Disclaimer- All I own of Labyrinth is a DVD. I don't own the rights to the story or characters.
Sarah let out a puff of air as she kicked the covers off of her body. There would be no sleep tonight. She had lain in bed for over three hours, and though she was exhausted, her mind would not let her rest. And she needed rest so badly. She sat up against her headboard in defeat. She felt so, so tired. A vague feeling of nausea washed over her, but her heart was racing. In her mind, she kept returning to those final moments last night when she had said the words that would bring her and her baby brother back home.
The Goblin King had stood before her, hand stretched out to her, pleading with her to stop talking. To love him. She couldn't for the life of her figure out why he had done that. As she thought back to their first meeting, she tried to remember his words. Didn't he say that she had to reach the castle before the thirteen hours had run out? She had done it, with time to spare. Toby should have been waiting for her as soon as she arrived, shouldn't he?
Sarah walked over to the window and looked up at the night sky. The stars winked down at her, just as they did every night, but they didn't bring the lightness to her heart that she usually felt at the sight. Tonight she felt spent. It wasn't just physical, although her body certainly needed rest. No, she felt it in her soul. If she let herself feel what she was desperately trying to control, she would never regain her composure. Sarah had never felt such depth of emotion before. She struggled to understand just why she was in such turmoil, but it was all so confusing. She was only fifteen years old, far too young to feel the way she did, and with such strength.
Far too young. He must have been toying with her. Of course he was toying with her! What would he want with a fifteen year old girl? She was being ridiculous. How could she have let herself become so misguided? He was a king for God's sake. A king! And she was a silly girl who had imagined herself to be misused because she had been asked to put away her costume and babysit her brother. Oh, how she felt it now. Her cheeks burned as she remembered how she had behaved the evening before, and compared that image to that of the king as he had stood before her, mocking her with his eyes and his tone after she had made her wish. To think that such a person would ever genuinely want her.
Sarah knelt down beside her bed and stretched her arms in front of herself, resting her cheek on the mattress. She was too restless to lie down, and too tired to remain standing. If only she could sleep: then she could forget her swirling thoughts and feelings. Her chest felt constricted, and at the same time she felt as if she would burst. Burst with laughter or tears, she couldn't- and didn't want to- decide. She turned her face into her mattress, burying it there. She wanted to laugh at herself, if only that laughter could stand on its own. She knew tears would not be far behind any attempts she made to lighten her mood. This would never do.
Somehow she had to find out why he had made her that offer. If he had been sincere, she had some apologizing to do. If the look on his face as she said the words had been real, then she had to seriously think about the kind of person she was to put it there. And if he had only been trying to lure her away from her mission, then she had to put the scene behind her. To put him behind her. She could try.
Sarah crawled onto the bed, covering herself again. Now that she had made her decision,- she would discover what his intentions had been- she felt herself relaxing enough to sleep. She could work out the details in the morning.