The Opening
Author's Note: If you think you have read this before the date 2/10/02, you haven't. I had two chapters posted, I read them over, realized how bad they were, and am in the process of completely rewriting, so sit back, relax, reread, and rereview!
Disclaimer: I own Alyssa Mortenson, Daniel Thorton, and anyone you don't recognize. I have free will to make them do whatever I want. (*Evil cackle*) Other than that, Jareth is his own puppet; I just pull the strings of him and the Muppets.
Jim Henson is a Saint.
Alyssa Mortenson sat in a hall window seat staring out at the pouring rain, wondering if it was ever going to stop. She doubted it. It had been raining for practically three days straight, and she was starting to get sick of it. She had to admit, however, that the falling rain did fit her mood perfectly. Ever since her mother and father had died in a car accident three years back, she had been sent her to live at the Sparrow Hawk Orphanage, because Mama and Papa had no living relatives. It wasn't a bad place, but Alyssa still had her bouts of depression. Alyssa gave one last pointed sigh at the rain lashing against the glass, and then slid her legs off the window seat. She sat there for a second, trying to decided whether to leave her blanket and pillow there, or take it with her and sleep somewhere different tonight. The window seat was her favorite spot to sleep, but she had slept in it the last three nights, and it was getting a little boring. The children of
Sparrow Hawk pretty much got to sleep where they wanted. The littlest ones got first dibs on the beds, and because the beds were scarce, you had to be careful where you stepped at night, so not to trod on a hand, foot, or even a face. Alyssa decided to leave her things there to reserve her spot, and talk a walk around the orphanage to look for a new sleeping spot, so, slowly she stood up stretched her full height of 5'4.
"Hello Alyssa!" A cheerful voice called and Alyssa jumped, the voice belonged to Daniel Thorton, another boy at the orphanage who was one of Alyssa's best friends.
"Hello Daniel," she replied, not fully succeeding to keep the sadness out of her voice, watching as he came up a staircase down the hallway to her left. Daniel gave her a sad smile and threw an arm around her shoulder,
"Memory day?" He asked, memory days were what the orphans in the House called days where memories of Before were particularly strong, brining about sadness and depression. Alyssa had to look up slightly to meet his shiny gray eyes, which were a stark contrast to his raven black hair.
"Yeah," she responded, a bit warmer.
"Those are always hard," Daniel suddenly got a faraway, pain filled look in his eyes and Alyssa knew that he was lost in his own memories. He was one of the few at Sparrow Hawk who refused to talk about their past, and the only thing that Alyssa knew was that he had been in the Orphanage longer than she had.
Daniel gave her another bright smile as he snapped as suddenly out of his reverie as he had slipped into it.
"Well, I've got something to make you feel better," he said, "I was looking for you just now to see if you wanted to see something."
"Sure," Alyssa said, smiling. Daniel looked at her funny for a second.
"What?" She asked, "Do I have something on my face?"
"No, It's just you should smile more often, it makes your face prettier." He said, turning to walk in the opposite direction from which he had come. Alyssa rolled her eyes and turned to follow, but the small smile remained on her face.
Sparrow Hawk was a gargantuan house set smack in the middle of the Victorian section of the town of Tripsithe. It was a corner house with a good size yard in the back with a swimming pool and basketball hoop. The house was big enough that it took a long time to walk the whole of it, what with all of its twists and turns, secret passage or two, and many, many staircases. They walked in silence for a few minutes, other than saying "hi," to some of the other kids they passed, the orphanage housed kids from the age of five all the way up to seventeen. Suddenly Daniel broke the silence,
"You see anybody?"
"In the hallway?" Alyssa asked puzzled
"Yeah, anywhere, I don't want anyone else to see this."
"Umm," Alyssa looked around, "No?"
"Good," Daniel said, and suddenly grabbed Alyssa's hand, flung open the door next to him, pulled the startled girl inside, and quietly, but quickly shut the door behind them.
"Daniel?" Alyssa asked, standing in the pitch dark
"Yes?"
"We're in a closet." Daniel glanced toward the direction of the ceiling, fumbled around on the wall and hit the light switch, and suddenly the room flooded with light. and "Step," he commanded.
"What?" Alyssa asked, confused, blinking in the sudden bright light.
"Into my hands," Alyssa's vision cleared and she saw that Daniel had laced his fingers together into a net. "Step onto my hand and press up on the ceiling, there's a panel."
