Hi,
So I'm dusting off the part of my brain that makes me write, trying to get back into the habit, and I've come up with this little fanfic. I've written things I'm not completely proud of, but who hasn't when you're in middle school? I decided to post this because there's not enough love for this movie out there. I'm open to any feedback, constructive criticism is welcome. Special thanks to my beta, Pen Against Sword, without her the story would be as enjoyable as open Mic. night with your tone deaf ex. Hope it fills your Labyrinth needs!
Fanatic by Choice.
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It was midnight when Toby was brought in for questioning. The police station was buzzing with excitement--finally a possible break in the case. If something didn't happen soon, it would be all their asses. It wasn't every day a young woman turned up missing in a town this small.
Outside the questioning room, Detective Furman whispered with Sheriff Johnson."The way I look at it, there's two possible answers. A stranger was passing through town, and he's to blame. Or more likely, an accident happened with someone she knew."
"My bets are the brother knows something." Sheriff Johnson looked intensely at the young boy sitting on the other side of the two-way mirror. "He looked a little shifty when we first searched the house..."
His hair was ruffled from pulling off his beanie. The florescent light above him made the circles under his blue eyes twice as dark. He looked like he had been through hell, and indeed he had. He reminded them of a mouse, caught in a trap, looking around the room helplessly for something familiar. Something to tell him everything was all right. Something to comfort him. Once he exhausted his search he gave up and cradled his tired head in his hands. Just as he was about to drift to sleep, the detective and sheriff walked with a swagger into the room.
The detective took a seat across from Toby and gave a slight nod to greet the boy. The Sherif stayed standing next to the detective, trying to get in character for the "good cop and bad cop" routine. A tape recorder rested in the middle of the cold steel table. Detective Furman pressed the small red button on the device and the recorder jumped to power, clicking as it reeled.
"This is the questioning of Toby Williams, Friday, October thirteenth, nineteen ninety-five." Detective Furman's voice rang clearly throughout the room.
Toby was on the edge of panic. He was a genuinely good kid. Never called to the principal's office, served detention maybe once in his school career, but now he was in a questioning room, a suspect of his sister's disappearance.
"Toby, do you know what happened to your sister one week ago?" Sheriff Johnson leaned over the table. A faint smell of Marlboro cigarettes crept into Toby's senses.
"No." He figured straight-forward answers were best.
"When was the last time you saw your sister, Sarah Williams?" Detective Furman was a patient man who didn't have the heart to scare the people he questioned. He let the Sheriff take care of that.
"Last Sunday night, when she came home for family dinner." He swallowed.
"Did she seem upsetor distressed over anything?" Sheriff Johnson rolled his eyes at Furman's ease. The detective's slow questioning always annoyed him.
"No, she--"
"What about when you two started arguing?" Johnson interrupted.
"Huh?" Toby was honestly confused by this question.
"The neighbors say that you two were arguing as she was leaving. They overheard you in the yard." Furman leaned back in his chair, relaxing, hoping Toby would do the same.
Toby thought for a moment.
"Oh, yes, it was a petty argument. I didn't think anything of it afterwards." He shrugged.
"What was the argument about?"
"She said it cost too much to drive home once a week to visit us. That she wanted to start coming once a month to dinner instead."
"And who is...Jareth?" Detective Furman was shuffling the reports the neighbors had filed. "Some of the neighbors heard her mention his name after your argument."
Jareth? The name rang a bell.
"Someone who scared her." Once again, Toby told the truth.
Both his elders shifted. They hadn't they exchanged glances, Detective Furman seemed to read Johnson's mind. Was it a decoy? Was this Jareth the culprit?
"Do you know Jareth's last name?" Furman was ready with his pen.
"No." Toby solemnly shook his head. Dead end.
"Why did he scare her, son?" For some reason being called son by the Sheriff sounded like an insult. The word had double purposes for the Sheriff.
"I don't know, she rarely mentioned him." Toby was tottering on the brink of truths and lies.
