::Ahem:: I do not in any way, shape or form (that's right, I could even be an albatross and this would still be true!) own the Labyrinth or any of its characters. Although, I wouldn't mind owning a certain Goblin King, wink wink nudge nudge.
Chapter One.
She threw the sheets that had tumbled around her body in a fit of strangled rage. Never one to admit defeat, Sarah slipped one limb at a time in a painfully slow effort to release herself from her fuzzy prison. Stumbling to the floor, she stifled a grunt. Shoving the now docile bed sheets to the corner of the bed she sat up and hunched over, with legs spread out wide and elbows resting on her knees. She breathed in and let out a huff of air. Sarah was determinedly NOT sleeping. Almost cruelly taunting, the alarm clock reveled in it's own orange glow, as if proclaiming that it could sleep in while she, most assuredly, could not.
The same old, boring routine as usual. At least that was what it was supposed to be. No, her body definitely did not want to follow a mere routine, ever one to be gracefully (and sometimes not always so) independent, it sought now to separate her again from the sleeping world around her. Even the weather outside slept sullenly, with nothing but a slight drizzle and stars resting on thin clouds.
Swirling with images of her dream, Sarah stood up and listened to the silence all around her. Sleeping was one of the things that she was very good at and it was surprising that tonight was any different. Nothing big or important had happened that morning nor was anything due to happen tomorrow. Routine had all but taken over life, and she was somewhat comfortable with that. It was nice to know what was going to happen the next day, no surprises to change her comfortable way of life. No, she was just fine with the idea that she would wake up in the morning, stretch out her stiff limbs, meander to the bathroom and slather some toothpaste on her toothbrush.
"I'm the only one that can stand to see myself in the morning anyways," she thought sullenly. This whole waking up business was certainly something that was left out on her list of things to do. Oh God. Her lists.
"Just another day," she wondered, "apparently not."
Sarah had created a detailed list every night before she fell asleep since she had moved into her updated apartment near the edge if the city three months ago. It had been a steal, only a tiny bit over her budget and if she walked to the corner of the living room and stood at just the right height, she could see a view of the ocean. As soon as she saw those crystalline waves crashing upon the shore, she knew it had to be hers. Sarah filled out the forms as quickly as she could while still keeping a hawk's eye on the fine details. Her Father had always told her, "the devil's in the details, Sarah." And he was, too.
Having a fairly successful businessman in the family would always be something she was secretly proud of. Although never one to admit it, she enjoyed the little laps of luxury a well-to-do family could provide. By no means was she among the wealthy, yet her Father had made them sufficiently comfortable with enough left over to spoil themselves every once and a while.
After turning in the papers to the agent, who had an obvious penchant for tanning beds and eyeliner, she jumped in her car and drove to the beach. Even after going to college for four years here, she was never able to get over the surprise at seeing the sun kissed rocks and the weather beaten crabs scurry from nearby crannies to the barely overflowing tide pools. Here, Sarah was able to sit down and clear her mind. The deafening roar of the surf blocked out the cars, the children and the flirting teens and allowed a certain type of freedom avoided by most. She found herself most content when she could discover a little niche for herself, a makeshift hermits hovel, to be alone.
She had done it, she thought to herself, she had made it this far. Getting through college was difficult, not because of the pressure of grades, but from the pressure of socializing. It seemed she had her priorities in a messy and convoluted twist. Her grades had been passable, nothing extraordinary, mainly a half-hearted effort to master the material given and a logical enough brain to do the rest. But where she averaged in "B's" in academia, her grade point average for partying and general college tomfoolery was a resounding "F-."
"If one was possible," she grunted.
Parties had NOT been fun. Sure, a pile of drunken 'Bro's' was funny to look at, but only for the first five or ten minutes. After that, her threshold had hit its quota. The equally pissed girls, semi clad in anything that could be described as mini skirts to barely-there tank tops, came right along with boys. Fighting fire with fire. When Sarah had stepped into the compound of the bumping and grinding mass, she immediately felt like a firefly trapped in a jar. She suddenly became claustrophobic in the jiving and giggling 20-somethings.
"Oh, come on Sarah!" her friend Lily groaned. Not much more of a partier than Sarah was, Lily had a wild streak that years of bitterness towards concerned parental watchfulness had built up. Lily had told Sarah the first time they met that she had planned to be open to any opportunity or situation possible. Well, maybe not ANY situation, but if they didn't involve certain death or leeches, she was all for it.
