The sky blazed bright orange as the sun set once more. Sarah sat at her front window on the love seat and stared. She wondered if she was perhaps losing her mind. She did not recall every having a student in her class like Jared, she was sure she would have remembered a face like his. But she did not and it bothered her to know end and pulled up the edges of the blanket to cover her shoulders.

.

.

"So that is what it was like…" Jared gazed at the painted map inside his text book and traced a long finger along the page. "Thank you Miss Williams, you have been most helpful."

"That is what I get paid to do. I expect you to do well in this class and should you have any more issues, please come and see me. I will do what I can to help."

.

.

She had returned to her house bringing her mail in with her. The house seemed to be quieter than she felt it should be and turned on the TV for background noise, but this didn't change the air. She glanced around her living room feeling as if something was wrong. She looked at the books on her shelves and the little figurines she kept. On the top shelf she saw tucked behind some other objects of her affections, a box. She pulled it down from the shelf almost tripping on her own feet and looked at the red wood that shone with warmth. The wood was worn from being handled often and the hinges were stiff, but not rusted.

With her palm face down on the top of the box she lifted the lid and a sad melody echoed throughout her house. For a minute the walls seemed beyond clear sight and the waiver and shifted; as if in tune to some oncoming darkness the doorbell rang. She dropped the box and for some reason she was unable to pick it up again and stop the song before going to the door. She didn't check who might be on the other side of the door and did not need to unlock the door.

The door swung open and her student stood before her, but he was dressed most unusually.

"Hello Sarah." He didn't sound like the student she had just tutored and this dark aura seemed to hover over him like a storm threatening to unleash it's destruction on the surface of the planet.

"Jared…?" The man stared at her as if the world had flipped upside down and the color had all but drained from her face.

"No Sarah. I am not Jared." From his side of the door the Jareth could not see that she held the doorknob so tightly she might have ripped it from off.

"I'm sorry; you must have the wrong house." She wanted to close the door, but she was unable to make the necessary movement to do so. She was mesmerized with his unwavering gaze.

"Sarah…? I have Toby with me. Surely you want to speak with me now?" He stepped forward and cold gripped her, there was no wind to tease her with and the chill then embedded its self in her bones where it cemented.

"Toby? He's at school in a whole other city. I'm sorry he's not here for his vacation… please leave." Jareth was confused to a point that he was frustrated. The old feelings to vex the girl… no, she was no longer a girl. She was a woman now. She stood taller and more elegant that before; no longer holding on to the awkward stance of a teen age human.

"I'm afraid he is not on such a vacation. Will you not admit me in?" He was almost on top of her he was so close. She would feel warmth from his body and a smell that tantalized her mind with something lost and forgotten; forbidden even.

"You must leave. I have no idea who you are and if you speak of Toby then you must be his friend, but not mine. If you have something to say to him then say it to him. I am no messenger." She stepped away into the safety of her house, but it was as if her house could not protect her. He invaded her house without crossing her threshold at all.

"You do not know me, Sarah?" His tone was dark and treacherous. She feared him and in some small place inside her she wanted to rebel. Kick him, scream, punch and throw whatever she had at him.

"No, now leave. You can stand at my door and try as you might to belittle me; you have no power over me. This is not your home and I will not allow you to threaten me further." He stepped back as if stung and his fist clenched. She thought he was rearing to punch her and she slammed the door shut to prevent it.

She backed away into her living room with her heart just pounding and it seemed normal, like nothing had been wrong with it. The music box still played and with rage she picked it up and lobbed it across the room where it hit the furthest wall and shattered. The song stopped playing and it was if the world had stopped. No other sound seemed to make noise in her house and she regretted destroying the box. She hated the silence more than the sad song that sung eerily from the red wood music box and with a sudden ache that settled behind her eyes she realized she didn't know where she had gotten such a box.