Chapter One: Dreams and Storms

Sarah awoke with a start.

It took a moment to convince her body that she was not really falling. Her subconscious wouldn't let the dream drift away evidenced by her having it reoccur over the past ten years. As she lay on her stomach, she let her face fall back into her pillows before turning her head slightly to look out the window to see the New York sky was clouded over. Looking at the green numbers of her digital clock she gasped and rolled out of bed.

"I'm late!" she exclaimed startling her pet dog, Ambrocious who slept in the corner of her little studio apartment. Throwing open the armoire she searched desperately for something clean to wear to the library where she worked. She pulled out a black pencil skirt and a gray blouse and shooting a look at the clock it read 10:00 AM and she would be expected at work in 15 minutes.

Being forced to forgo a shower, she hastily slipped into her skirt and blouse, buttoning and tucking alternatively. Slipping into a pair of flats she threw her hair up into a bun of sorts and, grabbing her purse, was almost out the door when she heard a bark from Ambrocious.

"Ack!" she exclaimed dropping her purse at the door and doubling back to feed the dog. "Sorry, boy," she apologized hurriedly before running back to her purse, the door and down to the parking garage. Her bangs were steadily escaping the twist as she rummaged for her keys as she ran down the stairs.

She ran into someone on the landing who caught her easily.

"Woah, what's the rush, Sarah? Shouldn't you be at work already?" It was Max, her next door neighbor.

"Exactly! Please excuse me," she said rushed as she ducked around him.

"Right right. Have a good one," he called at her back.

Finally finding her keys, she dashed over to her little Mazda and unlocking the driver's side door, slid in slamming the door behind her before ramming her keys into the ignition. The engine wouldn't turn at the same time her cell phone started to ring obnoxiously.

Pulling it out and looking down at the caller ID she saw it was her supervisor and barely managing not to curse she flipped the phone open and to her ear as she clambered back out of the car to check the engine.

"Hey Beatrice! I'm just running a little late, I'll be there soon," she promised causing Beatrice to tell her to slow down.

"I was just calling to remind you that I am training our new hire today and so you needn't come in today," the older librarian said brightly. Sarah paused, processing what Beatrice was saying before slumping against the wall with a groan.

"That's right. And I must have remembered last night and turned off my alarm so I could sleep in," she walked through the logic more for her own benefit than that of her supervisor.

"Well... yes. I suppose you probably did, dear," Beatrice said warmly before reminding her that she would have the rest of the weekend off and to take it easy before hanging up the phone. With a tired sigh she threw her phone back into the front seat with her purse before pulling out her small tool set and returning to look under her hood.

She had only been messing around under the hood for about five minutes when she was joined by Max again who took to leaning against the car next to hers and watching her silently for a few moments. She hadn't noticed his arrival and continued, her head bent, as she checked the oil and the engine multiple times but she couldn't figure out what was wrong.

"Need some help?" he asked a tad smug when she yelped and nearly hit her head on the hood.

"Dang it, Max! Do you always have to sneak up like that?" she asked in irritation before testing a few more things under the hood before shaking her head, stepping back and closing the hood, in grease up to her elbows. He was chuckling at her and she moved to the driver's seat and tried to turn on the car again and it purred like a kitten. She sat there, letting it run for a little while, it covering up Max' chuckles. Turning it off, she tossed the tools into her glove box, picking up her purse and her phone carefully to get the least amount of grease on them then stepped out of the car, locking it and making her way back to her apartment.

"Hey," Max called catching up with her, "I thought you were going to work...?"

"I forgot until my supervisor called just now that I actually have the day off," she said with a sigh.

"Then how about it? You and me go see the sights," he began as Sarah had guessed he would seeing as he had been after a date with her since she moved in next door.

"No means no, Max," Sarah cut in as they reached her door.

"Ah come on, it's not like you have a boyfriend," he snarked and she paused before unlocking her door and opening it inward to be greeted by Ambrocious who immediately started barking and growling at Max.

"Shush, boy," Sarah said gently shooing him away from the door as Max tried to interpret her reason for pausing.

"Do you? Have a boyfriend, I mean," Max demanded giving Ambrocious a look of fierce dislike.

"Not your business," Sarah said before shutting and locking the door behind her and holding her breath until she was sure that Max had left. The shaggy little dog sat down, panting happily the moment Max was gone and was rewarded by a few scratches behind the ear.

"Good boy," she said before kicking her shoes off by the door and slipping in for a shower. It was going to be a long weekend.

"Ready for a walk, Ambrocious?" Sarah asked a few hours later when it still hadn't rained. He raced her to the door, winning since she was definitely not running, but she laughed at his antics nonetheless before bending down and hooking the leash to his collar. She slipped into a black trench coat, locking the door as they left after having made sure that Max was nowhere in sight.

Before long they were walking around the park within which Sarah loosed Ambrocious from his leash and threw a ball for him to fetch. There were very few people out and about and looking up at the sky she figured the clouds were pretty dark but a bark from Ambrocious brought her back earthward and she took the ball from him and threw it once again. Glancing around brought her to the startling realization that she was being watched by a large barn owl in a tree to her right. She watched it for a while and it continued to watch her back. Unblinking. It didn't even turn its head.

