Thirteen Hours, Thirteen Gifts

Chapter 1 – Beginnings (Prologue)

Winter, Circa 1987

The first gift was a bracelet.

It wasn't any ordinary bracelet. It was a bracelet made out of pure ivory, shaped like an elephant's tusk. On the side, Sarah couldn't help but notice a distinctive white owl closing the clasp of the bracelet. At first, she played the fool. She went to ask her stepmother if this was her birthday present, saying that she found it in a parcel addressed for her. Irene looked quizzically, but replied immediately that she wasn't the one who bought the gift.

Although, since she now happened to work at a jewellery shop, she was very impressed by it. Even by the naked eye, you could tell it was worth a lot.

"Whoever bought this must like you very much." Irene considered. "Are you sure it was addressed for you? Surely no ordinary boy could afford such an expensive gift, especially for a girl your age."

There she goes again. Immediately assuming she received it from an admirer.

Never mind Sarah had a good suspect as to who that admirer was… but that wasn't important.

Yet.

"Sarah." Sarah snapped up from her thoughts.

"Sorry, I was kind of thinking." Irene sighed. "Fine, fine. But if you ever received another gift such as this, tell me immediately. Don't want this to- ", she stopped herself.

"I don't want this person to get too comfortable with you, whoever he is. Who knows, without knowing who he is or where he's from, he could be a crazy person. And god knows how many creeps there are out there right now…"

Don't want this to be like what happened with your mother. Sarah mentally completed. She sighed. It's not that she hated Irene anymore. She did once.

More than anything in the world.

In her eyes, she had represented everything that went wrong in her father and mother's failed marriage. Not that her mangled parent helped. Less than six months after her mother broke her father's and her own heart, he dated and married Irene without wanting any feedback from his estranged daughter, all in what felt like mere days. Perhaps he considered her too young to consult in those things. Sarah could only chuckle now. Maybe he was right. She did see her biological mother as a walking goddess who could do no harm little over a year ago. Still, Sarah couldn't help back then but resent her father's rush into finding someone else straight after the breakup, rather than help to cope with her mother's elopement together.

In the end, it did leave her feeling abandoned by both of her parents.

After her mother left the both of them, Irene showed up. Who happened to be the perfect scapegoat for Sarah to vent her anger towards her mother on. Who else could have taken the role? Her father was too easy. Irene fitted it perfectly. By taking her father away from her again and bringing a new son in the family, to literally take her place away as the only child in her remaining parent's eyes.

Sarah's mood darkened, but not out of hatred.

No wonder I had seen Irene as a witch who came straight from a fantasy movie… still, what happened wasn't her fault. Especially when Toby-

Wait, what was that? Is she rambling about the dangers of rock and satanic rituals again?

I zone her out for one minute, I swear…

"Yes, yes, you're right." she quipped. "I will tell you next time, mother."

Irene stopped her free lecture and let out a small, dramatic gasp. What a drama queen. Sarah mused, barely resisting the urge to roll her eyes. Surely, I wasn't like that-

Yes, you were. A tiny voice said in her head.

You haven't been like that since-

"T-that's very good of you Sarah." Irene told her, obviously red-faced with how she called her earlier. "Now, remember what I told you. You can keep that gift. But… should you receive another one like it, you have to tell me immediately. Like that, I won't tell your father about this. Understood?"

"Yes, Irene." Was she disappointed I didn't feed her ego this time?

Her tiny smile was gone. Guess so.

"Good. I hope you enjoyed your birthday party with your friends."

"Yes, I have." Quite a lot actually. Sarah smiled, as she remembered her newly acquired rock album-

"And next time you introduce me to your friends, call me your mother okay?"

"Understood." Mother. Sarah smiled a little as Irene walked away, barely hiding her disappointment.

Sarah couldn't help but look on. How things change. Before, she used to be angry at anything Irene told her or pulled off in order to impress her or gain her affection. She cringed at a memory of her, her father and stepmother at a theatre watching the play "The Alchemist". She had made such a huge tantrum that time… it didn't help that that was the day her dad decided to tell her that he was going to marry Irene. And on her mother's birthday no less.

