Okay, a few notes before we start:
A) I'm sorry I'm so late! My laptop totally died on me, so I haven't been able to write at all! I've commandeered my grandpa's computer while he's at work, and this is what came out.
B) This chapter is a two-parter...kinda. It was supposed to be longer, but I'm not used to having to type on a desktop, so my wrists are tired and I wanna put it up NOW. So, this is what you get for now. I'll try and update sooner next time, I promise!
C) Thank you to everyone who's reviewed thus far! You all know how to make a girl feel ashamed for not updating! ^_~ Love to you all!
Disclaimer: Not mine.
When Sarah did finally speak, it was after her phone rang. She checked the ID and quickly answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Sarah!"
"Heey, Toby Jingles." There was a huff on the other end of the line.
"You know I hate it when you call me that." Sarah laughed slightly and dug for her keys.
"Really? I hadn't noticed." Finally finding her keys, she climbed up the few stairs to her apartment door and inserted the proper key. "Why're you calling at this time kiddo? Don't you have school tomorrow?" She heard a sniffle and paused. "You okay?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Another sniffle. "I got a cold." Sarah laughed, relieved her brother hadn't been crying.
"A cold, huh?" She shook out her hair as she climbed inside the warm apartment complex. "What's up?" she asked again.
"You comin' home for Christmas?" Sarah furrowed her brow.
"Of course I am, buddy. I do every year. Why?"
"Mom wants to talk to you." She shook her head, exasperated.
"Okay. Go to bed, bud." She knew he was probably nodding, his five-year-old brain not grasping the fact that she couldn't see him. Karen's voice suddenly filtered through the phone.
"Sarah?" She let herself into her dark apartment.
"Yeah?"
"You're really coming home?" Sarah sighed again, hearing a faint voice in her head. 'Sighing gives you wrinkles, precious...' She shook her head, growling.
"Yes, Karen, I'm coming home. Why is everyone insisting I come home?" Karen sighed this time, and the voice in her head chuckled. 'Go away, Jareth,' Sarah thought viciously, and the voice ceased. Sarah was oddly pleased that the Goblin King had obeyed her for once. But then, maybe it hadn't been the King at all...Sarah shook her head at her own subconscious and focused on Karen's voice.
"...oby doesn't know, but..." There was a pause as Karen seemingly gathered herself.
"Are you getting divorced?" Sarah tried not to think about the way her voice sounded hopeful.
"No, Sarah. It's...it's Merlin."
Sarah's stomach turned to ice.
"He's got cancer. The vets gave him two weeks, a month tops. I'm sorry, Sarah."
This. Wasn't. Happening. There was no way this was happening. Sarah's brain had stopped working. Karen sighed again.
"Get home when you can."
*~*
Sarah had finished her finals the week before and was simply in town for the joy of being away from home. So when she called Ross the next day, he was very understanding, and gave her the rest of the year off, insisting that she "go home right now."
"I used to have a dog," he mumbled, and she closed her eyes, listening to the faint sound of bacon sizzling. "It not easy. You go home, be with him. And, Sarah?" She sniffed, wiping her suddenly watery eyes.
"Yeah?" Ross cleared his throat.
"I'm very sorry." She laughed; a tiny, breathless thing.
"Thanks, Ross."
She started for home roughly an hour after she'd gotten off the phone with Ross. She had no friends to alert of her leaving, save Ross, and no pets to have neighbors take care of.
It was that thought that had delayed her, causing her eyes to tear up and not stop. When she finally did get on the road, she took the interstate rather than her normal, scenic route. She wanted to get home quickly and spend as much time with her dog, her best friend, as possible.
When she got home, Toby was still at school, her dad and Karen both at work. But, luckily, Merlin wasn't in the locked house. Sarah could see him, leashed to his favourite tree in the back, food and water bowl lying nearby, sleeping.
Sarah stood for a moment, watching his body rise and fall while he breathed, relaxed in the cool shade on an unusually warm day. It hadn't snowed yet this year, and all the scientists were screaming about global warming. Sarah liked the change--she wasn't too fond of snow.
She tried the gate, but it was locked. Sarah was taller than she'd been four years ago, and vaulted the gate easily. Merlin's eyes opened slightly to take in his visitor, and his head lifted up and tongue lolled out happily as he saw who it was. Sarah's eyes watered and Merlin, sensing the sudden change of mood, cocked his head and watched her curiously.
Sarah practically flew across the yard, sliding on grass still wet from dew that hadn't yet seen the sun, and threw her arms around Merlin's soft neck, sobbing into his fur. The sheepdog whined, not liking the direction this reunion had taken, and licked the side of her neck. Sarah let out a watery laugh, relishing in the taste of fur. This thought made her pull back--Merlin wasn't gone yet. She still had a few weeks--which, in retrospect, seemed not that long at all.
"Sarah!" Toby flew into the kitchen, and her dad's surprised face poked around the corner. "Daddy! Sarah's home!"
"I see that." Sarah ruffled Toby's hair.
"Heya, Toby Jingles." Toby hit her calf.
"Don't call me--"
"Toby. Don't hit." Toby looked abashed for a moment, but his eyes quickly lit up again.
"Sarah! You gotta see my drawing!" He turned to run out of the kitchen. Richard called after him.
