This is one of my first fan fictions that I wrote years ago on an old account and am now in the process of editing and reposting. Please enjoy.
Inspired by the YouTube video Sareth: Colorful Dreams.
Labyrinth (c) The Jim Henson Company
Chapter 1: Birthday Party
"You have no power over me!"
It was with those words that the foolish teenaged Sarah Williams escaped the confines of the Labyrinth, along with it the only one who truly loved her as well as the color of her life and dreams. Her childish fantasies washed away from her, remaining as sentiments in the place of which could have been her paradise. Now, years later, the girl had progressed through the stages of teenhood into the slip of youthful but mature woman of twenty one years, who was about to make her own way into the real world.
Her accomplishments in college led her a Bachelor's Degree in Library of Sciences. Fresh out of college and fresh meat, she was able to secure a job as a librarian at her local library. The job suited Sarah's love of books.
Her avid reading had progressed to a much more mature level than simple children's fairy tales. All of those stories in Sarah's collection had been given to Toby for enjoyment, discarded, or simply sat on shelves collecting dust. One of the books that was a space taker was the yellowing volume of The Labyrinth. The novel no longer gave Sarah amusement, but something held her back from throwing it out or giving it to Toby. For now, it would continue to rot and age on her bookshelf.
It was a picturesque sunny afternoon in the park. It was the perfect setting for a young boy's sixth birthday party. Several wooden picnic tables were reserved for this event and at the current moment, the newly college graduated Sarah Williams helped her stepmother place down plastic, rainbow table cloths on the picnic tables. As if to make the event more obvious, between the thick rows of color on the table cloths were bold capital words in white that read: HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Once that task was done, Sarah's stepmother fetched the orange paper plates and white plastic utensils out of the car that was parked not far from the birthday party location. Sarah, on the other hand, grabbed a bundle of already blown up balloons on strings from the car and began tying them to trees in the vicinity as her stepmother set the tables with the disposable eating necessities.
"Thank you for helping out, Sarah," he stepmother said, looking up from the last plate she had set down.
"No problem," Sarah responded after tying down a green balloon to a nearby tree branch. "I adore Toby. He is my baby brother after all."
However, unlike the green balloon or even all of her surroundings, Sarah was completely out of place in a gray T-shirt and a gray pencil skirt with matching shoes. Her stepmother, on the other hand, was clad in an orange short-sleeved top with jean shorts and white sneakers.
The two women looked at each other and shared a smile and went back to their work. When Sarah finished tying down the rest of the birthday balloons, she got the paper cups and napkins for the tables and began to put them in their respective places. After finishing up setting the tables, Sarah's stepmother placed fresh soda cans, chips, pretzels, and other various snacks on the tables, ensuring that any hungry child or adult at the party would have access to food.
When the area was declared ready for the party, the two women were only able to observe their handiwork for a few seconds before screaming, excited kindergartners came running over to the tables.
A little boy with a shock of sun golden blond hair raced up to Sarah, smiling. He was identifiable as the birthday boy from the cone shaped, cardboard blue and silver hat on his head that read: BIRTHDAY BOY.
"Sarah!" the little boy exclaimed. "You came!"
Sarah giggled and bent down to his level in height.
"Why of course, Toby. I couldn't miss your birthday party." She smiled at him.
Toby turned his focus away from his sister and towards his mother.
"Can I open my presents now?" he begged.
"Not yet," his mother answered.
"But mom!" he whined.
"Come on, Toby. Let's find you a seat," his mother insisted, ignoring his complaints. She took her son's hand and led him to the middle of the tables. Toby was the birthday king today to his many subjects, most of which were just his fellow classmates or cousins.
Sarah and Toby's father appeared just moments after Toby's arrival, having dropped Toby off before he parked the car. He also fit the color theme of the party, decked in a red shirt with faded jean shorts and blue and white sneakers. The father and daughter exchanged a few words of greeting before he walked off to help his wife seat the party guests.
Sarah looked out at the farthest tree she had tied a balloon to. Its left branch was the temporary home to a white balloon, while its right branch held an orange one. Perched on the left branch was a majestic barn owl and it seemed to be staring at Sarah directly. There was something familiar about the owl, but she couldn't pin it down.
