It was always the same nightmare. It was the same tint in a different shade, the same word with a different inflection. It was an unvarying myriad of mind-scattering tortures that had ceased to only afflict her in her in her sleep. At odd intervals during her supposed waking hours a skeletal hand would scuttle along her periphery or a cruel laugh would sound from an empty corner. Faces would morph. Sometimes they would become impossibly beautiful and other times impossibly frightening. Every single face was a dead slice of skin bolted fleetingly to an innocent. Another oblivious idiot that couldn't understand why she screamed.
How Doctor Palmer had managed to convince both himself and the rest of the world that she was improving she did not understand. She was running away from horrors that no one else could perceive on a daily basis. She had slept less and less as the nights wore on, prompting the nurses to start force feeding her sleeping pills. They were only making it worse. Now she could not wake from her nightmares. She was forced to sit and watch as the masqueraders adorned themselves cadaverous accoutrements, which they pulled from the muck oozing with decay. She was forced to lay incapacitated as they pinched and penetrated her with borrowed teeth and stiff, mismatched fingers.
"I've got to get out!" Sarah exclaimed aloud to herself as she felt her way along the wall of the Sanitarium. She knew that walls were liable to change at any minute. It had happened the last time she had nearly reached the door. She had opened it only to find herself deposited with a CRACK against the floor of her room. Her face had smacked against the ground with such momentum that she had knocked out a tooth. When she reached forward it jumped keenly out of her grasp. It scuttled away like a little bug and she crawled after it.
Putting Toby to bed was always an ordeal. The little guy always wanted her to hold his hand until he fell asleep and read her a story. She found that she didn't mind the responsibility that came with watching him and that she thoroughly enjoyed being needed. He loved how his eyes lit up every time he saw her. With a sigh she took out a loaf of bread from the breadbox. She knew that it wouldn't last forever. He was already three and soon he wouldn't need her anymore. Soon no one woul-
"Ello!"
Sarah turned toward the far wall, where she had heard the noise. She was so startled that she had dropped the half full loaf of wheat bread.
"Ello!" She heard again and turned toward the open bread box, where a strangely large and brightly colored worm reared a quite adorable head. He smiled and Sarah rubbed her eyes blearily. She must have been far more exhausted than she realized. Then again, the little guy did seem quite familiar.
"Come inside and meet the missus!" He said with a friendly smile and a jaunty little nod. "Have some tea."
Sarah was suddenly very thirsty. Now that she thought about it, tea sounded lovely. Without a thought she walked toward the bread box and poked her head inside only to find that possibly the most gorgeous man she had ever seen was sitting across from a large worm-like creature in a tasteful Victorian bonnet. Her presence did not go unnoticed. The man turned to her and the look in his inhumanly blue eyes was piercing enough to kill. His flaxen hair was bound tightly behind slightly pointed ears and his flawless skin was stretched over an almost effete face. His lips were thin but sharply contoured. They twisted into a grimace and then in utter shock. The unadulterated emotion on his face did not suit his polished and austere appearance.
"How!?" He snarled and suddenly Sarah knew who he reminded her of.
"Holy cow!" She remarked quietly to herself.
"Your Highness, I invited her in." The worm replied and Sarah's eyes left the man's face to the familiar amulet which lay on top of a black shirt, which was buttoned up to his neck. The pronged pendant had once lay against Jareth's naked skin. Then it hit Sarah. This other incredibly beautiful thing had taken Jareth's place. She had somehow reentered the Labyrinth through the breadbox on her kitchen counter, A Labyrinth which was no longer ruled by Jareth.
"Where's Jareth?" She asked and all at once the beautiful man turned his eyes to her. She licked her lips. What she wouldn't give for a piece of that…and a cigarette.
"But I don't smoke!" She thought aloud, completely bewildered by her own conflicting thoughts and why was the wall suddenly wet?
Familiar and foul swamp like water was trickling down the sanitarium walls.
"What happened to Jareth!?" She cried again as she ran through the murk, which was pooling about her ankles.
"You've killed him." Someone stated matter-of-factly and she collapsed, twitching and soaking wet in the midst of a perfectly dry hallway.
----------------------------------------------------
Lot cringed as he felt that tell-tale tingling between his shoulder blades. Before the worms could turn to their new king to ask what had happened he was gone with a howl and left nothing behind but a quickly dissipated tendril of smoke. He wondered if breeding had anything to do with the girl's innate ability to destroy his brother's plans.
"Those Fey are all always in such a hurry!" The Blue worm replied as he sat across from his wife and began to sip at a cup of tea. After a few minutes of quiet and drinking the pink worm let out a long-suffered sigh.
"And the girl didn't even touch her tea!" She exclaimed and both of the worms turned their heads to where she had stood. Faceted specks that glittered like diamonds were suspended in the air and slowly drifted toward the ground. Upon touching the floor they turned to dust, leaving the imprints of her feet behind.
"Well, I do say!" The little blue worm exclaimed. "I've never seen a thing like this in all my life!"
His wife sighed disinterestedly and returned to her tea.
hazelgrnLizzy: Thank you!
Mari Strange: It's more of a question of being polite then expecting every reviewer to leave me a deep psychoanalytical critique. If people review I respond because I appreciate the feedback. And I hope your very forgiving, as most of the chapters from here on out are going to b e a total tease. lol.
Raven1Star: Thanks. As I have a mouth like a drunk truck driver who just got cut off all of Sarah's usual Jeeze Louise's, Holy Guacamole's, and Forking Fiddlesticks's went right out of the window the second I got a hold of her. I just couldn't help myself.
CoffeeKris: This plot is on fucking steroids. And is any of your poetry up on line? It sounds like the kind of smart ass stuff that I'd really enjoy. And Snape really is not given enough screen time but I really feel as if 'The Rickman' has given up. I saw the movie a second time and once I got past how much I want to do some positively medieval things to him, I was really not impressed or even vaguely amused by his performance. And I am a HUGE Alan Rickman fan. It was rather depressing.