"And when was that?"
"When I was younger she would have night terrors a lot. I remember she would yell that name when she was kicking around in her sleep. She never told me who he was, though. I always assumed it was some monster."
"Has anyone else heard of this Jareth? Do any of her friends know him?" Furman was frustrated with the missing information.
"Maybe her roommate. Possibly Dad, more possibly Mom." He thought back to all the times he had gone into her room when he heard her crying at night. He would try try to be a caring sibling and check on his sister, but his Mother would send him to his room as she soothed Sarah back to sleep.
"Toby, if you're saying this Jareth did it--"
"I never said that," Toby caught the Sheriff in mid sentence.
"You said she was scared of him." Johnson furrowed his brow.
"Yes, but that was a long time ago," Toby replied.
"Toby, do you know that we have one piece of evidence that points to you?" Johnson was about to get down to the part he loved best.
"I suppose you must to have me hererather than someone else," Toby carefully replied, trying to not sound disrespectful.
"Mhm. We do, and you know what it is?" Furman seemed uncomfortable, watching the Sheriff begin what he called "The Spanish Inquisition" part of the process.
Toby shook his head.
"Does this look familiar to you?"
Johnson walked to the door and reached into the next room. He slowly came back with an object from Toby's past. It was Toby's old neon-green skateboard. He hadn't used it since he was ten.
"I used to ride that around town, before they were banned." Toby recalled the large debate a year ago over skateboard use. Finally, after seven yeas and nine nays, skateboards were banned in the town's square. A hefty fine was handed out to all who defied the law, followed by a steaming heap of community service.
"This was in the woods, two miles from where Sarah's car was found. Now why is that?" The vein in Sheriff Johnson's head began to stand out.
"I'm not sure. It was stolen from the back porch not too long ago." Toby's eyes flicked back and forth between the two men interrogating him.
"Toby." The Sheriff paused. "You tellin' the truth, son?"
"Yes," he sighed, feeling emotionally exhausted.
"Because if you're not we'll find out. And when we do, there's going to be hell to pay. There's something going on, and I think you know more than what you're saying." Sheriff Johnson's eyes were fixed on Toby's unwavering face.
"All right Toby, we're going to let you go. But there's going to be a strict watch on your house. When you want to talk to us, call. Day or need to know what happened." Furman softened his voice, trying to make Toby feel like they were on the same side.
"Are my parents here?" Toby awkwardly put his hands in his pockets.
"Yes, they're up front waiting for you." Furman began to gather the files he had brought in with him.
"Can I go?" Toby began to stand and fidget.
"Yes, Deputy Rae will take you to them." Sheriff Johnson opened the door and a tall, slender woman walked over to Toby's side.
As Toby and Deputy Rae walked to the front of the station, Toby tried to make sense of the whirl wind of events. He had been at the library when he first heard the news that his sister went missing and had rushed home to find police searching the house. Since then, he had noticed a steady stream of eyes keeping watch on him. He was known as a loner, so didn't have anyone to confirm his alibi. He was confused by these new questions that held answers to his sister's disappearance. Who was this Jareth guy? Toby had a gut feeling that he had been the cause of all this trouble and if he found Jareth, he would find his sister. But whether she was dead or alive, he wasn't completely sure.
Toby found his parents at the police desk, yelling and demanding that they be taken to him at once. They insisted he had nothing to do with his sister's disappearance as the secretary tried to pacify the couple and keep them from walking into the restricted area.
His mother looked up from the heated argument. Her eyes went wide and her face relaxed. They went from "I'm going to kill this receptionist" to a worried "Oh my god, my daughter is still missing." He dragged himself over to his parents and was almost knocked down by his mother's hug.
"Toby, I'm so glad you're all right!" She buried her face into his jacket.
His father joined in the hug, keeping Toby from falling under his mother's weight.
"I don't know what we'd do if we lost you too." his father whispered.
At that moment, Toby decided he would go find his sister. And the truth.