Sarah breathed in the fresh forest air, it seemed that everything in this park had always stayed the same unchanging… perfect even in all of its wild glory. This place was untouched by the days gone by since her last visit; the creek trickling happily by as the birds sang, but she was not the same, Sarah had grown up enough to know that this place held memories ones that she couldn't or wouldn't forget. A younger Sarah had recited lines right over by that stone bench, and after the run through the labyrinth this sixteen year old had buried a small crystal that she had found in her room, only to find it again on her bedside table when she returned home. Sarah laughed gently at the memories of her run, something she would not have been able to do when she was younger…But then she remembered who she was… she had lost her father, Toby and Irene yesterday on her eighteenth birthday. Fire and ash consumed her home and with it her childhood died. She had screamed, begged, pleaded and wished, but it seemed that the Goblin King would not come, as if he had abandoned her very thought.
"Damn you Jareth….Damn you" She whispered, kneeling down in the soft grass her hair falling in front of her face as the tears blinded her. "Toby was only two years old…He had a whole life ahead of him…I wish…I wish"
"Who knew someone who had learned so much would still make wishes for someone she hated"
The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end at the sound of that voice, standing shakily to her feet and turning she was met with the mismatched eyes that had haunted her dreams for so many years, the fact that he was standing there was something that almost made her want to kill him. That smirk on his face and that hair combined almost sent her over the edge.
"Why now?" she asked her voice hoarse.
"What do you mean why know? Sarah you said my name and I wish you practically allowed me a bit of power over you" Jareth said, shifting to one side as if offended.
"Why not when the house was burning? Why not when my family where screaming and dying inside?! I begged, I offered you anything…everything in fact!" Sarah exploded.
The Goblin Kings icy indifference seemed to shatter like broken glass, he looked as though someone had stabbed him straight through the heart and as he took a step back he whispered "I didn't know…I didn't hear…" Sarah leaned onto a nearby oak tree gathering strength from deep within and facing her once upon a time nemesis and motioned for him to follow her. This childhood walk with the Goblin King at her heels was a memory that she would hold in her mind for the rest of her days on this earth, as she rounded the corner she felt herself slowly weaken, for there it stood… The remainder of her once home stood before them, its once white exterior nothing but a memory: blackened by the char and ash surrounding it. Sarah shuddered as she once again heard her family's screams coming from inside when she returned from running errands, Toby calling for her parents, her father's face appearing in the upper room window trying to break it, but it was no use he was too weak and the smoke too thick.
"Sarah…I did not know…I did not hear" The Goblin King, put his hand on Sarah's shoulder.
"Why? I know you have kept tabs on me…Did you forget me?" the tears began to fall once more.
When she turned to face him it was as though the stony exterior had melted from his face leaving only his emotions to find her and save her from the nightmare she was living in. As he stepped closure Sarah felt the sixteen year old in screaming something about danger, labyrinths, time and fear, but the older part of her was saying he was safe, gentle and kind.
"I am so…so very sorry" He reached out and in an instant Sarah was wrapped in a safe embrace….