Sarah sighed softly to herself as she put her favorite book of myths back on the shelf next to the others she had flipped through recently. Its red leather, gold lettered binding stood out to her more than any other book on the shelf, always drawing her eyes straight to it wherever it was located on the massive rack of shelves that lined the mythological row of the public library. She'd come here so often in her spare time reading and rereading all her favorite myths. Myths from all around the world: Asia, Africa, Greece, England, but her favorite of all was the Celtic legends she studied so frequently.

Gathering her stuff she made her way out of the familiar place and walked a few blocks down the street towards her part-time job. 18 ½ years old and she was living in the massive house her dad used to own, by herself. Two years previously there had been a wreck, Christmas Eve night. They were driving home; no one had predicted the black ice covering the roads. It had been hard to cope with; she had sunk into a depression and had refused to contact her friends for months. Hoggle had begun to become very concerned and even convinced Jareth to try and talk to her. He hadn't, but the thought of what Jareth might have said left it so he was never out of her mind. Her health had been falling, and the house itself was becoming a relic with vines. One day when she had been flipping through that favorite play of hers, it hit her like lightning; she needed to get herself together. She was on her own now, no one left in this world for her. She pulled herself up to graduate with a decent GPA enrolled in community college, and was currently working part-time for an upcoming advertising agency.

Sarah smiled politely as she entered through the heavy glass doors and up the stairs to her desk, pulling out her latest ideas for a political campaign she was assisting with. Just as she set her purse and sat down in her chair, who should arrive but her middle-age, fashion disaster, anxiety prone boss.

"Oh Sarah, thank goodness you're here! I was getting so nervous you weren't going to show up today, and I started thinking about what would happen. I mean I don't have the tools or the skills to design a campaign this big on my own. I-I-I wouldn't even know where to begin there's just so much to get done in such a short amount of time! I mean scaling, and printing, all after the actual designing and-," she started. Sarah allowed her mind to wander as the chatter prone woman rambled on, not even noticing Sarah wasn't looking at her anymore. She began to think of the Labyrinth, her friends, how much she missed the sense that she really belonged somewhere. With her family dead and only just coming out of depression, she felt the need to return to the labyrinth more than ever. Did she have that option still? She knew now how much Jareth had loved her, and she realized over time she was still head over heels for him. But even so, he was probably furious she'd left, there's no way he'd give her a second chance, right? So why did she feel a tugging so strong on her heart to return?

"Sarah? Sarah? Are you even listening to me? Oh please tell you have been, I'd hate for you to have missed any of those details! This is very important for your career do you hear me? I need that design by the end of today understand!" she said in such a violent manner I was afraid to tell her it was going to be nearly impossible.

"Yes, I'll get working on the pamphlets right away. Don't worry about a thing Marcie, I can handle it," I told her with a smile and waited until her bright pink blue dotted dress was out of sight and earshot to turn and sigh. This was going to be so much work: Brainstorming ideas, editing them, designing them, re-editing them, fitting them to the campaign bulletin, redesigning them, color scheming, finalizing, and printing. All this work to be done in one single night.

"Guess I'll be working late tonight," she said to herself and reached to her computer to begin the grueling effort of finishing by tonight's deadline.

"This is insane," she mumbled to herself as she finalized her draft and hit print. "I had to stay all the way until 12:30 just to get this out of the way. It's not as though she even needs it by tomorrow!" Sarah rubbed her face in exhaustion and reached for the warm document coming out of the machine. Done and satisfied with her work, she set the document on Marcie's desk, and smiling, headed out the door. Rain flooded down in the night sky.

"Oh it's not fair!" she exclaimed as she trudged through the dark, stormy night, with no umbrella or cover whatsoever. Her house wasn't far away, so she didn't need the car to go to work. In the dark and the rain however, it made difficult to see the right alleys she needed to turn down. Shivering from the cold she turned down another, not noticing the two gentlemen at the end of the alley laughing and stumbling blindly towards her.

"Well well well, look what we have here Steve," a man with a blonde beard said as he eyed the wet Sarah up and down, licking his lips. She shivered under his scrutiny and began to back away.

"Ah ah ah, not so fast pretty girl," Steve said from behind her and locked her hands behind her back.

"Let go of me!" Sarah yelled and began thrashing about. The bearded one laughed and stepped closer. She kicked her leg out and missed but caught Steve's calf behind her. He groaned but didn't loosen his grip.

"Looks like she's got a bit of fight in her," the beard whispered and grabbed her face in his hand, the alcohol coming off his breath dizzying Sarah's mind with a nausea that almost made her vomit. She turned her head and bit down hard on his hand, then bit a little harder and felt liquid running in her mouth. He yelled and pulled his hand back.

"Fucking bitch! She bit me!" he snarled and smacked her hard across the cheek. Sarah winced and fought to hold consciousness from the blow. Steve tightened his grip on her hands until she yelped in pain.

"This one's fun to play with," Steve whispered by her ear, she shivered in disgust.

"Get your hands on me!" she screamed and thrashed again. They laughed and the bearded one reached for her pants. Steve's hand moved down to cover her mouth and Sarah repeatedly tried to scream and kick.

"Shut up will ya," the beard said and slapped her again, his ring catching her eyebrow and ripping a gash open above it.

Her thoughts were thrown into chaos and Steve's hand slipped from her mouth for a moment as he reached over to help undo the wet jeans from her. One thing entered her mind and she screamed it just as the thunder roared through the night sky, "JARETH!"