After throwing the ball again for Ambrocious she looked back at the tree to find the owl had disappeared. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a thunderclap followed quickly by a growing rumble.

"Come Ambrocious!" she called, hooking him up to the leash once more before taking off at an easy run back toward the apartment. Halfway back, however, it began to pour in earnest causing them to run even faster. Another clap of thunder gave Ambrocious an extra kick of energy and he drug Sarah behind him the last 500 yards to the stairs which they both took a little more carefully seeing as the steps had been covered in rainwater. She dropped her keys a couple times before she managed to unlock the door, Ambrocious whimpering and whining the whole time.

When the door swung open, he ran in well trained to go straight to the bathtub to keep from getting water all over the house and Sarah laughed following him in and grabbing his towel and toweling him off after which he skittered into the main room and into his bed, looking balefully up at her as if to prompt her to build a fire.

Chuckling softly she toweled her dark hair dry before slipping into her bedroom for a change of clothes. She figured it was still early enough in the day to continue wearing jeans and thus donned them along with a comfortable sweater of dark blue. Throwing her hair up into a bun again she walked into the main room and calmly made a fire. It crackled quite merrily after a few minutes before she nodded at it and stood up looking about her little studio apartment. The furnishings were pretty sparse but then again she didn't spend any time entertaining guests that would require anything more than her chaise and bean bag in the living room or the few stools at the bar that served as her kitchen table.

The television wasn't used all that much either but it sat in the corner with its DVD player ready to play her a movie at a moment's notice. A short book shelf sat beside the chaise holding both her DVDs and her modest collection of books. Lord of the Rings, the Hobbit, Harry Potter, the Chronicles of Narnia all graced the shelves, well-worn and well-read. Sitting away from the collections on top of the bookshelf however sat the book she had read most often and for the longest time. Curling up on the chaise, Sarah reached for the book, taking it carefully in both hands and looking at the title. The Labyrinth. She caressed the red cover, the gold lettering and opened the book to the first well-worn and crumpled page settling in as a rumble of thunder reminded her distantly that there was a storm going on.

A knock on the door startled Sarah out of her impromptu nap and she recognized that the power must have gone out remembering that she had turned on the lights when she and Ambrocious and returned to the apartment. She picked her book up from her chest and returned it, dog-eared to its place on the shelf before slipping from the chaise, Ambrocious barking at the door and the person beyond it knocking again, harder than the first time.

Looking through the peephole she saw Max outside. She kept the little chain in place but unlocked the doorknob so she could open it enough to see him but not enough to invite him in. "Hi," she greeted with a yawn.

"The power went out and I was worried that you might be scared," Max said and through the haze of post-sleep she registered that he spoke in a want-to-be-heroic sort of tone.

"Well as you can see, I'm just fine and Ambrocious keeps me safe," she murmured in response moving to shut the door but he pressed his hand against it, seeing Ambrocious' eyes gleaming in the relative dark of the apartment.

"That's not a guard dog, it's a mop," he said in distaste.

"One that bites," Sarah reminded before pressing all of her weight against the door and locking it before Max could try to gain further entrance. She didn't trust him all that much and Ambrocious obvious dislike for the man did nothing to recommend him to her. Eventually, she heard him walk off in a huff and she patted Ambrocious' head. "Good boy," she mumbled, before yawning again and moving to light the candles that she had scattered around the main quarters of her apartment a few weeks ago when a similar power outage had occurred.

Once all the candles were lit, she scooped some food into Ambrocious' bowl and picked up his water bowl to fill it up in the kitchen. Grateful that her running water had nothing to do with the electricity she looked through her window out at the stormy sky—strangely it was only sprinkling but judging by the trees and the forks of lightening that chanced across the sky now and again it wasn't weather she wanted to be out in.

After giving Ambrocious his water she returned to the kitchen and looked about for something to eat. Not feeling particularly like cooking something over the fire, she settled for a peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwich. She began making it when she heard a tapping at the window. Sarah looked up and saw it wasn't the kitchen window so she moved into the living room and saw a barn owl tapping on her window.

Deja vu took over her mind, time slowed but she found herself inexorably drawn to the window. Ambrocious was barking once more in the background but despite that and the fact that a voice in the back of her mind said to not open the window, her fingers flipped the switch to unlock the window and she pulled it inward, the owl swooping in, rain drops in its wake and all the candles she had lit in the living room were blown out.

Sarah managed to close the window once more, the wind and rain bringing her back at least partially to her senses. She didn't lock it however just in case she needed to open it again to shoo the creature back out. Her heart was pounding and Ambrocious had run to her side, growling and cowering at the same time. First she looked down at the shaggy dog before turning slowing around to see a booted figure step into the glow of the firelight.

Casidhe here! I have always wanted to try my hand at a fanfiction for Labyrinth. So I figured why not?

-CB