Beneath the Clear Blue Skies
By: Darkchilde
midnights_jewel_purple@yahoo.com
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Chapter One
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Some days just start out badly, and get steadily better. And some days start out great and then you find out that your grandmother died, and things go downhill from there. And then there are some days that start off lousy and end up even worse.
The sunlight streaming through the window was what woke Sarah Williams this morning. She hazily pulled herself away from the dream she been having of silk and lace, beautiful music, strong arms and a pair of beautiful mismatched blue eyes.
Blinking sleepily, Sarah smiled, convinced that this was going to be a wonderful day. That impression lasted about three seconds, until her hazel eyes landed on the clock. He screamed five minutes after eight in bold red letters. Muffling a shriek, the girl tumbled out of bed, running toward her closet to grab something to wear. She pulled whatever it was that she first laid hands on onto her body and whirled to her vanity to grab at her brush.
She ran the brush through her hair as quickly as she could, cringing every time she looked into the mirror, Her hair was a mess, and nothing was going to fix it! Moaning, the girl slammed her silver backed brush on the white oak of the vanity, and hastily grabbing her books for the day, the young woman darted out her bedroom door.
She pounded down the steps and sprinted into the kitchen, where the wicked stepmother was standing up at the stove. Karen turned an icy glare on her stepdaughter as soon as the young woman was inside the room.
"Sarah, you're late." The woman reprimanded then younger one sharply.
"I know!" Sarah cried back, grabbing at the brown paper bag that was her lunch. Karen just glared at her, wrinkling her nose.
"Well, you'd better hurry! And I'd better not get a phone call about you today-I have a very busy schedule to keep, and talking about you to your school guidance consoler is not on the agenda." Karen told her sharply.
"Sure you do." Sarah muttered as she dropped a kiss on Toby's head as she ran out the door.
The trip to school had not been fun. . She dropped her new fantasy novel in the mud, and tore her jeans on a stick she hadn't seen when she had been running through the park trying to get to school on time. And she'd still been late!
School had not been much better. She'd left not one but two homework assignments at home, and lost her lunch somewhere within the confines of her locker. Someone spilled ketchup on her white silk blouse, which earned her another lecture from the evil step-witch as soon as she stepped into the door after school had finally ended.
She glared at the tiny taped up mirror in her locker, slamming it shut after seeing the grotesque face she was making. She'd been so sure that this was going to be a great day when she first opened her eyes. Boy had she been wrong.
With a grimace, she turned away from her locker, and began to make her way home. Please don't let anything horrible happen to me on my way home, Sarah pleaded with all the gods she could think of.
Thankfully, nothing did, until she was making her way through the park once more. A monstrous chocolate lab was running across the park, hot in pursuit of a ball knocked, barreled into her to the ground. She shrieked as her head slammed into the gray cement. The colors of the world swam together, blinding her for just a moment, before there was nothing but black.
An owl hooting was the first thing she heard when she was able to open her eyes. An owl? She thought to herself. Weren't they nocturnal? Blinking hazily, Sarah caught a glimpse of a white barn owl flying away. What?!
"Hey, are you okay!?" A female voice asked, drawing Sarah's eyes away from the rapidly retreating bird. A young woman with long brown hair and green eyes was looking down at her with a mixed expression of worry and fear etched on her face.
"Yeah, I think so." Sarah said, sitting up slowly and rubbing the back of her head. The girl dropped to on knee beside her, carefully extending a hand to help the other young woman up.
"I'm sorry about that, Mariah is just to big for her own good." The brown haired girl told Sarah, pointing to where a young man was holding onto a large brown dog.
"It's okay…no harm done." Sarah smiled, still rubbing the back of her head.
"You might wanna go to the doctor or something, get that checked out." The dog's owner suggested, biting her lip.
"Nah, I'm fine. Really." Sarah assured the worried young woman. Slowly, she stood up, testing her weight.
