The autumnal wind whipped around the group of figures progressing slowly and hazardously along the orange lit suburban road. Discarded candy wrappers and torn crepe in blacks and reds fluttered along the sidewalk and around the group's feet. The streets were quieter now as the depths of night drew in, free from the excited screamings and laughter of young children, with only the more riotous cries and shouts of older revellers, and perhaps, if one listened hard enough, the more strange, unearthly sounds of another world.

Scarf half-heartedly draped around her neck, Sarah Williams performed a wild and unsteady spin, the skirts of her faux medieval gown flying about her. The hooded executioner alongside of her bent double laughing as she staggered into a barely dressed bunny rabbit, sending them both reeling and clutching at a nearby street light. Helped up by a pirate they continued their staggering walk down the centre of the road, laughing and drinking, high from the night's recent party and their free spirited friendships. Taking the next random bottle passed to her Sarah gulped down a mouthful of the burning spirit, thanking the stranger who passed it to her. There were several strangers in the group, picked up from the party, she scanned the stumbling figures and once again found her gaze drawn unerringly to one in particular.

He lingered behind the main group, stride surprisingly steady despite the slim bottle of green tinged absinthe with its antique looking label that rested lightly in one of his velvety gloved hands. The material matched that of the frock coat worn as part of a fantastic period costume, whomever it was had even gone to the lengths of dusting his hair with flour, the ghostly white strands were pulled back into a tail though the face of this mysterious stranger was still masked in the spirit of the night. Only a grinning, dark skull stared out into the world.

With a flush she realised that macabre face looked directly at her, with a heady rush she smiled, the slightest coy curving of her lips, and spun again in the road, casting a suggestive look back over her shoulder. Alcohol flowed as her heart pumped with the sudden thrill of attraction realised. Stars and murky clouds reeled overhead as she spun like the children who had earlier walked the streets in their own more simple joys. Liquor splashed over her hand from the open bottle as she stumbled to a stop and found the man alongside her.

"Your costume is awesome!" she gasped, slightly breathless as she took in the finer details of intricate embroidery and patterning on the ebony velvet
"Why thank you my lady," the crisp and lilting tones carried the hint of amusement
"And you've even got the accent right!" Sarah laughed in amazement, "you must take this night pretty seriously…"
"Oh, very seriously," a low laugh issued from behind the deathly smirking mask "And what of you my lady fair? You strike me as one who has oft dressed in such finery of the past," he tapped the tapering sleeve where it ended on her hand and she shivered in the closeness of the touch to skin.
If her wits had not been so dulled with the influencing fluid and her heart not so aflame with the unknown then the comment would have meant something to her, would have warned her of the path she now unevenly trod. And so, instead of coming to wary realisation Sarah walked on in company of the stranger, exchanging honeyed words and laughing unguardedly with exhilaration and intoxication.

The motley group of festive revellers drew alongside the small copse of trees which served as a forest to the neighbourhood. Glancing up, Sarah found herself enraptured by the stark leafless trees that stood out as inky lines against the mottled blue of the changing night, the looming darkness called to her and she stopped wordlessly in her tracks, the near empty bottle hanging loosely from her hand.
"Would the lady like a walk?" the words came close against her ear, the whispering touch of breath danced across her neck as he leant down from behind her. The tremor she felt run through her, and the turn of her head to face him seemed familiar but she had no thought as to why. Her thoughts were swirling with the thought of being alone with this strange man who smelt of wood smoke and musky pine.

