Those few hours within the Jareth's labyrinth felt like a turbulent dream some days. Especially while I was working at Mama Skewers, cleaning the restrooms for barely minimum wage, all through high school and these last few years at college. A nasty chore that had me repetitively telling myself under my breath that if I could get through the Bog of Eternal Stench, the men's room should be a piece of cake.
But my run through the labyrinth did happen; I know it did without a doubt, even ten years later. I was glad that I had not shared my experiences underground with anyone aboveground to this day. I could never shake that impression of a blazing white ambulance showing up out of nowhere if I did. Its tires would be squealing as the driver jumps on the breaks. Those back doors bursting open with impeccable white lab coat wearing men. They would run out to strap me into a straightjacket, toss me on some stretcher, and then cart the whole shebang to a cheery named psychiatric institute that no one has ever heard of to rot on meds.
I winced as my imagination had run off with me again. And I groaned at the ache in my back, shoving away my grumpy, distracted thoughts as I squinted back at the laptop's tiny monitor. Anything would be better than scanning through these job announcements, but my job as a waitress wouldn't cover my bills any more. Not unless I changed my mind on moving out of my dad's house. And as much as I learned to love that boy, Toby was driving me crazy lately.
College was done and thankfully mostly paid by scholarships. But I had thought that I would have my 'fall exit strategy' firmly in place by now. The apartment I had picked out was cheaper since I had drafted said strategy, but the economy and the rest of the world was firmly against me getting the job I needed to cover everything.
"What is it Toby?" I called out as his fist continued to whack on my bedroom door.
"You promised!" I could barely understand his muffled whine through the door. I squinted at the computer's clock. 'Aw, dang!' I was three already? I rubbed at my tired eyes; it would explain the growling stomach I had been ignoring. Luckily Karen was still home or I would have felt guilty for leaving him to his own amusement for over six hours.
"Okay, okay! Got get your shoes on, and grab a juice or something!" I called out, sighing in relief as I heard him hopping down the stairs and Karen yelling out at him to quit it. As the days added up since I arrived back from my dorm, it was getting easier to annoy that woman. It probably didn't help that I hung around the house more than usual as I looked for work online and had no friends living nearby to get out of the house with and distract me from my crabby thoughts.
I caught myself sighing again as I scanned over the job postings again. There were no new postings and my email was woefully empty of anything worth looking at. So, I shut down my laptop and pushed away from the tiny desk.
Dad and Karen hadn't changed my room, and it looked nearly exactly as it did when Ludo, Hoggle, and Sir Didymus had came through the mirror all those years ago. The only changes were the items I had brought back with me from college. I shrugged on my track team jacket and swiped my keys from the desk.
Padding down the hall and stairs I listened for Toby. Finding him easily by sound, as he bickered with Karen over his curfew, I approached carefully.
"Six and not a minute more!" Her voice made me wince as I paused outside of the kitchen door. Taking a calming breath, I pushed it open and called out for my little brother.
"Toby, I'm ready. Did you call Eric and David?" I asked.
"Yeah, like twenty minutes ago, come on!" he bounced on his feet as if he wanted to make a run for the porch. Karen went on, repeating her strict rules and firmly put the 'emergency' cell phone in her son's hand.
"You call me when you get to the bowling alley, and I am expecting a call before you leave. Do you understand me, Toby." her face was pinched, as if she was considering calling this all off. If I heard the phrase 'play dates' again, I swore to myself that I'd just grab Toby and flee as fast as I could get my feet to go. I doubt that Karen and I would ever really understand each other.
"Yes, mom. I got it. Let's go, Sarah, they're waiting!" Toby burst through the back door and I nodded through my own version of the 'curfew' speech.
"… And Toby is not to stay with David tonight. He pulled that last week, and I swear that woman is just the worst influence on Toby! They stayed up until ten playing video games, video games! He will rot his mind!" She went on, and I broke in as she drew in another breath to continue.
"Toby will be back on time, don't worry. Dinner's at six-thirty, right?" I asked and left quickly at her nod. I took the steps at a light jog just as she called out; something else had caught her attention as I had passed.
"Did you manage to find something, dear?" she called as I spun half the way to my car.
"Not yet, but I'm going to look more tonight!" I called out, ignoring the endearment, before turning and continuing on.
That wasn't a conversation I wanted to have right now. The search was aggravating and I had been at it for months. The last thing I wanted was to hear was Karen relating for the hundredth time how she left her parent's house and was a model citizen the day she turned eighteen. Having a nearly twenty-five year old stepdaughter back under 'her' roof must be grating on her despite dad's reassurances that I was welcome to stay as long as I needed.
