Take Me Down to the Underground, Chapter One
(Disclaimer & Author's Notes at bottom of page.)
His eyes were startling, she noticed, as he focused on her from a few feet away. One pupil was noticeably larger than the other, a detail she hadn't noticed the other times she had stared into them. They were filled with wanting and lust. Something else was hidden in them, as well. An emotion that, at the time, she was too stubborn to see. Love.
The room was an off-white color, due only to the fact that this building was rarely cleaned in detail. It was populated by few others, most of whom sat around a rickety table playing cards and smoking. A couple of the girls sat around the old television that had sat in the same spot since the early sixties. On a rust orange couch sat a raven haired young woman, no older than eighteen, with fair skin and piercing green eyes. Those eyes were focused on absolutely nothing, although they stared at a flower in the corner of the room.
She stared at the flower for hours each day as the events played in her mind over and over again. Each time a scene repeated, she would feel the emotions again. But they changed every time. At first she had felt scared, then angered, but eventually she had begun to feel a longing for that person she had feuded with not too long ago. Or had she feuded with him? All of the people she had told her story to said it was all make-believe. It was the product of a child in turmoil over her mother's abandonment.
"Sarah Williams!"
Her eyes jumped off of the flower and onto the lady behind the window. Nurse Wilson was scanning the room until finally her eyes landed on Sarah. "Please come get your medication," she said softly. Nurse Wilson was not a very vocal woman, and Sarah believed it was due in big part to the fact that she was scared to even be here. Sarah herself was scared to be here sometimes.
Sarah took her place back on the couch and focused her attention on the flower once again. It wouldn't be long before she was asleep in the same spot where she always slept, dreaming of the same things she always dreamt of. As she drifted into a drug induced slumber, she began to think about how she had ended up here in the first place.
She was finally home after the thirteen most frightening hours of her life. Her baby brother was in his crib sleeping peacefully and she was in her room, sitting at her vanity. Her father and stepmother had just arrived home. For the first time in years she was grateful to hear their voices. She looked into her mirror and was surprised to see a large furry creature standing behind her, saying his goodbyes. It was Ludo! She turned around, only to see nothing standing there. But her disappointment soon vanished as she looked back into her mirror to see Sir Didymous and Hoggle, giving her permission to call on them as needed.
"I need you, Hoggle," she had said, and the next time she turned around, her room was filled with magical creatures. All of her friends she had made during her trip through the Labyrinth were surrounding her as she jumped onto her bed to hug each and every one of them. She screamed with delight and spoke to all of them, but her happiness was soon interrupted.
"Sarah, who in the world are you talking to?" Karen, her stepmother had said.
Sarah, in her euphoric stupor, began to spill every detail of what she had just been through. She had wished Toby away and the goblins had actually taken him to their castle! Jareth, the Goblin King, forced her to run his Labyrinth and along the way she had made amazing friends who helped her win Toby back. And they were all in her room right now, visiting her! She looked around her, hoping to introduce all of her new (her only) friends. But they were all gone.
"Where did they go?" she shouted, her voice becoming panicked. "They were all just here!! They came through the mirror, I think." She looked at Karen, whose eyes were wide and mouth was open.
Karen backed out of her stepdaughter's room and ran down the hall, screaming Robert's name. Within a few minutes, Robert and Karen had returned to find Sarah scouring her room for her friends.
"Robert, something is wrong."
And that is how she had ended up here, in a building with no mirrors and no one that understood her. Not that anyone outside of these walls understood her, either. Only one person- could he even be called a person? - understood her, and she longed for him in a way she would have never thought possible three years ago. Why didn't she just take the life he was offering her? Her dreams were in the palm of his hand: A man that worshipped her and loved her in every way possible. Friends that she could always count on. A mythical realm that she had always fantasized about being a part of.
And she had given it all up for a life of constant supervision, medication, and dullness.
She knew there was a way to get back to the Underground. When Toby had been taken away, it was all because she had said the 'right words'. But now, Sarah could not remember what those words were, and so everyday she sat on this couch re-living every detail of her time in that world.
Lisa was the only person she talked to during those rare times when she felt personable, and it was always about the Labyrinth and how she wished to go back. Lisa listened with genuine interest and lapped up every detail. Sarah didn't know why Lisa was her friend, and she honestly didn't care. She was just happy to have one.
Binx sez… Hi everyone! Thank you for reading this, and please bear with me if it wasn't great. It's been a few years since I've really written anything besides poetry, and aside from that this story was written on a whim and I really have no idea where I'm going with it, save for a few ideas. Reviews filled with criticisms and suggestions for where this story could/should go would be greatly appreciated!! Without feedback, I cannot get better and more so will lack the motivation to continue at all. Once again, thank you so much for reading and (hopefully) reviewing!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Labyrinth, as that all belongs to the late, great Jim Henson. The Nurse and Lisa are the only things that are mine so far.
