CHAPTER THREE:
"I AM DYING"
Was she being watched? Hours had passed in a dreamless yet restful sleep. The smell of her home had eased her mind. She had stretched and rolled over only to find the space on the other side of the bed less inviting. It was cold and had a dirty feeling to it. But why would she only wash half the sheet? She thought drowsily. Realizing how silly it was to think that her step-mother wouldn't properly do laundry, she stretched again trying to settle in. She inhaled and coughed awkwardly. Something was on the other side of the bed. Something was in the room. Something was watching her. She knew it.
Peeping out through half-closed lids, Sarah attempted to survey the room. There was nothing except gray shadows against a black background. Had the window's sash just swayed? Was that a darting shadow? She jerked her eyes trying to catch the fleeting movement. She felt her heart- boom, boom. It was going to burst in her chest. Just go turn on the light and put your conscience to rest, she told herself, but her limbs were just as suddenly paralyzed as the all-encompassing fear that had taken hold of her. Just jump up for the light switch! You'll be laughing at yourself tomorrow. There went the little darting figure- burglar? Rapist? Goblin? Sarah was at the light switch and reaching for something to throw before her mind could decide.
The light blazed through the room, swallowing every dark corner. Nothing. Not a person, not a creature, not even one of the household pets. She was alone. Her heart pounded in her ears and her breath gushed in and out in panicked breaths. She set down the random object she had taken for defense. "Okay," she said out loud. "I'll just sleep with the light on." She shot two rounds of darting glances around the room and pulled the covers up under her chin.
Two days passed of things that Sarah could only determine as flashbacks. She had purposefully put herself back in the environment that had triggered what her psychiatrist bills had deemed the cause of all her problems. Yet she had done it: on purpose with all knowledge of the possible effects. Now she passed the time in constant expectancy. Around every corner something could be waiting for her. Darting shadow or swelling face- she wasn't sure. She excused herself from dinner one night and went to her room.
She sat down and placed a phone call to Eddie. She needed to hear his voice and be assured of her reality. Though it was pleasant to hear him, she couldn't help, but feel awkward talking to him. It was as if something more important was waiting for her if only she would get off the phone. She cut their conversation short and sat in silence. Feeling pregnant with expectation, she busied herself with brushing her hair. With each stroke she knew she was bringing something closer. She glanced about her darkening room. As her eyes came back to her mirror, her brush dropped from her hand. The face was swelling before her and it was calling her name.
How could this be happening? She had just returned home, determined to be happy; determined not to be disturbed. She covered her ears and shut her eyes tight. Could it only be flashbacks? Just a mischievous memory? The voice faded away, and a hand touched her shoulder. Sarah looked up hoping that it would be her father. Instead she sharply gasped. Before her stood a man draped in a long cape and loose hanging clothes. Something shiny, all most like glitter fell about him. All of her fears seemed to be taking shape in some horrid tangible form. It was Jareth the Goblin King. She fell back away from him onto her bed, with a sharp gasp. "W-w-what do you want?" she demanded. "Don't be afraid Sarah." She was not afraid, but was more in a state of shock. After nine wonderful years how dare this infamous man come back. Sarah could find nothing to say to him. "You're not real!" she finally blurted out. "I don't love you! You're not here! It's impossible!" Her mind suddenly stirred itself into a frenzy and she continued to exclaim and sputter over herself, "Not here! I.You.I won!.You can't be here!" "I am not really here," Jareth said in a calm tone, putting forth his hands in a defensive way. He had not even expected such a reaction. "I am an allusion," he went on to explain. "I need your help Sarah." Despite her state Sarah still knew and understood everything. She remembered who Jareth was and what he had done to her. She returned his calm request with a bitter reply, "You don't deserve anyone's help." "Be kind to me Sarah please; I haven't the strength to-" "Be kind? Be kind to the monster who tortured me in his maze of dreams? No! I don't love you. you're not real. I-I" "Sarah listen," he said sternly. He changed his non-threatening pose and put his hands on his hips, crossed his eyebrows, and leaned in closer. "I am dying."
Sarah couldn't believe what she was seeing or hearing. He was acting so kind and calm. He was an allusion; she was not crazy. How could this be happening? "Dying?" she asked timidly. For a moment her heart softened. She thought it far to listen, but still her words were edgy, "If the Goblin King is dying then how does he have the power to project an allusion? I believe you are playing a game with me," she managed to say. An unknown emotion passed uneasily through his eyes making her doubt her own accusation. Keeping his more masterful pose he replied, "My power is slowly over taking me: I had barely enough to do this. The little control that is left in me I am using to come to you, but even then-" he stopped. Jareth's image flickered as an old movie projector does and began to fade rapidly. He staggered ever so slightly. "Sarah help me!" She scrambled to get to her knees to see him better. " How can I help? You're too weak to bring me to the Labyrinth. What's wrong? How can I get to you?" Sarah reached out her hand as if some desperate attempt to grab hold of him, but he was fading fast. " Think back Sarah(I(The dancing(.princess(My tricks and(games( over. Help me or I die." He was gone.
There wasn't time to think about what had happened: Sarah believed him or at least she thought she did. He had come to her out of a need. He- the Goblin King- had come to ask for her help. She at least needed to find out exactly what was the matter. There was only one slight draw back though: how was she to get back to his world? He had brought her there the first time. She thought for a moment and with fear in her heart Sarah removed her musical princess from the drawer. She set it unsteadily on her dresser. She then felt compelled to dress, to prepare herself for going somewhere. She knew where. Before her fingers had even approached the screw on the bottom of the princess, in her mind, Sarah could hear the music and feel the chill of that other world. "You tricked me once by blinding me with my selfishness. You made me think that I was the only thing in this world that mattered and that I was being treated unfair. That one like myself should have a higher place. But," her fingers hesitated to wind the doll. "I believe you this time." Sarah set the doll down and as the music played she watched the doll spin round and round. Soon Sarah's own world began to turn: her head began to feel heavy, and she fell to the floor.