Nothing is What it Appears
Author's Note: I had not seen the movie, "Labyrinth" until I bought it almost a year ago on a whim. It wasn't what I thought it would be. It was more. When you first watch it, it seems outdated, and silly, but after a while the characters and the story seem to grow on you. I haven't watched the movie in a really long time, and yet last night I dreamed about it. It was a really strange dream. This story is based on that unusual dream. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did having it. This is actually a sequel to the movie, set some twenty years afterwards in New York City. Disclaimer: Jim Henson owns Labyrinth. I do not. I own Katie. That is all.
Chapter 1: Like Mother, Unlike Daughter
"Shhh, be quiet. We don't want to wake up the queen." Katie giggled in a hushed voice. Alex laughed and kissed her, pressing her against the door. Suddenly the door opened and Katie and her boyfriend fell in a heap on the floor. "Mom!" Katie whined, pushing Alex off of her and scrambling to her feet. Sarah glared at her daughter, her arms were crossed over her chest and her foot tapped on the floor with distaste. Much like what her stepmother used to do to her when she forgot to come home on time. However, she had been playing make believe, not doing god knows what with some hooligan boy. "Katherine! Do you have any idea what time it is!" she demanded. Katie rolled her eyes, "It's 12:30 mom. So what?" Sarah could feel her anger getting the best of her. Her entire face was growing hot. "Say goodbye to Alex. You won't be seeing him again." Sarah ordered, shooting a deadly look at the boy with the spiky black hair, leather jacket, and nose ring. "You can't do that!" Katie protested, "Alex, you don't have to go." She said, grabbing onto his arm. "Whatever, I'm out." He shook her off and walked quickly out of the apartment. Sarah shut the door behind him then returned the focus of her fury onto her teenaged daughter. "You are grounded forever, young lady." Katie shook her head, tears fill her eyes. "I can't believe you! I didn't do anything wrong! This isn't fair!" With that, Katie stormed off to her room. "You don't know what unfair means." She sighed to herself, memories of a winding maze and a cunning goblin king filling her vision.
Katie threw herself onto her bed and sobbed into her pillow. Her mom just didn't understand. She had really liked Alex. She didn't care what she or Paul thought about him. Now he'd never speak to her again. "I hate her!" Katie screamed into the pillow. She rolled over and stared up at the cracked and water stained ceiling. "I hate her. I hate Paul. I hate them both. I wish they would just go away. No, I wish I could go away. Go far, far away where no one will ever find me." She closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
The next morning, Sarah knocked on Katie's bedroom door. "Time to wake up, Katie. Hurry up. Your father wants to talk to you before he leaves for his business trip." " Ugh" Katie groaned. Like a zombie, the girl crawled out of bed, combed her unruly blond hair, brushed her teeth, and got dressed in her favorite pair of rip kneed jeans and black and white striped shirt.
"Good morning." Sarah greeted her daughter as Katie sat down at the kitchen table for a French toast breakfast. "Whatever." Sarah moaned, slouching down in her seat. Looking up over the dinner table, she could see that her step-father, Paul was glaring daggers at her. It really ticked her off when he acted like he was in fact her father. He'd only been in her life for six years. "So what is this I hear about you and that boy staying out until 12:30?" He growled at her. "Don't even start with me, Paul." Katie shot back. "We didn't do anything. He took me for a ride on his motorcycle after the movie and we lost track of time. That's it." "Don't you use that tone with me, Katherine. I know good and well that wasn't what you were doing!" He yelled, his hands clenching into fists on the table. "Katie." she mumbled, looking down at her untouched plate. "What did you say?!" he asked, angrily. "I said, my name is Katie! Not Katherine! Get it right you asshole!" Katie jumped up from table, so quickly, she nearly knocked her chair over. She ran into her room and slammed the door behind her.
"Somebody needs to teach that girl some manners. You've been too soft on her. That's her problem." Sarah got up, took her husband's plate and dumped all of his food in the garbage disposal. "What the hell are you doing?!" yelled Paul. "Don't you dare talk that way to my daughter like that again." She spat. "If you would put your foot down, she wouldn't be like that." Paul pointed out. "She's my daughter and I'll discipline her however I feel fit!" She huffed and went to console her daughter.
