It was always the same dream.
The smell of peaches in the air. Her puffy sleeved dress. Her friends that she knew would always be there for her if she needed them.
Sarah ran through the maze. The walls were made of impenetrable stone, she knew, so she just kept running. Her breath went ragged with the effort but she didn't seem to be getting anywhere. She passed the same vines and growths on the walls and leaped over the same fallen logs. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small creature. It resembled a worm, but she knew she didn't have to talk to it. The worm's words were already in her head.
"Come inside. Come inside..." it said. The statement echoed through Sarah.
And it dawned on her. She knew what to do. This running was pointless. How could she think it would get her anywhere? She had only to walk right through the wall. How strange. Only a second ago, the idea would have seemed ridiculous. No one could walk through walls. But now, she had no qualms about simply passing through like there was no barrier at all. Because there wasn't. So she did precisely that. She watched her hand slip through then followed with her body. She headed right and felt the worm's voice in her head again about to say something else, but it went away once she was on the other side of the wall.
What Sarah came upon was more maze. But a different sort of maze. These walls were shorter with openings and dead ends. This was a proper maze, she thought. The other one was just a continuous trek. She felt something in her blue jeans pocket and took it out. A tube of very red lipstick. Why would she want that? Sarah uncapped the tube and leaned down to one of the stone blocks she was standing on. She drew a red arrow pointing away from her. She would go that way. She started walking, but turned back abruptly, not knowing why. Her gaze fell on the block she'd marked. The arrow was facing to the side now. How unfair. Sarah threw the lipstick in anger and turned back around to the way she had decided to go in the first place. A wall had been mounted in front of her. She couldn't go in that direction. What was happening? Why were all her ways being blocked? Was someone playing with her? She leaned against the wall in question and slid down to a sitting position. She felt tired and saw no reason not to take a small nap.
Sarah didn't know how long she had slept for but when she awakened, she saw she was being stared at by a creature. He was short and looked grumpy. She didn't know his name, but knew he would help her.
"It's Hoggle, Sarah," the creature said, reaching out a hand to help her up.
"Yes...right," she replied. She noticed something hanging off his belt. "Nice...jewels."
Hoggle looked down. "Yes. I'll be keeping those with me this time around, if you don't mind terribly."
"Why not? They're your property," she answered, feeling confused. Had she met him before?
"You really need to sort out your memory, Sarah," Hoggle said. "Well, follow me." She did and they walked side by side through the maze.
"Hoggle?"
"Yes?" he asked, gruffly.
"You're not...I'm mean, you're not leading me back to the start, are you?" Sarah didn't know why she asked that. The feeling was so strong though. Hoggle was her friend, she reasoned. He wouldn't do that.
"I'm taking you as far as I can. If you can't remember how far that is, even though it's the same distance each time, that's your business."
That answer did not help Sarah. She felt an itch to reach out and steal his jewels, just to show him. Her arm started to rise to do so, when the ground opened up beneath their feet and they fell through the earth. And fell and fell, until they hit the ground. It was dark and dirty. Sarah and Hoggle scrambled to their feet and looked around, but couldn't see much. A light caught Sarah's eye and she headed toward it slowly. Hoggle called her back, but the cloaked figure in front of her was much more interesting. She saw that the light had been the reflection of a small crystal ball. The crystal was being manipulated between the shadowy figure's hands. She stepped as close as she dared, for a streak of fear had started inside her.
"How are you enjoying yourself, Sarah?" The figure asked, rising its head so Sarah could see its face, finally. It was a beautiful face. A man's face. Did she know him? He clearly knew her. His hair was long, blond and wispy. He seemed ethereal like...a fairy. Yes, a fairy. But he also struck Sarah as royalty or a leader. He oozed authority. He didn't seem like one to take no for an answer. "Cat got your tongue, Sarah?"
She blinked. "What...no. I'm..." She looked back at Hoggle, who just stood watching her. Was he afraid? Did that mean she should be? There was no reason for that. Was there? She turned back to the man. "I'm just trying to get through the maze, to the center. I need to."
The man watched her intently and she shivered. A small grin crossed his lips. "Why? Why do you need to?"
"Because...I..." Sarah trailed off. Her mind felt stuck. She didn't have a reason. Did she? She glanced again at Hoggle, but again, he was of no help. She looked down, trying to think. What was she trying to do?
