Jareth stalked back and forth across his throne room. It had been far too long since he'd visited the human world and wreaked havoc. Not since Sarah. A soft pang struck his heart at the thought of her. He wondered what had become of the beautiful girl who'd captured a part of his heart. He flexed his muscles and within seconds his form had changed to that of a snowy owl; on silent wings he sailed through the air towards the portal between the worlds. The worlds of the human and that of imagination. The barrier was a thin one and was becoming thinner every year. As he passed through it, he felt a tingling surge over his body.
He continued to fly until he reached the outskirts of a large city, a place entirely removed from the place where Sarah had been found. He perched on the edge of a shop and watched the hustle and bustle of the city streets. Jareth found himself mesmerized by the strangely haunting movements of a young woman making her way to the doorway of a building. He flew closer, perching on the ledge and peering into the glass fronted doorway. Inside, the room was bare, with only a hardwood floor, and mirrors on every wall. A long bar stood about waist-high. It took a moment before he realized it was a dance studio.
The young woman he'd spied earlier returned to his view, now clad in a leggings and a sweatshirt instead of the denim jeans and tshirt she'd been in before. Her hair had been wound around into a bun and pinned into place, no longer down in the messy braid it had been in when he'd first seen her. He watched, transfixed as she began to swing her body into positions that he knew had to have taken years of training.
Several others had now joined her on the floor and he heard one of them call out the name "Crystal". The young woman looked up and smiled. So, her name was Crystal. As beautiful and fragile-looking as the rock that also bore her name, Jareth thought. He continued to watch until night had fallen. After the young woman closed up the studio, Jareth flew silently alongside her as she made her way home. She walked to a building that was at least as old as the dance studio.
Crystal climbed several flights of stairs to her small apartment. The second she opened the door, she flipped on the overhead light and tossed her bag onto the table beside the door. She locked the door and dropped her keys into a small, fish-shaped bowl. She picked her mail up from the floor where it had fallen when her neighbor Mr. Helgeson had pushed it through the slot.
She smiled at the thought of the very nice but slightly zany old man who was her neighbor. At sixty, he was as spry as a twenty-year-old and totally outrageous. He blared an eclectic range of music -from folk, country, blues, rock and oldies- at all hours of the day and night, made beautiful jewelry which he sold online and took a variety of classes on the local college campus to meet "babes". Crystal sincerely hoped she was as active-mentally as well as physically-as Mr. Helgeson was when she was sixty.
Just as she was about to go into the kitchen she caught a glimpse of something white flash by her window. Startled, she crept towards the window and screamed when a large owl flew at the window before simply disappearing. She clutched at her heart as it felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest. She opened the window and looked around for any sign of the owl, but found nothing, until a long white feather gently fluttered towards her. She reached out and grabbed it, pulling it inside as she shut the window. She stood looking at it for a moment before placing it on the desk beside the window.
She made her way into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of cold water from the refrigerator and opening the freezer to peer inside to find something fast for supper. Sighing in disgust, she finally pulled a frozen meal out and opened it, pulling open the plastic from one corner and tossing it into the microwave for the amount of time the package recommended. While it cooked, she walked into her bedroom, pulling off her clothes and letting them drop into the wicker hamper before pulling on a long, soft t-shirt she often wore to bed. She let her hair loose, running her hands through it and massaging her scalp for a few minutes to relieve the lingering tightness.
She heard the microwave ding and made her way back to the kitchen. She pulled the microwave-proof plastic bowl out and set it on the counter to cool for a few minutes while she fixed a small salad and a glass of sweetened iced tea to go along with it. She carried everything into the small living room and put it down on coffee table. She found the remote stuck between the cushions and turned the television on. She turned it to a local news station and watched long enough to catch up on what had happened that day, before turning it to an old romantic movie on a classic movies channel.
She unhurriedly ate the tasteless meal and salad, sipping her tea. Before long, she realized how late it had gotten and turned off the tv. She washed the plate she'd used for the salad and the glass she'd used for the tea before she slowly made her way towards the bedroom. She sat down on the edge of the bed and opened the drawer of her nightstand table. She pulled out a small box and sat it beside her on the bed, tears already filling her eyes. She opened the box and stared down at a small collection of objects.
On top was a silver charm bracelet, jam-packed with charms that jingled melodiously as she picked it up, clutching it in her hand. Under the bracelet was a small stack of photographs. Crystal ran her fingers gently over the familiar face in the photo. If you didn't know it, you would think that she was stroking a picture of her own face, it was so similar to her own. But Crystal knew each and every difference, each miniscule thing that was dissimilar.
Crystal carefully lifted the stack of photos and put them aside. And let the tears flow unheeded as she stared at the last item in the box. Above a picture of the face from the photographs were the words "IN MEMORIAM" and under it, "EMMA GRACE CONNORS". Sobs broke free from Crystal's throat as she clutched the bracelet to her chest, sliding forward onto the bed. She had no idea that Jareth watched as she cried herself to sleep, as she had every night for months since her twin sister had died. Died from a cancer that should have been treatable if caught in the early stages as Emma's had been. But no one could have foreseen that Emma's body would react badly to the treatment and that the very thing that was to have saved her would weaken her body's resistance to the point that the cancer could take her life.
"Why did you leave me, Em?" She cried, before the anger came. "Why did you even have to exist? I could have been happy, happy if you'd never been born! Rather than leave me here all alone! Why, Emma?" She whispered as she slipped into a series of horrible nightmares where she relived every moment of hell she had gone through as her sister battled for her life against a monster that was too strong to fight. If only she had been able to help her fight, Crystal thought, in dreams. Together we could defeat anything!
