I started this story a while ago, and I wasn't sure about it. It isn't the sort of thing I would normally write, and I didn't know if I was even going to publish it. I've decided to go for it, and see what kind of feedback I get.
This story was really inspired by two things in particular - 1. David Bowie's Thin White Duke period. He described the Thin White Duke as a nasty character, who was ice masquerading as fire, singing songs of love with a hollow heart. I watched a lot of documentary footage from that time, including stuff he did with Iggy Pop, who I loosely based the character of Nox on. 2. The song, Without You I'm Nothing by Placebo, which David Bowie performed with the band (there's a live recording on YouTube). The lyrics were in my mind as I wrote this story, and I even considered calling this fic after the song, but decided to stick with my original title.
This story will contain strong language and sexual situations. It is quite a dark tale, more in the spirit of the original disturbing versions of popular fairy tales.
I do not own anything relating to the movie Labyrinth, although I have invented some new characters for the purposes of this story.
Thank you for taking the time to read it and please do leave feedback - Mrs P.
An After Dark Fairy Tale
Chapter 1
"This morning, the parents of the missing Staten Island woman, Meredith Laker, made a fresh appeal for information regarding her disappearance. Miss Laker, a twenty two year old aspiring actress and singer, was last seen on Saturday afternoon. This is the sixth case of a young woman in her early twenties going missing without trace in the last six months..."
The radio droned on while Sarah rushed round her tiny apartment getting ready for her latest audition. The casting call was attractive, voluptuous (in the right places) young woman required, for an orange juice commercial. It wasn't exactly her dream role, but bills needed paying and her rent was due.
"It's so full of orangey goodness you can taste the sunshine in every drop."
Sarah repeated the line over and over again until she felt sure she'd memorised it. The right words still had an awful tendency to slip away from her at vital moments, a problem exacerbated by nerves. The clock hands edged towards eleven and she grabbed her purse. It was a grey kind of day. The rain had stopped but the sidewalks were a concrete maze of dirty puddles. A taxi sped by too close to the kerb sending a wave of brown spray over her.
"Oh, for fuck sake," Sarah cursed, her light green raincoat now speckled with dirt.
She ran for the bus only for it to sail past before she reached the stop. A light drizzle began to fall leaving her with the distinct impression this was not going to be her day. It was at times like these she wondered if chasing another audition was worthwhile. There were only so many knockbacks a person could take.
The face of a young woman stared back at her from the bus shelter. It was a hastily tacked up poster of Meredith Laker, the missing woman from the radio news report. Sarah recognised the pretty blue-eyed red-head from casting calls they'd both attended. Meredith was a couple of years younger with a supportive family; she knew that much about her. They were really only passing acquaintances, but she couldn't help wondering what had become of her.
"Sarah Williams? You were expected an hour ago."
She arrived flustered at the casting venue begging for a second chance and managed to bag another spot. The mud on her coat made her look messy so she removed it and ruffled her long dark chocolate tresses. Her name was eventually called and she stood awkwardly with a carton of orange juice in her shaky hands.
"Um, it's so full of orangey goodness you can taste the…something in every drop... Damn it, I know this," Sarah's mind was blank.
"Orange?"
She slapped her head in frustration.
The casting director rolled his eyes and yelled for the next girl.
Sarah slunk away cursing her inability to recall the simplest lines. It made her wonder again, why she obstinately clung on to what was obviously an impossible dream. Maybe it was just a habit, or a glimmer of hope that kept her going through the monotony of her mundane life. A glance at her watch told her she was going to be late for her waitressing job, and she scurried out onto the sidewalk, just in time to see the bus pulling away.
"Some days it just don't pay to get out of bed," she sighed putting on her muddy raincoat as the rain started up again
When she finally made it to the diner, where she worked most days and nights, the stern middle-aged scrawny balding boss, Larry, was waiting for her. She often thought he looked like a real life Elmer Fudd.
"This is the second time you've been late this week, and it's only Tuesday," he complained.
Sarah muttered her apologies and pulled on her worn apron. The fates were against her as she served up wrong orders, dropped plates and spilled drinks. When her shift was over, Larry handed her the pay she was owed, minus the missed time and the cost of breakages.
"Sorry sweetheart, but you're a lousy waitress," he said.
"No, please, I need this job," Sarah begged, but it was all to no avail.
She trudged back to her glorified closet-space-sized apartment with a heavy heart. Her mailbox was full of overdue demands for unpaid bills and she was forced to dodge her lurking landlord. Sarah was already a month behind with the rent and with no job, she wasn't in a position to pay up. Her father had already loaned her money, behind her stepmother's back, and she couldn't tap him again. Her mother refused, arguing no one helped her when she was a struggling actress. Tears stung at her eyes, and she felt like a forgotten failure.
It seemed an age ago since she was a child, full of hopes and dreams. She tried to be a good sister to her younger brother, Toby. Their relationship was patchy, mainly due to the big difference in their ages, and the arrival of a baby sister, Jenna, whom he was much closer too. Sarah felt like an outsider, and she'd left for college aged eighteen never to return home. She rarely saw her family and they didn't seem to care, so she tried not to.
Her mother remarried, got divorced and was now seeing a man more than ten years her junior. Their mother-daughter bond seemed to fracture after Linda left Sarah with her father. They saw each other so infrequently; they were as good as strangers.
Friends were rare and never easy for her to come by; she'd always been a loner, and was mostly okay with that. Better to be alone than with people who wanted you to be someone you weren't. As for lovers, Sarah always told herself she was waiting for the right man, but in truth men never seemed to notice her. She thought there must be something wrong with her, even if she didn't know what it was.