"I'm really sorry." The brunette told the other girl, standing as well. "Can I give you a ride home, or anything?"
"No, I'm fine, but thanks anyway." Sarah murmured, rubbing her head. She had the first signs of a headache coming on, and all she wanted to do was go home and hide under the covers. The other girl still hesitated, chewing on the bottom of her lip. Sarah smiled at her, and bent to pick up her books.
"Here, let me." The girl offered, dropping to her knees and picking up the scattered books and papers. "Here ya go. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. But thanks again." Sarah said, taking her books and starting for home. The girl watched her go worriedly for a moment, but then turned back to her boyfriend and dog.
Sarah's headache was going strong be the times she stumbled into her home. The screams of a baby where the first thing she heard, and Sarah moaned. Looked like she'd get no quite now. Biting back a whimper, Sarah moved toward the stairs, longing to retreat to her own bedroom.
"Sarah?! Sarah, is that you!?" Karen's voice was shrill. The girl reflected on the wisdom of simply not answering, then thought better of it.
"Yeah. What?!" She called, back, still gazing longingly at the stairs.
"Come here, I need some help with this!" Sarah sighed, and turned toward the kitchen, moving as slowly as she could. Pushing the door open, she slipped into the loud room, trying to figure out what was going on.
Toby was in his chair, screaming bloody murder, and Karen was at the counter, busily working on something that looked suspiciously like
"Lancelot! What happened to him!?" Sarah cried, advancing forward. Her old teddy bear was laying on the counter, his arm hanging half off.
"Toby nearly ripped his arm off." Was Karen's clipped response. "And he hasn't stopped crying since I took it away from him. Try to entertain him, okay?"
Sarah sighed, but turned to her little brother, and made a face at him, one he normally found hysterically funny. Today he just screamed louder, making her head hurt even worse. She pulled him out of his seat and held him, jiggled him, cuddled him, tried everything in her limited power to make him stop crying. No such luck.
She'd been forced to keep an eye on him until dinner, and he had managed to scream for the whole time. Her headache was throbbing at the back of her eyes, making her see spots. But Karen insisted that she eat dinner, so Sarah sat beside her squalling brother, and listened to her father and stepmother slowly work themselves up into a heated argument about something or other.
She'd excused her self from the dinner table before she'd eaten half of her food, unable to take the whole harsh reality of her life anymore.
She retreated to her bedroom, taking a half-eaten bag of cookies and a six pack of diet soda with her for company. Her door was firmly locked, and just to be on the safe side she had dragged the chest that rested at the end of her bed in front of it. She was now seated on her bed, chewing forlornly on a cookie as she listened to the continuing argument downstairs.
"If that's the way you want it Daniel, then FINE! I've had enough!" The loud slamming of the door of the room across from hers startled Sarah. She dropped her cookie and it landed on her bed. Very slowly she stood up and moved until she was kneeling on the trunk, her shiny brown hair falling across her hazel eyes. She bent down and pushed her eye against the giant old-fashioned keyhole on her door and looked out.
Her father was banging on the door to his bedroom. The back of his neck was red, and a blood vessel was standing up on the back of his neck. Sarah swallowed hard, moving away from the door. Daniel Williams was angry then she had ever seen him before, and it was starting to scare her.
The young woman sat down on her bed, pushing her long hair back behind her ears. She could hear her stepmother and her father screaming obscenities at each other through the door. Even though there was about four inches of solid oak between her and her screaming parents, she felt very, very vulnerable.
A soft cry from downstairs startled her, and she was forcibly reminded of Toby. Chewing on her lip, she debated the wisdom of going outside of her room and downstairs to get her brother. Another mournful cry echoed up through the floor and she knew that she didn't have any choice.
Grunting, she pushed the trunk out of the way and back against her bed. A fine sheen of sweat broke out on her head, and she wiped it away, turning back to the door. She popped her fingers a couple of times, a nervous habit she'd picked up from her mother.
