The Labyrinth: Turn Back Before It's Too Late Part 2

Before we start off with this first chapter I want to apologise profusely for the delay in getting this story to you. 2017 was a crazy year for me and it didn't allow me to put the time or required amount of concentration into writing that this sequel deserved. However, I promised you all a second part to the tale and I'm am happy to let you all have chapter 1!

If you've clicked this story without reading the first part I advise you go to my profile and read that first so that this can make sense for you, alternatively you can read my next paragraph which will contain a little summary of the first part for you, though it's mainly for those who read the original when I actually posted it back in 2016 and may need a little refresh.

So in The Labyrinth: Turn Back Before It's Too Late, 23 year old Sarah was continuing to have nightmares that she had since she was 15 years old. Those nightmares all revolved around the Labyrinth, but although she had felt she had once been there before, others suggested she was crazy but she was determined to find out the truth. After her brother Toby found her copy of the play 'Labyrinth' Sarah managed to summon the Goblin King and persuaded him to let her return to find her friends Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo. Only she arrived to a place of more conflict, where many of the Fae were beginning to create a resistance against their King, wanting to overthrow him. Under a spell, Sarah was coerced into helping the resistance; she was valuable as she was seemingly immune to Jareth's powers after her first trip to the Labyrinth 8 years before where she had defeated him. However, after realising that the resistance was all a result of the resistance leader Anastantia's jealousy over Jareth's love for Sarah, Sarah accepted she returned those feelings for Jareth; she loved the Goblin King. This only infuriated Anastantia more and realising just how strong Jareth's feelings for Sarah were she threatened Sarah's life as a way of gaining revenge on Jareth for rejecting her, resulting in Jareth sending Sarah home. He promised he would find Sarah once his Labyrinth was safe again.

Thanks for all the support on the first part and please enjoy this sequel. I'll get chapters out as quick as I can around work and other commitments.

Chapter 1: Day By Day

Sarah Williams gazed into her mirror like she did every morning, wondering if she would ever see Jareth or any of her friends from the Labyrinth ever again. She had began to lose hope. Her long, brown hair fell untidily down her back and small dark circles rimmed the bottom of her eyes. She looked tired. She was tired.

It had already been just over a year since Jareth had zapped her back to her apartment from the Labyrinth without letting her say any goodbyes. That was what hurt the most. It felt almost like the first time she left there when she was only fifteen; she never said goodbye to her friends then either. The other world just seemed a mere memory when in her own world; it felt like the Labyrinth was designed to make people forget but she knew she never could erase it from her mind completely, though a part of her wished that sometimes she could.

My life would have been easier if the Labyrinth had never been a part of it. Sarah often thought this, though she had never felt like she belonged in the human world either. She had always been a dreamer and never believed she fitted in. Slowly she lifted her comb to her hair and began to brush out all the tangles, ready to start yet another day.

Time had reset once again when she returned from her second trip to the Labyrinth and though both her and Toby's memories of their time spent there remained, her father and stepmother were never aware that Sarah and Toby had been on such an adventure. Luckily for Sarah, Toby had managed to keep quiet about the Labyrinth. However, it had taken a little white lie from Sarah to guarantee Toby's silence: She told him that if he spoke of the Labyrinth that the place would cease to exist and that every creature who lived there would die. She felt a little guilty telling him this but she knew he'd understand when he was a little older. She didn't want him to be treated as crazy, just like she had been after she first told stories of her first trip to the Labyrinth. Likewise, she knew that Toby's mum would never let him stay with her if she felt Sarah had been feeding him stories of the Labyrinth and magic.

Once Sarah had finished brushing her hair and covering up her dark circles with some make-up, she stood up from her dresser, slung her purse over her shoulder and exited her apartment ready for another day at work. Work had become her main focus since her return because without her income she'd lose her apartment; moving back in with her father and stepmother was something she would never want to do. Recently she had just began a new job. She was now working as a doctors surgery receptionist, which made a change from her previous job as a barista, and also brought in a little more money so she could save a little as well as continue to pay her rent.

