Damn These Walls

After her adventure in the Labyrinth, fifteen year old Sarah Williams thought her life would change for the better. She no longer resented her baby brother, Toby, and she had learned that life was not always fair, but that's the way it is.

However, three months and one week (though she wasn't counting) had passed since her time Underground, and although she had tried her best to get along with her step-mother, she had not expected the woman to be suspicious over Sarah's change in attitude. She had caught her step-mother on numerous occasions going through her bag or her room, looking for the drugs she suspected Sarah was taking. Why else would a teenage girl have such a dramatic change of heart over night?

Sarah had put up with the accusations, although they had hurt, but tonight had been the breaking point for the girl. During dinner, her step-mother had once again been questioning what Sarah had been up to in her room. She couldn't tell her family that she had been speaking to her friends from the Underground, so she had said she had been rehearsing for a play. Then came further interrogations, over what sort of play it was, and why they had not heard anything about an upcoming performance. It was when her father had calmly asked Sarah what was going on in her life that had made the teenager suspicious. He casually asked if there was a boyfriend, and when Sarah denied it, he had asked about casual friends, perhaps ones that had introduced Sarah to some substances?

Sarah's heart broke. She could handle her step-mother accusing her of being on drugs, but when her own father did it, that had hurt worse than any pain. She had stormed from the dinner table into her room and immediately called for Hoggle in desperation.

Now she was sat on the floor of her room, her knees tucked up to her chest, her arms wrapped around the limbs. Hoggle was sitting on her bed beside her, his feet just about reaching Sarah's shoulders. She occasionally dabbed at her eyes with a tissue, though it did nothing to stem the gentle flow of tears. "Sometimes I feel it would be easier if I had never come back" She muttered after a moment of silent contemplation.

"What do yous mean?" Hoggle asked, handing over a fresh tissue.

"I had wanted to stay Underground, with you." Sarah explained, "And sometimes I feel as though I should have done. Maybe I should have let Toby become a goblin."

"Yous don't mean that Sarah"

Sarah didn't say anything to that. Although she knew she would never have allowed Toby to be turned into a goblin, sometimes she wished she could have stayed with her friends. Though she never spoke that wish aloud. She knew the power of words. She sighed and spoke again, softly, "I dream of returning you know. To the Labyrinth. Every night I dream about going back. I want to. I don't want to be here anymore"

"Those be dangerous thoughts Sarah" Hoggle warned, "Jareth is a rat, and he aint happy with you. Who knows whats he'd do if you went back to the Labyrinth"

Sarah knew her friend was worried over her wellbeing, so she simply agreed with him. It was easier than arguing over whether it was better for her to face the King's wrath, or stay with a family that didn't trust her.

Sarah heard footsteps coming up the stairs, and froze when her father called her name. She hurredly sent Hoggle back to the Underground, and tried to look casual when her bedroom door opened.

Ten minutes and a loud bout of futile arguing later, Sarah could do nothing but watch from the doorway as her father and step-mother turned her room upside down. Determined to find the drugs they fully believed Sarah was taking. They spoke of how her behaviour was unlike her, and they could not risk Toby finding them as he could now walk and was curious by nature. Despite Sarah constantly explaining how she was not taking any drugs, she knew her words were falling on deaf ears. It wasn't until her step-mother had opened the drawer in Sarah's vanity, pulling out the music box and little red book from it's depths, along with the photographs of Sarah's mother that the teenage girl had felt aprehension. As expected, questions arose as to why they were in the drawer. Sarah could feel the anger building up within her. "It's none of your business" She had snapped at the woman.

Her step-mother had turned sharply to respond, her elbow had knocked the music box. Sarah could only watch in horror as the fragile ornament fell and shattered on the floor. "Get out!" She had yelled at her parents, "Get out, get out, get out!"

She pushed them from the room, screaming at them. Their own voices loud in their protests, and Toby began crying at the noise. Slamming her bedroom door, Sarah sank to the floor, surrounded by the trashed room, and now the broken music box.

Her eyes were once again stung by tears as she wept. Her heart felt just as broken as the music box. The little sharp pieces felt as though they would pierce a lung if she took too deep a breath. Hoggle's warning be damned, Sarah wanted to leave. "I wish the Goblin King would come and take me away. Right Now!"