"Hop in, pipsqueak!" I called out to Toby and tugged open the door on the Oldsmobile.
I hated the demented thing with an unusual passion. It was nearly as old as I was, but it got me back and forth to town and hadn't broken down on me just yet. We seemed to have an understanding, I'd grumble and maintain it the best I could, and it would buck as I stopped and started and would leave a threatening stench that would make me worry about just when it would decide to give up on me. I shook my head and looked over at Toby as I stopped at a red light. A raised eyebrow was all it took to get Toby to buckle up too.
It was a short drive to Eric's house, and thankfully David's mom had dropped him off there earlier so that I wouldn't have to drive to the next town south to pick him up. While I had trouble maintaining long term friendships, it seemed that my brother had no problem with it himself. These boys had gone to daycare together, and despite going to separate school, they still got together quite a bit more than Karen liked. I could feel the headache brewing as the radio played on and their voices rose to compete with the commercials.
"Dad's paying my car insurance for this." I reminded myself, gritting my teeth as they laughed and sang along with the radio.
"What was that Sar?" Toby called out during a break in the song.
"I said we're almost there, turn down the radio won't you?" I said louder as I signaled my way over to the right lane. I jabbed at the presets yet another red light and grumbled through the eyeglass commercial that was crowding my favorite station. I'd have to keep an eye on Toby's quick fingers; he kept changing my radio stations when I wasn't looking.
"Not the oldies!" Toby whined, but I guarded the radio with my hand for a minute or two despite his boney finger stabbing before he gave up at my glare.
"Fine!" he huffed as the boys in the back seat called out 'Green!' to call my attention to the changed stop light. The van behind me laid on its horn and I gripped my steering wheel tightly as I focused back on the road.
Queen and David Bowie came on then as I turned onto the main street, and I smiled as flicked the volume knob back up as the boys protested. 'Under Pressure' drowned out the groans of the young boys whose idea of music was Miley Cyrus and the Jonas Brothers. And that van sped past, leaving me to continue my leisurely pace, turning into the bowling alley's parking lot with a smile on my face instead of the scowl I had been wearing a moment before.
I herded the boys through the parking lot, paid for shoes and did my best to contain the hyper eleven year olds, but I still felt frazzled as I finally got the monitor set up and they focused on beating each other's scores.
"Yeah!" Toby shouted as David got a strike. Their little victory dances reminded me of the Jareth's goblins and I hid my grin. I wondered how the goblins would react to what would be strange surroundings for them. I could see them taking advantage of the situation though, and I was content to daydream about it as I watched the boys with unfocused eyes. I imagined pins and chickens flying in every direction as bowling balls would crash around, chasing some of the goblins like those rocks Ludo had called.
I sighed heavily, missing the gentle furry giant and told myself that I would try to speak with them all again soon. It had been about six months since I had last spoken with Hoggle, and it was longer for the others. I could never seem to pin Sir Didymus down for long and Ludo was often unreachable in his wanderings. But I made sure to request updates on how everyone was from whomever I did reach, and give them an approximate date that I would call out to them again. Wait, call? Call!
"Toby!" I barked out, he jumped as I had startled him from where he was huddled with Eric as David took his turn.
"What?" he demanded, he had gotten used to me hovering in the background lately and did not seem very happy that I was interrupting whatever they were gossiping about like little girls.
"You haven't called Karen." I reminded him once he stomped his way up to me, and he frowned disgustedly.
"Just call her." I grumbled as he looked like he wanted to just forget about it and deal with the consequences later, "Do you want her showing up again?"
That changed his expression, as he was probably remembering the latest interruption. Karen had taken him out of baseball practice two weeks ago and had let him have it within earshot of most of his team and coach over his poor grades in English. He was lucky that Dad had even talked Karen into letting Toby go bowling with friends tonight. Out came the cell phone as if Toby expected Karen to come storming through the bowling alley's doors, her face enraged, at any second as Eric called out to him.
"Toby, it's your turn!" he said hopping up from the bright blue plastic seats they had been lounging on.
"Go for me!" Toby yelled back over the sound of crashing pins.
I listened in to his side of the conversation until I realized that he had reached Dad before I refocused on Eric and his latest attempt to dent the bowling lane. I winced at the loud bang and squirmed a bit in the horrid plastic chair to try and find a more comfortable position. I watched David laugh and hang all over Eric after Eric had somehow managed a gutter ball even after his bowling ball had traveled most of the way down the center of the lane.
Of course Toby returned to take up the second part of his turn, complaining that Eric had did that on purpose before my calls of 'just bowl' and Eric's equally adamant denials convinced him to get the frame over with.
"Fine, but I get one of your throws!" Toby called out as he managed to knock down six pins.
I was in for a long night.