#9 "Anything, just call me, okay?"

"Mom, I'm fine," Sarah said, her cellphone tucked between her shoulder and cheek as she folded laundry. "I've just been really busy."

"Sarah, you're overworking yourself! You need a vacation!"

Sarah rolled her eyes, which was kind of pointless because her mother couldn't actually see her, but it was an instinctual reaction to her mother's drama. "The semester just started. Things are always crazy when a semester starts. It will calm down a bit and then I'll come see you for a weekend, okay?"

The line was silent for a moment as Sarah folded and her mother thought things over. However Linda Williams broke the silence by saying, "Sarah, you know you can call me anytime right?"

Sarah paused in the middle of folding a t-shirt. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I know, mom."

"I've just been worried about you lately. You've been distant… more than usual."

Sarah knew why she'd been distant… more than usual. It was because the fifth anniversary of her run through the Labyrinth was today, and she always grew melancholy when it was near. She'd remember the friends she made and the challenge of making it through the constantly changing paths. At the time it had been unfair and exhausting, but now she looked back on that time fondly as it was a marked point in her life when she could see the change that happened in herself afterwards.

It was also the time when she'd met him. It had been five long years, and her thoughts still drifted back to him on long nights when she couldn't sleep. She wasn't sure why he still consumed her thoughts now. It wasn't lust. It wasn't love. For Sarah, the Goblin King was an ethereal being that she couldn't get out of her head. It was kind of like when you got a song stuck in your head for weeks on end. Only this one was lasting for years. She could still hear his voice echoing in the strange Escher room. She could still remember the soul-splitting gaze he'd cast her way during their dance together. Whenever she stopped to relax for a moment, whenever she was alone and not really doing anything in particular… her thoughts would inevitably turn to him.

"Sarah?" her mother broke her thoughts.

"Yeah, mom?"

"You will come visit soon, right? I just have this feeling… sorry, forgive me. It's just some silly gut feeling."

"Yes mom," Sarah replied, knowing that gut feeling all too well. "I will come visit next weekend, how's that?"

Linda's voice perked up. "That would be great actually! Jeremy will be out of town for most of the weekend so we can have a mother/daughter night! I'll put on The Breakfast Club and we'll make up some popcorn and order in Chinese."

"That sounds great, mom," Sarah smiled.

"In the meantime, I love to hear from you whenever you have a chance, dear."

"I know, mom."

"I mean it. Anything, just call me, okay?"

"Okay, I will."

"Love you, Sarah."

"Love you too, mom," Sarah smiled as she hung up the phone.

She tossed it on her bed and went back to folding. However an icy shiver ran up her spine, and she sucked in a sharp breath. The air had suddenly turned cold and there was a static charge caressing her bare arms. Sarah slowly turned around, unfolded t-shirt still clenched in her fists tightly. A very familiar man stood behind her, leaning against her desk. A smirk crossed his features and his eyes traveled up and down her body.

"Hello, Sarah," he said quietly.

Author's Note: Well that was fun! And took entirely too long to write for only 600 words! I'm just going to answer the questions you're going to ask now. No there will not be a sequel. Yes I wanted it to end on a cliff-hanger. Yes I'll be writing more for these prompts. No I'm still not sure when my Sarah/Jareth Omega 'verse story will come off of hiatus.

Thanks for reading! Love you all!

ID