"Tick tock, Sarah. You don't know? Well, I can find plenty of things for you to do when you reach the center." He stood up and Sarah startled. He leaned his face extremely close to hers and chuckled. "Plenty," he repeated. He stood back up to his full height and a crystal ball appeared in his hand again. He presented it to Sarah and as she was about to reach for it, he swiped it away from her and threw it down the dark tunnel. Sarah watched it and when she turned back to the man, he was gone. She spun around trying to see where he'd went, but she was alone with Hoggle.
"You have to piss him off every time, don't you? Come on!" Hoggle yelled, grabbing for her hand and starting to run the other way. Sarah looked behind her and saw a giant contraption coming down the tunnel toward them. She took Hoggle's advice and raced after him.
"What do you mean? How on earth, did I piss him off?" she called. She was pulling Hoggle along now, being able to run faster.
"Your very existence seems to be enough!" Hoggle huffed. "You probably don't even remember who he is, do you?"
She thought. Things were on the very edge of her mind, but she couldn't call them forward. "Well..."
"Jareth! He's Jareth, king of the goblins!"
"Jareth," Sarah repeated slowly, savouring the name. A few images popped into her head. A grand if macabre ballroom. Another sort of maze, this one composed of many different sets of staircases. And lastly, a white owl, desperately flapping its wings. "I remember..."
"Great, I'm so happy for you. You know, there's a death trap chasing us, right?" Hoggle stopped running and began to push on one side of the tunnel's walls. Sarah joined him and at the very last second, they succeeded in pushing the wall down and fell on top of it, out of danger. The room they landed in was empty except for a ladder leading up. Hoggle wasted no time in starting to climb it.
"Wait, where does it lead?" Sarah asked, putting a foot on the bottom rung.
"Oh, brother," he mumbled, continuing to climb. One of the rungs broke and Sarah clambered up quickly to catch his fall. "Thanks. Think I'd know better by now." They continued their ascent, until Hoggle threw open the door at the top and they climbed out.
"Hoggle!" Sarah exclaimed. "This is pretty much where you found me!"
"And? We hadn't made it very far anyhow."
"I guess you're right."
"Let's just start walking," Hoggle said, taking off in what seemed to be a random direction. Sarah followed behind. A voice called to her after a while and she turned.
"A pretty young girl!" A creature exclaimed. She approached him and Hoggle huffed, but came closer as well. The creature looked like an old man and wore a robe and a hat. The hat had a bird's head and neck sticking out of it. "What are you searching for, pretty girl?"
"I...want to get to the center of the labyrinth," she answered.
"Ah, a perilous journey, indeed. Why would a pretty thing like you want to do a thing like that?"
There was that question again, but Sarah still wasn't any closer to having an answer. Why was she doing all this? What was the point? "I just have to." It was a lame response, but it would have to do for now.
"Keeping things private, are we? Very well...I think I'll nap now. Good night," the old man said and closed his eyes. His hand reached out and jingled a metal box with a slit in the center.
"Your contribution, senorita," the bird hat sang. Sarah looked at Hoggle's jewels.
"Now, I said I wasn't having any of that," Hoggle barked.
"Right," she said, sliding a ring off her own finger and dropping it in the box. The hand retreated and Sarah and Hoggle continued on their way. They walked without anything new appearing, but then Sarah heard a loud growl. It sounded fierce but also sad. She jogged through the maze with Hoggle hurrying after her, until she came to an opening where she could see a large furry creature strung up by his feet. The creature was being beaten and attacked and Sarah knew she had to help. If only she had a weapon of some kind. A rock rolled into her leg and she picked it up and threw it at the creature's attackers. Rock after rock showed up until Sarah had dispersed all the assailants. She hesitated a bit before approaching. Hoggle stood back and watched her.
"Hi," Sarah began, reaching out a hand to stroke the creature's fur.
"Sarrrah," the creature said in response. "Down."
"You want down?" she asked, looking at his feet, trying to figure out a way to help.
"Of course, he wants down," Hoggle said, coming up to them finally. "Would you want to hang up there all day? This is Ludo, by the way, since I'm sure you're wondering."