"Sarah!" Toby shouted from his 'throne', which was nothing more than part of a picnic table bench. "We want to eat!"
Sarah turned to see her brother impatiently waiting for her to take her seat. She smiled at him and then quickly glanced back at the tree only to find that the owl was gone.
"Must have imagined it," she whispered to herself and then found a seat next to her father at the center table.
After everyone was settled and clearly hungry, the adult Williams walked over to Mrs. Williams's car and pulled out half a dozen large pizzas. The three of them began distributing slices to the party guests. The guests wolfed down their slices, some of them begging for seconds. Toby himself engaged in eating two thick slices of pepperoni pizza. Although, he could have eaten some more, he wanted to save room for cake.
Once the lunch of pizza was consumed, a rainbow-frosted cake was placed in front Toby. Mr. Williams lit seven candles, six for Toby's age and one for good luck. After making a wish, the young six year old blew out the candles and cake was quickly passed out to everyone.
After dessert was complete, Toby made his way over to a sea of presents, picking out a shiny, silver wrapped one to open first. The kids and his parents crowded around Toby, watching him engage in the only part of the birthday ritual Toby really enjoyed, opening his presents.
Sarah stood on the outskirts of the crowd, watching her little brother slightly from afar. Sarah quickly glanced back at the tree she saw the owl in. It was perched there again and its eyes watched her intently. She looked back at it curiously, wondering what on earth an owl was doing out in broad daylight. So as not to bring attention to herself or her secret of the owl, she directed her focus back onto Toby.
Midway through opening the presents, Toby grabbed a gray one out of the pile. Attached to it by a piece of clear scotch tape was a plain white birthday card, which read: "Happy Birthday Toby. Love, Sarah." His mother was at his side, helping him read the cards.
Toby ripped open the gray present. From the shredded paper, he pulled out a colorful picture edition of Jack and the Beanstalk.
"Thank you, Sarah!" he shrieked happily, obviously rather fascinated by the classic fairy tale.
"You're welcome, Toby. Enjoy it," Sarah said with a smile. Toby put the book down beside his other already opened presents.
When this was all done, the party wrapped up and the children were picked up by their parents. Toby was sent home, presents in tow, with his father, while Sarah and her stepmother picked up the remnants of the party, disposing of the trash appropriately. The tables were cleared rather easily and Sarah picked up the garbage that was knocked off of them.
After that was accomplished, Sarah began to untie the balloons from the trees, sluggishly making her way over to the tree that housed the owl. When she finally reached that specific tree, the owl crocked its head to watch her take off the orange balloon.
"Alright, Mr. Owl," she whispered to it, so as not to be overheard by her stepmother, for a twenty one year old talking to an owl would surely cause Sarah humiliation if anyone noticed, "You must be confused. Owls happen to be nocturnal and you, Sir, are breaking the laws of nature."
She reconsidered a moment after she successfully got the orange balloon off the branch. She moved over to the white one, careful not to be near the owl. The owl turned to watch her untie this balloon.
"Perhaps, you are awake because you are frustrated with me that I used your tree to put balloons on. I'm sorry," she apologized to her feathered friend. She got the last balloon off and backed away from the tree. "There you go. Your tree is back, good as new."
She turned away from the owl and popped the balloons and placed them in a black trash bag. She and her stepmother disposed of the trash and then got in her stepmother's orange van. Her stepmother drove, with Sarah in the passenger's seat.
The white owl pursued the car all way to Sarah's home.
After reaching the Williamses abode, the owl hide itself in the large tree the overlooked Sarah's own bedroom. Sarah and her stepmother got out of the car once Mrs. Williams put the car in the park gear. The two women went to the front door. Sarah took out a collection of keys on a ring. After a second of fumbling, Sarah was able to track down the house key. With it, she unlocked the door and the women entered the home. Mrs. Williams shut the door behind them.
Sarah was about to make her way upstairs, when Mrs. Williams asked gently: "Sarah, do you any plans this evening?"
"No," she answered in all politeness. "Let me guess, you are in search for a baby sitter for Toby this evening. Am I correct in making that assumption?"
Her stepmother nodded.
"It's not that I want to leave Toby tonight, after all he just had his birthday party, it's just that your father has an important business event to attend and he invited me as his plus one," she explained her case.
