Raindrops on my skin
Raindrops on my skin. Clean water running over my bare skin like tears. So much has happened in my young life. So many unbelievable, impossible things and the rain tries to wipe them away, cleanse my body of dreams of long ago love and improbable hope. Eighteen and my life is starting. Eighteen and it ends.
Smoke rises from the twisted metal of my car a few yards away but the rain will take care of that long before anyone can come. The sky is light gray with the odd touch of sunlight through the blue patches, pink and orange hover around the grey. The rain continues to land in cold droplets on my face and prone body. The sky with its beautiful myriad of summer colours will be the last thing I see. If only I could see him again. Tell him it is always him. He is the only man I'll ever want. The only man I love.
A light footstep. My heart lifts in hope but it didn't reoccur and I realise it is just my imagination. I close my eyes to the falling rain and inhale and exhale slowly. Maybe if I do it slower the pressure will lessen. I am unable to move my legs and arms. I can't feel anything below my neck. I refuse to panic. What's done is done. What's said is said.
The rain stops suddenly and I open my eyes slowly to see the sky but instead my eyes fix on an angel. Blond hair floats around his beautiful face, sharply tilted eyebrows and his fascinatingly cruel eyes stare back at me. I can't stop my lips from twitching into a small smile. I have wanted this for so long. His eyes narrow coldly and his face shuts down even tighter like a blind has been closed.
"Jareth," I gasp out and feel thick fluid trickle out of my mouth. For a moment I can't breathe but automatically my fading body takes over and I suck in air. Then cough up more fluid. I feel it pooling in my throat and I can't move or turn to spit it out. I'm drowning in my own blood. Suddenly, I am on my side and the blood is running out of my mouth. Jareth has me in his arms, gently turning my body to empty the fluid.
I can't feel his arms around me. My brain imagines what it feels like. Using the time he held me in his arms and waltzed me around the ballroom. He lies me back down and I smile weakly at him. His face is passive and I desperately want to reach out and touch him to make sure he is real. I try and lift my arm but I can't feel it and the distress must show on my face because Jareth moves closer and takes my hand in his.
"You are dying fast, Sarah." He says bluntly and I am thankful he is not trying to delude himself or me.
"I know." I gasp out again and my lungs rattle as I try to drag more air in. His face loses its control and he shows me for an instant what is lurking under the mask. I feel tears well up and they fall freely at his anguish. "You can't save me." I say it as a statement aware that all hope is gone.
"I can save you, Sarah, but there is a price." I feel the hope lift again but his face is hard but he has left his eyes open for me and I can see they already have knowledge of what I will say.
"What?" I whisper and he lifts me again so I can let more blood pour from my mouth.
"You need to wish yourself away. You will then be under my power. My will will be stronger, my kingdom greater. Do you understand?"
I stare at him wondering at this choice. I was a child and trying to save my brother when I beat him at his game. Throwing my independence in his face and meaning every word. I was now older and wiser and I was trying to save my own life. My past decision kept us apart and I want to be with him. I will say the words.
"I know how much you don't want to be under my power. You were quite clear about it the first time you were down in the Underground. You are trying to save your own life now, Sarah. Your own, not Toby's."
"Love…" I gasp out. If I accept this offer will I be allowed to marry him and bear his children? Will I be turned into a Goblin or worse made into a slave? Does he even love me the way I love him?
"Love?" He says blankly and I know he doesn't love me. I will become a slave in his kingdom. Will I sacrifice my freedom to be able to see him every day or will I just let the past die with me?
My vision begins to get foggy. I suddenly want the rain back to cleanse me one last time. My vision is foggy but my mind is not. I will not give up my freedom to be a slave. I will not give up what makes me human to live a half life.
"Sarah, say the words!" Jareth's voice has a tinge of panic in it and my vision clears slightly as he touches my face and wipes away the tears.
"I..." I whisper.
"Wish, come on, Sarah. Say the words. Let me save you" Jareth almost shook me, his hands tightening as he saw me eyes start to lose focus. "Sarah!" he cries out. It jolts me slightly.
"I," I whisper again and fight to focus on his face. His handsome face is twisted in agony as he stares down at me. "Love…" the next word is too difficult for me to formulate and I gasp blindly as air refuses to flow into my punctured lungs.
"You love…" Jareth prompts and then his face changes and he realises what I am saying. His eyes turn desperate. "Sarah, say the words!"
"…You…" Everything fades and I float away. I think I hear a feral scream of anguish as I drift away on a sea of peaceful black.
As the light of my soul dims I hear him say the words I have been desperate for since childhood.
"I love you, Sarah! Don't leave me!"
I wish… the goblins would take me away… right now…
I just needed to write something and a oneshot was perfect to get creative juices going. I haven't written a oneshot for Labyrinth in a while and like my last one it was really depressing. Their relationship is based on so much misunderstanding and miscommunication. I left it open ended for the reader to make up their own mind as to whether she gets saved or not.
Let me know what you think as always. I know this wasn't the update you were hoping for but that was the forerunner for this. It's better that someone dies here rather than killing them off in the story right? The new chapter of Battle Royal will be up soon.
xo
Cassee