"Ludo, I'll help you," Sarah said. The name was familiar, but she hadn't been able to conjure it up by herself. But she knew Ludo. He was her friend, along with Hoggle and...someone else. She managed to get Ludo down, not exactly gracefully, but he wasn't hurt. He wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug. "You're welcome. Should we go on?"
"Yes, we should. We're losing time," Hoggle huffed and they started walking again. Without realizing it, they had left the stony walled maze and were now passing through a dark forest. Hoggle warned them to keep together, but they quickly lost Ludo through an opening in the ground. Sarah sensed it and spun around, but he was gone.
"Ludo, Ludo!" she called but to no avail.
"Don't worry. He'll show up. Doesn't he always?" Hoggle replied, beginning to look around.
"I hope so. What are you looking for?" she asked.
"Someone else who always shows up," he answered. Sarah saw that Hoggle was correct when ahead of them a few feet, Jareth appeared. He was leaning nonchalantly against a boulder, waiting.
"Hello, Sarah. Are you enjoying yourself still?" Jareth asked. Sarah didn't know how to answer that. She was on a journey where she didn't know where she was going or how to get there. Not to mention why.
"I'm not sure," she replied.
"I could make it more to your liking. Up the stakes, so to speak?" Jareth's eyes shone at her and she felt lost.
"I..."
"No, no. She's having a grand time, already," Hoggle interrupted. Jareth glanced at Hoggle with great effort.
"Is that insolence on your tongue?"
"No, no," Hoggle began.
"Do you know what I'm going to do to you for that?" Jareth grinned. "I know you do." He tossed Hoggle a small object. Sarah saw it was a peach and she heard music playing faintly behind her. She turned but there was just forest.
"I know," Hoggle said.
"And something else."
"Yes?"
"The kiss."
Hoggle groaned. Sarah was confused. Who was kissing who?
"Go ahead, Sarah," Jareth said. Sarah looked at him. Was she supposed to...? She took a step toward him. "Not quite," he cautioned. His eyes were laughing at her and she felt guilty. "Him." He pointed to Hoggle. Sarah turned her gaze to her friend who looked regretful. She could kiss Hoggle. That wasn't a big deal, after all, he was her friend. "I'm waiting, Sarah."
Sarah approached Hoggle and kissed his rough cheek. She threw her arms around him in a hug as well. The last thing she heard was Jareth's rumbling laughter as she fell through the earth once again. The first thing she noticed was that she landed on something soft and the second thing was the horrible stench of the place. She had never smelled anything like it and couldn't think what to compare it to.
"Thanks a lot," Hoggle snapped.
"It was just a kiss," Sarah replied. She stood and realized that the soft thing they'd landed on was Ludo. "Oh, I'm so glad you're back!" Ludo hugged Sarah and called her his friend. "I am. I'm your friend too, Hoggle."
"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get going."
They blocked their noses with their hands and tried to find a way out of there. Hoggle pointed to a bridge and they hurried toward it. When they were about to step upon it though, a creature appeared. He resembled a dog riding on top of another dog saddled like a horse.
"You may not cross!" The creature announced.
"But we must. The smell!" Sarah said.
"Smell? What? There is no such thing, my lady."
"Please, let us!"
"May we have your permission to cross this rickety old thing?" Hoggle yelled, pointing to the bridge.
"I do not care for your tone or words, but yes, you may." The dog stepped aside. "I will come with you on your journey, my lady. For strength and protection."
"Thank you," Sarah replied. She racked her brain for his name, but nothing showed up.
"It's Sir Didymus," Hoggle told her, as he went first on the bridge. He crossed safely and waited for the others to join him. They did one by one. On the other side was more dense forest to get through and they set out to do so. They walked a long time and Sarah began to get hungry. She looked at the trees and bushes for berries or nuts but couldn't find any. Beside her, Hoggle sighed and handed her a peach. "Here."
"Are you sure? You must be hungry too," Sarah said, wanting to eat it very badly.
"No, no, it's for you, after all." Hoggle looked away as Sarah bit into the fruit.
"Mmm," she murmured before taking a closer look at the peach. It looked normal, but the taste... "Hoggle?" she asked as her vision began to swim. "I feel strange..."
"Damn," Hoggle breathed, knowing he had no choice but to leave her there. He hurried to catch up with Ludo and Sir Didymus.