty at this, so would love to hear your thoughts/feedback on this little fic. Thank-you for reading!
This is a re-post, since I woke up this morning to find I was getting a 'story not found' error message whenever I tried to access it. When reviewing, do let me know if you had any problems accessing the story before!
Many thanks to my lovely beta NiennaTelrunya for the read-through!