AN: Thanks to all of you who reviewed for my last chapter. I am so sorry for the wait. I know that I said to the reviewers that it would be up WAY before now. I've had tons going on at school and I've had major writer's block. Plus my grandparents' 50th anniversary was last weekend. Please forgive me for keeping you waiting. I hope this one is as good as (according to you reviewers) the first chapter. Enjoy.
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Sarah quickly ran down the stairs with Toby in her arms. She looked down at her arm where Toby had just drooled all over her. Something on her wrist caught her eye. She was wearing the bracelet that she was sure she had given to Hoggle. Well, she really wasn't sure of anything anymore. Everything she had thought to be true the night before suddenly wasn't as simple. Her life seemed to be flipping upside down for the second time in two days.
Sarah walked down the rest of the stairs and down the hall towards the kitchen. She stopped at the sink and looked around. Everything was normal looking. What was going on and why couldn't she find her dad or Katherine? Sarah set Toby down in his car-seat that was sitting on the island. She handed him Lancelot and watched as he slowly fell asleep. She stood up and remembered the groceries that she had dropped on her way in. She went to get them so she could start dinner.
As Sarah walked into the front hall she looked around. Nothing seemed out of place so why did she have that weird feeling in the pit of her stomach. Sarah bent down and picked the groceries up off of the floor and put them back into the paper bag. As Sarah walked back toward the kitchen she heard Toby giggling. Sarah gave a sigh of relief when she saw Katherine sitting at the kitchen counter. She knew she shouldn't have worried so much.
Sarah set the grocery bag on the sink. She looked at Toby to make sure he was still there. What she saw surprised her. Toby was still asleep. She was sure that she had heard him giggling when she was in the hall. 'Am I going crazy? Was everything that happened last night just my imagination?' Sarah thought. "Katherine?" she said looking over at her stepmother.
"Yes, Sarah."
"Since you and Daddy didn't get to go out last night, why don't you two go out tonight? I could watch Toby for you."
"I don't know. I mean your father and I have work tomorrow and you have school. I don't want you up really late or anything. Besides your faher and I go out very often. I'm starting to feel mean asking you to watch Toby all of the time." Sarah couldn't believe what she was hearing. Katherine had said the exact opposite thing last night. Well, at least Sarah thought that she had.
"It's okay. I enjoy watching Toby. We have fun. Well, at least I do. I think that he does, too."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
"Alright, If you're sure," Sarah nodded. "I guess I'll go talk to Robert then." Katherine started out the back door. She stopped, turned around, and said, "Thank you, Sarah."
An hour later, all five of them were in the front hall. Toby was resting on Sarah's hip and was drooling all over her shoulder. Katherine and Sarah's father were dressed up and ready to go. "If Toby wants anything else to eat you know where it is. There's some peanut butter in the pantry. Call my cell phone if you need anything."
"Okay. I've got everything under control." Sarah's father opened the door and ushered his wife out the door. Srah walked onto the front poorch and waved goodbye as they drove off down the street.
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Sarah had been at home for awhile and was wtching television in the living room. She had put Toby to bed only a few minutes before. She took a bite of the peanut butter sandwhich that she had made for her dinner. Sarah heard a ding and got up to get her popcorn out of the microwave. She glimpsed a bird outside the window just as it flew away. As she walked into the kitchen she thought she saw it outside the window but she looked again and it wasn't there.
Sarah got a large bowl out of the cabinet and poured the bag of extra buttered popcorn into it. She picked up the bowl and walked back into the family room. She had decided to watch her favorite book, Frankenstein, being played on the television. Sarah setteled into the sofa and pulled her blanket around her. After about an hour she was frightened to the bones. She looked away from the screen. What she saw made her jump up, scream, and throw her popcorn into the air. There was a large white, grey, and brown owl perched right outside the loving room window.
Sarah told herself that she was being silly. She walked over to the window and closed the blinds just to be safe. She sat back down on the couch and got bundled back up in her blanket. After fifteen minutes of sitting there she decided that she wasn't getting back into the play so she changed the channel to the news. Commercials were on so she started picking up the spilt popcorn.
Just as Sarah got back into the living room from throwing awat the popcorn, the news came back on. "Breaking news has just come in from Georgia. It seems that a car has spun out of control and over into a ravine. Fred has the story in a live report." The picture on the screen changed to show an old, fat, balding man standing on the edge of the highway in front of a drop off. The wreckage was clearly visible. Sarah sat up in her seat. The car in the ditch looked like her father's station wagon.