As they turned off the path there were cat calls and whistles from the rest of the group, with a dismissive, succinct hand gesture and a laugh Sarah waved them away. Turning back she hurried to catch up with the man as he faded into tree line as if the very boughs parted for him. The tall lithe figure stood as one with the towering trunks and extended a hand toward her; wondrously with parted lips she took it and was suddenly swept against him. Free arm encircling her he waltzed them around in small circles, a low laugh issuing from behind the skeletal features as gloved fingers gently entwined in the ends of her hair.
I'll paint you mornings of gold, I'll spin you valentine evenings…
Hand resting on strange arm Sarah heard the strains, snatches of a song that played around her ears and mind, a song long treasured yet denied, forgotten.
…Though we're strangers till now…

Then abruptly as it had started the tune faded, the dance ended. Pushed from him Sarah was left dizzied and disorientated as echoes of the song continued to dance in her mind. Vision slurred and blotched as intoxication melded with genuine confusion. Steadying herself she looked back up to him and found he'd untied his hair, it fell in uneven and silvered lengths around the masked face with no trace of flour.
"Don't I know you?" she asked, apprehension tainting her voice
The penny began to drop as they stood under the dark trees, barely lit by the moon's glow. It fell hurtling toward the ground as elemental recognition, automatic remembrance went to work. Sarah's lip began to tremble.

With a sharp movement of hand across face the mask vanished into wisps of grey smoke to reveal the cruelly handsome face behind.
"Hello Sarah," the pointed teeth glinted in the low light as he smiled, the bottle in her hand thudded against the floor. A slight shake and the costume also vanished into lingering smoke revealing the familiar, haunting, ensemble of dark high collared leather and billowing fabrics. Brushing the smoke away the Goblin King stepped through it towards her as she stared unable to believe her eyes.
"I defeated you," her words were whispered but they filled the silent trees as a shout,
"Yes, clever girl that you are…" he cocked his head to the side and looked her up and down with a smirk "well, not so clever anymore."
"I didn't call you, I haven't… I don't…" shaking her head, drunken senses unable to think, to comprehend Sarah gasped in shock as gloved fingers brushed against her chin and held her eyes to his.
"No Sarah, I came to you this one night where doors are opened freely. I came for you to finish what was once started," his hand moved around to cup her face, fingers to brush across her cheek.
"Why?" she breathed, willing herself not to lean into the caress, willing sobriety to her senses
"Why not?" the reply was flippant, impatient, "Why deny what you have felt, what you felt back on the road, what you still feel?"

It was a good question. From under hawked brows, eyes burned furiously, passionately, Sarah found herself lost within them, lost against his touch, lost against the past she truly did deny. "Don't fight it Sarah, don't fight me," the words came as if through a haze. Tilting her head back instinctively as his lips lowered towards her own she slipped her arms about his neck as he crushed her too him. Hands ran down her back, through her hair, held her face and in response she wrapped herself around him, twisting fingers into hair, pulling him closer.

Rustling through the fallen leaves and clattering through bare branches the wind rose and blew threw the trees towards them. The jolting cold brought Sarah as if from heady dreaming to stark reality. Eye's opening she saw the man against her and was reminded of what he was. How long they had stood she did not know.
"I cannot!" she gasped painfully, pushing away from him into the colder night
"Why?" he demanded, countenance darkening to a stormy frown, "I did everything you wanted, I was everything you wanted, I am everything you will still ever want!"
"You were… you are not," Sarah forced the lie through her teeth "I denied you before,"
"You denied me then by stubborn will," he countered, too quick, too knowing to believe the lie
"I was just a girl,"
"And now you are not."
He gave a meaningful look to her body. She flushed and her heart thudded within at the implications.

He reached for her hand and gently drew her towards him again, whispering softly against her ear, "And now even peeling back any pretence you may choose to hide behind you would still desire me. Don't deny me now."
There was an unusual strain in his voice, it caught on the last words as he gazed at her pale face again and then quickly to the lightening sky.
Mute with the prospect before her Sarah was unable to answer though she clung to his lithe, unearthly frame.

"I will come each year until you relent, until you accept the future you wrought for you, for me. I will come for you."
As he leant down to her again Sarah waited wordlessly but felt only ghostly whisperings against her lips as the sun rose through the trees. Reaching out to where he once stood she could only whisper in anguish.
"Jareth…"