Alyssa looked up at the ceiling, squinting, "I don't see anything..."
"Trust me," Daniel said, chucking her chin lightly with his fist and grinning his boyish grin. Alyssa couldn't help smiling and made and exasperated noise. With minimal difficulty, placed her foot in Daniel's hands, pushed of his shoulders, and held onto the shelves lined with cleaning supplies. Even up this close, about five inches away, she had to strain to see the panel, it's seams blended in with the ceiling so well. She would have never noticed it from the ground.
"How did you find this?" She asked in amazement. There was a gruff mumble in which the only words that Alyssa caught were, "angry" and "throwing things". She rolled her eyes with a smile and after a second of balancing, let go of the shelves and shoved the panel aside. It it's place was a dark, gaping hole. Alyssa reached up and straining, propped her arms on the edges, and pulled herself up.
She stood, staring. It was a small, dark room, complete with table and chairs, oil lamp, a rag rug, and a small book. Everything looked like it had about ten years worth of dust on it, except for the spots where it looked like Daniel had moved around the last time he had been there. Suddenly the sound of scuffling came from below, and with a loud clatter Daniel's head popped through the hole in the floor suddenly, and within the space of a few seconds, was standing next to Alyssa.
"Sh!" He said, and quickly dragged the panel back over the opening, plunging them into darkness once again.
"Wha-" Alyssa began, but Daniel slapped a strong hand over her mouth just as the sound of the closet door from below was opened.
"What the hell?" They heard someone exclaim, "Aw man! Damn it! Somebody go and get Master Tain, one of the shelves fell down in here. What a mess!" The person flicked the light off in the closet, and with a loud bang, shut the door.
"You know," Alyssa mumbled through Daniels hand a few seconds later, "If could get up all by your lovely little self, why did we have to go through the trouble of me clambering all over you?"
"Because," Daniel said, he had removed his hand when she had started speaking, "you can't open the panel by just climbing up, you have to throw something, and I didn't really want to attract anyone's attention. Lifting you was the only other option, I didn't want to break you arms by having you hold me."
"Your not that heavy," she replied, "Is there a light in here?" She asked, "I can't see a thing."
"Yeah, stand here, and I'll get a candle."
"Candles?" Alyssa asked as she heard Daniel move away, "Did you bring them up or were they already here?"
"I brought them, I come up here a lot." Daniel replied out of the darkness, "It's like, you know, my spot to come when I'm down."
"Why'd you bring me up then?" Alyssa asked his disembodied voice.
"Well," Daniel said, sounding a bit uncomfortable, "You're one of my best friends here, and I thought that I would share my secret with you."
"Oh, thank you," Alyssa said, touched. Suddenly with the sound of a match striking, the room lit up slightly, and Daniel set about lighting three candles. When they were lit, he picked up two of them, leaving one in a holder on the floor, and gave one to Alyssa.
"So," He said, going over to sit in one of the chairs. "It's a good secret isn't it?" He asked, looking at her intently. Alyssa smiled,
"It's not bad," She extended her arm and picked up the book that she had just noticed lying on the dusty table. The book cover told her that Daniel had never picked it up in all of his times up in the secret spot because it too was so covered in dust that she couldn't read the title. Daniel stood up and walked over to look over her shoulder at the book.
"That's funny, that was never here before." Alyssa lifted the book and gently blew across the cover. The dust flew off, sending Daniel into fits of coughing, and revealing the title.
Labyrinth
Daniel's coughing subsided and he leaned over her, his hand pulling her shoulder back so he could see.
"Whoa, that book must be a hundred years old!" He exclaimed. "I can't believe that I haven't seen it before!" Daniel frowned, looking the book over. Alyssa nodded, hiding her smile as she thought about making a crack about Daniels observation skills, but for some reason the thought never made it's way into verbal words. The book was leather bound and the words were in gilt gold. Alyssa reached her hand across the book and slowly, gently opened the cover. Suddenly, white light exploded from the interior of the book, and both she and Daniel had the sudden sensation of falling. Alyssa felt the air whip past her as she clutched the book in her right hand and suddenly felt herself hurled into Daniel. He grabbed her close and held her protectively in his arms; terrified she put her free arm around him. An instant later they landed, and everything was black. Thus began the most perilous adventure of their lives.