Sarah listened carefully as the fat man spoke. "It seems that the driver, a man I-D as a Mr. Robert Daniels, lost control of his car and spun out into this ravine." Sarah almost screamed. Her dad mustn't be dead. She listened as the fat man said a lot of unimportant stuff. She justed wanted to know if he and Katherine had survived. She knew that they had. She just knew it. They weren't just going to leave her like that. They wouldn't. They couldn't.
As the fat man continued to talk about irrelevant things she got frustrated. "Just tell me that they survived you stupid man! Just say that the only injuries were minor!" Sarah was losing her mind. It was like a horror movie where they build up to something big, the one thing that you want to know and then they take forever just to say it. Sarah watched as the picture changed back to the woman.
"Police and the rescue teams say that the driver and his wife did not survive the crash. They were both killed on impact." Sarah felt like someone had just punched her in the stomach. They weren't supposed to die. They where supposed to grow old, go to Sarah's wedding, and see their grandchildren. They weren't supposed to die at forty, no one was.
Five minutes after the news went off, the doorbell rang. Sarah just sat on the couch hoping against hope that the people would just go away and let her just sit there and die. She didn't want to talk to anyone. She just wanted to give up on life if in the end this is what happened to everyone. If they just died and left their friend sad and lonely.
The doorbell just kept ringing. Sarah suddenly realized something. She wasn't the only one who had lost a parent. Toby had lost both of his parents and only had Sarah. She had to take care of him and keep him safe. She had to top worrying about her and worry about Toby. Sarah wiped her eyes and got up from the couch. She walked out into the front hall and opened the front door. There were two police officers there.
"Hello. I'm Officer Layla," said one of the two and she held out her hand. "We're here about your parents' car crash. May we come in?"
Sarah moved to let the two into her parents' house. Well, actually it was her house now. The three of them walked into the living room. "Would you like something to drink?" Sarah asked them.
"Oh, no thank you. We can't stay very long. We need you to come with us. Since your legal guardians are, well… Ayways you need to be with an adult who can take care of you."
"That's okay. My garandmother called and said that she will be here first thing tomorrow morning." This was a lie but Sarah didn't want to go. Sarah's grandmother in fact hated her son for marying Sarah's mother. She had never had anything to do with Sarah. She definitely wouldn' want to become her legal gaurdian.
"Well, we can't leave you here alone. Do you have anyone that you can stay with until the morning?"
"Yes, our neighbor, Mrs. Minas baby-sits Toby all of the time I am sure that she would be more than happy to let us stay the night. Let me go call her really quick."
"Okay."
Sarah walked into the kitchen and picked up the phone. She dialed a number but didn't actually call anyone. She didn't want the officers to know that she had no intenion of leaving. She talked a bit like she was actually having a conversation with someone, and then hung up the phone. She walked back into the living room. The male officer was flippng through the channels on the television.
"Mrs. Minas said it was okay for me and Toby to stay over at her house for a few days. She has to go to go to the store for a few minutes but she will be right back."
The two officers stood and the woman shook Sarah's hand again. "We aren't supposed to leave you here alone but we have a ton of paper work to fill out at the station. You seem honest. Will you promise me to go your neighbor's after she gets back?"
"Yes ma'mm. I promise."
"Thank you. You have no idea how much time you are giving us."
"You're welcome. Can you show yourself to the door? I have to go pack for Toby and I."
"Sure. Nice meeting you, Sarah."
Once Sarah was sure that the officers had left, she checked on Toby. He was sound asleep. Sarah walked into the bathroom. She stripped down and got into the shower. When she was done she got out and saw her reflection in the mirror. She looked different. How she didn't know but she knew she did. She had changed a lot in the past hour and a half.
As Sarah climbed into bed she felt tired and weak all of he sudden. She felt like she had just run a marathon. Sarah thought of her Labyrinth friends just before she fell asleep. She thought of him too. "Jareth I need you," she whispered into her empty bedroom just as she feel asleep with a single tear sliding down her cheek.
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Bum, bum, bum! Did you like it? I know that it is moving very fast but the entire story is only supposed to have about three or four chapters total. I am still accepting criticism. Again I am SO sorry for the wait after I promised that it would be up last Wednesday. (Well, at least I think that I said last Wednesday.) Please keep reviewing. Reviews make my low self-esteem go up quite a bit. J J J
