-Author note: It's not that I'm begging or anything, but you would be so kind as to review? Pretty please with sugar on top?
"RING RING RING RING!" The alarm clock rang out until one exhausted Sarah Williams turned it off. She begrudgingly got out of bed and begrudgingly headed for the bathroom, where she begrudgingly began getting ready for work.
"Argh, another nightmare," Sarah moaned, as she washed her face. "Why on earth can't my nightmares ever happen on a night where I don't have to work in the morning?"
The nightmare that Sarah is describing is one of the few that has been plaguing her for about ten years, ever since she beat the Labyrinth challenge.
Ten years ago, or actually it will be eleven years in approximately four months, one week, two days, and 10 hours, Sarah, while watching her baby brother Toby, had wished him away to goblins, which had, to her surprise, actually worked. The king of the goblins himself had come to her to give her the opportunity to win him back, by having her traverse through his labyrinth to the castle at the center in 13 hours. She had suffered through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, had made new friends, and had even withstood the smell of the Bog of Eternal Stench. She eventually made it to the castle and rescued her brother.
However, afterward she began to have strange dreams and nightmares. Sometimes the nightmares would be about her if she had lost, and her brother had turned into a goblin. The Goblin King would stand over her and laugh. Other nightmares would have all her newfound friends dead.
Her parents noticed that every time she'd have a nightmare, she would look exhausted the following morning. They recommended counseling, but what would she say to the counselor? "I'm having nightmares because I wished my brother away to goblins?" Sarah always told her parents that they were just nightmares, that everyone has them. On top of that, Sarah always believed that only crazy people with huge issues saw counselors, not people with occasional nightmares.
She made her slow walk to the small kitchen to make coffee. It seemed that coffee was the only cure for the slow morning ails. As the coffee was brewing, Sarah got into her work clothes. Ever since the Labyrinth incident, Sarah decided that she was going to pursue a down-to-earth job instead of the actress career she previously wanted. Unfortunately the stage called to her, so Sarah got a job with the technical crew of a local theatre, where her duties are to handle lights and sounds.
After getting dressed, eating breakfast, and reading the paper she brought in, she headed out to the theatre. The weather outside was a fairly cool spring morning, with a promise of being warm in the afternoon.
When she got there, her boss, Mr. Cherrywood, looked at her with a remorseful look, which was an uncommon expression on the normally cheery man.
"What's up, Mr. Cherrywood?" Sarah asked. "You look kinda down."
"Well, if I'm looking kinda down, it's because I am down. We're running out of funds, and my manager says we gotta make cuts."
At the sound of that, Sarah started becoming apprehensive.
"Sir, you know that I'm one of your best workers. Am I being fired?" Sarah questioned.
"Well, you gotta understand the position I'm in. All of you are excellent workers, and I'd rather not fire any of you. But the boss wants me to lay off someone, and unfortunately it's going to be you."
"But why me?"
"You're the one with the fewest number of years working here, so you're the one who's going to be laid off. I'm terribly sorry Sarah," finished Mr. Cherrywood.
Sarah, who was already bummed out because of her nightmare, was at this point depressed. She found a chair nearby and sat down and put her face into her hands.
"Now look," Mr. Cherrywood said, as he sat down next to her. "I know of some other theatres who may want to hire someone as skilled as you, so I'll put in some recommendations, alright? You won't have to leave here for another two weeks, is that fine?"
Sarah nodded.
"Can I leave for the day, sir?" Sarah requested.
"Of course you can. You need a chance to take it all in, I understand," Mr. Cherrywood said, as he stood up. He then offered his condolences again, and he left to get the equipment warmed up for the first rehearsal of the day. Sarah, who wasn't this mortified since her mother left, was still sitting in the chair, as though her body had forgotten to move. She put some effort into it, and she got off the chair and left the theatre.
She got back to her apartment and crashed on her bed. She had a strong urge to yell out "It's not fair!" to the entire world, but she hadn't said that phrase for about eleven years now. The Labyrinth incident taught her that life isn't fair and never will be. Sarah looked for the positives. She thought to herself, Don't be so glum. Mr. Cherrywood's gonna give a recommendation to other theatres.
Without thinking, she got out a little red book from her drawer. In gold letters was the word 'Labyrinth.'
Sarah then turned to her vanity. Maybe talking to my friends will calm me down, she thought. Sarah was still in contact with her friends from the Labyrinth, which included Hoggle, Ludo, Sir Didymus, and various goblins. She found that talking to them was a sweet escape from reality. The last time she talked to them was a couple of weeks ago, so Sarah reasoned that they would love to hear from her.
Sarah walked over to the mirror and sat down on the chair in front of it, putting the book down in front of her.
She cleared her throat and said, "I'd like to speak with Sir Didymus."
Suddenly, instead of Sarah's reflection, Sir Didymus appeared, happily surprised to see Sarah.
"My lady!" Sir Didymus exclaimed. "How delightful it is to see thou!"
"It's nice to see you too, Sir Didymus," Sarah stated, "But, why do you look so beat up?"
Though Sir Didymus took great care in this appearance, he had a bandage around his good ear, and his left arm was in a sling, the arm itself was wrapped in slightly bloody bandages.
"Ah, it is true, milady, I have recently been in battle," Sir Didymus explained.
"Battle?" Sarah asked.
"Verily!" he answered with gusto. "For you see there are these great black beasts roaming the Labyrinth. They travel at night and steal the goblins who are most foolish enough to be outside."
"Beasts? What kind of beasts?"
"Forsooth, these beasts are like great lions, though with manes and fur as black as night. Their eyes shineth like jewels," the little warrior explained.
Sarah looked troubled. "Why would they steal goblins?"
Sir Didymus shrugged. "Well, we don't know. They come and steal them away."
He brandished his miniscule sword and said, "However, we fight them off as much as we can!" He waved his sword and growled at some unseen enemy, which caused Sarah to laugh.
"Well, be sure to not get so hurt next time, alright?"
"My lady! It is my sworn duty to the king to protect the land!" he said. "And I must be back at my post immediately! Good bye, milady!"
And just like that, Sir Didymus' image was gone, now replaced with Sarah reflection. Sarah thought about what he said.
"Beasts stealing goblins? Why would they do that?" she asked herself out loud. "Oh, I wish I knew."
She gasped, but the deed was done. She had just made a wish, something she had vowed to herself that she would never ever do. She waited for him to arrive.
She waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
But it seemed that the Goblin King was not going to show after all. Sarah sighed in relief. But her moment of silent victory was not to last, as she heard a tapping on her window.
She turned and looked, only to find a barn owl tapping at her glass, as though it wanted to come in.
-Author's note: What's this? It appears that Jareth makes his appearance at last? Or could this be some random normal owl? Also, I tried to keep Sir D in character as much as I could. How well did I do?
-Edited a wrong word. Silly Hilary, it's "deed", not "dead"!