Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth.
Author's Note: I've been busy lately helping my parents out with renovations at our cottage. I wanted to get a chapter out before I leave for my trip. I'm going to California for three weeks! I've never been and I'm really excited. I'll be staying with my cousin and she said that I could use her computer to update. So expect me to do some writing on my long plane ride. Also, check out my cousin's fanfic account because she is awesome, /u/1467063/
Olivia returned to where Sarah was waiting, patiently sitting on the small couch staring off into space. Olivia cleared her throat as she approached drawing Sarah's attention, Sara mechanically arose from her seat. She followed her grandmother down the long light-filled hallway to the back of the house.
The entered the end of the corridor where an olden wooden door stood, Olivia inserted the key into the antique lock and carefully turned the brass door knob. The two entered the dark cellar, Olivia blindly searched for the chain that turned the only light bulb on. Sarah followed her down the stairs to the corner of the cellar, where a bunch of boxes and crate stood piled on top of each other.
Olivia and Sarah searched through some scattered boxes until they uncovered one labeled PICTURES in big capitol letters written in a thick, black sharpie. Suddenly, a loud ringing erupted from the upper portion of the house. Olivia shot up and dismissed herself, "Pardon me dear but I need to go get that."
As her grandmother went to answer the phone, Sarah pulled the flap of the box opened and cautiously peeked inside. She glanced through the contents until she found a dark blue photo album, adorned with silver lettering. Sarah read the inscription, 'Precious Memories'. The dark-haired girl laughed in spite of herself at those words. Nothing ever in her past was precious or worth remembering for that matter.
She turned over the cover and looked at the pictures that lie within their pages. There were images of past family reunions, vacations, birthdays, childhood milestones, recitals, and other important events. Her hands rushed through the pages as if her very life depended on it. Until she reached the end of the book, on the last page was a picture of a young Sarah sitting in her grandmother's garden, unaware that the picture was being taken. She was huddled over digging a hole into the ground, burying something in the dirt, soil was strewn about and her hands were dark and sullied. At first glance she thought it was some flowers or vegetable seeds, yet as she moved the photograph album closer to her face she discovered it was a minute, little wooden box…
She closed the miniscule metal clasp on the box and set it aside in the deep green grass. She found her spade and began to dig in the dirt by her in an abandon plot of land in her grandmother's garden. Olivia separated a special area just for Sarah to plant some things. When the spade was not fast enough, she quickly tossed it aside as well. She used her tiny hands to scoop out the soil and widen the hole into the earth. More rapidly, she dug until it was deep enough to hide the box and have it remain undiscovered and undisturbed.
The young girl picked up the box and held it in her hands for a moment and stared at it. A scowl crossed her innocent lips and with as much strength she could muster, Sarah hurled the box into the ground and swiftly poured in the excess dirt to refill the hole …
Sarah stood up and automatically shut the photo album, a cloud of dust sprung out and engulfed her, causing her to cough and swipe it away with her hand. She shot up the stairs, breezing past Merlin who sat waiting for his mistress to return. The dog jumped up and he too followed her outside, his tail wagging in excitement and anticipation. Olivia watched her granddaughter pass through the kitchen, unable to go after her because she was on the phone conversing with an ill friend.
She raced over to the abandoned plot of land, since school and other activities she didn't have time to dedicate to her former little garden. She fell to her knees, rolled up her sleeves, and proceeded to use her bare hands to dig into the dirt. Sarah was unsure of the exact spot but she did not care, she was driven to find the box, in the pit of her stomach she knew it was crucial.
Merlin cocked his head as he witness Sarah burrowing into the earth, within two seconds of inspection, he too was using his paws to help out. Dirt went flying in all directions, ruining Sarah's clothes and clumping into Merlin's shaggy fur.
After about a foot of digging in a narrow hole, her hands touched something solid. She grabbed hold of the object and indeed it was the box, she gently rubbed away the dirt and attempted to clean her sullied hands on the side of her jeans. The tiny clasped was rusted shut, and she could not break it with her hands.
"Damn it!" she screamed in frustration. She heard Olivia opening the back door and hurriedly she hid the small box within her front pocket.
Olivia looked shocked and bewildered, "What's going on here?" she questioned.
"Oh I was…" Sarah faltered for a moment trying to think up an excuse. "I was looking for an old pencil box I buried as a sort of treasure chest. I buried some mementos from my childhood and now I want to them back."
Olivia narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing Sarah's response and her facial expression, trying to establish fact from fiction. The grandmother could tell she was lying to some degree but decided to let her be, the girl had been under enough pressure lately.
"And have you found it?" she inquired.
"No it looks like I didn't search the right place. Oh well, maybe next time." She sighed, rolling the spare soil back into the ground, patting it down to smooth out the area.
Sarah accompanied Olivia back in the house and spent an enjoyable afternoon with grandmother, meanwhile the little wooden box burning in her pocket.
As soon as Sarah was in her car, she drove to a secluded spot to examine the box and see what was inside. She pulled up onto the shoulder of a country road, where no other cars seemed to pass by. Sarah took the keys out of the ignition and used her key chain bottle opener to pry the clasp loose. After five minutes of struggling with it, the box nudged open.
The dark haired woman smiled in triumph, slowly opening the box afraid to discover what was inside. "I feel like Pandora, my curiosity is going to release something horrible into the world." She thought. When the light entered the inside of the box, Sarah gasped in surprise. Tucked away inside was a crumpled piece of paper, folded into a small cube. She carefully grabbed the piece of paper and began to unfurl it.