Sarah trudged wearily up to her apartment. She unlocked the door leaving the place in gloom, to save on electric. The place was so drab, the darkness suited it. Sometimes, the heating pipes hissed, sounding like wheezy chattering laughter. She'd lived there for a couple of years, but never really made it feel like home. Her fridge was empty, except for an almost expired carton of milk and a moulding lemon. Missing meals was becoming a regular habit; she slumped down on her tatty armchair and let out a heavy sigh.
Maybe I should wish for the goblins to come take me away, the notion caught her by surprise. It was a long time since she'd thought about, or seen that little red book, The Labyrinth. Her stepmother had probably sold it in a garage sale. The vivid dream she'd once had about the Goblin King and his crazy world did cross her mind occasionally, but it hadn't in a long while. Sarah gave herself a mental shake, get your head out of the clouds and back down to earth, she chided. She glanced over at her stack of unopened mail and noticed she'd dropped a paper on the floor. It looked like some kind of flyer and Sarah reached for it, flicking on the lamp as she went.
Pretty young things required for well-paid positions at Peaches, the premier glittering night club for open minded individuals.
There was an address, which wasn't too far away, and although Sarah was beat, she was in more desperate need of employment. After a quick freshen up, she walked ten blocks to find the place. It was just after eleven and there were plenty of people heading out in search of action. Things quietened down the further she went, and she stood with a look of puzzlement upon finding the location, only to discover the neighbourhood was mostly derelict. The flyer flapped around in the fresh fall breeze as Sarah double checked the address. It was then, in the corner of her eye, she spied an orange neon sign. When she turned to look, it was so huge she didn't know how she could have missed it. The place didn't seem to be buzzing as there wasn't another soul around, but Sarah crossed the street and went through the door. She could hear the thrumming of music and the distant chattering of voices coming from below. There was a set of dimly lit winding steps and she carefully descended them.
"Members only," a pretty young raven-haired woman in a lace up black leather Basque stood in front of a rope sanction with a deep red velvet curtain blocking the entry.
Sarah held up the flyer.
"I came to apply for a job," she explained.
The woman silently appraised her and seemed suitably impressed.
"Go find the staff only door, ask for Nox, and tell him Ebony sent you," she instructed.
Sarah smiled and walked beyond the velvet curtain into the club, totally unprepared for the sight that met her eyes. The place was a scene of almost Bacchanalian debauchery. A sultry song was playing as six almost naked women gyrated around poles on the central stage area. Baying men and a few women were seated at tables positioned around the podium. There were a number of topless waitresses serving drinks and sitting on the laps of some of the male patrons. Sarah almost turned and fled, as a sea of leering faces began to surround her. Some of them were inhuman in appearance, and she wondered for a second if she might have descended into the very pits of hell. The staff only door was ahead of her, and she hesitated for a moment before knocking. There weren't many other options available to her, if she didn't want to end up on the streets. Sarah desperately hoped she could find another way, and turned to leave. At that moment, the door sprang open and a striking-looking square-jawed short man with a mop of dark brown hair and piercing big blue eyes, stood before her.
"Well now, who do we have here?" He drawled.
"I'm sorry, I came looking for work, but I just don't think this place is my scene," Sarah started to walk away.
"Shame," the man said.
"Pretty girl like you, with a rack to die for, I'm telling you, with those tits, you could really earn big here," he smiled in a sweet way for someone saying the things he was.
Sarah paused and looked around at all the money being thrown about. She had been living hand to mouth for so long and her last decent acting job was ages ago. Didn't her resume state she was willing to go naked? Sarah reasoned she could see it as just another role. This was only topless dancing and serving drinks, was that really so bad? Her stomach rumbled and she thought of her stack of unpaid bills.
"Okay, let's talk," she said.
"I'm Nox, the Midnight Prince," he grinned and led her into his office.
Unusual name and title, she thought.
"Sarah Williams," they shook hands.
His office was all black leather and gaudy red walls.
"So, you've seen a little of what we do here, it really is all about keeping the customer satisfied. The waitressing and dancing might pay the bills, but it's the backstage action that pays the big bucks," Nox explained.
Sarah's eyes widened as she realised what he meant. Topless dancing and slinging drinks was one thing, what he was referring to was something else altogether.
"If I wanted to screw guys for money I could just go stand on the street corner," she was disgusted.
Nox grinned.
"We have a very select clientele here, we cater to all kinds of tastes, some of 'em pay handsomely just to get a good spanking," he said.
She wasn't sure that was any better than the other options.
"I'll wait tables and even dance around a pole if I have to, but that's it," Sarah spotted a ladder in her pantyhose and fidgeted with her skirt.
He looked her over and a light sparked in his eyes.
"Okay, you're hired," Nox opened his desk draw and plucked out a contract.
"Just sign here and we'll get you set up," he flipped the page and pointed to the bottom.
She tried to read over the clauses but it was in fancy calligraphy.
"My dad always told me to read the small print. The devil is in the detail, he said," Sarah's pen hand hovered over the paper.
Nox reached for a nearby bottle of whisky and two glasses.
"How about a drink while you look it over," he poured two large measures as she picked up the contract.
Sarah rarely touched strong liquor, but not wanting to appear rude she took a sip. The liquid warmed her throat and she immediately began to feel a little giddy. It had been a while since she'd eaten anything solid, so she didn't wonder that the drink went straight to her head. The room started to spin and she closed her eyes.
"Just sign, my pretty one, sign away all the pain and the bitter disappointments."
Was Nox coaxing her? Everything was dancing and she felt her hand start to move independently over the page.
"Excellent," he said.
"I care not that you bear the mark of another, you belong to me now, forever."
Sarah couldn't keep her eyes open and she swayed in her seat before the world turned black.