"Your backpack's in your room!" Sarah avoided her father's eyes. "So…"
"Karen called last night." She looked up, and Richard was started (but unsurprised) to see the haunted look in his daughter's eyes. He'd only seen that look once before, four years before. He and Karen had come home one night to find Sarah in her room, brushing her hair and staring into her mirror, eyes wide and unfocused. She'd never mentioned what had happened, and Richard didn't push. He sighed, coming back to the present.
"Sarah…I'm sorry. We told you as soon as we knew how serious it was." She closed her eyes and nodded.
"I know, dad." Toby came running back into the kitchen.
"See. Sarah? It's you and me and mommy and daddy and Merlin!" Richard walked away from the scene as Sarah attempted to smile. Toby noticed. "Sarah? Don't you like it?" Sarah sniffed and nodded, then bent down and hugged her little brother fiercely. How could she ever even have thought of wishing him away?
Unbidden, the image of the Goblin King standing in her parents' bedroom appeared behind her eyelids, and she stiffened, opening her eyes quickly. Toby patted her awkwardly.
"Sarah? Are you dying?" Sarah let out a laugh that was half-way between a laugh and a sob.
"No, Toby. I just missed you is all."
"Oh." Toby hesitated before hugging her neck. "I missed you too." Sarah almost screamed when something brushed against her leg, but her fears were alleviated when she felt Merlin's fuzzy head trying to push between them, wanting in on the affection. Sarah accommodated for him immediately. Toby giggled and patted his head as Merlin panted. "Merlin missed you, too."
Sarah couldn't take it--she felt as though the walls were closing in.
"So, Tobes, you wanna go to the park?"
"Yeah!" Toby ran out of the kitchen and up the stairs.
"Grab your homework!" Sarah yelled after him, and smiled when she heard Toby groan. Her dad came in, opening a cabinet and grabbing the box of coffee filters.
"Where are you going?" Sarah pet Merlin's head slowly, savoring the feeling of the fur curling around her fingers, memorizing it.
"The park." Her father nodded, watching the dog as he sat obediently by her side. He looked up at her sadly.
"We're going to have to talk about it eventually, Sarah." She nodded, eyes prickling. Merlin whined and pressed up into her hand.
"Just…not now, 'kay?" Her father nodded.
"Not now."
The park made Sarah more relaxed, even with Merlin laying next to her, snoring slightly, and Toby's foot tapping against the tree as he tried to figure out how to form letters into words. She closed her eyes and soaked in the feeling of the sun shining onto her face, wondering just how long this heat wave would last. Children laughing in the distance would distract Toby--every once in a while, his pencil would stop scratching for about thirty seconds, until he sighed and began writing again.
Finally, half an hour after they'd arrived, Toby jumped up triumphantly.
"Yes!" Sarah called after him to stay in view, unnecessarily. Toby was a good kid--he wouldn't run away with a stranger. Even so, any glimpse of blonde hair made her jump and scan the face avidly, whether it be male or female. She wouldn't put it past the Goblin King to disguise himself as a woman, just to irk Sarah.
Merlin huffed, adjusting his head to make himself comfortable again. Sarah felt herself tear up yet again--this whole ordeal was going to kill her, Sarah was sure of it.
A group of girls, looking around sixteen, came over and sat in a circle just yards away from Sarah. They seemed to be a sort of club, and Sarah closed her eyes and listened to them chatter away about trivialities, things Sarah never dealt with when she was that age. Not after--
Her eyes jerked open at the sound of a familiar line.
"Give me the child." Her eyes focused on the group of girls. Each had a book propped open on her lap, and a pretty, dark haired girl was reading aloud. "Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city--"
"To take back the child that you have stolen." The girls looked up, and Sarah realized she had said the line aloud. They looked shocked.
"You know The Labyrinth?" the dark-haired girl asked, looking impressed. "I didn't know it was that old." Sarah opened her mouth to reprimand her--she wasn't that much younger than Sarah! But instead, what came out was--
"It's one of my favourites." The girls scooted over to make a space, and Sarah crawled over. "I'm Sarah." The dark-haired girl nodded.
"Tiffany." She lay a hand on the book in her lap. "So, do you know it by heart?" Sarah nodded. "Wow." Tiffany seemed impressed. Sarah shook her head, abashed.
"I was going to be an actress when I was about your age. Labyrinth was one of the pieces I always used to practice." She glanced up to make sure she could still see Toby. "I used to come here and practice. There was always one line that I could never remember." All the girls seemed to be leaning forward.
"Which?" She laughed.
"It's stupid, really." She looked at the book in Tiffany's lap. "'You have no power over me.' One of the easiest lines in the whole thing. And I could never remember it." Tiffany was smiling.
"I love that scene. The Goblin King, nothing but a ghost of himself, and the heroine showing him just how strong and dedicated she really is." Sarah twisted her hands, slowly becoming uncomfortable. She glanced up to find Toby again. "And then, the description of his reaction…it's so powerful. Almost like his entire world is falling down." Sarah stood up, and all the girls looked up at her, startled.
"I'm sorry. My brother, he's gotta get home and eat and get to bed. I gotta go. Sorry." Tiffany waved.
"Alright. Maybe we'll see you around." Sarah started off to find Toby, then turned back.
"Do any of you have younger siblings?" The girls turned, some of them nodding cautiously. Sarah debated whether she should say what she wanted to say, then just nodded, turning away, and hurrying off to find Toby.