Elspeth looked so much like her mother. At sixteen, she had already reached her mother's height and had the same soft facial features of her mother. Her hair was dark like her mother's the only difference being that she wore it only to her shoulders and it was wavy like her father's hair. She also shared her father's eyes of mysterious grey with flecks of blue. But for all the visible features she shared, she was truly nothing like her parents.
Her mother spent most of her time with her head in the clouds, not a bad pastime for a writer of children's fantasy, but still Elspeth often wondered if she lost touch with reality too often. Take that story about the goblin king for instance, for most of her childhood, Elspeth had believed her, she had believed it as most children believed in Santa Clause. But when she was asked to write a short essay on a modern day hero or villain in the seventh grade and she had chosen to tell the story of the goblin king, her teacher had cut her down and mocked her most cruelly.
It was in that moment standing in front of her class that Elspeth had realised the horrible truth; there was no such thing as magic, the world was exactly as it appeared. Such stories were only made up so as to entertain children and teach them to behave. Don't wish for something unless you truly want it and are willing to take the consequences.
Elspeth loved her mother, but she couldn't forgive her for such deception. Her mother would never admit that the Labyrinth wasn't real, even when she found the short story her grandmother had written about it. Sarah had simply looked at Elspeth with sad eyes and said, "the Labyrinth is real, I would not be who I am if it were not."
It was at this point that Elspeth's father, James, had put his arms around his wife, and Elspeth realised that he, too, believed in it.
Elspeth loved both her parents, but they were foolish. Elspeth believed in what she could see, what she could prove. Elspeth was in the eleventh grade now, and she excelled in biology, chemistry, physics and mathematics. When she finished school, she intended to continue to study these subjects at university because science was something she could see and believe with her own eyes. But this made life harder too, because it meant that Elspeth always had to accept reality, she couldn't hide behind beliefs in magic or in a God to protect her from the awful truth.
Her mother was going to die.
Earlier that day…Elspeth had finished school early that day. Exams began tomorrow, but unlike her classmates, Elspeth was already well prepared and revised. So unlike her classmates, who had rushed home to cram as much material as possible before the exams, Elspeth had decided to take a walk through the park with the family dog, Ambrosius. Ambrosius, like most of her childhood pets, got his name from a character in the Labyrinth. However, Elspeth could not fault him for it, he was a big hairy mutt whose tongue lolled out adorably most of the time.
After dragging Elspeth halfway through the park, Ambrosius was set free to do what Ambrosius did best: wreak havoc on the local duck population and make as much noise as he could.
Elspeth sighed and settled down on a park bench to listen to the indignant squawks of birds, her dog caused in his enjoyment.
"Lively mutt, isn't he?"
Elspeth jumped up to find the most gorgeous guy leaning on the bench just behind her.
"Oops, sorry, didn't mean to frighten you." He chuckled. He looked to be in his late teens or early twenties and he had a slight accent. English, perhaps. He was tall and slender, with long white-blond hair tied back in a ponytail and piercing blue eyes. "Is everything alright?"
"Huh?" Elspeth realised her mouth gaping open and she was staring. "Oh yes, you're fine -I mean- everything's fine!" Elspeth quickly sat back down again, trying to hide her embarrassment.
"Mind if I join you?"
"S-sure."
The boy jumped over the back of the seat and sat down beside her.
Elspeth could feel herself turning pink. To the boys at school, she was a science nerd, and they were just schoolboys. This guy looked old enough to be in university, he seemed mature. The fact that he was talking to her was incredibly unexpected. She should say something.
"So what brings you here?" She asked lightly.
"You."
Elspeth looked at him, sharply. "Excuse me?"
He grinned. "I mean, I was walking through the park and there's like no one about and then I saw you walking that huge mutt. Thought I'd come over and say hello."
"Oh." She laughed nervously. "So are you from England?"
"Not England, where I come from is a lot further than that. So," he changed the topic and turned to face her. "What brings you here?"
"Oh, I have exams tomorrow, just thought I'd get some fresh air before I lock myself up to study."
"Ah, that must be tough. Don't you just wish that you could go somewhere where you didn't have to study?"
"Not really. I rather like exams." Realising she sounded like a complete nerd, she hurriedly corrected herself. "I mean, it's just that I don't worry too much about exams they're not that bad."
"Hmm…" He looked at her thoughtfully. "But surely sometimes the pressure gets to you and you just wish that you could escape to somewhere else?"
Elspeth snorted. "What good is wishing going to do? If you want something, you have to get it for yourself, wishing isn't going to do anything."
"I couldn't agree more…" He suddenly scooted closer to her.
Elspeth backed away until she was on the edge of the bench and risked falling off. "Um, I didn't quite catch your name." She said nervously.
"It's Jerrin." He said dismissively as he caught her face in his hand.
Elspeth was quite alarmed, she had heard about guys that preyed on high school girls but she didn't realise they would be this forward.
"Look, Jerrin, I-" She was cut off at the sound of her mobile ringing. She scrambled off the seat. "Excuse me a minute."
Jerrin frowned.
She picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Elspeth? Elspeth, something's happened!"
"Dad? What's wrong?"
"Elspeth,
it's your mother. Look, I'm sorry sweetheart, but she's been in
a car accident."
"A car accident!"
Behind her, Jerrin jerked upright.
"Look she's at St Francis Hospital, do you think you can get here?"
"Yeah, I'll take my bike. Is-is she alright?"
"We don't know yet, honey, she was taken straight into surgery."
"I'll be there as soon as I can."
"Bye, honey, ride safely."
"Bye, Dad." She hung up and turned back to the bench.
The strange guy, Jerrin, was nowhere to be seen.
"Ambrosius!" She shouted. "Ambrosius, we're leaving!"