Still biting her bottom lip, Sarah made her way to the door and grasped the handle. It felt smooth and cold against her skin. She leaned her forehead against the white oak of the door, and winced as Karen let lose with a particularly nasty curse.
Wincing, the young woman unlocked the door of her room, and twisted the handle. She cautiously poked her head out the door, her eyes on her father's well-tailored suit coat covered back. He was pounding on the door, trying to get Karen to open the door so he could scream at her face to face.
Deciding that she was safe for the moment, Sarah slipped out of her room and tip toed her way down the hall. She was as quiet as she could be, and was half way down the hall before her father's voice stopped her.
"Where the hell do you think you're going!?" Sarah had never heard him so angry before. She turned to face her raging father and swallowed hard. She backed up a few paces, her hands twisting together unconsciously.
"I was…I was going to get Toby." She whispered, looking down at her feet and trying to keep from shaking visibly. She stared at her father's knees, her own knees knocking together.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Daniel Williams voice cracked like a whip across her shoulder blades, and Sarah forced herself to look up into her father's hazel eyes.
She'd gotten her eyes from him, she decided as her mind shied away from her father's furious face. Her long dark hair and most of her facial features came from her actress mother (even if she wasn't as lovely as her beautiful mother). But her eyes, her eyes had come from her father. He had the same wide, hazel depths that changed colors with his moods like everyone told her hers did. Her eyes were a bit bigger, she decided, inching herself away from him as subtly as she could.
After a moment of watching her father's mouth move rapidly as he yelled at her, Sarah winced at her own lack of backbone. She had stood up to the Goblin King and gotten her little brother back! Why in the world was she cowering from this mere mortal?
Sarah tried to bite back a smile at that last bit. It sounded like something that Jareth might say. An image of the haughty, handsome Jareth looking down his nose at her father made mirth bubble up in Sarah, and before she could stop it, a giggle escaped her lips. The young girl clapped her hand over her mouth, but her father had noticed.
By: Darkchilde
midnights_jewel_purple@yahoo.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter One
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some days just start out badly, and get steadily better. And some days start out great and then you find out that your grandmother died, and things go downhill from there. And then there are some days that start off lousy and end up even worse.
The sunlight streaming through the window was what woke Sarah Williams this morning. She hazily pulled herself away from the dream she been having of silk and lace, beautiful music, strong arms and a pair of beautiful mismatched blue eyes.
Blinking sleepily, Sarah smiled, convinced that this was going to be a wonderful day. That impression lasted about three seconds, until her hazel eyes landed on the clock. He screamed five minutes after eight in bold red letters. Muffling a shriek, the girl tumbled out of bed, running toward her closet to grab something to wear. She pulled whatever it was that she first laid hands on onto her body and whirled to her vanity to grab at her brush.
She ran the brush through her hair as quickly as she could, cringing every time she looked into the mirror, Her hair was a mess, and nothing was going to fix it! Moaning, the girl slammed her silver backed brush on the white oak of the vanity, and hastily grabbing her books for the day, the young woman darted out her bedroom door.
She pounded down the steps and sprinted into the kitchen, where the wicked stepmother was standing up at the stove. Karen turned an icy glare on her stepdaughter as soon as the young woman was inside the room.
"Sarah, you're late." The woman reprimanded then younger one sharply.
"I know!" Sarah cried back, grabbing at the brown paper bag that was her lunch. Karen just glared at her, wrinkling her nose.
"Well, you'd better hurry! And I'd better not get a phone call about you today-I have a very busy schedule to keep, and talking about you to your school guidance consoler is not on the agenda." Karen told her sharply.
"Sure you do." Sarah muttered as she dropped a kiss on Toby's head as she ran out the door.
The trip to school had not been fun. . She dropped her new fantasy novel in the mud, and tore her jeans on a stick she hadn't seen when she had been running through the park trying to get to school on time. And she'd still been late!
