Nothing Left

By: CreativeImagination

Chapter One

Happily Ever After…

I had to grow up, didn't I…? Sarah ignored Karen who happened to be swooning over a terrible pink wedding dress and bit her newly manicured finger nail.

"Don't do that," Karen chastised slapping Sarah's hand away from her mouth. Suddenly she turned back to the dresses "now look at THIS one…" She rubbed her temples and wished her newly forming migraine symptoms away, though this time the Goblin King wasn't so gracious as to take them away.

"Figures," she murmured under her breath.

"What's that honey?" Karen asked, her head whipping around.

"Nothing," Sarah murmured and sucked on a strand of hair.

"Don't DO that," Karen growled "that's why we got your hair cut, so you wouldn't chew on it. It annoys Nicholas so." She paused a moment and chewed down on her hair, just to spite her step-mother who was glaring attentively at her.

"Whatever happened to loving someone for their flaws?" she grumbled, hair still in her mouth.

"Honey," her voice was sweet, in a sadistic way "… love is…" She paused, "love is just another word for lust, baby. Like saying someone's slim, rather than calling them scrawny. Or saying someone's curvy, instead of fat." Sarah fell quiet and Karen went back to grabbing the gowns with her nimble hands, gushing over how, this one was her color, or how Nicholas would LOVE that, or something or other. She really wasn't paying any attention. Mostly because, she didn't want to get married.

"Why am I doing this again?" she moaned as Karen piled dresses high over her head.

"Because," Karen breathed tossing two extra dresses on the very top of the heap (even though she disliked them) "your father's company needs the money."

"So I'm marring Nick," she murmured dryly.

"Yes!" Karen growled "so Nick will give your father the money he needs to get the company back on track. And we can keep living in a house, and Toby can go to collage…"

And I can be miserable, Sarah thought bitterly. She tried on every dress, and hated them all, but Karen picked out that ugly pink one for her to wear nonetheless. Sarah got into Karen's car and they sped off, though Karen kept day dreaming about how wonderful Sarah's wedding was going to be.

"You really need to be more down to earth though, Sarah," she said in a low tone "you know how Nicholas hates your head in the clouds." Sarah forced a grin, which quickly faded once Karen turned her attention back to the road.

"I like my head in the clouds," she murmured to herself, almost childlike in tone. A silent smirk came to her lips, but she hid it away for when she got home and was in the solitude of her room. Her stomach growled at her and Karen shook her finger.

"Have you been eating more than a meal a day?" she asked. Sarah gave a guilty look, though she tried to stifle it. "Honey you can't do that! We've got to be sure you fit into that dress. I mean-" Sarah rolled her eyes a little and looked out the window at the trees moving past. How she wanted to jump out of the car at that very moment. The pavement seemed a better fate than Karen's constant twittering. Sarah found herself growing aggravated and let herself daydream before she went completely insane. "Are you listening?"

"Yep," she lied.

"What did I just say?" she asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Are you listening?" Sarah muttered, coming in and out of her own little world. "And then, what did I just say?"

"What did I say before that?" Karen sighed, aggravated with her step-daughter's behavior.

"Before what?" she asked, a smirk forcing its way upon her face.

"Are you listening," Karen sighed, becoming more frustrated by the moment.

"Yep," Sarah murmured and resumed looking out the window. She'd learned a few things from the Labyrinth at least.

"Now see," Karen sighed "that's your problem right there."

"No wait," Sarah spun around with fake enthusiasm "don't tell me. Uh… I have a brain?"

"Your difficult, sarcastic, smart-ass," she started "day dreaming, star wishing, believing in fairies… child!"

"Thank you," she smiled cheesily.

"Right there!" Karen sped the car up (did always have road rage) "Sarah you need to grow up." Sarah sighed a bit and inured the torment a little longer until finally, she cracked.

"Karen," Sarah's eyes flamed rage "I'm not willing to throw my life away, marry this guy I have no affection for, so you and dad can live in your god damn house, and go to your god damn parties. I'm doing this for Toby, so he can grow up not living in some rundown shack with cockroaches the size of station wagons. I'm doing this so he can go to collage, and I'm doing it so you'll shut the hell up and leave me alone about. So stop threatening me. I already know if I don't do this you and dad will hate me for the rest of my life, so don't bother to try and worry me any more than I already am." Karen went quiet for a moment and Sarah gazed out the window.

