A New Path
Summary-A casual slip of the tongue was all it took for Andrea to be lead down the path that so many before her have taken. But a darker presence than the Goblin King lurks in the labyrinth, and it wants her life.
Disclaimer-I own the characters Andy, Elle, Danny and Linda. Nothing else.
In lab 7 of St. Andrew's R.C. Comprehensive School, Middlesbrough, next to fish tank at the back of the room, a small red haired girl crouched low over a test paper. She was not, by any means, beautiful, or even very pretty, but her eyes held a sort of radiance that gave her an ethereal, almost angelic look, particularly now that they were calm, steady and satisfied looking. As those deep blue eyes read over the last question, they narrowed slightly and her brows pulled together quite suddenly. For several minutes, she read and reread the question, lips pursed and pen poised to write down the answer which may or may not come to her. There was only 5 minutes left of the lesson, and indeed, the school day, but fortunately this happened to be the last question on the paper and she had already checked through her other answers strenuously.
A trickle of blood descended from her right nostril, colouring the clean white paper of her test with a strangely beautiful crimson pattern. Sighing to herself about inconsiderate nostrils, she pulled from her pocket a clean white Kleenex to staunch the flow. Since the end of year 10, she had become inexplicably susceptible to nosebleeds. Suddenly, with a triumphant glint in her eyes, her pen flashed as she wrote down what had to be the correct answer. It bothered her that it took so long to answer a four mark question, but it was difficult. What was a question about isomers doing on a year 11 biology test anyway?
The bell rang as she finished writing her answer. As soon as her test was handed in, she slipped out of the classroom, eager to find her friends and get home. Biology was all well and good but, having no close friends in her science classes, it could get a little tedious.
The temptation to hug her best friend, Elleanne, was strong, but she overcame it and instead opted for a more refined,
"Hey."
Instantly, the conversation fell into a discussion about how Roxy Music were incredibly similar to Madness. Well, it was actually a monologue on Elle's part, with Andrea listening in silent disagreement. Although she did have strong opinions on politics, religion and even music, Andy never argued with Elle. What was the point when neither of them would ever cave. They were as stubborn as each other and could argue themselves to death. They rarely agreed on anything, but that probably helped their friendship more than anything else.
"You don't agree with a word that I'm saying do you?" Elle's dry, amused voice cut through Andy's stupor and she smiled.
"No," she admitted, "I think it's total bullshit, but who cares. We'll never agree anyway."
"Very true," replied Elle, laughing, thus ending their 'discussion'. She pointed to Andy's face and asked, rather sarcastically, "Did you get a little stressed in...what did you have last lesson again?"
"Bio," replied Andy, confused. She fished out a mirror and swore, seeing the dried blood around her nostrils. "Dammit," she hissed, "I was sure I'd cleaned this up! No wonder Danny was staring when I was at my locker!"
Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Elle sighed. Andy's long term crushed had long since ceased to be cute, not least because Daniel O'Neil was a useless pretty boy and about as deep as a puddle. The most annoying thing about the situation was that Andy agreed with her about the sheer uselessness of her crush. The only positive thing about the situation was that Andy had brains enough to not go around proclaiming her love from the rafters. Plus, she was cynical and objective enough to keep her head around O'Neil, even if he was doing something cute.
"You know that he's too shallow for you girl." She pointed out gently. "O'Neil only ever goes for the tall, blonde beauties. Being a short, ginger hag, I thought you were used to the idea." She meant it teasingly of course, but she was right. Not many people noticed the gleam in Andy's eyes that made her unnaturally appealing to those who looked closely enough. "Nosebleed or not, he wouldn't go for you."
"I know," came the exhausted reply, "but a girl can wish right?" Elle couldn't resist the snort that made its ungainly way from her nose.
"Perhaps," she said drily, "Perhaps you could ask the Goblin King to steal you away and leave a beautiful changeling in your place. That way, when you come back, he'll be so in love with you that he won't even notice your deteriorated appearance." It was Andy's turn to snort at that. Elle's mother often warned her children of the dangers of the goblin king. "Make a foolish wish," she often said, "and he'll grant it just to spite you. Be careful, and don't use the name 'Jareth' lightly."
"If the Goblin King plans to steal me away, I wish he'd hurry up and do it." She said sarcastically. "The tension's killing me."
Giggling, the girls continued to discuss teenage girl things en route to the Bus Station. Neither of them looked behind the wall which separated the pavement from the graveyard. If they had, they would have seen the short, slimy looking man giggle to himself rather excitedly. They would have heard him quickly recall the conversation to himself in a scratchy, wheezy voice that made the blood run cold. They would have heard the deep throated chuckle seemingly emitting from the pendant around the creature's neck. But they didn't look. They continued to walk and discuss boys and clothes and nineteenth century French philosophy without a care in the world, and remained blissfully oblivious to the remarkable exchange between the creature and the pendant.
In the heart of the goblin city, beyond the mystical labyrinth and deadly wasteland which surrounded it, Jareth found himself laughing again for what seemed like the first time in years but what was realistically the first time in a few short hours. How long had it been since he had been able to pull off a trick this fun? Weeks at least! Oh he loved it when idiotic people slighted him or made a reckless wish. It was wonderful to teach them harsh and bitter lessons about the world around them.
(Okay, Elleanne is pronounced Ell-ee-anne. Just to avoid confusion, I'm aware that it isn't a common name. Please review, it gives an old authoress hope.)
Thank you for reading.
Niamh