School had not been much better. She'd left not one but two homework assignments at home, and lost her lunch somewhere within the confines of her locker. Someone spilled ketchup on her white silk blouse, which earned her another lecture from the evil step-witch as soon as she stepped into the door after school had finally ended.
She glared at the tiny taped up mirror in her locker, slamming it shut after seeing the grotesque face she was making. She'd been so sure that this was going to be a great day when she first opened her eyes. Boy had she been wrong.
With a grimace, she turned away from her locker, and began to make her way home. Please don't let anything horrible happen to me on my way home, Sarah pleaded with all the gods she could think of.
Thankfully, nothing did, until she was making her way through the park once more. A monstrous chocolate lab was running across the park, hot in pursuit of a ball knocked, barreled into her to the ground. She shrieked as her head slammed into the gray cement. The colors of the world swam together, blinding her for just a moment, before there was nothing but black.
An owl hooting was the first thing she heard when she was able to open her eyes. An owl? She thought to herself. Weren't they nocturnal? Blinking hazily, Sarah caught a glimpse of a white barn owl flying away. What?!
"Hey, are you okay!?" A female voice asked, drawing Sarah's eyes away from the rapidly retreating bird. A young woman with long brown hair and green eyes was looking down at her with a mixed expression of worry and fear etched on her face.
"Yeah, I think so." Sarah said, sitting up slowly and rubbing the back of her head. The girl dropped to on knee beside her, carefully extending a hand to help the other young woman up.
"I'm sorry about that, Mariah is just to big for her own good." The brown haired girl told Sarah, pointing to where a young man was holding onto a large brown dog.
"It's okay…no harm done." Sarah smiled, still rubbing the back of her head.
"You might wanna go to the doctor or something, get that checked out." The dog's owner suggested, biting her lip.
"Nah, I'm fine. Really." Sarah assured the worried young woman. Slowly, she stood up, testing her weight.
"I'm really sorry." The brunette told the other girl, standing as well. "Can I give you a ride home, or anything?"
"No, I'm fine, but thanks anyway." Sarah murmured, rubbing her head. She had the first signs of a headache coming on, and all she wanted to do was go home and hide under the covers. The other girl still hesitated, chewing on the bottom of her lip. Sarah smiled at her, and bent to pick up her books.
"Here, let me." The girl offered, dropping to her knees and picking up the scattered books and papers. "Here ya go. Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine. But thanks again." Sarah said, taking her books and starting for home. The girl watched her go worriedly for a moment, but then turned back to her boyfriend and dog.
Sarah's headache was going strong be the times she stumbled into her home. The screams of a baby where the first thing she heard, and Sarah moaned. Looked like she'd get no quite now. Biting back a whimper, Sarah moved toward the stairs, longing to retreat to her own bedroom.
"Sarah?! Sarah, is that you!?" Karen's voice was shrill. The girl reflected on the wisdom of simply not answering, then thought better of it.
"Yeah. What?!" She called, back, still gazing longingly at the stairs.
"Come here, I need some help with this!" Sarah sighed, and turned toward the kitchen, moving as slowly as she could. Pushing the door open, she slipped into the loud room, trying to figure out what was going on.
Toby was in his chair, screaming bloody murder, and Karen was at the counter, busily working on something that looked suspiciously like
"Lancelot! What happened to him!?" Sarah cried, advancing forward. Her old teddy bear was laying on the counter, his arm hanging half off.
"Toby nearly ripped his arm off." Was Karen's clipped response. "And he hasn't stopped crying since I took it away from him. Try to entertain him, okay?"
Sarah sighed, but turned to her little brother, and made a face at him, one he normally found hysterically funny. Today he just screamed louder, making her head hurt even worse. She pulled him out of his seat and held him, jiggled him, cuddled him, tried everything in her limited power to make him stop crying. No such luck.
