Just an idea for a fan fiction that I wanted to try. Sorry for the short chapter. Lengthier chapters will come soon.

Please do review as I like to see if you all like where this story is going and/or if I need to improve something in my writing.

Labyrinth (c) The Jim Henson Company


Chapter 1: A Night In

She was doing okay, wasn't she? Sometimes Sarah didn't even know. In truth, she was doing okay, better than okay. At twenty five, she had established herself pretty well after years of working hard in high school and college before finally living off of theater wages and tips from her job as a waitress. But doing okay? No. She was doing well. She had just been accepted for a leading role in a large upcoming play. Not everyone her age breaking into theater could say that.

And yet, something was off. Something was missing.

Laying her head on her table, her gaze went to her empty wine glass. She could see a few drops of the sweet red wine she had downed a few minutes ago. It was stupid, silly even, that she was in the kitchenette of her tiny apartment drinking a glass of wine alone tonight. She ought to be out, downtown with her friends, celebrating her accomplishment. A young woman in the prime of her life. But here she was.

Sarah sighed before sluggishly getting up. She reached for the wine glass and put it in her dish washer. She then walked like a zombie to her bedroom. She didn't know why, but for some reason she felt as if most of her energy had been somehow taken from her.

She crashed on to her bed, gazing for a moment at the ceiling before rolling on her bed to face the small book shelf across from her. The book shelf was crammed with all sorts of literature, everything from biographies of famous actors to paperback science fiction novels. But among the books, she could see clearly that book, the book that symbolized a seeming end of her childhood and transition into adulthood, The Labyrinth.

She hadn't read the book since that night when everything changed, when she had made a stupid wish and entered the world of her fantasies. She hadn't called on the goblins or the friends she had made in the Underground for years now.

"For no reason at all…" Sarah said to herself.

She stood up from the bed and grabbed the book off of the shelf. She needed to be close to that world again. Holding the aged red leather bound book, she remembered everything from that night in perfect detail. She had braved the labyrinth and faced him. She had defeated him, even if he had tried to give her her dreams. She was a child then, but now she was a woman.

Did he still remember her or think of her? Or had all been just a dream? Despite her memories, she truly didn't know.

Sarah opened the book, flipping through the pages, rereading the tale of how the Goblin King had fallen in love with a girl and had given her certain powers. It was true that while she had acted out the story countless times she had never imagined that the heroine would be her.

But the ending. Something never felt right. It felt like something too had been missing in her life since she had challenged the Goblin King. Did Jareth give her meaning, a purpose?

Maybe it was the alcohol or the overwhelming sense of loneliness and nostalgia, but she needed to see him, even if it was in her dreams one last time.

"I wish…" Sarah started. "I wish that the goblins would come and take me away, right now."

Nothing happened.

Figures. Sarah thought. The whole thing was just my imagination.

She put the book down on her bedside table before pulling on the chain to the overhead light of her bedroom. She laid her head on her pillow, closing her eyes to sleep. But as she closed her eyes, Sarah swore she saw a familiar silhouette against her wall.