Disclaimer: I don't own nothing!
Not Quite Human
By
Jaffee Leeds
Hours and much arguing later, I faced my visitors and found myself saying, "So my father is—David Bowie?"
The rat and snake, Bevel and Sybil respectably, laughed their heads off at this. Hoggle sighed and shook his head.
"No, no. You don't understand. The movie was only about the Labyrinth and your parents. Your father is Jareth, not the actor who played him. And if you don't mind me saying so you don't look as if you could be related to David Bowie."
I crossed my arms over my chest defensively, "True, but that really isn't the point. According to you that movie was based in fact."
"I should think I was living proof of that," Hoggle said miffed, "Although I think my film version was not as—real as I am."
"He means he isn't as handsome!" Sybil shrieked with laughter and slithered happily over the couch. I was trying not to notice the little trail of slime she was leaving all over the surface.
"I meant no such thing!" he spluttered.
"Okay, look." I interrupted, "Before you go killing each other over this I have to point out the fact that my mother is a normal and none interesting woman, although I love her, and my Uncle Toby was never kidnapped by a king, goblin or not."
Hoggle's large eyes fastened on me in their disconcerting fashion, "How do you know?"
"Because my mom would have told me," I answered stubbornly, "She would never keep something like that from me."
"Oh, you think so?" the little man nodded, "Ever if it made her look like a terrible person?"
"What do you mean? She beat the labyrinth; why should that make her look bad?"
"She wished her baby brother away to the goblins," Hoggle said pointedly, "She wished her baby brother away. Don't think that might be something she was ashamed of having done?"
" I see what you mean," I admitted, "I can't say that it would have made me comfortable around her as a child if I thought she was going to wish me away at the drop of a hat."
"Although she could have." Hoggle sighed and added, "And Jareth would have been happy to have you."
"And turn me into a goblin? No thanks."
"I don't think he would have done that," Hoggle dismissed this thought with a wave of his hand, "You would have been his heir. Even he has enough pride in his position to know that a human heir is much better than a goblin heir."
"Then he is human?" I was relieved. Since they had told me that Jareth was my father I had been churning inside over the fact that I might be half—half—well, something non-human at the very least.
But my relief was short lived as the trio exchanged glances. Bevel cleared his gravelly voice and said, "Jareth's-uh-not human, Emily."
"Nope," Hoggle agreed, "To be perfectly honest, none of us know what he is—just that he has been running and ruling the Labyrinth for as long as any of us remember. All we know for sure it that he isn't human."
"So I'm not—not completely—"
"Human," Hoggle finished unperturbed, "Right, because Jareth is your father."
"You'll pardon me for minute," I said and raced into my bathroom.
My stomach was doing flip-flops and I felt like my dinner was going to make a second appearance at the thought of not being human. I pushed a hand to my abdomen and leaned against the wall for support. I felt tingling all over because suddenly my body was not my own. In a few seconds my own body had become something strange and alien, something-not human.
I held my hands out in front of me and looked at them again as if I had never seen them before. In a sense I hadn't, not in the same way. My eyes followed the lines of veins that crisscrossed my palms looking for the something that made me different. I tried to search my thoughts for some memory of some happening that could have warned me that I was—
I looked into the mirror and saw I was crying. My nose was already red and my eyes were quickly adding blood-shot to their description list. I grabbed a tissue and blew my nose loudly. Outside the door a timid knock came and Hoggle's voice interrupted me crying.
"Are you alright, Emily?"
"Yeah," I laughed a little, "I'm just fine."
I washed my face with cold water and allowed my head to hang over the sink, dripping water off in slow fresh tears. I could hear Bevel and Sybil arguing over whether or not they should break down the door to see if I was alright. Hoggle was wisely counseling them against it as we human went into these little rooms for privacy and they didn't like to be disturbed.
I patted my face dry and ignored my red and puffy features as I swung the door open on the trio who were still collected outside.
"I need to see my mom about this, okay?" I said, "Now, I don't know how you travel but if you come with me you have to wear seatbelts and not scrabble all over the floor."
They traded looks and Sybil hissed, "What's a seatbelt?"
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It only took an hour to drive all the way home. But it was enough time for Hoggle and I to be driven nuts by Sybil and Bevel. I finally stopped and locked them both in the trunk. Hoggle put them inside because I couldn't bring myself to touch them. Maybe they were real creatures that didn't mean I wanted to interact with them.
As I fastened my seatbelt again I noticed Hoggle watching me from his seat in the passenger's side.
"What?" I asked, "Is there something on my face?"
"No. I was just thinking that you don't look very much like your mother."
"Actually, I look a lot like my mother," I corrected him as I pulled onto the freeway, "People have been telling me that all my life. I have her chin and hair—I even have her figure."
"But not her face," Hoggle shook his head slowly, "I would know I've spent the last few years staring at it everyday."
"You see my mother everyday?" I comment skeptically, "Now I hardily think that's true."
"When I saw her last she gave me this," he pulled a small picture from his pocket and showed it to me. I recognized it as my mother's college photo from her senior year. It was also the year she had cut her short so it cupped her face, highlighting every feature clearly. I handed the well worn picture back to Hoggle.
"I see what you mean," I said, "But you have to be prepared for the fact that my mom's changed a lot since that picture was taken."
"Yeah," he replied softly, "I guess she must have."
"You guys were close?" I asked. He didn't answer right away as a series of bumps and yells made their muffled way from the trunk.
"Will they be alright in there?" I asked.
He shrugged, "I guess. But you're right, your mother and I were close. She was my first real friend outside the labyrinth. Only friend, really."
"Wow, I can't believe she never told me any of this," I managed.
"You're handling it well," he commented, "Most girls would be screaming and throwing things at me. To be honest I thought you'd kill us as soon as look at us when we appeared."
"I like to think I don't get ruffled easily," I laughed.
"That's your father," he said and the smile left my face, "You're more like him then you know. You have his mouth and eyes—although not quite."
"What do you mean?"
"Jareth has one blue eye and one brown eye," Hoggle said off-handedly, "Yours are just brown."
"Gee thanks," I pulled onto my exit and signaled to head toward my neighborhood.
"Nice enough eyes though," he added hastily.
We drove on in silence for a while after that and Hoggle busied himself with looking out the window. There wasn't much to see of my childhood neighborhood because the day was heavy and overcast and night was making an early appearance. The sounds from the trunk had gradually stopped and the only sound came from the rain on the roof.
Pulling up to the small yellow house I called home, I looked at Hoggle.
"I think we should leave them in there for a while," I said nodding to the trunk. He nodded and we both walked to the side door. It was locked so I knocked and prayed that mom was home. I should have called ahead to make sure, but she was usually home at this hour in the evening.
She answered a minute later, "Emily, honey! What a nice surprise come i—" her words died away as she caught sight of Hoggle.
"Mom," I broke in, "I need you to tell me about Jareth—about my father."
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