Author's Note: If you think you have read this before the date 2/10/02, you haven't. I had two chapters posted, I read them over, realized how bad they were, and am in the process of completely rewriting, so sit back, relax, reread, and rereview!
Disclaimer: I own Alyssa Mortenson, Daniel Thorton, and anyone you don't recognize. I have free will to make them do whatever I want. (*Evil cackle*) Other than that, Jareth is his own puppet; I just pull the strings of him and the Muppets.
Jim Henson is a Saint.
Alyssa Mortenson sat in a hall window seat staring out at the pouring rain, wondering if it was ever going to stop. She doubted it. It had been raining for practically three days straight, and she was starting to get sick of it. She had to admit, however, that the falling rain did fit her mood perfectly. Ever since her mother and father had died in a car accident three years back, she had been sent her to live at the Sparrow Hawk Orphanage, because Mama and Papa had no living relatives. It wasn't a bad place, but Alyssa still had her bouts of depression. Alyssa gave one last pointed sigh at the rain lashing against the glass, and then slid her legs off the window seat. She sat there for a second, trying to decided whether to leave her blanket and pillow there, or take it with her and sleep somewhere different tonight. The window seat was her favorite spot to sleep, but she had slept in it the last three nights, and it was getting a little boring. The children of
Sparrow Hawk pretty much got to sleep where they wanted. The littlest ones got first dibs on the beds, and because the beds were scarce, you had to be careful where you stepped at night, so not to trod on a hand, foot, or even a face. Alyssa decided to leave her things there to reserve her spot, and talk a walk around the orphanage to look for a new sleeping spot, so, slowly she stood up stretched her full height of 5'4.
"Hello Alyssa!" A cheerful voice called and Alyssa jumped, the voice belonged to Daniel Thorton, another boy at the orphanage who was one of Alyssa's best friends.
"Hello Daniel," she replied, not fully succeeding to keep the sadness out of her voice, watching as he came up a staircase down the hallway to her left. Daniel gave her a sad smile and threw an arm around her shoulder,
"Memory day?" He asked, memory days were what the orphans in the House called days where memories of Before were particularly strong, brining about sadness and depression. Alyssa had to look up slightly to meet his shiny gray eyes, which were a stark contrast to his raven black hair.
"Yeah," she responded, a bit warmer.
"Those are always hard," Daniel suddenly got a faraway, pain filled look in his eyes and Alyssa knew that he was lost in his own memories. He was one of the few at Sparrow Hawk who refused to talk about their past, and the only thing that Alyssa knew was that he had been in the Orphanage longer than she had.
Daniel gave her another bright smile as he snapped as suddenly out of his reverie as he had slipped into it.
"Well, I've got something to make you feel better," he said, "I was looking for you just now to see if you wanted to see something."
"Sure," Alyssa said, smiling. Daniel looked at her funny for a second.
"What?" She asked, "Do I have something on my face?"
"No, It's just you should smile more often, it makes your face prettier." He said, turning to walk in the opposite direction from which he had come. Alyssa rolled her eyes and turned to follow, but the small smile remained on her face.
Sparrow Hawk was a gargantuan house set smack in the middle of the Victorian section of the town of Tripsithe. It was a corner house with a good size yard in the back with a swimming pool and basketball hoop. The house was big enough that it took a long time to walk the whole of it, what with all of its twists and turns, secret passage or two, and many, many staircases. They walked in silence for a few minutes, other than saying "hi," to some of the other kids they passed, the orphanage housed kids from the age of five all the way up to seventeen. Suddenly Daniel broke the silence,
"You see anybody?"
"In the hallway?" Alyssa asked puzzled
"Yeah, anywhere, I don't want anyone else to see this."
"Umm," Alyssa looked around, "No?"
"Good," Daniel said, and suddenly grabbed Alyssa's hand, flung open the door next to him, pulled the startled girl inside, and quietly, but quickly shut the door behind them.
"Daniel?" Alyssa asked, standing in the pitch dark
"Yes?"
"We're in a closet." Daniel glanced toward the direction of the ceiling, fumbled around on the wall and hit the light switch, and suddenly the room flooded with light. and "Step," he commanded.
"What?" Alyssa asked, confused, blinking in the sudden bright light.
"Into my hands," Alyssa's vision cleared and she saw that Daniel had laced his fingers together into a net. "Step onto my hand and press up on the ceiling, there's a panel."
