Author's Note: Oh my god, my first story in three years! I'm on bed rest right now, after a broken ankle and surgery, and I know all of you are rather sore about my lack of updates for Forget About The Baby but I just felt really compelled to write this story. I wanted to create a modern fairytale for Sarah, and I'm drawing a lot on Ever After, with a little bit of Ella Enchanted and some older stuff. I have all of the story outlined, and it will probably be about 16 or 17 chapters. Giving it a T rating right now, but I might up the rating later depending on, err, "intensity" ;)
I'm so happy to be a part of this community again, and any feedback- negative or positive- is always appreciated. I love reviews, and I hope you'll love this as much as my other work. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own none of this- it's all Jim Henson and some other people. I am not making any money off of writing or posting this.
Becoming a Lady
Chapter 1: Curiouser and Curiouser
Sarah Williams was at dinner, and she was very, unhappy.
While she had agreed to meet with her mother and stepfather in New York, under the pretenses of "catching up", the conversation had quickly taken a turn for the worse once the party had started drinking.
"I JUST don't see why you feel the need to live out in the middle of nowhere, darling! You're so far away up there in Maine," Linda pouted, quite dramatically. Her mother was a woman who was used to getting her way, Sarah mused.
"And unmarried! Have you even had a boyfriend in the last few years? Living out there by yourself in some cabin."
"It's not some cabin, Mother, it's my home. And it's not like my work requires me to associate with people," Sarah shrugged noncommittally. "I meet my editor every month, we talk in person, I send in my work. Occasionally I'll do a publicity visit or two, but nothing special."
It wasn't anything special, honestly. Her life was quiet and simple, allowing her a lot of time to focus on her work and being with nature. Sarah had always loved to be outside, but after her trip to the Labyrinth, certain... circumstances required that she live a life as far away from people as possible.
Certain circumstances that had grown far, far worse over the past thirteen years.
As if on cue, her mother immediately started to whine again about the distance, the lack of a social life, and how her daughter was depriving herself of live. Jeremy tried to calm her down, but Linda was insistent.
And Sarah felt the pressure against her temples again, the stress, the feeling-
Oh god, no, not this again-
Before all of the crystal wine glasses in the extravagant French restaurant they were dining in exploded. The sound was deafening, and she could hear the quiet tinkling of pieces falling to the table. Some patrons seemed slightly injured, but most were just terrified.
Linda gasped, her eyes growing wide in fear, while Jeremy seemed more... quizzical? He raised an eyebrow at Sarah, and she found that the gesture was a little too reminiscent of someone she used to know for her to be comfortable.
"What a shock! I can't believe how late it is now, I really should get going-" Sarah started, grabbing her leather purse off the chair next to her and sitting up, setting her napkin neatly on her plate of half-finished food.
"Darling, are you alright? What a strange accident- some kind of earthquake?" Linda asked as Jeremy tried to calm her down, still regarding Sarah with a somewhat suspicious look.
"Really, you should stay a few minutes and... calm down," he mumbled, but Sarah had already rushed towards the door, her quick footsteps camouflaged by the sound of panic and movement.
After running down two flights of stairs, Sarah felt the familiar clicking sound of her heels hitting the sidewalk and relaxed a bit. She took a few deep breaths, letting her mind calm down, before she started to walk down the busy streets towards her hotel.
Again. She had done it again.
Sarah knew she had been changed forever after those fateful hours in the Labyrinth, but the repercussions of how the journey had truly changed her were startling. She had first noticed when she turned seventeen and her prom date, a charming (yet rather awkward) high school boy, was rendered mysteriously unconscious after he tried to cop a feel outside of the gym.
Her other adventures in romance had been equally successful. During her first sexual encounter, the candles that her college boyfriend had lit flared up completely, almost engulfing the room in flames.
She remembered standing outside the dorms, shivering in her chemise and covered up in half of a towel as the fire trucks came. Her cheeks were burning red, and she was so ashamed.
Because she knew that she had caused it, and she understood that she could have killed him. And herself.
Over the past thirteen years since her visit to the Labyrinth, her powers had grown even more intense and uncontrollable. Her only comfort and escape was her work as a children's author, and her books had been well-received nationwide. Writing under the pen name S. Williams, Sarah's fantastical stories of her Underground visit and her triumph over the Goblin King had won her countless awards and prizes- ceremonies that she was, unfortunately, unable to attend. She had created a highly successful franchise, and people attributed her solitude to creative genius and a dedication to her work.
Oh, if they only knew.
Because she would give anything to give up these powers, the memories of her time in the Labyrinth, her dreams of... of him. Of the Goblin King himself. The villain that many thought she had skillfully created, the villain who haunted all of her dreams and fantasies. There was no escaping the reality that he was a real being, and she could feel his presence on her with every breath.
Sometimes she thought she saw him- a large, tawny owl, perched on a branch outside of her cabin, silently watching her outline a novel. Sometimes she was close enough to see that the eyes were almost mismatched, but that had to be a trick of the light.
The Goblin King wouldn't waste his time on a silly girl, one who had thrown his game back into his face, the one who had bested his Labyrinth and destroyed his challenge.
Sarah knew that despite her dreams, she was nothing precious to him.
Lost in her thoughts, she almost tripped over a shift in the sidewalk. Cursing some ivy vines that had sprouted up and blocked her way, she looked to her left and saw a quiet, dimly-lit bookstore that she hadn't noticed before, right across the street. She grinned and walked over, resolving to pay the store a visit if it was still open tomorrow and looked for a sign with the hours on the door.
There was no sign, and no evidence of any movement inside. Sarah peered through the windows, trying to see if the shop was open. She knocked lightly on the wooden door and placed a hand lightly on the doorknob- it opened at her touch.
Walking through the doorway and hearing a bell jingle as the door shut behind her, Sarah breathed in the exotic smell of dusty books and adventure. In spite of her excitement, something almost felt... wrong? She went to her left towards the towering stacks of books and papers, noticing oil candle lamps sitting on a few shelves.
"Hello?" she asked, peering around another corner. "Is anyone here?"
She heard nothing but the sound of her own voice and the fluttering of paper by some unseen breeze. And yet, she could feel the wind, pushing her forward, past the stacks of books and towards a large, ornate mirror at the end of the row.
The mirror was easily ten feet tall, with ornate silver leaves twined around the outside frame. Sarah felt the light breeze again and wind chimes, tinkling next to her ear. She knew she should be careful, that everything felt strange, but the mirror almost felt familiar. It felt like she was coming home.
She saw her reflection as it rippled in the glass like water, and she leaned forward to place a hand on its smooth surface.
Immediately, her hand sank into the mirror, with a cold substance clinging to her fingers like wet molasses. She pushed further and watched her arm pass into it, as her body disappeared. Although she was scared, she was more excited than she had been in years.
She placed her other hand against the mirror as it sank, and felt the wetness against it. Bracing herself, she took a deep breath and stepped closer. The wind chimes grew louder and she could hear a soft voice in the wind, caressing her ear and whipping her hair up into a frenzy. The gas lamps flickered and the room grew dark.
"Come home, Sarah. Come back."
Sarah put one foot forward, and another, and stepped inside the mirror.