Wake Up, It's Time To Dream

Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with the movie Labyrinth, and the characters portrayed.

Summary: Sarah has visions, but are they? Can Jareth help her, or will her sanity be diminished completely? Find out by reading, and if you want more than please review.

"Sarah, will you please feed Toby and put him to bed?" Karen, a woman in her middle thirties, that could be described as pretty in a way, called from the bottom of the stairs up the room with the door slightly ajar on the left. Without opening the door, a slightly tall teenage girl, who was much more beautiful than her stepmother, with her long, straight brown hair, and almond shaped green eyes called down, "Yes, Karen."

The girl stood revealing a white peasant blouse and jeans, and walked to the room across from her own, and unlike hers it was simply decorated with a baby theme. Lying in the middle of the white, ivory crib was her little brother, Toby. She smiled fondly down at him, and stroked the blonde fuzz on top of his head lovingly. He was clad in the infamous red and white striped pajamas that her stepmother just loved to dress him in. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open, and they stayed liked that staring at each other.

Toby, being a baby, he started to cry when he felt the hunger coming upon him, and so Sarah, the young woman, stooped and cradled the infant in her arms. "It's all right," she cooed softly, slightly jogging him to get him to stop crying.

For being brother and sister, the pair was complete opposites. Sarah had dark, almost exotic features, whereas, Toby was the typical blue-eyed, blonde hair baby. Still holding Toby to her, she walked carefully down the stairs to the kitchen, where Karen was waiting impatiently. She had her arms folded across her perfectly pressed blouse, and her foot was tapping rhythmically on the tile floor. "You know Sarah," she said, "It wouldn't hurt you to hurry up when I ask you to do something."

"Sorry," Sarah mumbled, handing the baby to its mother. "And don't mumble. Really, Sarah, sometimes I wonder where I went wrong in raising you," she stated haughtily, crossing the room to the stove where she heated Toby's bottle. Sarah rolled her eyes skyward and replied, "You didn't raise me Karen, my mother did."

Karen, with the bottle forgotten, turned angrily and glared at her stepdaughter. "How dare you. You live under my roof, and that's the thanks I get? Your mother may have raised you at the beginning of your life, but at least I haven't walked out on you like she did," she retorted.

Tears welled up in Sarah's eyes, and her chin started to quiver, and she knew she was going to cry. Only she wasn't going to give Karen the satisfaction of seeing her, so she ran up the stairs two at a time back to her room. Except, once she reached the landing leading to her room, she had a sort of vision.

The walls around her were white brick and the ceiling was white, too. The bright lights glared down on the small, sterile room. A single bed was the only piece of furniture, if you could even call it that, in the room. The door had a small hole in the top cut out with a piece of see- through material. Sarah sat curled in a ball atop the bed, and her arms where wrapped around herself.

She was slowly rocking back and forth, her eyes unfocused. A straight jacket was holding her back from doing any harm to herself or others, not that she would. The door across the room to the right of the bed opened, and in walked her mother and her father, Linda and Robert Williams. Her mom walked cautiously to the bed, and sat gingerly upon it, as if not to disturb her daughter. "Honey, it's mom, can you hear me?" she asked soothingly, lightly brushing the hair away from her daughter's face.

Sarah blinked, and her eyes refocused, and she was disoriented for a moment as she stood doubled over at the top of the stairs. Slowly she shook her head, and then stood. "Sarah," called Karen once again. Sarah, not caring what the woman wanted now, walked into her room, and shut the door behind her. She sat shakily down on her vanity chair, and stared at the mirror in front of her. Her own tired reflection looked back wearily.

"Hoggle, I need you," she whispered hoarsely, feeling the tears start to return. The image in the mirror started to shift and it changed to that of an elderly looking dwarf with white hair, and a skullcap. "What can I do fer ye missy?" he asked dutifully. Sarah tried to look happy and as if nothing was wrong, but she was failing miserably. "I just, well, I needed to talk to someone. Karen and my dad wouldn't understand. But, lately, I've been having visions, only, they feel so real. I'm in an institution, in this small room with white walls. And all I can think is how badly I want to go home. Isn't that odd?" she asked.

Hoggle sighed and replied, "But, yer not in an institution, Sarah, and you never were. Yer 'ere where ye belong." This time the tears started to slip down her cheeks, and she looked away from her old friend in shame. "What is it?" he asked in concern. Sarah looked back at him, trying to wipe away the tears, and said, "I was in an institution, Hoggle." Shock accompanied by pity lit his features for a moment, only to disappear into his normal poker face. "Go on," he said.

And she did. "When I was younger, around five, or maybe I was a little older, I can't really remember. Anyway, I saw my first goblin. I remember my friend and I were reciting lines from the book, Labyrinth, because we had just learned to read and it was the first book my mother had ever given me. After she had gone home, I went back into my room, and one was sitting on my bed. I was scared at first, but once it told me it didn't want to harm me, I befriended it. I told my parents, and they thought I was nuts and put into this institution for three weeks. I was so scared, and the doctors in white coats kept making me repeat my story over and over, until one day, I just stopped talking about it, and they let me go home."

By the time Sarah had finished talking, Hoggle, the dwarf who pretended to be tough, was crying, too. "Don't cry, Hoggle," Sarah said, sniffling back her own tears. "Sorry," he mumbled. "No, it's not that," she replied, "it was a long time ago, I don't know why I'm getting so worked up over it." Hoggle had gotten a hold on his emotions by now, and he stiffened. "I think his majesty is summoning me, I'm sorry I have to leave ye, missy."

"It's OK, Hoggle, I'll talk to you later," she said, and the image of her friend faded from view back to her own. Drained from the exertion in trying not to weep and wail, she fell forward on the top of her desk.