Whispers In the Dark
Sarah lay on her bed staring up at the ceiling. Her long brown hair dangling off the edge of the bed, arms above her head… Lifeless she just lay there lost in thought. The room had such a lonely feeling to it now. A feeling that made it seem like a dead end. There were burgundy curtains in the windows, the sun was setting outside, and a dull, orange, quite depressing light crept in through them. She turned her head to look at the light coming in. It reminded her of the Labyrinth. That same dull, orange light seemed to just end everything by bringing the darkness in which she lay alone in every night unable to sleep. It was different in the Labyrinth though… she didn't feel so… utterly alone. Her stereo was playing a CD that she listened to quite often these days. It played some of the saddest songs…
"Despite the lies that you're making,
Your love is mine for the taking.
My love is just waiting,
To turn your tears to roses."
She sat upright on her bed and stared at the wall now. The TV was on in the living room. Every noise she heard sounded so far away and it seemed to echo. Everything seemed to be slowly slipping past her while she stands still in nothingness. She thought of this often and would sob… mostly at night when she was alone and everything was so quiet and dead to her. That's how she felt… dead.
***
Jareth walked through the corridors of his Labyrinth kicking pebbles along his way. He seemed so careless. He wore his white silk shirt and tight, black vest, grey tights, black leather gloves, and his knee high black boots. His face looked completely blank and his eyes dead and cold. The Labyrinth was in bad shape and had been ever since… well… 5 years ago… Sarah. The forest was dead. All the trees were dead, the plants… It looked like a barren wasteland. The walls of the Labyrinth were all cracked and crumbling more and more everyday. The maze where the hedges were… what hedges? There were no hedges anymore.. Just dry twigs. The fairies were dying off and would very soon be extinct because there were no more flowers for them. Everything.. Everything was dying around the Goblin King. Even his Goblins… His kingdom was falling apart right before his very eyes. Nevertheless, he seemed to not care. He felt as dead as everything looked. He had not conjured up a crystal in 5 years… He didn't even know if he still had the power to. He hadn't used his powers since then either…
Jareth leaned against the wall and slid down it to sit. His elbows on his knees and his head down staring at the ground. In the distance, he heard a crumbling and crashing down of stone… He threw his head back against the wall, closed his eyes and just sighed. His mind just wandered. He started feeling that… feeling again… He had been feeling this burning inside him over the past few weeks. Almost as if something was, calling him… or he was calling for something. He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he just wanted to feel alive again. 'She made me feel alive.' He thought to himself. He sat there staring at the wall across from him and… It started crumbling and cracking… Then it fell to the ground with such a loud crash. Jareth's expression stayed the same. He did not move, blink… He just kept staring as if nothing had just happened. He stood up and brushed himself off. He continued strolling through the corridors of the Labyrinth. He stopped suddenly and turned around. There was something on the ground. He walked over and knelt down to pick it up. He reached out and stopped, his hand held over the object. Emotion melted onto his face… sadness… He picked it up slowly… just staring at it. "Her lipstick…" he said softly with a shaky voice. He stopped and noticed something… he was feeling… something other than just… dead. His face lit up as he thought of what could still be. What is still possible, even after all this time. He snatched the lipstick in his gloved hand and with a smile; he snapped his fingers with his other hand and vanished.
***
Nightfall was coming and Sarah hated it. She always felt so alone at night. It was enough to drive her crazy. Just laying there… listening to nothingness… So quiet… no one by her side. She often thought about him. She thought about her time within the Labyrinth and her challenge. She didn't realize it then but… It changed her. From a spoiled brat to a strong woman. Back then she hated him for all that she went through.. Now… Now she felt like she had him to thank for making her what she is today. Sometimes she felt as if he was the only person who really knew her and it made her feel so much more alone. Tears welt up in her eyes and she began to sob again… Just like every other night. And all through the day, she knew it was coming… She knew the tears would be here soon and she wouldn't be able to stop them. She knew the darkness would bring the loneliness along with it and she dreaded it. Every… Single… Night. She'd always felt like there was so much more for her out there somewhere but she didn't know where though. She always felt different and she knew she was… Everyone knew she was. In addition, some people treated her different… Like she was an outcast. That's why she took to her possessions… Her toys and her fairytales. She needed to escape it all and that was the only way. Until… Until… 'He took me away from it all.. .' She thought. She started sobbing hard and laid down on her bed hiding her face in the pillow. She cried hard. Harder than she had in a while, calling out his name.
"Jareth!" she cried clenching the pillow wishing it were him.
***
Jareth was pacing back and forth in his bedchamber when he thought he heard someone calling his name. He stopped immediately. There was a look of confusion and hope on his face. He knew that voice! 'It couldn't be!' he thought. He heard it again."Sarah?!" he called out. He kept hearing his name called out in a sob. He knew it was Sarah. But why couldn't she hear him?! He could hear the sadness in her voice and it was driving him crazy because he could not be heard. He ran back and forth in the room looking about for where the voice might be coming from. However, it seemed to be coming out of nowhere.
