Stranger in my house
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters – they belong to Jimmy Henson. Only the OMC and the story idea is mine.
Rated: T because I'm paranoid.
AN: After being told twice (as if one time isn't enough...) to remove all the lyrics and finally finding some time between work and family, I reposted the story as a normal short one-shot. The song that inspired me to write this is "Stranger in my house" from Ronny Milsap. You may look it up if you want to know, what the lyrics are about because I am not allowed to publish them on this site.
It's my first english fic and English is not my main language, so please don't be too harsh.
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"Sarah? Are you home?" I closed the entrance door quietly and put the heavy shopping bags down on the floor. "Sarah?" I asked again when I didn't hear her answer. After I got out of my jacket, I picked up the bags and carried them into the dim lit kitchen which glowed in the soft red light of the setting sun. Sighing, I set down the plastic bags on the counter and began to unpack the groceries. While my hands did their job, my eyes roamed around the kitchen and the adjoined living room but my beloved wife Sarah was nowhere in sight. When everything was put away, I left and walked around the house but wherever I looked, I didn't find her.
Finally, I spotted her straight, black hair in the winter garden. She was sitting on the windowsill, her slim arms around her knees and her beautiful eyes fixed on something outside, that wasn't there.
"Sarah?" I asked again. She blinked a few times, as if awakening, and turned around to face me.
"Oh Jason, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you coming." She smiled slightly, but her smile never reached her eyes.
"Don't mind it!" I reassured her while walking over. Sarah didn't answer and instead returned to gaze out of the window. I studied her closed off face for a while only to discover for myself again, how much she had changed since the day of our wedding five years ago. All of her happiness had faded over time and I wasn't even sure if she still loved me as much as she did when I asked her to marry me...or if she still loved me at all. The oppressive, cruel silence between us made me sad and every minute spend in it, left behind a strange, empty feeling in my heart.
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At a loss at what to say, I got up and walked back into the kitchen, to prepare some dinner for us. I decided on something light – fettuccine with tomatoes and cheese. Preparing the meal, my mind drifted back to the day I noticed her strange behaviour for the first time. It was about a year after our wedding during a vacation on Knossos. We just visited the Labyrinth of Minotaur when she suddenly had this sad but oddly longing look on her face. I had asked her about it and she simply explained that the labyrinth remembered her at something that had happened during her youth. I enquired after some details but Sarah never answered. Instead she stared at the Labyrinth with a blank face. Ever since, she drifted more and more away and whenever she believed I wasn't looking, this weird expression reappeared on her face.
"Sarah, love, dinner's ready!"
"I'm coming!" she sounded cheerful but I knew she wasn't. "It simply smells delicious, Jason. You're really a magician if it comes to food." She kissed my cheek softly and sat down on the already set table.
"Thanks!" I said, smiling. "But you know that it's my profession to cook." She smiled softly and squeezed my hand lightly. I tried to return her smile but I simply couldn't because every time she touched, kissed or hugged me, the image of a man with blond hair, a fair face and strangely mismatched eyes appeared in my mind. And whoever he was, I was sure that certain gentleman had something to do with my Sarah's weird behaviour.
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Who was he? Where did she meet him? Do I know him? Was he the man, she always thought of? Question over question flew through my mind but sadly I never found an answer.
We started eating our dinner in silence. Like so often now. And while I picked up today's newspaper to read, Sarah began staring out the window again. I asked myself if she even noticed what she was eating. I sighed again. Whoever she was thinking of destroyed all of the happiness I've had with my beloved Sarah. The stranger was changing her, making her a woman I barely knew anymore.
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"Do you want some fruit for dessert?" I asked her after we both finished the main course.
"Sure! What did you buy?"
"Some peaches. The lady on the stall promised that they are really sweet and juicy." Suddenly her face lost all of its colour. "Are you all right, Honey?"
"Yes, yes, certainly." She rambled. "I was just a little surprised, it's all."
"Are you sure?"
"Yepp! Don't worry about nothing!" I didn't believe her but I decided to let it go. Why was she afraid of peaches. And since when? Or had I merely missed it all those years?
"I try. Well, do you want on?" She looked at the peach with pained eyes.
"Yes, let's try if the lady was right!" She grimaced and took one out of my hand. I watched her slicing the fruit and sniffing at the peace between her long, slender fingers before she ate it.
"And?"
"The lady didn't lie. It's very sweet and juicy." She smiled anxiously and swallowed the peach. Somehow it seemed, as if she was waiting for something to happen. But when nothing did, she looked slightly disappointed. Sarah took another slice and turned back to the window. I sighed again – like so often now. Was her fear of peaches connected with him?
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We didn't talk much more this evening. We retired to the sitting room – I switched on the TV and Sarah sat down on the armchair with a very worn, red book in her hands. Some hours later, she yawned and left for bed while I continued watching TV for a little longer. When I arrived in our bedroom she was sleeping soundly, tossing, turning and mourning. I was worried – was it a nightmare or something pleasing. Did she dream of him? Did he hunt her? Hurt her? Love her?
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I turned from one side to the other but sleep didn't find me tonight. Instead my head was filled with questions I never would get answered. Softly, I stroke her cheek and somehow she calmed down.
"Jareth..." She whispered in her sleep. Jerking back my hand, I turned completely to look at her slumbering form. Was it his name? Or was it just a random thing she had said while sleeping?
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Sometimes, I wondered, if I just should ask her about him. But I'm sure that she would deny his existence and tell me that I'm only imagine things. What is he to her? Were they friends? Enemies? Lovers? If they were indeed an item, was her love for me ever true? Did she fake all this happiness and those precious feelings? Or had she only married me to forget him?
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Surprisingly sleep had found me in the end. When my alarm got off the next morning, she had already left our bed. The sun was already up and shining brightly through the windows. I heaved myself out of bed and walked into the bathroom to get ready for the day. I knew that Sarah had left the house an hour ago to get to work in her small bookstore which she had named "Hoggle's Bog" I never understood how she came up with this hideous name. But sometimes I thought that maybe this "Hoggle" was another part of her mysterious past.
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Slowly, I walked down into the kitchen and started to make myself a small breakfast. I filled my cup to the brim with cold coffee, sat down on the table to read the morning news paper and munched my rolls. When was the last time we had breakfast together? Or lunch? Did she imagine him sitting beside her when she was alone? Was she talking to him, as if he was there? I truly didn't know.
After finishing my breakfast, I packed my things for the day and left our house. I walked over to my car and got inside. Knowing that upon my return home nothing would have changed.
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Would it ever be the same or had I already lost her to this stranger?
AN: I hope you liked it. Please leave a review if you did or didn't and tell me what I can do to improve my writing and my English. Thanks , Adhana