What a coincidence daddy forgot.

She shook her head. That's the old Sarah talking. You're not the same person anymore.

She sighed. Perhaps she was being too harsh on her father. He felt the same pain she did, when her mother, his wife, walked out that door without even leaving a letter for her so called family. He coped in a different way. He was made out of flesh and blood, just like her. He did come to apologise in time.

Now, if only he hadn't brought Irene and Toby into her life as fast as he did. Or maybe had been a little more considerate towards her own feelings in the matter.

Maybe she would've accepted them sooner-

Ah… the tiny voice reappeared. But then you wouldn't have met him.

Sarah stopped. She looked at the bracelet again.

Of course she didn't forget him. How could she. The second she saw the bracelet on her desk, she immediately realised who the sender was. There was no package. The bracelet was found in a purple purse made out of silk, with a barely legible scribble attached to it.

'From King to Sarah. Happy Nameday. Fragile, do not drop.'

Heh. You'd think a King would have better things to do than remember the birthday of the one person who defeated his whole kingdom. If his surprise gift wasn't so unexpected, she would've dropped the item out of sheer laughter.

To be honest, she expected a snake coming out of it the second she opened it. Didn't he say he'll want his revenge someday? That stopped her tracks.

Did he? Did he now?

And if he did so before, what does he want from her now?

Sarah couldn't help but see the balcony of her room. Its door was slightly ajar.

She could only wince. Painful memories surfaced. It was one of the worst days of her life.

Coincidentally, that's also when she saw him for the first time.

He was so good in playing the villain for her that day.

There she was. Fifteen years old. Still oblivious and naïve at how the world works. Lost and abandoned by everyone who claimed that loved her. She must've been quite a sight.

Bitterly, Sarah looked at her past self, holding Toby aloft for the Goblin King to steal him away, chanting away those horrible words. It felt really good, abandoning her baby brother to someone else's care like that. Looking back, she was only fooling herself, honestly believing that that's what the grownups surrounding her were doing to her.

She almost lost her brother because of that.

My mother abandoned me for that bastard Jeremy. She had thought during the incantation. Let's see how you like it when your sister abandons you to those dastardly goblins! Pah. So dramatic. She wouldn't have been better than those so-called grownups.

Sarah sighed. She thought she was passed this.

I can't decide whether to keep this or toss it far, far away from me.

The bracelet gleamed in the moonlight, almost in a smiling manner.

Sarah smiled back. Not everyone can carry proof that they challenged a King and won.

Perhaps, for now, it was best to keep it.

Sarah re-entered her room and started playing her favourite song from Velvet Underground. Looking at her birthday cards and presents she received from friends and family, she specifically looked at the gifts given to her by her parents, but couldn't care less for the materialistic items. Instead, she opened her cards. She couldn't help but read one in particular. The one that was written with care by her parents.

Despite all the failed attempts at poetry and lots of side musings by them, the final sentence was the one she couldn't stop reading over and over.

"You're sixteen now Sarah. You won't be a child forever. But you'll always be one for us. Love you, your mum, dad and your baby brother Toby OXOXOXO"

Sarah smiled. She couldn't help it.

It's true. A lot of things change in a year. But Sarah wasn't ready to let go of her mother.

Not yet.

Although she had accepted Irene as her new parent (she made her father happy and that's what was important) she wasn't going to call her what she wanted to hear that easily.

Don't want to get too attached either. Sarah bitterly added.

Still, at least she had a family again. A father, a mother and a brother. A family she was a part of again. It wasn't perfect, but what is.

A family she wasn't letting go of ever again. That was for sure.

The bracelet gleamed in the moonlight.

Doubts resurface.

A lot of things can change in time.

Author's Notes

Return to Labyrinth never happened okay? No one can tell me otherwise.

Also, hello. First fan fic ever written. I'm a late bloomer I suppose. Please rate and review.