Although Sarah didn't have many friends and preferred her own company most of the time, some of her new colleagues had been welcoming and she'd been out with them a few times which she found to be a good distraction. She found them all a lot more welcoming than her previous workmates. Laura was the first member of the team that she became friendly with as they worked together on the reception and slowly she had got to know each of the doctors and nurses in turn. Laura had tried to play matchmaker between Sarah and Josh, one of the doctors at the practice. Although Sarah's heart still lay with Jareth, and although she continuously turned down the handsome doctor's advances, Sarah couldn't help but wonder how much longer she should put parts of her life on hold for in the hope that Jareth would eventually come for her.

What if the resistance won? What if Jareth's dead? Sarah shuddered as these thoughts crossed her mind. She hated thinking such things but she couldn't help it. After all, it was possible that something bad could happen. A year might not seem like a long time in the Labyrinth with their slower aging process, but for Sarah it felt like a long part of her life had gone by just spent waiting.

"Are you okay?" Laura asked, breaking Sarah from her thoughts. Sarah put the files she had into the drawer before smiling and nodding towards Laura. Sarah wondered if her colleagues thought she was strange. She'd always been a dreamer but now she was lost in her own little world more than ever, or lost in the Labyrinth inside her head. Part of her was finding it easier to focus lately, perhaps because it had been over a year and little by little she was beginning to move on with her life. Nevertheless, the larger part of her thoughts that were still consumed by the Labyrinth had lately become darker as she lost hope with every passing day. Day by day the same monotonous routines made her long for Jareth to appear but at the same time she feared it too. What would happen if he did come for her? Could they actually have a future? Could she face leaving Toby behind?

"Are you sure you're okay?" Laura probed. "I know you're often daydreaming but you seem even quieter today."

"Sorry," Sarah mumbled in response. "I didn't sleep too well last night."

Sarah was satisfied with her answer as she certainly wasn't lying. Only last night was no different to any other; she usually had trouble sleeping. She didn't have nightmares quite like she used to: Jareth's eyes no longer terrified her because instead she missed them. Now her nightmares flickered between Jareth dying and Anastantia stealing her love from her. Even just thinking of those scenarios, even while awake, caused Sarah's heart to pound.

Sarah heard Laura answering the phone, shifting her focus back to reality once again. Picking up the coffee that she had just made herself, Sarah walked to her desk, sat down carefully so not to spill her boiling drink, and began to sort through that morning's paperwork. She had many different letters to sort through. Some addressed simply to the surgery which she could open, but mainly addressed to different doctors which she'd sort out for them to look through once they had a break in appointments. Sarah always wondered what were in some of the letters. She guessed most of them contained results; pieces of paper that held news that could change someone's life for the worse or the better, depending on the results that were written in black and white and depending on what the patient desired to hear.

Sarah had been lucky in her life. So far she hadn't experienced any health issues bad enough to require a doctor, though she did wonder if some would question her mental stability. Sometimes she even questioned it herself. She couldn't help but overthink which made her worries about events in the Labyrinth even worse. A part of her felt like she had an obsession with the Labyrinth; it had consumed her heart and soul.

"Hey," Laura smiled across at Sarah as she had a gap between phone calls. "We were thinking about going out tomorrow evening after work, you in?"

Sarah hesitated a moment before agreeing to have a night out with her colleagues but she knew that although she never really felt like going, it was usually a welcome distraction from her mind once they were out and drinking.

"We won't go straight after," added Laura giggling. "We need to have time to get ready. We want to try the new club in town."

Upon hearing this, Sarah sighed. They'd been to a couple of the bars in their town but the new club was not somewhere Sarah had ever desired to go. However, she didn't want to come across as a bore. Maybe she'd actually enjoy it.