"I'm trying to make this as painless as possible for you," she muttered quietly "I know you don't want to marry him. But Sarah, honey, no one, especially Nick, will love you because you're a dreamer. Guys think about three things, sex, football and beer. They don't care about your mind, your heart, or anything else besides your boobs and your ass. I'm sorry but that's how it is." Sarah looked at her. "There's no knight in shining armor honey," she gave a faint grin "I promise." They didn't say anything the rest of the car ride and when they reached the house Sarah didn't get out of the car but sat there for a long time. Finally she got out and made her way down to the park.

Passing shops she caught her reflection in the windows and sighed at her shortened hair. It'd been layered, the shortest part reached a little lower than her chin, and she put it in her mouth again and chewed on it. She liked how the new cut formed to her face, her dark chestnut hair caressing her cheeks. Her hair, at longest, only reached her shoulder blades and she sighed, at least she didn't have to deal with long hair anymore. She finally made her way to the park and sat by the pond and watched the fountain spring (lord knows, filthy) water back into the man-made duck haven.

"Its not fair," she muttered quietly to herself. "My basis would have to be anything but this." She smirked, she couldn't help but tease herself. She looked in the water and sighed, life sucked. She'd grown the last three years, she was eighteen now, about 5'6, light and curvy. She strummed her fingers impatiently and started chewing on her hair again. "Now stop that," she muttered to herself, tearing the spit soaked tresses from her mouth. She stared out into the woods, zoning slightly, not really thinking about anything.

"Honey bunches!" Nick's voice rang from the car, startling her enough to make her jump. "Come here, dearest!" Sarah forced herself not to make a gagging sound and pretended not to hear him. "SARAH!" She sighed, no way she couldn't hear that, unless she was deaf of course. People in the park looked at the strange man in the convertible, and turned away (seeing he had money he MUST be normal, right?). Sarah stood to her feet and dusted her jeans off, she looked down, ah, grass stains. Annoyed with him barging into her 'quiet' time she practically stormed to the car, not that he would've noticed, he was too busy watching her chest reign.

"What?" she growled impatiently and he gawked another second. "Hey!" his eyes shot up "I'm up here, those two things you happen to be drooling over are called breasts. They are the fore part on a female's body, between the neck and the belly. Upon childbirth they provide milk… I don't see you staring at any cow utters. So don't look at them that way." Nick blinked a few times and smiled at her (apparently not understanding that she'd just insulted him).

"Karen called and said you've been acting funny," he said simply. "What did you DO to your hair?" She simply ignored the comment. Nick, being handsome for someone at the ripe age of twenty-four, was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. In fact, he probably about as sharp as a rubber stopper coated with bubble wrap. His brown hair, perfectly styled, his light blue eyes shown nothing but dimwittedness. No charm, no strength, nothing but his father's money to make him slightly desirable. But not even that could tempt Sarah.

"Funny?" she asked "You mean funny ha-ha or strange funny?" Now watch him get confused, she thought in a sing-song tone.

"I…" he paused a moment and his eyes glazed over. Slowly he snapped out of it and frowned. "She didn't say. Maybe I should call her again…" He grabbed his cell phone and Sarah sat on the curb, leaning over to look at a ladybug that'd tipped over. Taking a piece of grass, Sarah helped it up and it gently flew away. Nick was muttering into the phone and Sarah sighed, she wasn't getting anywhere at the moment. "Sarah?" Nick had apparently been off the phone for quite some time now "what are you doing?"

"Hum? Oh," she shook herself out of a daydream "nothing."

"Nothing?" he asked.

"Yes, nothing!" she exclaimed "twittering my life away like… like…" she paused "is there something you wanted?"

"Well yes," he said "I wanted to see what your wedding dress looked like so I can match." She covered her mouth with her hand, trying to keep from laughing.

"Are you sure?" she asked and he nodded. "Ok," she sighed "you asked for it. Meet me back at my house."

"Your walking?" he asked "I could just drive-" it was too late, she'd already gone another way. He sighed as he drove off. He couldn't say he liked her free thinking very much, but that body… he sighed to himself. She'd make a very good wife, once he worked the kinks out. She'd stay home, cook, clean, take care of the children and iron. He smiled to himself, that's what a good wife was.

"I hate this!" she growled, walking the long way through the woods. "ITS NOT FAIR!" she kicked a near by tree. She paused for a very long time, leaning up against it and then managed to push herself off. "I can do this," she assured herself "it's a piece of…" she paused. "Bad choice of words.