Alyssa looked up at the ceiling, squinting, "I don't see anything..."
"Trust me," Daniel said, chucking her chin lightly with his fist and grinning his boyish grin. Alyssa couldn't help smiling and made and exasperated noise. With minimal difficulty, placed her foot in Daniel's hands, pushed of his shoulders, and held onto the shelves lined with cleaning supplies. Even up this close, about five inches away, she had to strain to see the panel, it's seams blended in with the ceiling so well. She would have never noticed it from the ground.
"How did you find this?" She asked in amazement. There was a gruff mumble in which the only words that Alyssa caught were, "angry" and "throwing things". She rolled her eyes with a smile and after a second of balancing, let go of the shelves and shoved the panel aside. It it's place was a dark, gaping hole. Alyssa reached up and straining, propped her arms on the edges, and pulled herself up.
She stood, staring. It was a small, dark room, complete with table and chairs, oil lamp, a rag rug, and a small book. Everything looked like it had about ten years worth of dust on it, except for the spots where it looked like Daniel had moved around the last time he had been there. Suddenly the sound of scuffling came from below, and with a loud clatter Daniel's head popped through the hole in the floor suddenly, and within the space of a few seconds, was standing next to Alyssa.
"Sh!" He said, and quickly dragged the panel back over the opening, plunging them into darkness once again.
"Wha-" Alyssa began, but Daniel slapped a strong hand over her mouth just as the sound of the closet door from below was opened.
"What the hell?" They heard someone exclaim, "Aw man! Damn it! Somebody go and get Master Tain, one of the shelves fell down in here. What a mess!" The person flicked the light off in the closet, and with a loud bang, shut the door.
"You know," Alyssa mumbled through Daniels hand a few seconds later, "If could get up all by your lovely little self, why did we have to go through the trouble of me clambering all over you?"
"Because," Daniel said, he had removed his hand when she had started speaking, "you can't open the panel by just climbing up, you have to throw something, and I didn't really want to attract anyone's attention. Lifting you was the only other option, I didn't want to break you arms by having you hold me."
"Your not that heavy," she replied, "Is there a light in here?" She asked, "I can't see a thing."
"Yeah, stand here, and I'll get a candle."
"Candles?" Alyssa asked as she heard Daniel move away, "Did you bring them up or were they already here?"
"I brought them, I come up here a lot." Daniel replied out of the darkness, "It's like, you know, my spot to come when I'm down."
"Why'd you bring me up then?" Alyssa asked his disembodied voice.
"Well," Daniel said, sounding a bit uncomfortable, "You're one of my best friends here, and I thought that I would share my secret with you."
"Oh, thank you," Alyssa said, touched. Suddenly with the sound of a match striking, the room lit up slightly, and Daniel set about lighting three candles. When they were lit, he picked up two of them, leaving one in a holder on the floor, and gave one to Alyssa.
"So," He said, going over to sit in one of the chairs. "It's a good secret isn't it?" He asked, looking at her intently. Alyssa smiled,
"It's not bad," She extended her arm and picked up the book that she had just noticed lying on the dusty table. The book cover told her that Daniel had never picked it up in all of his times up in the secret spot because it too was so covered in dust that she couldn't read the title. Daniel stood up and walked over to look over her shoulder at the book.
"That's funny, that was never here before." Alyssa lifted the book and gently blew across the cover. The dust flew off, sending Daniel into fits of coughing, and revealing the title.
Labyrinth
Daniel's coughing subsided and he leaned over her, his hand pulling her shoulder back so he could see.
"Whoa, that book must be a hundred years old!" He exclaimed. "I can't believe that I haven't seen it before!" Daniel frowned, looking the book over. Alyssa nodded, hiding her smile as she thought about making a crack about Daniels observation skills, but for some reason the thought never made it's way into verbal words. The book was leather bound and the words were in gilt gold. Alyssa reached her hand across the book and slowly, gently opened the cover. Suddenly, white light exploded from the interior of the book, and both she and Daniel had the sudden sensation of falling. Alyssa felt the air whip past her as she clutched the book in her right hand and suddenly felt herself hurled into Daniel. He grabbed her close and held her protectively in his arms; terrified she put her free arm around him. An instant later they landed, and everything was black. Thus began the most perilous adventure of their lives.