He was only an owl, watching it all unfold. Sarah, his beloved sister, dancing with a man who bore mismatched eyes and a voice that kept calling out, saying to him keep the babe, that "I hate him and his crying".
Then the scene shifted, and playing before him was Sarah. She had told him the story though suddenly became fed up with his crying. He watched her wish him away. He watched as Sarah felt guilty and how the evil Goblin King made her run the Labyrinth to save him. She refused all of her wishes just for him and yet, she was just as content in leaving him there with the king all along.
Toby awoke with a start.
It was always almost the same nightmare every night since Alyssa had been born and the nightmare had always ended with those words. "I wish the goblins would come and take you away," Toby repeated in his mind, never daring to speak them aloud for fear that what was a dream might actually become a reality. Turning to the clock, it would only be a few hours now before he would have to face Sarah, and watch over his niece again for another long night.
"What does this mean?" He growled in frustration and lied back down on the bed, throwing a pillow over his face and screamed into it.
Toby had just gotten to his sister's house to watch over his niece when he had a sudden flashback of a nightmare that has been haunting him ever since Alyssa was born. The flashback caused a tremble through his body but he shook it off.
"Sarah, I'm here." He called out before reaching the front door though in that moment, his niece decided that it was time for a piggy-back ride from her uncle, attacking him from behind with a giggle. Toby laughed. "Hey ya squirt! Whatcha doin' outside?" he questioned the little girl, who was now pulling his collar like someone would when they pulled reins on a horse.
"We went for a walk before you came, Toby," said a voice Toby knew well and he smiled at his sister. "Now she needs a bath and there are chicken fingers in the oven for dinner, since I know how the both of you like them so much. Bedtime is still the usual and only one story this time, okay Alyssa?" Sarah placed her hands across her chest.
Alyssa made a whining noise in protest, but said nothing for fear of retribution from her mother. She made to jump of off her Uncle's back when she saw something in the tree nearest to her house. "Uncle Toby, what that?" she asked in her young voice as she pointed to the grey owl sitting in the tree. The owl blinked at them and Sarah glared at the animal. She hated owls; especially ever since her encounter with a certain Goblin King.
"That's an owl, Lyssa. Better stay away from it. They are too dangerous for little girls like you," Toby replied while he made a face and ran after the girl into the house. "Better get going Sarah; you're going to be late if you don't." Sarah nodded and got her coat to leave, though saddened to watch her brother run up the stairs with her little girl. She never said goodbye to Alyssa because it was impossible for Toby to watch her if she the little five year old was crying for her mother all night.
"Uncle, read this book," pleaded the little girl some hours after Sarah had left and Toby gasped as he realized what was in Alyssa's hands. It was a small, red leather bound book that had been worn with time and age. It seemed so familiar to him, and yet he could not put his finger on it. How did he know this book? Why did he feel such fear and dread around it?
"Did your mother say we could read that Lyssa?" Toby asked, eying the book though not really trusting it enough to gather it in his own two hands. Alyssa just nodded before she thrust the book at him. As she settled into her bed, Toby flipped the book to open to a page with a red ribbon marker. He studied it for a moment or so before turning to his niece. "Has your mother read some of this to you already?"
"Yeah!" Alyssa nodded eagerly, wanting her Uncle Toby to read it to her. He always did the best voices when it came to her favorite stories and even her mother could not compare to her Uncle's amazing talent.
"Alright then," Toby sighed as he pulled his niece into a small hug, allowing her to attempt to follow the words as he read.
In that moment, Sarah was slowly returning home early from work when she smiled as she walked through her front doors and heard Toby upstairs, reading to Alyssa. Suddenly, she was more interested in looking out her front window for some odd reason and gasped at what she had seen. There, in the tree that she knew her daughter had pointed at earlier and saw a grey owl, sat a very familiar snowy, white barn owl; one that she had seen far too much before. She turned back to listening to her brother, her eyes widening and dropping everything she had been carrying to run up the stairs as Toby's voice rang in her ears.
"The girl then said," he paused, as if to think about what to say. In all actuality, Toby couldn't stop the words from coming forth, for it was almost like he were a puppet and someone was forcing him to say the next line. "I wish the goblins would come and take you away. right now."