SCENE 1: STILL STUBBORN SARAH

It was late afternoon when Sarah, her father, stepmother and 2 year old Toby were

lounging in the living room. With the fire brightly lit and the curtains drawn they appeared to be a perfectly normal family laughing and smiling with the television inaudibly playing an 80s American sitcom. Sarah looked fairly similar to when we last saw her. I mean it has only been a year. Of course she wore more ordinary casual clothes now and had more natural looking make-up on. Her hair was tied up in a neat ponytail as she sat down. From the looks of it she was either daydreaming of intently absorbed in her parents' conversation. Toby was on the floor playing with his building blocks yapping away in half human language and half baby language. Sarah's father suddenly got up to dance.

'Come on dear. Dance with me' he said as he bopped the salsa.

'Oh sit down Greg' (is that his name?) Sarah's stepmother insisted.

They all laughed.

In spite of this peaceful setting, the topic of their discussion somehow turned to focus on Sarah's previous short-term relationship with some guy called Jack. And knowing Sarah as we all do she was quite reluctant to speak of past relationships with her stepmother. Here we go.

'Oh, Sarah, guess who I saw the other day' she said.

'Who'

'Jack Kennedy.'

'Oh' Sarah said quietly sounding a little uncomfortable with the topic that was about

to arise.

'Well what do you mean 'oh', he was your true love a couple of weeks ago.'

'He was not my true love.'

'Well then how do you explain the writing all over your mirror in that pink lipstick

you've had for ages saying 'I love Jack' all over the place."

'You saw that!…..You went into my room!' she yelled.

'I went to collect some of your old toys for charity' her stepmother said with a

pleased grin on her face.

'What!.' Sarah sounding extremely angry now.

'Sarah you simply do not need them anymore. Surely you've grown out of them by

now.'

'They have sentimental value.'

'Sarah' her father interrupted. 'Why do you have to make an argument out of

everything.'

'Because nothing is ever fair.'

Sarah shot up from her chair and ran up the stairs.

'I can't do anything right can I' she screamed.

'Now we've all heard that before' her stepmother casually replied.

Sarah lay on her bed. Her eyes gazed around the room. To anyone else it would seem

like it was crammed with colour; books and toys everywhere. But to Sarah it was empty. Her pink flamingo - gone. Her toy maze - gone. Her favourite childhood books - gone. Lancelot - gone. What still remained however was the musical doll in the beautiful white ball gown. It was stuck on a high shelf which Sarah had not touched for ages. She looked up at it, got off her bed and reached up. She reached up her hand slowly, pulled down the doll and blew away all of the dust it had collected over the past year. As she looked at it deeper and deeper her eyes suddenly gazed open wide looking like two pale jewels with so much fear inside. Those eyes could tell so many forgotten stories. A cold shiver fluttered down her spine.

'Jareth' she whispered.

She shuddered and dropped the doll which smashed on the floor into thousands of

pieces. Suddenly all those memories, all those thoughts that she had tried to repress came flooding back like they had just been released from a locked up safe inside her brain. It wasn't like the Labyrinth was a painful experience. In fact she rather enjoyed most of the adventure when she wasn't thinking about her brother. But thinking about that face. The face that captured her soul just for a second and put her in a bewildering trance. The face that showed so much power and so much authority but yet so much beauty. The thought of that face made Sarah feel like she was there again. Right there staring into his eyes trying to act cool by saying phrases like 'it's a piece of cake' and 'it doesn't look that far' but really she was shaking inside. Back into reality, Sarah shook her head. 'No' she said. 'Let's not even go there.' One glance back at the broken doll now on the floor, she gave a sigh. Then headed out of her room and walked downstairs.

'I'm going out.' Sarah said as she headed out the door.

'Sarah' called her stepmother. 'I'm sorry. Look I shouldn't have brought up Jack, I

know your upset about the two of you breaking up-

'It was hardly a relationship' Sarah interrupted.

'Sarah I just want you to be happy.'

'Ok fine, I accept your apology, I am happy, happy as Larry, I'll be back home for

half nine.' She walked out the door and it slammed shut.

'I'm sorry too would have been nice' her stepmother uttered shaking her head. 'Right

then.'