She stared at the ring glinting in the candle light, then at the man kneeled before her. He smiled at her lovingly, eyes shining with warmth and adoration. The perfect ending to a perfect night of exquisite home cooked food, wine and laughter. The remnants of their meal still lay on the table next to her, until he had made a great show of pulling the ring box from his pocket and kneeling before her. Sarah's bare toes curled in the fluffy rug under her feet.
"Will you marry me?" he said, and took her hand. She had expected to feel elated, overjoyed even, when this moment arrived. Instead, she felt a pressure in her chest, a kind of suffocating feeling like someone was squeezing the heart and lungs inside. She felt like she was under water and running out of air.
"I…" she hesitated. "I… don't know. I'm sorry Derek, can you… can you give me time?"
His expression darkened, "Time? Why do you need time? We have been together since we were teenagers. You either want to marry me, or you don't. It's a simple question, Sarah."
"It's just… I expected this to feel… different."
"Different? Different how? Like how it is in those books you read? They're not real Sarah! They're fantasies written by lonely people!" His expression softened and he said quietly. "I love you. Isn't that enough?"
Sarah bit her lip and stared at him and the ring, before turning her head away. "I don't know."
"Fine!" Derek exploded. "If this is how you're going to be, I don't think we should marry at all. You know Sarah, all those books have created impossible expectations for you. No one is ever going to be good enough for you, are they? No one real at least," he sneered and stood up. Snapping the ring box closed he stalked to the door.
"You know what, Sarah? You deserve to marry someone exactly like in your books. You really do. What was it they said in that one book you're always reading? 'I wish the goblins would come and take you away?' Well I do wish the goblins would come and take you away right now, and make you marry one of them!" Slamming the door behind him, he was gone.
Sarah stood in the chair by the table, her back gone rigid and an unnamed terror spreading from her tight chest, all the way through her arms and legs, until it felt like her veins were full of liquid ice.
"It's just a story" she whispered to herself, "the last time was just a dream."
She jumped when there was a knock at the door, and then laughed at herself shakily. "That's probably Derek. Goblins wouldn't knock!" She got up slowly and made her way to the door. The hallway outside was empty. She stepped outside and looked both ways but could see no one. Shaking her head, she stepped back in and closed the door. She turned around to go back to the table and gasped.
"Hello Sarah. What a pleasant surprise." Jareth the Goblin King was lounging on his throne, dangling one leg over the right armrest. No longer in her own apartment, Sarah looked around her, the ice spreading back through her veins. The throne room looked different. Much larger to begin with, more clean and formal. The walls were made of light stone and the floor looked like marble. Golden light flooded through the floor length glass windows, bathing the tapestries on the walls in a shimmering glow. There were groups of people standing around, dressed in colourful old fashioned clothes. Not all of them, not even half, were goblins. These looked more like the people who had attended the ball in her dream all those years ago. Goblin guards stood next to the huge double doors and next to Jareth's throne, but these did not look at all like the bumbling soldiers she had battled back then. These guards looked alert and competent. Why was nothing how she remembered it?
"I'm dreaming. This is not real." Sarah told herself. Jareth laughed.
"Oh precious, is that what you told yourself? That it was all a dream? That it never happened? Frankly, I'm hurt! I put in so much effort to make everything just like you expected it to be, and then you go on and believe it wasn't real?"
Sarah glared at him. "Any moment now, I'm going to wake up and I'll be back to my own apartment. You're just a figment of my imagination. You're only here because Derek mentioned goblins!" A slow smile spread on Jareth's face. The kind of smile a predator has when they know their prey is trapped. The smile of a white shape lazily making its way through the water, towards and unwary swimmer. The kind of smile that made Sarah feel both hot and cold at the same time.
"Oh, he did mention goblins, didn't he," Jareth purred. "He mentioned something else too… marriage, I believe it was."
Sarah pursed her lips and stared at him mutely. Suddenly a hot pain blossomed from her arm and she yelped, cradling the wounded arm to her chest. A tall woman was standing next to her with a needle, smiling pleasantly. "Still think you're dreaming?" She drawled, and everyone in the room laughed. "I can prick you again, if you're still not sure."
"That's enough Muireann. Step away." Jareth waved them woman off, who bobbed a curtsy before gliding back to the other guests. He straightened himself in his chair and leaned forward, staring at Sarah eagerly.
"Do you still think you're dreaming, precious?"
Sarah rolled back her sleeve gingerly, to stare at the blood blossoming from the tiny hole in her arm. It hurt and there was no denying what that meant.
"No…" she whispered, her voice both an admission and a plea.
"Excellent! That means we can get this wedding underway!" Jareth clapped his hands and two attendants appeared next to Sarah, carrying a white dress. The dress glittered in the light, millions of tiny diamonds sewn into it. It looked exactly like the dress she had worn when she was 15. Sarah gazed at the dress, troubled by the memories of that dance, by the feelings temporarily evoked by dancing in Jareth's arms. For a fleeting moment back then, she had almost given in. His allure had been too great and she had been so close to succumbing, until she suddenly remembered her little brother and the cruel game he was playing with her. She had been so ashamed afterwards. He had almost managed to fool her and… wait. What had he just said?
"Wedding? What wedding?" Sarah narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "To you? I'm not marrying you. You have no power over me!"
"On the contrary precious. You were wished away, which means I have all the power over you. In fact, one might say I own you. However, I have no wish to marry you either. That offer expired a long time ago." Jareth smiled his predatory smile again. "Have you already forgotten what your boyfriend wished for?"
Sarah stared at the Goblin King, her eyes widening in horror as realization dawned and the room erupted in laughter anew.
Well I do wish the goblins would come and take you away right now, and make you marry one of them!