Lily had dragged Sarah past the edges of the party into the center of the mob. Gyrating next to a particularly unfocussed and a shit-eating grin looking guy, Lily looked to be right at home in the midst of the party revelers. Sarah threw a look at Lily, and quickly replaced her expression with one that emulated the downward looking and slightly smiling girls around her. Assimilating herself to the bodies around her was easier than it looked, but soon became taxing and unnerving. The longer it went on, the more boys stroked her and she was given lecherous looks.
Sarah bolted from the near-orgy surrounding her, leaving Lily behind to release her rebellious nature. As soon as she had freed herself, Sarah inhaled deeply, receiving all the heavily carbon dioxide dosed air her lungs could carry. How could people like that? Sliding on each other, mingling sweat with strangers. She couldn't find that detachment of not only personal hygiene but with the shield she had places around herself.
"Perfectly good shield it is too," Sarah thought, lounging back on a large rock that somewhat resembled a resting turtle.
She let the carefree ocean breeze dance with her hair as she sunk into her long awaited solitude. Back home, the breeze had smelled like falling leaves, crisp mornings, glowing spring sunlight and heavy grass lulls. But it never smelled like it did here. That had been partly the reason why Sarah had chosen to go to college on the opposite side of the country. The entire sky seemed to look different here, more open and questioning. When she had first stepped off the plane and was carted to the dorms, she couldn't keep her eyes peeled from the windows.
"Mountains! Real mountains!" And after saying that she had remained silent for the remainder of the day, with the exception of a polite conversation with her new roommate, Lily.
Sarah had clung to the landscape; its green hills and cavorting clouds seemed to call to her. The decision to remain here and buy an apartment for herself had really been an easy one in the end. The thought of going home now scared her, more than she wanted to admit. Toby was beginning to get to the age where he had enough sense to doubt, but without the knowledge of how to control his thoughts. The last time she had called home, Karen had seemed a mess, if her breathy and slightly scratchy voice were any clue. Toby had grabbed the phone away from her seconds into their conversation.
"Sarah! Sarah! You'll never guess what I did today. Daddy took me fishing and I caught a fish! A big one! It was really weird looking and it acted all the weird and floppy, but that's okay because Daddy said that we were gonna put it right back in the lake and it could see its family again. Daddy said that I could go fishing next weekend too. I'm gonna catch an even bigger one! It's gonna be 10 feet long and have big, red eyes and I'll pull really really har…"
"TOBY! DID YOU PICK UP YOUR TOYS…..? OW! DAMNIT TOBY!" Sarah could hear her father yelling in the background and secretly giggled to herself. He rarely had raised his voice to her, but when he did his face had a slight tendency to turn to the shade of freshly made grape kool-aide.
"Uh oh. Bye Sarah!" Toby said as he had slammed the phone back down on the receiver.
That had been the last time she talked to her family before deciding to rent out the apartment, where she was currently and still firmly not about to get any sleep. She had walked to the living room sliding door and sat on the arm of the plush cushioned chair she had strategically placed so she could see the view. Now when she called her family, Toby refused to talk to her and her Dad spoke to her in a somewhat sullen tone. She did miss being with her family, but being there was just too hard. Recollections of torturous taunts and cruel classmates in High School and the doubting eyebrows of her best friends were the ones that reminded her of her past home.
Here, she didn't have to face that past. The place she had once called home had become a factory of skepticism for her, where she had once been a spoiled teenager, she had grown into a withdrawn young woman. No, she was not labeled as being a silly little girl with wild musings of magic and glamour here. No one called her crazy or jeered at her.
Her new home left her without family, and only a selection of a few friends she made in college that had ended up staying nearby. Yet, she did have the consolation of her dreams which flitted in and out of her bedtime head most unexpectedly.
All thoughts of her list faded off in the distance as she stared out the window, clutching a freshly brewed cup of tea to her breast and a mind swirling with thoughts of a little hard worn man in a leather jerkin.
A/N It would be greatly appreciated for anyone, of any size, shape or form (that means you too, little albatross) could give me a review. Remember, this is the only way in which I can honestly know if I can get better for you lovelies. I promise tons of good karma and an excited squeal from the post behind my computer. Please::begs on both knees::