Sarah stared at the pill jar in her hand, the label blurring from prolonged focus. She hadn't taken her pills in 3 weeks and she wondered, as the dreams began to plague her once again, if she should tart taking them again. After 10 long years, 10 years of therapy, 10 years of 'it was just a dream' 10 years of whispers about her mental state. And now after all that time, she had just woken up from the one.

When she was 16, She had insisted that it all had been real, first telling her parents then the countless therapist whom she'd been parades in front of. And everyone had said the same thing, it was nothing more than a dream. Of course they were right, they had to be. How could a Labyrinth full of goblins and strange creatures be real. There's no way that it was, perhaps it was her imagination, after all she did read a lot of books. Now after 3 weeks off her pills the dreams started again. Hoggle, Sir Didymis, Ludo, even him. Especially him. Those eyes one blue the other black. The Goblin King, Jareth. They all visited her last night.

A knock on the door shook her from the thoughts of goblins and kings and back into reality. She discarded the pills on her couch to be forgotten and made her way to the door. She looked through the peep hole and saw the distorted face of her step mother. She groaned inwardly, dreading what was to come. Her step mother had been meddling in her life since she was sixteen and she was still waking up haunted by the nightmares. She knew that her stepmother was only trying to help, but she had a way of overreacting and it only added to the stress.

"What is it now, Irene?" She asked opening the door, unable to conceal the disdain in her voice.

"I've been calling you all morning, I got worried when you didn't answer any of my calls." Irene said stepping passed Sarah and inspecting the apartment as is she expected to see something incriminating. "Glad to see you are not dead." she did nothing to hide her annoyance.

"It's only 9 in the morning." Sarah said absently shutting the door and following her stepmother around.

"It's one in the afternoon." Sarah stopped and looked over at the clock that hung above her couch. She turned to look at her stepmothers face unable to miss the concern in her face. Had she really been lost in thought for four hours. "Sarah, have you been taking your pills." She asked walking up to Sarah and placing a concerned hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, I have." Sarah lied.

"Look, dear I know that you hate the way the pills make you feel, but... Just try and remember the way the nightmares made you feel. The sleepless nights. You were so young and no one could quite understand why they started, but the point is that nothing else has been able to help you sleep the way these pills have so it's important that you stay on top of them." The speech was one Sarah could mouth along to. She had heard it so many times in the last 10 years whenever she missed a pill or rescheduled an appointment. Around year 4 she learned it was best to lie to her stepmother whenever possible.

"I know Irene, I promise I am taking my pills." Sarah walked into the kitchen and busied herself making coffee. "Would you like a cup?" She asked already knowing the answer.

"No thank you, dear." Irene answered looking through a pile of Sarah's mail. Sarah knew that she'd turn down the coffee because well she always did. Ever since the day she had a cup of the Colombian roast Sarah drank, 'Jesus dear are you trying to wake the dead?' She'd asked pushing away the mug of strong coffee as though it had bitten her.

"Sarah, what is this?" She asked holding up a black envelope.

"Oh it's just an invitation to my mothers Halloween party." She answered.

"Really, wow is this new, when is it?"

" I'm not sure I haven't opened it."

"Well your mother was always one for dramatics, look at this, fancy script and a golden wax seal."

"What?" Sarah hadn't inspected the envelope much, she's read the return address and name and had chucked it aside. But now she took the envelope from Irene's hands and really looked at it, it really was over the top. the envelope was a bluish black, the handwriting was a lovely cursive script, fancy stuff. The back the envelope was sealed with a large wax stamp, the stamp was what made her breath hitch and her throat feel tight, she nearly the envelope. The wax was really gold and the stamp had the insignia of an owl. A memory or perhaps a dream of a white and brown barn owl played itself in her mind. Reeling internally as her stepmother went on and on about the invitation and the reasons it would be good for her to go, something about meeting new people and falling in love, which would normally really get to her, but Sarah could only think of the reason she shouldn't.

Jareth...