It's Only Forever-Part One,
"No one can blame you, for walking away. Too much rejection, no love injection. Life can be easy, it's not always swell. Don't tell me truth hurts little girl; 'cause it hurts like hell. But down in the underground you'll find someone true. Down in the underground, a land serene, a crystal moon. It's only forever, not long at all. The lost and the lonely, that's underground, underground."
The sun was ridiculously hot that day. The air was dry and there were no clouds in the sky. The lush green grass had turned brown and wilted. There wasn't a bit of shade to be found and the streets looked like a ghost town. The roses that lined the white picket fence that wrapped around the large Victorian house were wilted and begging for water.
No one was outside which was not normal. The smart person was inside in front of the air conditioning or lying down with a pack of ice. The normal person would not be kneeling in their garden on this scalding hot day, trying to plant geraniums. Sarah Williams however, was not the normal person. She had not been the normal person since about fifteen years of age.
Of course she started out as all young teenagers start out. She was dramatic, over exaggerative, moody, whiny, etc. Either everyone was out to get her or nothing was fair. She was very good at pointing that out also. In the mind of a normal teenager, everything was about themselves. It is safe to say, Sarah had a very, very normal teenage mind. That is of course until she was fifteen.
Sarah had a brilliant imagination. She had often spent her days alone acting out various scenes from books she enjoyed. The most common was entitled Labyrinth. Almost everyday she would go to the park and role play her favorite parts, but one particular day, one particularly special day; she found her fantasies had become reality. She had suddenly found her self in a race against time to solve the labyrinth and get to the castle at the center to retrieve her younger brother who had been stolen from her. Stolen, by the Goblin King. The Goblin King, Jareth, had fallen in love with young Sarah and believed it to be her wish that her young brother was to be taken away. He was terribly mistaken and instead of earning her love, he had earned her hate. He regrettably returned Sarah to her home with her kid brother, she never saw him again after that.
After a while, Sarah forgot about her adventure. She pushed everything that had occurred in the labyrinth into the back of her memory. She thought of at it as something that did not need to be looked back upon. Never again did she want to see the cruel, intimidating face of Jareth or the twisting, winding paths of the labyrinth. To her, everything that happened to her might as well be a dream, having no effect on her. She was wrong of course. After returning from the labyrinth, she was no longer the bratty, whiny, young teen she used to be. She respected her parents, loved her younger brother and learned to take nothing for granted. She sub-consciously decided that everyday was to be lived to its fullest. Everything was a new opportunity. That is why, on this ridiculously hot day we find her kneeling in her garden, planting her geraniums. She believes that on a very warm day like this, time should be spent outdoors, not in the confines of one's home.
Sarah grew up to become a successful young woman. She lived in a large Victorian house on a pleasant little street. She was an English teacher at the local high school and she was great with the kids. She even had a young son of her own, Garrett. Sadly, she was widowed not long after Garrett was born. He had Sarah's brilliant green eyes and his father's beautiful red hair. He was her pride and joy … and all she had.
Sarah had neither seen nor heard from or about Jareth since that night fifteen years ago. She had not thought about him during the day or in her dreams. He was dead to her. She almost lost her younger brother because of him. In her eyes, he was no one to have respect for. So, for the past fifteen years the Goblin King has been absent from every aspect of Sarah's life. Of course, the things we resent the most do have a way of coming back around.
Laying down her small shovel beside her, Sarah looked up to the blistering sun and wiped the sweat off her brow. She pulled the strands of deep brown hair off her face and wiped her soiled hands on the front of her gardening apron. Having just finished planting the last of her flowers, she was very much in the mood for a cold glass of lemonade.
Just as she finished putting the last of her tools back in her gardening kit, she heard a soft noise from the open nursery window. Sarah looked up to the room and smiled. She listened to the little gurgling noises Garrett began to make as he awoke from his afternoon nap. She stood up from the sidewalk, opened the gate and began to make her way down the path to her front door. Walking into the kitchen, she set her things on the table and made her way up to Garrett's nursery.
Sarah smiled as she opened the door to the nursery and saw Garrett standing up in his crib wobbling his little legs and giggling. He was the perfect little ray of sunshine and she needed nothing else in her life.
"Hello there my precious thing", she whispered as she walked over to him and lifted him out of the crib. She held him above her head and marveled at how beautiful and happy he was. Garrett giggled and flailed his arms. Sarah brought him back down close to her face and kissed his nose. "Are you hungry?" she cooed. He put his tiny hands on her face and she let out a small chuckle. "I'll take that as a yes." Sarah walked over to the door and as she was about to shut it, for some odd reason she turned to look over her shoulder and survey the room. She cocked and eyebrow and shook her head, walked out of the door and slowly closed it behind her.