She'd been forced to keep an eye on him until dinner, and he had managed to scream for the whole time. Her headache was throbbing at the back of her eyes, making her see spots. But Karen insisted that she eat dinner, so Sarah sat beside her squalling brother, and listened to her father and stepmother slowly work themselves up into a heated argument about something or other.
She'd excused her self from the dinner table before she'd eaten half of her food, unable to take the whole harsh reality of her life anymore.
She retreated to her bedroom, taking a half-eaten bag of cookies and a six pack of diet soda with her for company. Her door was firmly locked, and just to be on the safe side she had dragged the chest that rested at the end of her bed in front of it. She was now seated on her bed, chewing forlornly on a cookie as she listened to the continuing argument downstairs.
"If that's the way you want it Daniel, then FINE! I've had enough!" The loud slamming of the door of the room across from hers startled Sarah. She dropped her cookie and it landed on her bed. Very slowly she stood up and moved until she was kneeling on the trunk, her shiny brown hair falling across her hazel eyes. She bent down and pushed her eye against the giant old-fashioned keyhole on her door and looked out.
Her father was banging on the door to his bedroom. The back of his neck was red, and a blood vessel was standing up on the back of his neck. Sarah swallowed hard, moving away from the door. Daniel Williams was angry then she had ever seen him before, and it was starting to scare her.
The young woman sat down on her bed, pushing her long hair back behind her ears. She could hear her stepmother and her father screaming obscenities at each other through the door. Even though there was about four inches of solid oak between her and her screaming parents, she felt very, very vulnerable.
A soft cry from downstairs startled her, and she was forcibly reminded of Toby. Chewing on her lip, she debated the wisdom of going outside of her room and downstairs to get her brother. Another mournful cry echoed up through the floor and she knew that she didn't have any choice.
Grunting, she pushed the trunk out of the way and back against her bed. A fine sheen of sweat broke out on her head, and she wiped it away, turning back to the door. She popped her fingers a couple of times, a nervous habit she'd picked up from her mother.
Still biting her bottom lip, Sarah made her way to the door and grasped the handle. It felt smooth and cold against her skin. She leaned her forehead against the white oak of the door, and winced as Karen let lose with a particularly nasty curse.
Wincing, the young woman unlocked the door of her room, and twisted the handle. She cautiously poked her head out the door, her eyes on her father's well-tailored suit coat covered back. He was pounding on the door, trying to get Karen to open the door so he could scream at her face to face.
Deciding that she was safe for the moment, Sarah slipped out of her room and tip toed her way down the hall. She was as quiet as she could be, and was half way down the hall before her father's voice stopped her.
"Where the hell do you think you're going!?" Sarah had never heard him so angry before. She turned to face her raging father and swallowed hard. She backed up a few paces, her hands twisting together unconsciously.
"I was…I was going to get Toby." She whispered, looking down at her feet and trying to keep from shaking visibly. She stared at her father's knees, her own knees knocking together.
"Look at me when I'm talking to you!" Daniel Williams voice cracked like a whip across her shoulder blades, and Sarah forced herself to look up into her father's hazel eyes.
She'd gotten her eyes from him, she decided as her mind shied away from her father's furious face. Her long dark hair and most of her facial features came from her actress mother (even if she wasn't as lovely as her beautiful mother). But her eyes, her eyes had come from her father. He had the same wide, hazel depths that changed colors with his moods like everyone told her hers did. Her eyes were a bit bigger, she decided, inching herself away from him as subtly as she could.
After a moment of watching her father's mouth move rapidly as he yelled at her, Sarah winced at her own lack of backbone. She had stood up to the Goblin King and gotten her little brother back! Why in the world was she cowering from this mere mortal?
Sarah tried to bite back a smile at that last bit. It sounded like something that Jareth might say. An image of the haughty, handsome Jareth looking down his nose at her father made mirth bubble up in Sarah, and before she could stop it, a giggle escaped her lips. The young girl clapped her hand over her mouth, but her father had noticed.