End of the Thirteenth Hour

Chapter One

She stared at her reflections in the three way mirror in Madame le Bodine's Wedding Couture. She stood on the little podium, just staring at her face. She didn't feel she knew this person in the mirror, or to say, she did know this person all too well. It had been so long since she saw this person. The dress, THE dress… that dress. That bloody dress that haunted her and her dreams since she was 16. She thought it was terribly ironic that this was the first dress she tried on. Or maybe it was fate. She could have sworn it didn't look like this on the hanger. Was he watching her? No, no he couldn't be. That was silly, stupid even. Its been how long since…then…

"Oh… God." Karen said behind her, coming up with the attendant, "Oh my God. That is so… 80s. Look at the poof on the sleeves. How many layers of taffeta does this thing have? God this is ugly. Sarah, did you pick this?"

She laughed as she lifted the back of the dress, "It's like it's made of cotton candy. I don't think we will go with this one. Just…burn it."

Sarah couldn't move as she stared at herself in the mirror. Music started to play, a song she thought she would never hear again. No, not again… She was jerked from the trance of the mirror by the attendant tugging on her arm.

"Sweety, I have just the dress for you."

Karen was looking at Sarah, giving her that look that told her that her stepmother was thinking something bad. Sarah looked back in the mirror and realized the dazed look that only bad memories could bring. Sarah shook off the daze and plastered a smile on her face. She had good practice at false smiles. All her life she had used a false smile. First it was high school, so she wouldn't be pegged the weird drama girl, then it was college when her English teacher tried to hit on her. Next, work had her smiling every day when dealing with selfish actors and overworked script writers.

Karen led her to the dressing room and helped her out of the poofy nightmare. Sarah was glad to see it gone. She realized, again, how much certain memories had effected her life. She had to remind herself that she wasn't 15 anymore. This 32 year old woman was about to be married. She had put away childish things, why couldn't these memories be among them? She shook her head, her mane of chestnut hair falling around her now bare shoulders. She was feeling like her old self, now that the dress was gone. She was Sarah Williams. Soon to be Sarah Lee. Sarah Lee? She blinked at herself in the dressing room mirror and then thought, I'll be keeping my own name… Sarah Lee…I'm not bread or cake. She grinned at herself in the small mirror. She gave a little giggle then laughed. Oh Wyatt, she thought, I really do love you, but I will not be taking your name.

She started humming as she looked at the dress that was passed through the curtain of the dressing room. It was plain, with a light bead work around the hem and the bodice. The skirt was full, she could wear petticoats under it… or not. Probably not. But then again she liked petticoats. She started to pull it on and when she finished, looking at herself in the mirror, she grinned happily. She had found it. The Dress. Sarah came out of the dressing room and stepped up on the podium. She turned this way and that, looking at herself.

"Oh…oh Sarah…" Karen said, her eyes glittering with tears.

Karen had been nagging her for weeks about find a dress. The actual wedding was only a few days away. Wyatt and Sarah had to rush their preparations for the wedding because their work would be starting soon. Sarah worked as head writer of a soap opera called The World Turns for Our Lives. Wyatt was the leading man. They decided to get married during the off season. They had just enough time for a honeymoon in Hawaii and then they had to be back in New York for the filming of the first episode of the season.

"My goodness! I do think she found it! Lovely." The attendant said, carrying a box of veils into the room. Sarah gathered her long chestnut hair into one hand and piled it sloppily on her head. The woman, who was short, plump, and had very pretty ginger hair, handed Sarah a veil, "I think this would go perfect with that dress. How about some petticoats? You seem like the type that wants to be a princess."

Sarah grinned and blushed a little. The woman had her pegged. She turned back to the mirror and set the veil on top of her head. It was long and fell over her face, making everything look slightly white. She turned to the woman and Karen.

"Yes, I would like petticoats."

"We can have everything set up for you. Mind you, it will cost a little more since it's short notice, but it will be worth it."

Sarah nodded, looking back at herself in the mirror, "I knew it would cost. I'm not worried. Its lovely…just… lovely"

She had forgotten about the first dress.

"Toby… Toby…" Alice muttered as he slipped his hands up her shirt and tried to unhook her bra. They were doing some pretty heavy petting on his living room couch. Alice was his second girlfriend and he wanted to make her his last. He thought he really loved her. They had been through so much. Her parent's divorce, her shop-lifting problem, his speeding tickets, his getting kicked off the football team for smoking. So much in just two years.

"Toby… I think… I think I'm ready." Alice said a little sheepishly as he was just about to give up on her bra.

He looked at her, then his watch, and then her agian. Mom and Sarah weren't suppose to be home for a couple more hours and Dad was away on business until Sarah's wedding. Toby thought he would cream his pants right then and there. He was going to have Alice. She wasn't his first but he would be hers. He had to make this special. This was magic, it had to be magic.

"Ok… ok. Um… Ok. Just… let me go to my room and straighten it up a bit and…ok!" He jumped off the couch and bolted upstairs. She giggled as he went up. She slid off the couch and straightened her black skirt and slid her dark purple shirt down. She wasn't exactly Goth, she had told herself time and again. She just liked dark colors.

She went upstairs, listening to him cussing in his room loudly as he tried to stuff dirty and clean clothes under his bed and trash into his closet. She paused at the room she knew used to be Sarah's. She had met Sarah only a few times, she had long been away in glittery New York before Toby ever met Alice. She came back for holidays and on Toby's 18th birthday. Sarah's door was ajar, which made Alice open it further and then go in. Alice had the curiosity of a cat.

The room was very much as it had been when Sarah was a teenager, save for the fact it was no longer covered in stuffed animals. She had kept the posters of plays and movies up, but the M.C. Escher poster was gone, gone into Toby's room. Though, now, half the room was full of cardboard cartons. She was packing up all her belongings to take back to New York. She and Wyatt would have a house instead of apartments. She could store her belongings there.

Alice peeked into half filled boxes and found the books. Alice gasped as she looked at some of the titles. She had heard of these but had never seen them! Alice was a obsessed with fantasy books. She had a very large collection of books. She picked one up, it's warn blue cover practically falling off. But the blue book didn't interest her. It was what fell out of the blue book. The blue book seemed to just be a false book with a hole in the middle of it. Alice bent down and picked up the small red covered book. It wasn't more then 200 pages, the writing inside was small and cramped. The book was very old.

She could hardly read the gold lettering on the front in the half darkness of the room, but the lettering was so faded, could she have really read it in better light? Why hadn't she seen these the other times Alice been in Sarah's room? Sarah had all the best stuff. Alice thought it was a shame Sarah was taking her stuff to New York. Alice would have liked more time picking through her things, seeing if there was anything more Alice wanted that she hadn't already taken.

"Alice?"

Alice stuffed the book into her pocket quickly and turned to Toby's voice. She could hear the soft music coming from his room and as she stepped into the hall, she could see candles flickering around his room. She blushed as she shut the door to Sarah's room and went to Toby's.

"Baby?" She said softly as he opened his arms to her. He had no shirt on. She slid into his arms, "I have to go."

Toby slouched into her, "Aw, Alice!"

"I'm sorry! I got a call from my dad. He wants me home for family dinner."

"Oh…alright. Raincheck?"

She smiled and licked his nose. He kissed her and then let her go. Her hand was on the pocket with the book in it as she grabbed her backpack and went outside to her car. She would stay up all night to read this book and have half of it memorized by morning. She would love this book that Sarah had tried to keep hidden, which Alice thought was silly. Why would Sarah try and hide The Labyrinth?