"W…what did you say?" she asked shakily. Lysander looked as nervous as she did. He paused before taking a deep breath to speak again.
"I said, was it Jareth you saw yesterday."
Sarah was panicky. All the tell-tale signs were there. Her heart pounded, she breathed heavily, sweat seeped on her forehead and her hands were shaking. She had always felt so comfortable with Lysander but at that moment he felt like a stranger. The scariest stranger she had ever met.
"How do you know about Jareth" she nervously asked.
Lysander did not answer, just guiltily bowed his head.
"I said how do you know about Jareth!" Sarah marched back up to the bench and towered over Lysander letting him shrivel in her shadow. Lysander looked up into her eyes.
"Sit down Sarah" he said.
Sarah apprehensively sat on the chair beside him, but this time she didn't sit as close as before. He took a long sigh before speaking.
"I don't know how I'm going to tell you this so I'm just gonna say it like it is" he said noticing that Sarah was staring at him in disbelief. "Okay, I used to live in the Underground, I used to be one of them, an immortal. Five years ago I was assigned to take care of you and watch over you because you had been to the Underground and survived it, which meant that you had gained special powers within you. These powers would allow you to make wishes as I assume you discovered yesterday. This magic within you made you vulnerable to Underground threats and dangers, that's why I came down to your world, to look after you and to befriend you so no one from the Underground could come and harm you."
Sarah's wide-eyed gaze illustrated how dumbfounded she was. She felt like a naïve little girl again, unaware of everything that was going around her like everything she ever knew and trusted was a lie.
"Okay, now you can ask questions" said Lysander. Still Sarah did not speak, she just stared in astonishment. "Sarah please stop staring at me like that" he said.
Sarah shook her head knowing she couldn't just sit there and do nothing. So she raised her hand and slapped Lysander right across the face.
"You jerk!" she shouted.
Lysander rubbed his cheek. "I know I deserved that!" he said.
She slapped him again.
"And that" he said. "Look I'm sorry."
"Are you? Well how come you never said anything to me before then!"
"Because…after you'd rescued your brother I thought you didn't want anything to do with that world. It was only after you went there yesterday that I thought to myself, oh maybe you do, then I'd have to tell you about the threats."
"What threats! There has never been any threats!" stated Sarah.
"That's because I stopped them all. That was my job. To protect you."
"How could you have protected me, you were just a puny kid!" she yelled.
"Sarah, I have more strength than the heaviest sumo wrestler on this earth. Don't you remember when you was fifteen and that teacher Mr. Henson at school was found dead in the classroom?" said Lysander.
"Yes he had a heart-attack" Sarah said naively.
"Wrong…I killed him" he said innocently. Sarah looked in disgust at Lysander. "But don't worry, he wasn't human, he was a monster dressed in disguise, and he wasn't really killed he was just cast out of his human form."
Sarah began to stare again.
"You can't be serious! Lysander why are you doing this to me?" she said putting her head in her hands.
"I know, I'm sorry" he said gently placing his arm around her only for her to shrug it off. "You don't realise how much this is hurting me to tell you all of this" he said trying to fight back the tears in his eyes. Lysander had hardly ever showed any sad emotion before.
"It's hurting you!" she shouted turning her head towards him. "How do you think I feel. Some stranger dressed up as my best friend is telling me that a bunch of monsters are after me!"
"I still am your friend Sarah" he said before she scoffed at him. "And there are things after you, not just monsters but all sorts of creatures. Mr. Henson was one of the bad ones. I couldn't tell you who he was becuase I know you would've panicked."
Sarah thought for a second while trying to catch her breath.
"You're wrong!" she said.
"No I'm not Sarah. I wish I was but I'm not."
"Mr. Henson never had anything against me. In fact he was always pleased with my work. It was only that one time that he gave me a detention for forgetting homework."
"Yes and don't you remember! That detention was on the day he died. Many other students forgot their homework but it was only you he gave the detention to wasn't it. That's why I stopped him a few hours before you were supposed to go to him."
"I can't believe you're saying you killed Mr. Henson!" she said with fear in her voice.
"I told you, I didn't kill him! I just sent the monster inside of him back to the Underground so he could be imprisoned there. Sarah, if I hadn't have stopped him, then that detention with Mr. Henson would have been the last thing you ever did."
She looked at his face. He did look like he was geniunely telling the truth. But how could Sarah know what the truth was anymore.
"So Mr. Henson would have tried to kill me" she said.
"I'm afraid so, and there's been plenty more threats in your life and I've had to stop everyone of them."
"So all this time, you were just pretending to be my friend, on that day when I was all alone, you only came up to me becuase it was your job" she said, starting to believe what he was telling her.
"No Sarah, not at all, it may have started out that way but over time I really came to like you, and I didn't just save your life because it was my job, it was because I really cared about you."
She wasn't sure whether she believed him. All she wanted to do was run off and take a break from this emotional overload but she knew that there was so many questions she needed answering.
"But why would anyone want to harm me, all I did was rescue my brother and come back home" she said.
"Yes, but you are one of the only people who has ever defeated one of the Underground's most powerful beings; Jareth. Those wishes that you were granted were just a taste of the power you could have if you wanted. If you wanted Sarah, you could rule. And the creatures of the Underground would not be happy if a mortal was to rule there world." said Lysander.
"But can't you just tell them that I didn't want to rule their world." she said.
"If only it was that simple. You see the creatures of the Underground are very suspicious beings. They don't trust anyone and have very calculative minds. And now they know that you have been to their world again, so I'm afraid my job will be more demanding than ever."
"But I don't want you to protect me anymore, I just want to be left alone!"
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that Sarah, I care about you to much to let anything happen to you."
Sarah took a long hard look at her friend. Part of her hated him for lying and thought that she could never trust him again, but the other part of her was somewhat grateful for his protection and friendship over the years.
"Who assigned you to come and look after me" she asked.
"Who do you think" he said. Sarah took a moment to take all of this in. The truth had been told, but Sarah felt more oblivious to world than she had ever felt before. "Sarah, what did you wish for yesterday" asked Lysander.
"Um…I…that doesn't matter now. Anyway I didn't get time to make my last wish. That was a wish I really wanted to make" she said sadly as she stood up and walked over to a large rosebush where she turned her back to Lysander so he wouldn't see her looking upset.
Lysander followed her and stood beside her at the rosebush. There was a few minutes of peace and silence between them...
He watched her for a while with sorrowful eyes. Then he gently touched a single rose with his hands.
"Look at this rose. The beauty of it is so enchanting" he said stroking the petals. Then he slowly moved his hand down until he pricked his finger. He flinched. "But the thorns can wound…just be careful Sarah. Don't ever get fooled by the beauty of the rose" he said licking his grazed finger.
"What are you talking about" said Sarah.
"I just want you to be careful" he said. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"Yeah well I don't need you to worry about me anymore" she said quietly before walking off leaving Lysander in the park, alone with his guilt.
Ahhhh poor poor Lysander.