"Katie?" Sarah whispered, tiptoeing into her room. "What do you want?" said Katie, her voice muffled by her pillow. "I'm sorry about what Paul said. He was out of line." Katie took her pillow off of her face and sat up on her bed. "I don't know what you see in that jerk." She said. Sarah sat down beside Katie and brushed her shoulder length hair out of her face, "Well, he can be sweet when he wants to be. I know he was harsh, but he loves you very much. We both do. He just…doesn't know how to show it sometimes." Katie rolled her green eyes and shook her head. "You don't care about me. Paul hates me and if you really loved me you would have never married him!" Sarah sighed in exasperation. This matter was impossible to explain to the eighteen year old. Instead of trying, she handed Katie a little red book. "Labyrinth?" said Katie, a look of confusion on her face. "That book helped through some really tough times. Maybe it will help you too." She smiled and stroked her daughter's cheek lovingly. Then she got up and went for the door. "I have to go to the grocery store. I'll be back in a bit. Be good." Katie turned her face away and looked out her window.
Frustrated, Sarah left for the store. If only she could connect with her daughter in some way. They were both so different from each other. Maybe too different. As she drove away, she was completely unaware of the bird perched on a windowsill of an apartment of the building across from theirs. A white and gold owl.
Katie, flipped through the little book, out of shier boredom. When it came to the passage about the goblins taking the child away, she began to laugh. "Goblins! Right! Thanks mom. God, she's such a dork." She tossed the book carelessly onto the floor. She fell back onto the bed, her golden hair splaying out over the pillow in every direction around her head. "I wish goblins would take me away." Katie paused, then added in a strong, meaningful voice, "Right…now."
"As soon as the final words left her lips, a flood of strange little creatures washed over the room, pouring out of every shadow. They cackled in high pitched voices, grinning sharp toothed smiles. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. They grabbed her, gagged her with their monstrous hands and carried her away, back into the shadows from wince they came. Katie had gotten her wish.
Sarah returned to the apartment an hour later. "Katie!" she called, trying to carry several heavy grocery bags at the same time. She sat them down on the kitchen table and called again, "Katie! Katie, can you come help me with the groceries?! Katie!" Oh dear, she must still be angry with her. She went to Katie's door and knocked. No answer. She tried several times, but all was quiet. Something about this silence, sent a chill through her body. It was eerily similar to the eerie stillness she had experienced when she was sixteen. When Toby was taken by the goblins. "Oh no." Sarah gasped as she burst into the room. Everything in the room was untouched, but Katie was gone. "NO!" Sarah screamed falling to her knees. Most people would have rationalized that she was just another runaway teen, but Sarah knew better. This screamed Jereth.
Scrambling back to her feet, she rushed to the mirror above Katie's vanity, and in a demanding voice she called upon the goblin king himself. "Goblin King, Goblin King! Show yourself to me!" Right on cue, in a poof of smoke and sparkles, Jereth, the king of the goblins appeared in all his flashy glory. "You called, Sarah?" He asked in an amused, deep voice. She couldn't believe it worked. She stared at his reflection in the mirror, afraid to turn around. She was amazed at the difference between them. It had been twenty years since they had last faced each other, her brown hair was now streaked with grey, and her face was lined with age, yet he looked exactly the same. "Where is my daughter?! What have you done with her, Jereth?!" She hissed the question. Every ounce of her motherly instinct wanted to rip his throat out. Jereth's thin lips quirked into a smirk, "I simply gave her what she wanted." He said. Slowly, she turned around and glared into his mismatched eyes. "I demand that you return her to me." She ordered. He smiled and leaned into her, his face only inches from hers. "You have no power over me." He whispered, pleasure dripping from every word, "Not anymore." He laughed at the defeated look on Sarah's face as he slowly began to fade away. "Please, please, Jereth! I'll…I'll solve the labyrinth again. I'll win her back from you just like Toby!" He shook his head at her, "No, I've grown bored of you, Sarah. It is now Katherine's turn to face my labyrinth and I believe she will be much more amusing." He finally vanished, his laughter still echoing through the apartment.