"I understand. Besides it's not like you missed his actual birthday, which was yesterday," Sarah reminded her. "I'll baby sit him. Do you want me to make him dinner?"
"He may be full, after all we did have a late lunch, however, there is some left over soup in the fridge for him if he gets hungry," her stepmother clarified. Sarah smiled at her stepmother and went upstairs.
Night fell and Mr. and Mrs. Williams left the house. Toby had not had a need for more food since his birthday party. He fell asleep at around 8:30 PM, gripping a robot toy that he got from his parents close. With Toby wrapped safely in his rocket ship blankets on his twin-sized bed, Sarah felt safe.
Sarah entered her room, after making sure that Toby was asleep. She slumped down on to her bed. Her bedroom was cleaned and in strict order and way different from her teenaged years. All her stuffed animals were passed down to Toby, who took delight in them. What was once a colorful room full of life, stuffed cuddly creatures, and pictures, now looked barren with those missing elements. All the pictures were stripped off her mirror and were either discarded or put into fancy frames or photo albums.
Her eyes wandered around her bedroom. She noticed that something was astray in the perfect order of the room. She then figured out what it was. She left the comfort of her bed and walked over to her vanity. Laying on top of the vanity was her age beaten volume of The Labyrinth. It was opened to the page in which the protagonist says the famous line of dialogue:
'You have no power over me!'
Crammed in the margin next to the line in a handwriting of which Sarah could not identify from whom it had originated from, were the words:
'But the truth is, my dear, that I do!'
Sarah fumed inside at the fact that someone unknown to her had intruded into her room, leaving only the evidence of their handwriting. Her conclusion had been correct that it was nobody in her household. She thought that it might have been a robber or a neighbor's kid, but quickly deducted that possibility since all the neighbor's children were about Toby's age or a little older and wrote in huge scribbles. As for a robber, why would they take the time to write her a little message in an old book that held little value to anyone? And, nothing from the Williams's home was stolen. Perhaps the handwritten line had been there before and she never noticed it until now. Sarah wasn't sure.
Still, who wrote in her book and why?
She grabbed an eraser from her desk and began to erase the line, only to find that the penciled in words refused to fade away. She scrubbed feverishly at the line, being careful not to rip through or destroy the page. All she accomplished out of it was grinding down the eraser a bit and a slightly aching hand. She threw the eraser down in frustration, for she was agitated that one of her favorite pieces of literature from her childhood was messed up by a single penciled in line that refused to be erased.
She blew the eraser shavings off the page and closed the ancient volume. She carefully set the book back on the shelf, where it joined its companions of literature. The books were in precise alphabetical order by title.
Overcome with exhaustion and anger, Sarah slipped out of her gray outfit into a pair of pajamas of a different shade of gray. She then lifted up the covers of a gray quilt and dove under it for warmth. In comfort and at a temporary peace, she looked up at her ceiling. The penciled in line swished around her mind. She pasted the line with the original dialogue only to come up with the idea that whoever wrote it there was obviously trying to portray the villain of the story, the Goblin King.
"Could it have been…?" she asked herself. Then she doubted it, using her logical explanation she had used since she successfully retrieved her baby brother back from the Labyrinth. "It was just a dream, nothing more."
She closed her eyes as the last sequence between herself and the Goblin King flashed inside her head. She hadn't thought of the Labyrinth, the Goblin King, or her adventure there in years, and yet she could still picture everything perfectly.
Her eyes snapped opened as she found herself seeing her childhood dream.
"Get yourself together, Sarah," she scolded herself. "It wasn't real!"
She looked out of her window and saw the barn owl from the park staring back at her, his eyes luminous from the light of the moon. She grinned at it from her bed as she recognized its familiarity.
"You don't exist," she told it, knowing that it wouldn't hear her. "And if you did, well then, show me. I wish you could make all my dreams come true and take me away from this horrible place, to the Labyrinth!"
The owl simply stared back at her and hooted.
"Oh yeah, that's right. You're just an owl! Hoot! Hoot!" she mocked it. "Good night to you, Mr. Owl! Hoot! Hoot!"
And with that Sarah closed her eyes.
The owl then flew from the tree and landed on the windowsill outside her room and watched her sleep.