Chapter 1
From Out of the Book
Sarah opened her eyes and turned her head slightly to see her alarm clock, 5:15. An hour early again, she thought to herself. Sarah sighed and rolled out of bed knowing that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep now that she was awake.
Stretching her arms above her head, Sarah went to the window and peeked out into the dark streets of downtown Portland, Oregon after the nightly rain. The lamp post outside her window glistened with drops of rain water. Closing the curtain again, Sarah began her mundane morning routine. A jog around the block and a quick cup of coffee at the local café where she looked over her mail; after getting home, Sarah turned up the heat slightly and got ready for her classes at Portland State University school of Business, checking over her homework once more and looking ahead in her textbooks to prepare for her next class.
After getting dressed, Sarah went to her bedside table and slid the top drawer open. Inside, was a picture of Toby on his first day in "big kid school". He was just starting First Grade and was so excited on his first day that he called Sarah as soon as he got home and told her all about his wonderful day. Toby had grown so fast in six years. His golden hair curled in unruly tuffs on the top of his head much like sheep fluff but it was one of Toby's features that Sarah loved the most. Bright blue eyes, which Toby had inherited from their shared father, shown with excitement. Toby smiled his toothy smile, a tooth missing. In his backpack, Lancelot peeked out, a little worse for wear. Sarah had grown very fond of her half-brother. Sure he could tease and throw tantrums, but he was still a child, barely seven. Sarah felt a smile creep onto her lips as she stared down at the picture, recalling all the memories she shared with Toby.
Setting the picture aside, Sarah removed a small red leather book from the drawer. The gold leafing of the title shown brightly in the lamplight, but the title was the only identifying feature of the book. There was no author listed and no publication of any kind. There was only the title on the cover, Labyrinth. It was a strange book; it seemed that it was a mixture between a novel and a play write together. Sarah only reached for this book when she started having those dreams again.
Her dreams were a mixture of strange creatures and a maze that was full of danger and enchantment, but there was always one person who was in every dream, he was known as the Goblin King. He was a strange and frightening figure in her dreams. With his mix-matched eyes and his wild silky hair that hung down past his shoulders, he was almost inhuman. But Sarah quickly reminded herself that he only appeared in her dreams. There was no such person like him, and no one certainly called the Goblin King.
Sarah stroked the cover of Labyrinth remembering the lines perfectly within the pages. When she was younger, she always thought that someday she would be saying these lines on a stage in front of thousands of people and when she pronounced that final line, the whole audience would burst into cheers and applause. But those dreams were childish and Sarah had long since put those childish things behind her realizing that she had to grow up. After all, what chance did she have of making any career out of becoming an actress? She could almost laugh.
Opening the cover, something small fell out and landed on Sarah's lap, but to Sarah, it felt like a cement brick had just fallen into her lap. She looked down at the small glass shard that had escaped from the book. Slowly, her pulse began to escalate and Sarah knew that everything was indeed happening again. She was going into a fit. Standing up quickly, the glass shard fell with a clatter on the cold wooden floor. Sarah looked down and saw that within the glass shard, colors had started to bloom and swirl in a dance. Panic seized Sarah and she rushed to her telephone across the room and quickly punched in a phone number. As the phone rang, the shard of glass on the floor twinkled and shone with its own light. After what seemed to be an eternity, the other line picked up.
"Hello, Dr. Griffith's office. How may I help you?" asked the soft grandmotherly voice on the other line.
"Um…well…I-I need to speak with Dr. Griffith…please?" Cold sweat had started to form on Sarah's hands and forehead.
"Oh, yes. Of course Sarah. One moment." There was a pause on the other line as the secretary connected her line to the therapist.
"Yes, Sarah. What can I do for you?" Came the soothing voice of Sarah's therapist. Ever since Sarah was sixteen, she had been constantly plagued by these strange dreams that she thought were memories at first. Concerned about her mental health, her father and her stepmother started to send her to a therapist who later transferred her over to Dr. Griffith. The dreams started to appear in Sarah's sleep less and less after seeing Dr. Griffith, but once in a while she would have a dream or a fit and she knew that it was time to see Dr. Griffith again. This was one of those times.
"Can I make an appointment today? It's starting to happen again." Sarah said frantically to the doctor. She looked back at the glass shard on the floor. The colors still swirled inside of it, but now images seemed to have started to appear. Sarah turned her back to it and tried to calm herself, Dr. Griffith's calming voice was the only thing that kept her in reality.
"Of course, Sarah." Said the therapist in a gentle tone, "Just remember that these things only have control of you if you let them have control of you." Sarah nodded, but she remembered that she was speaking into a telephone.
"Yes, of course. Thank you, Dr. Griffith."
"Any time, Sarah. Would you like to make the appointment at the same time as usual or are you able to come in earlier?"
"No, I have class today, so I would like it at the same time as usual." Said Sarah looking at the clock, 7:42, her class started at 8:30, but she needed to make it down to the MAX station.
"Alright then, Sarah, I will put the appointment in at the same block that we usually have it. I look forward to seeing you." There almost sounded like there was a slight smile in the therapist's voice, but Sarah didn't detect it.
"Thank you again Dr. Griffith. Good bye."
"Good bye Sarah." Sarah heard a click on the other line and she hung the phone on the receiver. Quickly, she walked over to where the glass shard was and kicked it under the bed, careful to only touch it with her shoe. Sarah grabbed her school bag and her keys from her key bowl. Taking one last survey of her small apartment, she turned down the heat and locked the door behind her. Sarah jerked the handle three times to make sure that the door was secure, better to be safe than sorry, she always told herself. Briskly walking down the hall and down the stairs of the apartment complex, Sarah walked outside into the chilly air. Outside it was overcast and it seemed that it was going to start raining again. Thankful that she had remembered an umbrella, Sarah hailed a taxi and it pulled over to the curb for her. Before Sarah got into the cab, she heard a faint flutter of wings and looked up to see a beautiful cream colored barn owl perched on the lamp post outside of her apartment complex. Sarah paused in wonder at the graceful creature who in turn eyed her with its wide eyes. That's strange, what would an owl be doing up at this time of day? She stared for a moment longer, but jumped at the gruff voice of an irritated cab driver.
"Are you getting in or not lady? I have fairs and money to make here." Sarah muttered an apology and quickly slid into the backseat of the taxi cab.
XXXXX
The taxi slid away from the curb and sped off into the distance. The owl watched it with its sharp eyes and after it had disappeared from view, the owl spread its creamy wings and flew off from its perch. It flew high up into the air, its strong wings carrying it higher and higher over the bustling city. From high up, it still could spot that taxi that carried her within it and followed it until it dropped her off at what seemed to be another transportation vehicle of some type, what people called the "MAX", although it baffled the owl to give and object a human name. She boarded and it departed, snacking its way to the school that she was attending.
The owl descended from the sky and slowly circled down closer to the ground. It quickly darted into an alley out of sight of anyone. He landed quite gracefully on his feet. Brushing off the extra feathers from his now modern cloths, his normal cloths were much too regal to wear in the Aboveground and he would stand out to much. Looking down into a small water puddle on the ground, he ran his fingers through his silky snowy hair which was also a tad shorter, but not too much, he hated it short. The markings on his eyes were gone, hidden behind his Aboveground glamour; but the only thing that the glamour couldn't hide were his intense eyes. Frustrated with his appearance, he stomped out his reflection in the puddle and Jareth walked out of the alley toward Portland State University.