***
Sarah's sobs started to die down now as she drifted off to sleep. Her screams of his name now became murmurs. Her face was soaked with tears. Strands of her hair stuck to the tears. The room fell silent again. Maybe that's why she would cry sometimes… Just so, it was not so silent… Sarah started falling into a dream. It all seemed so familiar to her… A different song was heard now, one that often played in her head as she drifted to sleep…
"I'll be there for you,As the world falls down,
Makes no sense at all,
Makes no sense to fall,
Falling… falling in love,
Falling in love…"
***
Jareth felt fear rise up in his throat as the room fell quiet. He didn't want it to stop… He wanted so badly to hear her voice even if he couldn't see her face. He froze…, lifted his hand, holding it out as if he was waiting for something to be placed in it."Show me the girl." he said quietly in a very serious tone, his eyes dark and narrowed. The most beautiful crystal appeared in the palm of his hand. The colors were magnificent and glowing. A smug smile fell on his face as the crystal appeared. He waited impatiently… Then he saw an image start to appear within the crystal. His eyes glistened at the sight of Sarah sleeping in her bed. He looked closely and saw the tears on her face. There was sorrow in his eyes, the sight clenched at his heart like a vice grip.
***
Sarah, twitching in her sleep, felt an eerie feeling all of a sudden and snapped awake. As her eyes opened, she jumped up and gasped. There were eyes… peering at her through a crystal. It was only a ghostly mist though. She knew those eyes.
"Jareth!" she called out in shock. Her eyes wide and filled with tears. She saw the an emotion in his eyes that she had never seen before, certainly not from him anyways. She was terrified and so excited at the same time. 'Is it really him?!' She thought. She got up on her knees still on the bed and looked hard at the eyes. She started to crawl towards them.
Jareth watched her through the crystal. He felt as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest. 'This is it! This is my chance!' He thought. He felt as if this would be the one and only time he could see her again… Be with her. He couldn't let it slip away. He didn't know why though… 'This girl destroyed my kingdom… She ruined ME… Why do I feel like this?' He thought to himself. Still gazing at her through the crystal, he saw her crawling towards him. He raised his hand to touch the crystal wishing it were her. Taking his hand away, he straightened his composure."Sarah say the words…" he said forcefully.
Sarah froze at his command, shaking now; she felt the words rise up from her stomach.
"I wish the Goblins would come and take me away!" she yelled out unable to stop herself. "Right now!"
Suddenly it started to storm outside. Lightning flashed brightly in her bedroom and thunder crashed so loudly that she nearly jumped out of her skin. The windows and mirror in her room shattered loudly and she fell to the floor in terror. A ferocious gust of wind swept in and a shadow crept in through the window and filled the room. Sarah raised her head slowly, her eyes wide. There stood the Goblin King in his high-collared cape, his hair blonde and feathered, his mismatched eyes narrowed staring at her on the floor, a tiny, evil smirk on his was delighted at the fact that she called upon him again and the feeling of needing Sarah had been swallowed by it. He stood there looking very arrogant, his arms crossed his chest, his head held high, and that smirk… It made Sarah feel very uneasy.
Sarah stood up slowly and shakily, staring at him… wondering why he was giving her… that look. She backed away from him a few feet.
"Jareth…?" she said nothing more than a whisper. She didn't know what to say. She had wanted to see him again so bad that she couldn't stand it and now here he stood… But why was he acting so strange? She saw the way his eyes looked before… She saw the pain in them… So why was he trying to hide it now?
Jareth stepped closer to her and she backed away further.
"Sarah? Why do you re-coil?" he asked confused. He stood there wondering why she was acting so afraid of him. His eyes pierced right through her, searching for an answer.
"Why are you here?" she asked with tears in her eyes.
"I'm here because you called me, Sarah. Why else would I be here in this Godforsaken world of yours?" he spat out quietly looking away from her.
It was obvious that he was now angry or upset about something. He turned his back to her.
"Come Sarah…" he said plainly.
"Wait! "She paused and looked down at the floor. She was so confused now and felt anger rising up… Or was it pain? She couldn't tell. "Jareth?" she whispered still looking at the floor, tears running down her face.
"What?!" he bit out spinning around with a furious look on his face. His eyes frightened her. They were so dark now and she could feel them burning a hole into her.
Sarah was startled by his yelling and twitched. A pout spread across her face and she felt alone again. Jareth stood there half-turned facing her. Sorrow began to fill him up as he saw her face. That same pout from all those years ago. The same pleading look in her eyes. His face fell into a frown at the look of her. He stepped towards her slowly being so careful, as if every step he took pained her even more. He reached out his gloved hand to take hers.
"Come Sarah…" He spoke softly to her, giving her the same pleading look. Sarah looked into his eyes. The expression on her face was so obvious to Jareth… It was almost asking him not to hurt her. Sarah gave him her hand cautiously. A calming feeling swept over him and he squeezed her hand gently gazing dreamily into her eyes.
"There's such a sad love,
Deep in your eyes,
A kind of pale jewel,
Open and closed within your eyes,
I'll place the sky,
Within your eyes."
The song played in his head as he gazed deeply into her eyes. Fuzzy memories of that night began to fill his mind and a warm smile melted onto his face.