Chapter 1

When you wish…

'I wish…'

In a cold and bare room in the middle of a castle, a man was sat on a stone throne. His head snapped up as his eyes scanned the air, seeing something nobody else could see, hearing something nobody else could hear. He brushed a golden lock of hair out of his eyes.

A girl shouts, but it takes all her effort. It's the sound of a girl who has no fight left anymore. 'Will you just shut up! I'm so tired… I just…I wish…I wish the Goblins would come take you away.' A single tear runs down her face. 'Right now.'

The man sprung to his feet. 'Finally.' He said, with a sigh, and in a swirl of his ivory white cloak, he transformed into an owl and flew out of the open door.

Abby was running frantically around her house with an arm full of teddy bears and toy trucks. Her baby 'sister' wasn't a child into Barbie's, but instead trucks and cars. They were never right though, and the tiny baby Jess never kept them – they'd appear back where they'd been before Abby had run and put them in the cot, every time. There was no explanation, but Abby blamed it on exhaustion. Had she imagined that she'd put them there? It must have never happened at all. Because the cries of that demanding baby would never stop.

Abby's parents were never there. Her mother had managed to convince another unfortunate man that she was normal, and for the 6th time in 5 years Abby had pulled out the old bridesmaid dress for the lavish ceremonies that would always be held. She felt sorry this time, for poor Paul, because soon he would start noticing the tiny things her mother would try so hard to hide for the first few months; the paranoia that plagued her every waking moment; her desperation to look as young as she could at any expense, amongst may others. Abby had a theory that her negligent mother simply resented her youth. She was by no means beautiful, was Abby, but nor was she ugly. But she was always given clothes by her mother which should have belonged to either boys or the elderly, despite the wealth she gained from her divorces. She'd never felt beautiful or sexy, but she blamed herself, and her chronic lack of confidence, rather than the real cause.

This was the 6th time that Abby had been left by herself during the honeymoon. But it was worse this time. They were gone for a month, and she was left with their baby, little baby Jess.

So it was only natural, that after a couple of weeks, Abby felt her resentment growing. And it was only natural that soon Abby chose to ignore the cries of the baby. Well, God knows she tried hard to ignore the screams of that little thing, but she couldn't. She couldn't sleep, and when she did try to calm it, it just made things worse. To her, that baby summed up everything that was wrong about her life, and she soon decided enough was enough. And it was while Abby was struggling to control her full blown hatred for little baby Jess, that she finally sat down to read a book. That book was called Labyrinth and it had been given to her by one of her few friends, her next door neighbour Toby. Toby had no idea what went on in his neighbour's house, or even that a baby lived in there. Maybe, if he had known, he wouldn't have lent her the little red book that he'd passed over the fence. But he did, and she read it, and then she walked up her stairs, and she looked into the eyes of the suddenly silent baby, and said, consumed with a resolute passion for what she was saying:

'I wish…'

The baby suddenly started to cry so loudly that Abby could hardly hear her own thoughts.

'Will you just shut up! I'm so tired… I just…I wish…I wish the Goblins would come take you away.' She felt single tear run down her face. 'Right now.'

Sorry if it seems negative! But I thought the only reason someone would do something this horrible, knowing the consequences, is if she really hated the kid or was seriously messed up. It just so happens that this character, at the moment, is a bit of both.

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