Sarah shuddered against the cold winter wind. She could feel the cold through the thin jacket she wore. *I'd better pick up a better coat. * she thought to herself as she swung the gate to her front walk open. It groaned as it opened, another sign of the age of this place. Looking around, Sarah didn't notice the falling-down gate, the house that desperately needed repairs or the barn that looked as if it'd fall down. All she saw were the rolling hills, now covered with several inches of snow and the beautiful horses that stood upon them.
As she walked up to the fence, Sarah called out to them softly, "Here Jareth, here Star!" Her two horses saw Sarah and trotted up to the fence. As they approached, Sarah couldn't help but admire Jareth and Star for the beauty. Jareth was a pitch-black Thoroughbred Stallion, proud and strong. Star was a pure white Mare with a black marking on her forehead that was shaped as a star; she was a free spirited animal. She had fallen in love with the pair as soon as she had saw them 2 years before. At 18, she had been very spirited herself and had handed over the money for the 2 young horses without a second thought.
The house and 5 acres surrounding it had been bought shortly before the horses were. Her father and Karen had helped to pay for it. They were as eager for Sarah to get out on her own as she was. She laughed bitterly. *It pissed them off to see me refuse to go to college, but as soon as I asked for help for this place, they immediantly agreed*. It was her dream though. The silence even in midday, the solitude that surrounded the place, She belonged here more than anywhere. Her childish fantasies had kept her head in the clouds all through high school, even as she tried to suppress them to fit in more. But here, here she could be herself and dream all day if she wanted to. Her Job at the small bookstore downtown may not have paid well, but it allowed her to live out her fantasies as much as she could.
But there was the one fantasy, the one that she never dared to try and make come true. "Jareth." She whispered his name softly and heard it drift away from her with the breeze. At 20, she still thought of that handsome Goblin King who had stolen her heart when she was 15. But she could never call on him again. Not after what she had did to him when she was in The Underground last. He had offered his heart, his love to her, and she had thrown it all away, the actions of a stupid immature child. He hated her, she was sure.
Sarah sighed as she slowly backed away from the fence and turned towards her house. The breeze caught her long, loose midnight hair and made it swirl around her head. With it came a name, "Sarah…"
She turned around sharply, but of course, there was no one there. She shook her head quickly. *Don't do this to yourself Sarah!* She cursed herself silently, at the same time wishing someone had been there when she turned around.
As she entered the house, she breathed in deep the smell of her home. Worn, trusting, it smelled comfortable and lived in. And so it was. She took off her thin coat and hung it up on a wooden peg. She walked briskly over to the heater and turned it on. She heard a click. She put her hand up to the heater. Nothing. She sighed as she walked back over to the peg and put her coat back on. *Oh well, it's only one night without heat. It was only supposed to get down to what? 30?*
She sat down in a comfortable chair in her den and picked up a book from the nearby table. She looked at the cover. Labyrinth. Sarah stared at the cover for several moments. This wasn't the book she had put there. This book was supposed to be upstairs in her room. *Oh it must have been Toby when he was up here yesterday. Yes, he probably took it from its place and put it down here.* She wrote it off quickly and then got up to put it back. She looked out the window as she started up the stairs that led to her bedroom. Outside on a barren tree sat a snowy white owl. She paused, blinked once then looked again. It was gone.
After she had put the book away she returned downstairs to fix herself some coffee. She glanced at the clock on the coffee maker. She needed to feed the horses and put them away for the night. She sat the coffee maker up and then headed back outside into the frigid air. The snow crunched softly under her boots as she walked towards the far gate that led from the fields to the barn. She grabbed a lead shank and entered the paddock. She whistled and she saw Star and Jareth heading towards her.
Star got to her first so she deftly clipped the lead shank to her bridle and lead her from the field. Jareth whickered softly and tried to follow. "Oh no you don't" Sarah said to him softly as she pushed his nose back away, "I'll come back and get you in a second." She led Star to her Stall and measured her out some feed and checked her water before returning to the gate.
She gasped. The gate had been pushed open, by Jareth of course, and the horse was nowhere to be seen. She looked around desperately before finally seeing him trotting around near her driveway. "Come here Jareth! Come here boy!" She called out to him as she inched her way forward. She didn't want him to spook and run off, then she'd have a hell of a time catching him. And he did just that. He took off at a gallop towards the other side of the small field across from the driveway and Sarah immediantly took off after him. But as she crossed the blacktop driveway she felt her feet slip from under her and she fell to the ground, hitting her head with a sickening thud on the concrete. The last thing she saw before she blacked out was a snowy owl perched in a nearby tree. "Goblin King….Jareth…" She called out softly before the blackness overcame her and she passed out.